Sweet Spots, Holiday Parties, Surgeries and Champagne…

November 24th, 2014

I am in a really sweet spot right now, which is kind of hard to figure. I don’t really understand it. I have one thing coming up that I am dreading. I keep blocking it out. I can’t think about it. But, the last couple of months have been really lovely.

June. June was a great month. One thing I really love about my life is how things just happen. Spontaneously. Things that are great just happen. I meet people that bring something fun and new into my life. I go to the beach late in the summer and find out that my friend, Meg, from college is there and she invites me to stay with her parents instead of at a hotel. I get to really know her “now” as an older gal instead of a 21 year old.   We have wine, sit on the beach, talk candidly and bond. Moments like this make life so nice.

I went to Wyoming on a whim.  Landscape that is embedded in my brain, the air so clean and crisp.  Moments that were in perfect timing.  Driving along and having to stop for a herd of cows that was coming my way.   Gorgeous.  And singing.  I met new people who have stayed in touch with me. I love this. Random moments that are no longer so random. You make plans for the future.

You meet up with someone from high school and have a conversation with her and her husband that is real. Honest. And, you do this on Halloween after a night of taking her kids out for Halloween. Next up, Helen, Media.

And after 3 concerts in one month, including seeing Bob Dylan, last night and Hozier a few weeks ago, which was amazing along with Fitz and the Tantrums, which wasn’t “as” amazing, but was still up there as a great time, it’s been a good year of music and concerts, including one my friend Jackie will never forget.

And now the holidays are upon us. Thanksgiving and then Christmas, and as we all know it will be over before you know it. Ugh…

And then I face my next adventure. An adventure I would rather bypass.

When I was 28, I bought rollerblades. I used to roller skate at a place called, “Skate Odyssey.” From 6th grade up until 8th grade, I spent many a weekend there listening and skating to Styx and Journey. And then there was the dance skate where you would just stop and dance right in place with your skates on. It was always “Planet Rock.” That was the big one.  I became really good as I pretty much lived around the corner. My dad would pay for me to have lessons and he would also take me to “Spinning Wheels” when I was even younger.   He was always there skating right beside me when I was a kid. So, at the age of 28 I figured, how hard could it be to rollerblade? I was great at skating backwards, forwards, I could move and I was really good at ice skating, so this would be CAKE. CAKE, I TELL YOU!

Well, after a great first ride on Kelly Drive, I put those skates on right outside of my apartment building and was down in less than one minute, with a broken right wrist from trying to break my fall. BOOM. I turned green from pain. The break had hit a nerve.

A cast went on, but before the doc made that decision surgery was considered and then they went for the cast.  I was told surgery may have to come later.  It went in one ear and out.  Ah…youth is a fabulous thing.  You are impervious to anything really going wrong.  Bungee jumping…yeah, I did it.  A few days later, I worked at “Ozzfest” due to working for Philadelphia’s, WMMR. As I was standing there with this purple cast on, a man came up to me with this serious dark look and said, “Your wrist will never be the same.” Um, excuse me? By then, he walked away. “Was that a curse?” He was into Black Sabbath, you never know!  Think, “The Wizard.”  Love Sabbath, but they come with some interesting characters. A coworker responded, “No, I just think he means it’s not green, it won’t heal the way it would have if you were a kid.” Gosh, I was 28, not 70.

Interestingly enough, that guy was right. My wrist was never the same. I could never turn it completely or sometimes when writing, my hand would just get stuck. This year, it was worse than it had ever been and one day while stretching it, it just popped, tore, whatever you want to call it.

So, surgery is imminent. I can’t lift heavy things, turns lids, do major things with it. I have no choice unless I don’t mind it getting worse and I am not getting any younger. But, this is no simple surgery. My wrist will be re-broken, pins will be put in and a plate.

GOOD TIME…don’t you think? 6 weeks of downtime and pajamas because why not?  Winter blues will be kicking in anyway…more GOOD TIMES. !!!  I’ll be “Tangled Up In Blue.”  Easy to cook meals and soups, here they come and hotdogs.  They are easy to cook.   That’s what I see. Pajamas. I won’t be able to use my right hand. The only hand I use when I blow-dry my hair, brush my teeth, put makeup on and most importantly, make jewelry.

And, you know what? I can’t think about this. I can’t. Because this wrist needs to work. For my livelihood, for my sanity, for me to cook, for my creative outlet that will go nuts without. I will use my teeth! I see myself as a frump in my bed because I will be pissed that I can’t use my hand and I can’t do simple tasks that I take for granted, that we take for granted.  I will not be allowed to use it for 6 weeks.  Which seems like no big deal, but 6 weeks is a long period of time.  And then 3 months of  physical therapy that will be 3 days a week.  It will be a total of 6 months, but 3 months that I may not be able to REALLY work.  We shall see.

There will be a lesson in this I am sure.  To just chill, relax, come up with alternative ways of doing things because I am resourceful.  Use my teeth?  Paint with my toes, maybe.  If Frida Kahlo did it, why can’t I?

So, I need a sweet spot right before Christmas.  A major sweet spot.  I need my friends, loved ones and clients to come to my holiday party and lets toast to a new year, to more sweet spots, to a happy holiday, whether it’s Hanukkah, Christmas or whatever you celebrate.  Just come and celebrate with me.  Celebrate a sweet spot with me before a break comes in, literally.  A long cold winter is coming this way.

Come hang out with me, let’s talk about what’s been going on and let’s have some champagne.  Let’s laugh and oh..yeah, I have a ton of bling over here. That’s reason enough, don’t you think?  And, it will be on SALE…yes, that is reason enough.

And…MERRY CHRISTMAS, HAPPY HANUKKAH AND HAPPY TURKEY DAY!!! Or, the other way around.  Something like that..