three topics

1. health & illness

2. music

3. husband

so re numbero uno, trying to remove popcorn piece from maw, i used a nifty plastic toothpick, a device i'm new to, which i should have noted resembled a tiny sword, & accidentally but deftly stabbed my tender gum flesh, resulting in an electric shock & much blood. the spot was darn swole for some time, morphing into terrible head illness (i've noted here life'd be better if only for my head, & too bad i can't get around w/o it). jaw, gums, teeth, ear, throat, tonsil, the only things that didn't throb were my nostrils & eyeballs. after a very quick trip to the lone star state & worrying myself near to death about barometric pressure cabin changes that might possibly cause the infirm coconut to explode, i made it to the dentist.

"i hevv never seen this," the elderly european gent clipped. "your tooth iss goood... but the root iss infect-ed."

i called to moan to dearest father about this, thinking it something special. "oh yes," he said. "i've had two of those."

ah! heredity! also... stupidity! (in my case.)

now am on a hefty regimen of old-school antibiotics. the evil stabbing toothpicks are out front of the house in our curbside free little library, which has turned into the curbside free little junk stop. let some younger or smarter person deal with them. i am now swore off the things for life.

re music... there has been none w/james tho we WILL HAVE THE CHRISTMAS CHANGO JAM THIS YEAR!!!! YAAAAAAY!!!! i "play" each day at school, wonderful school, at which we sing patriotic songs each morning. ("john brown's body" is october's morbid tune -- it's so cool to teach little kids about him, let them decide that yes, he had the right idea, but he went about it the wrong way.) then the transition songs: now working w/littler ones -- which, how did i know would be so fun? --- i come up w/tunes on the fly all the time, & they jump right in, singing & dancing & moving along. how was i to know what a great little kid teacher i'd be?? how swell & rewarding it would be to teach little kids?? i just love it!!!

then their clean up songs: "linus & lucy" followed by "the pink panther."

boy, i just love these little kids, & this clean & safe school, & the fellowship amongst the adults. plus i get to still see many of the middle school kids, former students, as they wait for the bus at our school... who knew such a great job was waiting just one mile from this casa? every day as i drive to work (3 minutes!), i want to pinch myself. how did this happen???

topic 3: my husband, hurricane james, whom i love so very much, has an annoying habit of leaving, then losing his phone, or not charging his phone, or yaddayadda. fortunately, because i have this new job (3 minute drive!!), this impedes my life only a crumb. the house is so clean & quiet while he flies around this or that place in smellay & socal. i eat & write & watch on tv whatever i want.

however, we DO miss him. there is no james crashing & banging & singing & braying & smiling & grouching around the house, no stomping down the steps, no bb guns or potato guns firing into the arroy, no booms from the basement like something from you can't take it with you, no cigarette smoke, no cigarette ashes, no messy piles & nests all around the house, basement, little house, & porches, no clomping steps & late-night singing & strumming & guffawing & joke-yelling & cussing.

the animals lay forlornly across the couch, peering at the door. "where is daddy?" they seem to say.

i get into magic bed & all the covers are neatly arranged, instead of the usual seeming tornado-aftermath that is there.

i can complain, but i won't. my cousin in tx just says, "you gotta roll with it. life sucks, but you gotta look for the good moments." (i really have so many.)... and mama says, "there's no one like him." that is so true.

but tonight i will get into the soft, silent bed, the lovely smart bed with massage & adjustable head & foot & silky sheets & pillows, & without my hurricane here, even with my best intentions of reading or watching a show sordid or edifying, or playing a game, or exercising or meditating, i will drop off to sleep. just. like. that.