A Box to Alex

 (from a student in summer AMH2020 online)

 

I chose to send a package to Alex. People who have a debilitating medical condition really inspire me. Often times I wonder if I was put in the same situation, would I be able to live under those conditions. I chose to send the package to Alex because I can image how hard it is to get things in Alex’s condition. I know that people help Alex with getting food and other but I’m sure its nice to see how much support Alex can get from the outside world. Plus, I know I would love to get random packages that contained movies, food and other assorted goodies.

 

 I think the packages would really show Alex just how much everyone supports him. 

 

I’ve learned from my package to Alex that even the simplest items can go forgotten in everyday life. 1Things that I take for granted can mean the world to someone else. Simple items such as a movie and some popcorn can make someone else’s day. I think that when Alex receives all these packages we realizes just how many people support him. The other good thing about these assignments is that they make people act kindly towards one another. In current times, people seem to have forgotten what its like to be nice to one another. No one is nice any more and everyone seems to not care about each other. It’s nice to see people caring about each other again.

For the most a part I think these missions are about brining kindness back to the world. These days, kind acts are few and far between.

 2There is so much hate and discontent in this world. We need more kindness and kind acts towards other. I think this is the main problem in our society today. Everyone is so worried about racial issues when all we need to do is to be nice to one another. These assignments I think bring that niceness back to some people. And, hopefully those people will continue the generosity in their everyday lives. I know I will.

Diet Coke Rock Bottom

I remember my first Diet Coke. It was 1985, and we hit it off immediately.  I was a teenager that always felt fat and always felt hungry. Diet Coke promised to be part of skinniness, something to help push the hunger back.

It worked (sometimes) and besides that it kept me super bouncy, like Tigger from Winnie the Pooh.

Over the years, Diet Coke was more than a companion.

 It was more than cheap and easy refills at Circle K.   

 It was an excuse to go somewhere (I need a Diet Coke and also…).

It was dance partner.

 It became a currency in my life. Ex: I thought of you and brought you a Diet Coke, now would you please...

It played hide and seek with me during lecture.

It made me happy, it made me laugh.

There was no one moment that made me say stop.

Maybe it was something magic in my lucky rock that was helping me let go of things that didn’t serve me anymore.

Maybe our relationship had just run its course.

I didn't have to hit Diet Coke Rock Bottom, which I imagine is something between kidney failure and running out of gas on a dark road because you spent your last dollars making sure you have enough Diet Coke for tonight and tomorrow morning.


For whatever reason, I just wanted to see what would happen next in my life if I gave up Diet Coke. So I did.

I didn't go through withdrawal, I didn't lose my mind and spit pea soup. I didn't hide Diet Coke in wine bottles and sneak sips of it with dinner.

I just let it go and now I am able to sit quietly. 

Except that right after I gave up Diet Coke, the universe sent me an Apple Watch and wearing it is a full time job. It tells me when to stand, how much effort counts as “exercise” and evaluates my overall usefulness to humanity. 

 In between driving the kids in circles and marching around as my Apple Watch mandates, I curl up on the sofa and follow links from medieval art into digital libraries and click around until the sun fades and my watch tells me to get up and move around (seriously, it cares so much that it totally controls me, this isn't a problem, right?). 

I read chapters of books that bore me, followed by entire books that made no sense at all but were more interesting than watching people get all excited about blending things into a puree on home shopping channel.

The only time I have been tempted to have a drink was last week at our dinner at Veterans Village when I found myself face to face with an entire line up of former loves -- Coke Zero, Diet Coke, Caffeine Free Diet Coke.  I scooped ice into a cup and walked away, leaving the drinks to bless other people.

AMH1050 - images #2

AMH 1050: Images to Help You Study for Exam #3

Downward Dog Morning

It is early in the morning on the first of my two day vacation between Spring and Summer semester.

Actually, my life is a vacation, so let me try this again.

It is early in the morning was on the first of my two day hiatus between semesters when I decided to get up and look at the moon before doing my morning yoga.

I like fresh air. It tastes better, like it has more oxygen (must be all the trees, ask me again after we cover this in 5th grade homeschooling science).

At first my dog Mia didn't want to go outside with me.

She's not a puppy now. She's like 13 months and those extra weeks make all difference. She is SUCH a teenager. She doesn't bounce as much. She doesn't love as wildly. She mutters to herself and yelps at things no one else can see that seem to TAUNT her from under the sofa.  These days I come home and open  Mia's cage expecting a burst of kisses but more often than not my dog stretches a bit, adjusts her head out of a pool of drool and falls back to sleep.

This morning she managed to get up and come out with me.

At first she was suspicious that there might be a wetness on the ground that would bust her zen morning.

Slowly and cautiously she moves ahead of me.

One step, two steps. Clear.

I follow her and look up at the fading stars and laughing moon. I don't care that I am wearing a superman t-shirt that I jacked from Zoe. I don't care that these shorts might be a little too short. It is dark and clear and I feel unseen.

Mia takes another step and then falls into what can only be called downward dog pose.

Just as she hits the best part of her morning stretch, a stream of something watery and brown shoots out her butt and all over my leg in a splattering pattern that could probably be duplicated with a fire hose and a short range target.

I didn't scream but I did wince as gracefully as I could without waking the neighborhood.

As I turned to retreat I almost tripped over Mia who was now very awake and trying to clean me off in the best way that dogs know how to clean people off, which did not involve towels or soap. 

At that point, I screamed.

I screamed like like a girl.

I screamed like like a girl.who was equally grossed out and paralyzed until the grossed out part won over the paralyzed part and then I took a long shower and contemplated the epic awesomeness of my summer vacation.