If Jonathan and I had been married 50 years ago...


The real couple (my parents) who were married 50 years ago...

Tomorrow I am flying to Erie, and I am very nervous. At this point I think that we all know that my back is "bad", but it has been much worse that normal for the past month. Jonathan insists that physical therapy and trigger point injections are helping, and maybe they will in the long run. I just don't feel it. Thankfully, my family doctor has had mercy on me, and she has given me prescriptions for super strong pain killers for when things get really bad. Knowing that the trip is going to make things worse, Jonathan picked up a prescription at the doctor's office this morning. (These are the kind of pain killers that require a written prescription.) Unfortunately, he hasn't been able to get the actual pills yet. Our normal Walgreens doesn't carry them. Our back-up Walgreens is out of them. So he has to go to a very out-of-the-way Walgreens to get them. And, oh yah, he has to go to work too. I think that he is looking forward to a little break from taking care of me. That and finally being able to have heat in the bedroom at night.

So I am a ball of nerves right now. I'm sure that there will be a snow or ice storm somewhere that will land me stranded in Detroit. (I fly from Peoria to Detroit to Erie.) I'm so nervous about getting there that I haven't even thought about actually being there. "There" being my parents' cozy little house that I grew up in.

So I'm praying the my back won't give me grief. I'm praying that I'll make it to Erie in one piece right on schedule. Feel free to pray too.

All that we call human history - money, poverty, ambition, war, prostitution, classes, empires, slavery - [is] the long terrible story of man trying to find something other than God which will make him happy.

From Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis

I don't want you to think that I'm dead, so here I am finally writing a blog post.

I can't believe that we are half way through October already. I turned 29 this month. Time is just going so fast. We are closer to 2009 than we are to 2007, and for some reason that scares me.

Today is the quintessential fall day. The sky is cloudy, giving us a constant drizzle of rain. The leaves are starting to turn yellow and orange, and some of them are even falling. I've been waiting for the perfect day to burn my Yankee "Fall Festival" candle, and I think that today is the day.

Psalm 6

O LORD, do not rebuke me in your anger
or discipline me in your wrath.

Be merciful to me, LORD, for I am faint;
O LORD, heal me, for my bones are in agony.

My soul is in anguish.
How long, O LORD, how long?

Turn, O LORD, and deliver me;
save me because of your unfailing love.

No one remembers you when he is dead.
Who praises you from the grave?

I am worn out from groaning;
all night long I flood my bed with weeping
and drench my couch with tears.

My eyes grow weak with sorrow;
they fail because of all my foes.

Away from me, all you who do evil,
for the LORD has heard my weeping.

The LORD has heard my cry for mercy;
the LORD accepts my prayer.

All my enemies will be ashamed and dismayed;
they will turn back in sudden disgrace.

I added a presidential election poll to my blog on the right side. Please take a moment and vote. If you choose "other", please leave a comment on this post telling which candidate you are supporting.


(Obama, Baldwin, Barr, McCain, McKinney, Nader)

Candidates' Campaign Websites:

http://www.barackobama.com/
http://www.baldwin2008.com
http://www.bobbarr2008.com/
http://www.johnmccain.com/
https://mckinney2008.com/PRESIDENT/index.php
http://www.votenader.org

I also found the website Project Vote Smart helpful.

Well, I guess that it's about time that I write a new blog post! I am happy to say that, for the moment, things are looking up for me (and this beautiful weather helps things too). At the end of April, I saw a new doctor. I had been waiting to see him for over two months. For some reason, I had a really good feeing about him, and my feelings were right. He's the first doctor who has actually done something to help my back. Most doctors just completely ignore me when I tell them that most of my pain is from muscle spasms. I just assumed that there was nothing that could be done to help relieve the pain other than medication that doesn't work all that well for me because I've been taking it for years. So I was quite shocked when this doctor felt my back, felt the knots and spasms in my back, and told me that he could possibly do something about it. He finds what he calls "trigger points" in my back, and injects them with medication that reduces inflammation, which should promote healing of the muscle. Apparently not many doctors do these types of injections, and he is the only one who does them in the Peoria area.

So far I've seen him five times and have had 12 shots. They are helping quite a bit, but I still have quite a bit of pain. I've been able to be a bit more active, but what that means to you and what it means to me are probably two different things. "Active" to me means being able to take two showers a week and being able to walk around Wal-Mart one a week. So obviously trying to get back to "normal" is going to take a long time - two steps forward, one step back as they say.

Right now I am preparing for a trip to Erie. I'm flying out of Peoria this Thursday instead of Chicago. I think it will be easier for my back but not for the wallet. (The ticket cost four times what I paid for a ticket from Chicago in December.) I'm really looking forward to this "summer vacation" after an absolutely horrible winter. I'll be there until July 12th, so I really hope that my back cooperates.

So I guess that you are pretty much up to date now. Talk to you again in another two and a half months :-)