The Giant Jigsaw Puzzle

When last we visited with my sister, Shirley,

Who always was considered the wise one in the family

Even before she turned 82,

Shirley

 She philosophized:

“Life is like a jigsaw puzzle.

As you get older,

you begin to see how all the pieces fit together.

I always wondered

why Mama could run circles around me.

She had so much energy.

And walking behind Daddy at the herd,

I would be so tired.

I would never say anything;

I didn’t want him to know I couldn’t keep up.

But I didn’t think I would make it."

Dr. Norris, the country doctor,

who delivered my sister

diagnosed a heart problem.

Largely ignored

until later years

when symptoms couldn’t be overlooked.

Pulmonary Hypertension.

Even though her heart and lungs are strong,

the vessels between them collapse,

curtailing the vital blood supply.

She was fortunate enough to quality for

an expensive experimental drug called

Tracleer.

It doesn’t cure;

but it may prevent further deterioration;

greatly enhancing the quality of life.

She looks younger than she did ten years ago.

With the help of her daughter,

she raises a big garden, bottles

(albeit with an oxygen tank on her back).

“Now I understand why, even as a child,

I couldn’t keep up with Mama and Daddy.

All the pieces are fitting together

like a giant jigsaw puzzle.”

she concludes.

 “That’s not the way it is with me,” I acknowledge.

“Life is like a jigsaw puzzle, yes.

But one by one the puzzle is being pulled apart;

the pieces put back in the box

until the entire puzzle is dismantled

and the box is closed.”

PERFECT

When something is absolutely perfect

What do you write about?

We didn’t go to the wrong airport.

No snowstorm preventing us hiking to the Wave

  After we had waited six months for tickets.

We didn’t meet a nice lady who said she had an aunt

  from Orderville, who turned out to be my sister.

No moose invaded our sleeping tents;

No badger helped himself to popcorn

  close to the sleeping children’s heads.

No certified mechanic in three states

  showed up to fix our automobile that wasn’t broken.
We weren't stranded on a rock in the houseboat
  at Lake Powell overnight.

We didn’t go in the wrong direction for six hours

  in a foreign land.

We didn’t slip and fall at the Pyramids in Egypt

  or lie sick all day in Jerusalem.

We weren’t stranded in Tonga

  or Tahiti or New Zealand or Australia.

We didn’t get sunburned.

No one got lost.

 Where is the story?

  No conflict.

  No redemption.

  No betrayal.

  No accident.

  No murder or missing persons.

                           ***

The weather was divine;

Fresh vegetables and fruit from our garden:

  Tomatoes, cucumbers, squash, beans, broccoli,

  Swiss chard, egg plant, zucchini; peaches, melons.

Molasses and honey popcorn balls.

  Fresh.  Not left over from Christmas as Cai feared.

The leaves changing each day from green

  To warm autumn glow.

“Not enough,” Ed claims

  as he and his dad bought all-day tram passes

  riding five times.

Amy slipped down to teach school each day

  Swimming and relaxing in the evening

  In the shadows of the everlasting hills.

Refreshing.

Revitalizing.

Restoring.

Every day

For seven heavenly days

At our Snowbird condo.

Friends came to call.

For the first time, we had two units

So the early to bedders

Could go to bed early

And arise early

And the late bugs

Could stay up late

And arise late.

Absolutely nothing to write about.

Personal Experimentation

Gravity Inversion Table

The instructions say

“With head flat on back pad,

slowly raise one arm up toward the ceiling.

By raising both hands over your head, the Inversion Table

Should now invert to a greater degree.”

 Three selections:

20 – Slight inversion.

40 – Moderate Inversion

60 – Enhanced Inversion.

Bravely, I raise both arms above my head.

I move not an iota.

If I rock three or four times I eventually can go up and over.

However, after I have inverted once,

When I go back to the beginning

I can raise my arms and easily go on over.

Up & over.

 Considering this,

I decided to concentrate on going over.

I take three or four deep breaths and think

“Weight transfer to head, up and over”

I raise my arms and UP AND OVER I GO!

The first time.

Total surprise!  Astounding.

How can thinking weight transfer, up and over,

Make it happen?

Without thinking about it, I can barely budge;

Necessitating rocking three or four times to go over.

I had been inverting to 40 degrees and decided I wanted to do 60.

DeRay spotted me the first time.

No problem.

So I tried it on my own.

60 Degree Inversion

 I must have been afraid for

When I thought “Weight transfer to head, up and over. . .”

Nothing happened.  I moved not one iota.

Fear closed it down.

It took a day or two to have enough confidence

To think “Up and over” and go up and over.

How can “thinking” make things happen

That seem impossible?

How can “fear” circumvent it?

Experiment conclusions:

THOUGHT is a powerful tool.

Fear inhibits.

The mind has much more power over our physical body than I ever expected

WOW!

THE LOSS

In the cool of the evening 

I go out on the deck

All alone

To break the ends off the beans.

Triggering memories of sitting

Out on the front porch

With a stream rushing by

When I was a child,

Visiting as we broke the ends off

and cut up the beans.

Visiting.  Visiting.  Visiting.

Family, friends, neighbors.

Even the menfolk joined in.

Tonight I had just enough beans for one meal

While back home, the next morning

We bottled 100-200 quarts of beans

Canning peaches was communal

When I was young too.

So many women crowded in our little kitchen

Peeling peaches.

Aunt El invariably came over to help.

(Mama’s aunt; our great aunt.)

She carried news from one end of the town

To the other on her daily route.

No telephones.  No TV.

Just the human touch.

How lonely canning has been since,

Even with telephone and television.

A PLACE

When one person is sick;

The whole household is sick.

Especially the spouse.

With everyone sick,

  The house is sick;

  The yard is sick;

  The garden neglected;

  Weeds take over.

How totally our environs

Depend on us for preservation.

Deepak Chopra says, “There exists in every person a place that is free from disease, that never feels pain, that cannot age or die.” 

I want to find that place; for myself, my family, my house, and my yard.

Two months later: 

Now I’m the spouse.

Is it easier to be sick?

DeRay has shingles.

Agonizing.

Tell me again,

Where is that place

   that is free from disease,

   that never feels pain,

   that cannot age or die?

MY MEDICAL MANIFESTO

I don’t quite trust doctors

If they prescribe drugs and/or surgery

Indiscriminately.

I don’t quite trust exercise and yoga

Because shoulder stands and chin locks

May have caused a herniated disc in my neck.

I don’t quite trust alternative medicine

Because it’s just too weird and

Not covered by insurance.

All have helped—a lot;

Some have hurt—a lot;

Body, heal thyself.

This I believe:

I believe in Jacuzzi Jets.

I believe in Sauna Infrared rays.

I believe in ice packs.

I believe in heating pads.

I believe in my adult recumbent trike.

I believe in the vibrator.

I believe in swimming except when my neck, shoulder blade and arm hurt.

I believe in the Urban Rebounder when it snows.

I believe in time.

I believe in hope.

I believe in God,  
I trust in His infinite wisdom and mercy;

I believe in healing.

I believe there is joy at the core of my being.

I believe it is my spiritual heritage;

A gift from God.

CLASSIFICATION

Color of hair:  “Gray”

DeRay put on my passport application.

What’s he thinking?

When you color your hair,

It isn’t gray.

That’s an oxymoron.