Today I slugged it out with the last two and a half hours of bell hooks book Ain’t I A Woman on audio. The heat and humidity were oppressive, as was the overwhelming feeling of defensiveness every time I pressed play.
Then, on one of my breaks, I read this article from the Washington Post, “Germany faced its horrible past. Can we do the same?” by Michele L. Norris. The article described in great detail the way Germany has faced its painful history, with small reminders of it everywhere.
We have just a few days left of homeschool. The past eighteen months long ago bled out any desire anyone has to do schoolwork (or in my case, enforce it – see, I’m not even calling it teaching anymore). We still plod on, but I feel like I spend the vast majority of my waking hours doing things I’d rather not.
New York State requires us to finish 80% of our curriculum, and at this point in the year, we’ve certainly achieved that. It would be completely reasonable to call it quits. But to a fault, I am not a quitter. I can see how close we are to the end of the books we’re reading, and I’m determined to finish. I want to get my money’s worth from our online math curriculum. I don’t want my kids’ brains to turn to sludge until at least July.
A while back I told you about starting low dose naltrexone (LDN) to see if I could get some relief from rheumatoid arthritis pain (Ok, I said psoriatic arthritis, but that was a false alarm). It’s been two months since I started taking LDN, so I wanted to check in on what has changed (and what hasn’t).
This past weekend, I did the same 2.6 mile hike three times in two days, with three sets of people. I hiked the same loop in the same direction, and each time it was like a new trail.
The first time, I walked with a friend who I’ve hiked with regularly throughout the pandemic.The reason I kept going back was because that first hike was magical. The only other people on the trail seemed to be serious birders with big binoculars.
We stopped to speak with one couple. They told us the preserve where we hiked was in the midst of a two week migration period, when tiny birds flying north from the Caribbean rest on their way to their nesting grounds.
Since we can’t travel to the Caribbean right now, it seemed like the next best thing was to go see birds who have just spent the winter there.
I have started this post three times now, and nothing feels quite right. You see, I really can’t stand Mother’s Day, and I just had the best one ever.
If that is upsetting, feel free to stop reading here. This has been a hard year. However, if you are satisfied with your Mother’s Day celebrations and your relationship to the day itself, or if you deal with negative feelings towards the “holiday” and could use some hope, read on.
