SurvivingSara

Category: Uncategorized

  • Parent is Also a Verb November 21, 2021

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    Sara Z
    in

    The most important thing to keep in mind when parenting is making sure the message of love gets through. No matter the age or issue, whatever the looming consequences or agonizing disappointment involved, you are the adult. It’s important to guide your child, more closely for kids in their preteens and younger, but let them…

  • Strategic Existentialism

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    Sara Z
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    I’ve been running from myself so long, no wonder I’m exhausted. Two years into disabling illness, one ability hasn’t left me. I run in an unending mental marathon, but I can’t escape my broken mind and body. I’m with me wherever I go. Because my perspective on personal circumstances has proved untrustworthy in the past,…

  • Parent is Also a Verb 11/17/21

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    Sara Z
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    In life B.C. (before children) I was trained in two parenting curricula in my capacities as a public health educator and, later, as the program director at a crisis nursery. So, in my late 20’s/early 30’s, I found myself teaching parenting classes to a high risk population, some court ordered. Having zero real life experience…

  • Les Vents de l’Amour

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    Sara Z
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    I see your love, like I see the wind. Just as the wind floats a leaf on a gust or sails a flag, I see your love as I read your sweet messages or catch you smiling at me when I didn’t know you were watching. I sense the aroma and flavor of your love,…

  • Through the Wringer

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    Sara Z
    in

    What a week it’s been. Whew. Over the last several days, excruciating pain plus symptoms of shaking, temperature dysregulation, sweating, nausea, vomiting, confusion, and uncontrollable tears have wrung me dry. A week ago, following a tooth extraction by an oral surgeon, I was in bad shape; I did have oxycodone prescribed and it helped, a…

  • It’s Just Me

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    Sara Z
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    Wow, I’m having a tough time. I first was thinking I shouldn’t write this. Why put this out there? Wah, wah, wah. But then I thought that mood is how I’m feeling, and maybe there’s someone out there who would feel even a little less lonely if I publish a post reflective of my difficulties.…

  • A Message from Above?

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    Sara Z
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    Just a newsy update: Following a necessary extraction of an upper molar, my body is in a full fibromyalgia flare. Given the surgeon said the tooth seemed to be seated in concrete, safe to assume the lower and upper jaw was traumatized. Pain and tightness cover my neck, temples, shoulders. In addition, a current fibro…

  • Is There Bonus Pay for This??

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    Sara Z
    in

    Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had my share of fillings, root canals, crowns, extractions, etc. This past Tuesday, I underwent removal of an upper molar, and the aged oral surgeon’s hands shook.😳 No sedation provided by this guy. He does extractions with serious local numbing. Less risk. My prior extraction occurred while I was in…

  • The Long Weigh Down

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    Sara Z
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    In early October, at lunch with my mom and sisters, we discussed Bright Line Eating. I’d never heard of it but one of my sisters has had great success with it. (See post ‘Bright Lines’ from October 6, 2021.) This is an update on my weight loss efforts. When I lamented about the rollercoaster effect…

  • Lone Goose Blues

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    Sara Z
    in

    Canadian geese have been migrating overhead for a few weeks by now. In the past 20 years, I’ve not seen or heard many lone geese. Yes, there’s frequently a straggler in the V formation and I’ve become familiar with the adolescent rebel straying out to the side, as if to say, “Hey, look at me,…

  • After the Ink

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    Sara Z
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    Reggie drew up a beautiful tattoo for me, not as uptight as the original little bouquet of wildflowers I considered but not as loose and abstract as Chihuly glass. (He did keep moving his mask up & it kept sliding down. They had good “mask required” signage. Everyone in the shop wore them, including customers.)…

  • Nada

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    Sara Z
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    Two pieces of bad news yesterday have got me emptied. If I speak, my voice will crack and tears will fall. Stop thinking. Don’t dwell. No feelings. Tears roll down cheeks if they must. Vague melancholy bests sobbing. Television provides distraction for brief respites, but physical pain permeates. Hollowed out currently. Too painful to think…

  • Countdown: 3 Days

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    Sara Z
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    New tattoo being inked on Sunday, October 24th! When the tattoo studio manager called to confirm my upcoming appointment, he asked if I had reference photos. Apparently, the first email they requested back in August didn’t land in the correct inbox. I was, actually, relieved. I’ve given my new tattoo a lot of thought since…

  • Incapacitated

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    Sara Z
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    My brain is taking a break, apparently. It affects everything. Being unable to come up with a word is foreign to me. I was so sharp and I thought it would be so as I went through my fifties and sixties. Never imagined I’d experience deterioration in my mid 50’s. Fog moves in, curling around…

  • We Have a Winner!

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    Sara Z
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    Dear Reader, You may want to read the previous post, “A New No,” before this one, but not required in order to enjoy! ~ Sara When friends and family extend invitations, I’m excited about the prospect of a get-together, a barbecue, or birthday drinks. Immediately, I think about what I’ll wear, a major concern following…

  • A New No

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    Sara Z
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    20 years ago, my nextdoor neighbor asked me in her ever-chirping voice, “What are you doing Thursday?” Unknowingly, I plunged headlong into the quicksand. “Nothing on Thursday,” imagining she was going to ask if I wanted to go to a movie or something. Even more cheerfully, she responded, “Oh, good! Doug and I have concert…

  • Shakespeare Said What?

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    Sara Z
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    There was nothing much exCiting going on in my childhood neighborhood but, nonetheless, thE first interest I had in spying type aCtivities was sneaking between baCkyards and eating tomato sandwiches a la “HarriEt The SpY.” I noted anything seen in my spy boOk, just like Harriet. I recently watcheD some of “Crack the Shakespeare Code”…

  • Life in Color

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    Sara Z
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    One of the whitest areas in the country is where I grew up. The racial makeup of the city where I lived in 1980, as well as changes in the population since 1970, is seen below. So, you see; I was not exaggerating when I described this area as one of the whitest in the…

  • Misadventures of an Accidental Ministry Leader

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    Sara Z
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    Although my husband and I enjoyed our little, liberal, Presbyterian, gray-haired, 100-person congregation, we moved to a large church down the road, located on a private university campus, in order to provide our kids with a children’s program. I had no idea, until then, how much more conservative Presbyterians might be. In the 2000’s, as…

  • Tinnitus?

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    Sara Z
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    Imagine you attend a sporting event, arena concert, or any large indoor event with cheering and clapping. At the conclusion, you walk out to your car and notice the sounds around you are muffled. Inside your head, a loud ringing noise, so annoying!, fades away by the time you get home. Now imagine it never…