A drawing of T-Rex by Wyatt and me. I drew the head and teeth. Wyatt didn’t like my horns and said they needed to be “more pointy.”
A notification popped up on my phone. It was from my friend, Jina. I rarely read emails on my phone, save for things that are emergencies, and this was no different. When I returned home a few hours later, I read my email, nodded my head and spoke to my monitor. Yeah, that’s right. Now you know why it takes me so long to reply to emails. I tend to talk right back at you and forget to actually type out the damned response.
I don’t think this is anything related to my trauma. It’s just how my brain works. It’s also why I have written about a dozen awesome posts in my head over the past month, but never actually typed them. Sometimes, I type them in dreams and forget to do it in the real world. Today, I’m going to start typing them out and share them here.
The beginning of 2025 has been rather busy. My flight last week to New York was mostly uneventful. Nothing was delayed on either end of the trip. I used a bunch of air miles to bump myself up to first class. From Denver to Newark, I was on a plane that had just arrived from Japan. The seat was glorious and I enjoyed being left the hell alone except when the flight wanted to make sure I was comfy and well-fed.
My seat on the United plane.
I had a nice salad, which was one of several meals offered to me. All in all, the airport experience was pleasant, like they used to be when I first started flying back in 1985. Well, except it’s more pleasant now because there’s no smoke wafting around the cabin.
This meal was rather filling and I had a hard time finishing it.
My trip to New York was mostly a pleasant one. I am now officially on my mother’s bank accounts. I have all but one of her bills paid. Her Medicaid application is complete – at least I think it is. I rented a storage facility for her belongings. My nephew and I fixed her tablet so WhatsApp calls can come through again. I spoke with her on Sunday morning. She is still struggling to find her voice. She is in there. We all still have hope.
While in New York, I also got to play with my great nephew, Wyatt. He’s a great little five-year-old and we played with his cars, LEGOs, and dinosaurs.
Wyatt begins assembling the Jurassic Park track.
I find I enjoy those simple moments where we’re putting together a piece of track for cars to run on or completing a “find the hidden picture” puzzle in a Highlights for Children book. We also drew dinosaurs. Wyatt is much better at this for me. The point of it all is that we had a shit-ton of fun.
Wyatt crosses off the hidden object he found in a picture.
My finger is healing well. I had to have my hand numbed again to have the stitches out on December 18, mainly because they were in so tightly and trying to remove them made me cry. The graft appears to have worked though I am still experiencing numbness in my pinkie finger. My doctor said it could take up to a year to heal, so I’m trying to be patient with it all. Depending on the day, it either hurts or I don’t feel anything whenever I hit the “a” key on my keyboard. Today it hurts. My ring finger has taken over the duties of the other keys my pinkie should be hitting. It has slowed me down a little – from around 100wpm to 75wpm – and that’s okay too.
There are some other things I want to get posted, such as my thoughts about spending time with my friends Steve and Maria a couple of weeks ago, my friend, AJ, retiring and moving away, some books I’m reading, some books I recommend, and a few other things I’ve got written on a post-it note. I also want to share some of my new creative nonfiction. I know what I want to write. I just need to remember to put it down on paper and not keep it on my head.
One thing I don’t want to write about anymore is politics, though I know it will come up from time to time. I don’t want to write about or celebrate an adjudicated rapist, conman and bully. I know the shitshow has just begun, but I don’t want to ruin my mental health over the next four years, so I’m actively taking a step back to stay sane.
As today is MLK Day, I’m going to celebrate the values I was raised with – kindness, compassion, and empathy. I hope you all do, too. I’ll be back later with more of my thoughts.