Today marked the return of the prodigal daughter. To celebrate, we went to my physical therapy appointment. On the way home we got a noble fir.
For our midnight tree decorating session, Tennessee Ernie Ford was Lulu’s music bed of choice. Then I put on one of my favorite Christmas ditties: St. Stephen’s Day Murders by Elvis Costello and Paddy Moloney.
With his gin-flavored whiskers and kisses of sherry,
His best Chrimbo shirt slung out over the shop.
While the lights from the Christmas tree blow up the telly,
His face closes in like an old cold pork chop.
We carefully stuck the ugly decorations at the back of the tree.
Stella didn’t help at all.
Every year my heart hurts when I come upon the ornament that Cedric Williams gave me in 1976. Twin brother to Dedric, he was 10 and living in the Section 8 complex across the street from us. Dedric was tough; Cedric was affectionate and sensitive. They hung out with JR who put nails in the end of a stick and killed a cat. Cedric wanted to be at our house every day after school and every free weekend minute. Eventually it drove me crazy and I stopped being very nice any more. But still he adored us.
In 1978, when I told him we were moving, he begged to come visit our new place. I said sure, but I left without saying where we were going. I never said goodbye, even.
Let’s talk about my health, shall we? At tonight’s SoundVision Productions Christmas winter holiday dinner there were abundant dishes of which every bite brought me big pain. I am so bloody sick of whatever’s wrong with me that I almost had a mid-meal meltdown. Only after I stopped trying to eat was I able to carry on a conversation. The cake, however, was painless, so I ate a shiteload of that.
When I got home, today’s blood test results were awaiting me online. Do you understand these things? Here are some of the results that were flagged as “abnormal.”
| Thing Being Tested | Normal People | Me |
| Iron | 35-160 ug/d | 13 |
| Total Iron Binding Capacity, Unsaturated | 92-365 ug/dL | 430 |
| Transferrin Saturation | 15-55 | 3 |
| Hemoglobin | 11.5-15.0 g/dL | 8.2 |
| Ferritin | 22-291 ng/mL | < 1.0 |
I hope a gal doesn’t need much ferritin cuz I sure ain’t got me none. Might this explain why I write in my blog so much?