I'm home sick, today. Not homesick, but home, sick. Had a bout with dizziness last night that was pretty rough. You know that carnival ride, the Cyclotron, where you stand against the wall and it spins and pins you to the wall? You know how you feel when you get off, kinda wobbly and your head spinning just a bit, making it a little hard to balance for a moment? It was like that, only ALL the time, while I was laying down, sitting, whatever. Its really disconcerting to be laying on the bed, and feeling like you are falling UP off the bed... lol.
Funny now, but not at that moment.
Anyway, some meds, a good night's sleep after they kicked in, and I feel a lot better today. Still spinny but much more manageable. I was thinking I may have an ear infection because it hit so quickly last night, but now I'm thinking I was just dead-dog tired. That tends to bring on the vertigo for me, too. I hit that wall where the body says,
that's enough; no more; time to shut down and take a time out. So.... today is my time out.
Christmas is in two days. I got my shopping done yesterday. Money is pretty tight this year, so it's not gonna be a huge Christmas gift-giving season for me, but I bought things for those that matter to me. That's what matters.
I didn't decorate or put up any Christmas decorations this year. The kids are at their mom's this week (just the way the calendar worked out), and the apartment has been too empty. Plus, I've been working a lot of overtime (I'm a wuss and not used to working OT!), so I haven't been here that much. Just seemed no point in festivizing the apartment when there's no one here to enjoy it.
I think I was meant to be born in a different era. This year has just gone way too fast. I don't mean just that time passed quickly, although it did. I remember LAST Christmas like it was yesterday. But, also, too much happened; life was too loud, too frenetic; There's no place to easily get away and find silence and just slow down. As I sit here, quietly writing, there's so much sub-level noise going on: the hum of the refrigerator, the fan of the computer, the ever-present mild rumble of cars passing by on Greenback Lane and in the parking lot, kids playing outside. Things that most of don't notice on a daily basis, but they are there.
I find myself already looking forward to summer, and camping, and the blanket of silence that exists in the high mountains. That's one of the things I look forward to most, the noticeable lack of background noise. I get out of my car when I park at the camp ground, and my ears ring in the silence. True quiet is a wonderful experience. Last summer I made a good start on my camping, and got away for 3 short camping trips. This summer I'm going to shoot for more. I think I need to find someplace to make a short winter getaway, too. But NOT in the snow. I hate snow... lol
Anyway, I ramble.... today's post is brought to you by Post Ramblies, the slightly sweet, nutty cereal made from nuts and fruits. Or is it made FOR nuts and fruits.....
Be sure to visit the
Save-Merry-Christmas website and support this local guy's boycott against The Federated department stores. Looney or not, he has a point, one that I tend to agree with. I hope to see the death of Political Correctness in my lifetime, though I'm not holding my breath.
Remember the Reason for the Season, folks. Christmas is nice and lots of fun, and the gift giving and receiving is awesome, but it would not exist without the birth of Jesus. Without his birth, the life he lead (a short 33 or so years), the death he died, the resurrection he experienced, and the hundreds that then saw him alive and believed, there would be no Christmas. Those believers taught others, who spread the Good News, about Jesus and the reconciliation with God, around the world, all the way to our present day. In 2000 years the message has never, ever changed. Society has co-opted the message and, as society is prone to do, twisted it to its own greedy desires (anything for buck, ya know?), but that message of Good News has never, ever changed.
That Good News
IS the Reason for the Season, folks.
Enjoy the holidays with your loved ones, and cherish the traditions your families have built. But take a moment, sometime during these holidays, to think about WHY you have this wonderful time of year to enjoy. Where did it come from? What are it's roots? Why is it so enduring and so cherished? The conclusion is inescapable.
Jesus is the Reason for the Season. Without Jesus, there IS no season.
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year, everyone!
Everyone has their end of the year, best of this-and-that lists. Every dictionary publisher has their own "word of the year", but I like The New World College Dictionary's "word of the year":