Finding Peace in the Oddest Places
I was at the dentist the other day getting a small cavity fixed and as I’m reclined in the (surprisingly comfy) chair, the draining thingy hooked on the left side of my mouth, gurgling quietly while my dentist and his assistants both have various other implements – some of them making that shrill whining noise…
Precautionary Nervous Breakdowns
This week on MyRACentral, I write about scaring yourself to stay safe: “It was December 27 and I was waiting to hear if I had skin cancer.” You can read the rest here.
Great Lovers
Abelard and Heloise. Antony and Cleopatra. Tristan and Iseult. Cyrano and Roxane. Victoria and Albert. Wait… am I the only one who heard that screeching brakes sound of a needle scratching on a record? Whether historical or fictional, lists of the great lovers of our world don’t include Queen Victoria and Prince Albert. I certainly…
Rules of the Game
I can’t stand bitter juries. Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains has just crowned a winner – Sandra, again, literally wearing a bit of a crown (love her!) – and it was yet another example of people voting against someone rather than voting for the best player. And I wanted to reach through the TV screen and…
Good Causes
I watched The Blind Side last week and it made me think a great deal about the idea of doing more than just talking about what we can do to make the world a better place. Not all of us have the resources to actually take someone into our homes and make that deep a…
Staying Sane
Sanity and the preservation thereof is the topic of this week’s post on MyRACentral: “Waking up in pain. Going to bed in pain. Never knowing if tomorrow’s going to be the day it comes back with such force that your life is shattered, sidelined again while you put everything on hold, while you find a…
Definition in Opposition
There was another thing that struck me in the New York Times’ Patient Voices feature. What struck me was George’s story, in particular the part where he talks about practicing doing certain things over and over again in order to “appear normal”. It struck another of those tender places, because what do you do when…
Spots
Every year, I’m convinced it’s at the end of May, which means that I’ve sometimes missed it. This year, it was dumb luck that I checked on the weekend and all of a sudden realized that holy crap, my blogiversary is Thursday! I had plans for it. There are going to be some neat things…
Like Me: Finding My RA Community and Why It Matters
Updated November 12, 2022. Being different is both external and internal. Being the only person who looks a certain way set you apart in a group, designates you as Other. Even when the members of the group are your friends, there is something that makes you feel set apart. Finding your community, the people who…