Category Archives: Meditation

Time Out

I saw something interesting this week at Scarlett’s swim class. One of the teachers climbed out of the pool in the middle of a lesson and said to another employee, “I just feel myself getting frustrated.” She wrapped a towel around her waist and walked out of the pool area. A self-imposed time out.

I had a few thoughts as I watched this. The first was to be impressed that she had lasted so long. These lessons go on all day, every half hour, and although I’m sure the teachers get a break, it must be very frustrating to deal with young children in a pool for hours at a time. I personally had a difficult time, on a recent evening, dealing with one child, who was crying because the contents of dinner had been placed onto her dish in the wrong order. THE HORROR.

I was also impressed by the teacher’s self-awareness, and by the apparent arrangement at the pool that would allow for someone to walk out and leave a bunch of flailing four-year-olds behind. That’s foresight. I mean, I assume another teacher got in and took her place, and that the children were not left to fend for themselves. But if anyone had drowned, I’m sure I would have heard about it, and gotten some money back or something. Read More>

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Melting Brain

Sinus infection. Day 6. Incomplete thoughts. Lots of wall staring, and, look, there’s an Amazon box in the corner. Ohmygod, I just figured out the Amazon logo. Just now. The A is pointing to the Z. A-Z. I can’t believe I just noticed that. I am an idiot.

I managed to hang in there for Scarlett’s 6th birthday last week, and then. The sore throat, the stuffy head, my body just let go. I estimate that I get sick like this once a month now. My immune system cracking like an eggshell, exposing my many vulnerabilities. If it turns out that I’m made of nothing but oozing egg yolk, then the only thing to do is chug bright orange DayQuil, with its poisoned candy taste.

Perhaps I’m being a tad dramatic about this.

For days, I’ve been trying to ignore my symptoms, thinking maybe I can will this infection away. Start small, and then use my evasion superpowers against the ALS. Alas, that’s harder to ignore. There have been lots of ALS meetings lately. An ALS TDI Ambassadors call, an Every 90 Minutes advisory board meeting, an ALSA advisory panel call. Everyone is busy, lots going on. Lalala. Still no cure.

But here’s something cool. Read More>

|Categories: Life, Meditation, Parenting | Tags: , , | Permalink

Extrovert Inaction

It’s pouring rain in San Francisco, and I decided to spend my day reading Sue Klebold’s memoir, A Mother’s Reckoning: Living in the Aftermath of Tragedy, about her son, one of the gunmen in 1999′s Columbine High School massacre. I read a review of the book this morning, and was immediately compelled to purchase it, for reasons I can’t easily explain. I’m actually in the middle of another book, a pretty good debut mystery called Out of the Blues, but I set that one aside to begin Reckoning. It felt like a critical read.

This whole week has been really busy for me, with visitors and meetings, and tomorrow is no different. But today my calendar was wide open. To some people that probably sounds nice, and even I can see the benefits of it. But here’s what happens to me when I spend too much time alone. I get withdrawn and tired, and I focus more on my ALS symptoms. Add to that that I’m reading this particularly devastating (but very good) book, and it doesn’t look like today is going to be the high point of my week.

I’m an extrovert. Read More>

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