I was talking to a friend recently about how quickly things can change, and how old age always has a surprise up its sleeve. One day I noticed that my eyelashes are turning white. A couple of weeks ago after washing my hair, I saw that it was curly—but only on one side. Seriously?! My hair has always been straight—with a very slight wave—but never curly. Well, it is now—unless that changes, which it could.
Now? I have shingles. Not the ones on the roof. I have the ones that are a nasty burning rash on the body that make it painful to sit or lie down or stand or move. I’m exaggerating a bit, but you get the idea. I kept putting off getting the vaccine, and now here I am: stuck in the house until it’s comfortable to wear anything but a nightgown.
And I’m bored.
I’d like to say I’m reading more, since I’m stuck at home, and that is my plan, but first—to distract myself from the discomfort/pain—I had to binge-watch some TV shows, and by binge-watching, I got to see some patterns that might not have been as obvious if I had been watching one a day. Here’s what I noticed on “FBI”: When they’re searching for the perp and they see him coming around the corner of a New York street, they don’t hide and jump out at him as he passes and wrestle him to the ground; no, they yell “Stop, FBI!” giving him plenty of time to run, knock over pedestrians, dash into the street and over cars, race down an alley, and climb a chainlink fence to freedom. The other show I binged was “Sky Med,” about a team of medics and pilots in a remote area of Manitoba who rescue people who are sick or wounded and can’t get to a hospital any other way. I was interested in the whole rescue operation part, and I like the characters and got to know who they were and why they were doing their jobs out in nowhere, but here’s what happens when about 10 people are living in a lodge together: they kiss, they have sex (often literally jumping on each other), they argue, break up, hold grudges, get over it, get back together, and then—more kissing. When I could see what was coming, I’d yell at the TV: “No more kissing!” Then I’d fast-forward to the interesting parts: fly to a remote landing strip, bump along a stony path through the woods in an ATV, pry people from under fallen trees or out of crashed ski-mobiles, escape bears and bad guys, shuttle the fallen, crushed, slashed, broken patients back to the plane, take off, and more drama ensues in the plane: poisonous snake, bomb, fever-crazed patient trying to get out the door of the plane—you know, just another day on the job.
Between naps today, I returned to reading. (No kissing. No sex. No stupid FBI agents.) So far my symptoms are mild, and I try not to freak myself out by reading about possible maybe probably probably-not side effects of shingles. ACK!!
I’m almost finished reading Elfie—hey! There’s a map inside!
Next I’ll move on to Silas Marner, which I downloaded onto my Kindle. What are you reading? How are you?
I would love to get the shingles vaccine but I have to wait a few more years. I'm terrified of getting shingles, it sounds wretched!
I did manage to finish a book recently, even while in Vegas with Nan, Andy, Zac and Brandi Cakes for Brandi's birthday. I was reading Palisades Park by Alan Brennert. I really enjoyed his previous works; Molokai, Daughter of Molokai, and Honolulu and this one was pretty good too.
Another writer I've been binging lately is Kazuo Ishiguro. I loved Remains of the Day, I read it while traveling in France and then quickly followed up with Never Let Me Go. Now I'm reading Klara and the Sun and really liking his style of writing. Do you do that too? Find a writer and go "oooh, that was lovely.... what else you got?" Thankfully with my Kindle and Libby app I'm always loaded up with books from the library so that even when I'm on vacation I never run out of something new to read!
Hope you're feeling better soon Aunt Verna! You were in our hearts and thoughts this trip and sending you so much love!!!
Verna, so sorry to hear you have shingles. When my mother had it (decades ago), she said it was more painful than childbirth, and she had seven children! So a good kick from you to get my shot.
I just finished reading Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver. I was impressed that she could sustain a character, so different from her, for 500 pages.