Fall

Hey guys, welcome back. I know, I know, it’s been a minute since I’ve been here. If it makes any difference, I hate that I’ve been so inconsistent with my posts. However, it’s been a time and I’m back!

We’ve been having some brutal storms here in the northeast, the most recent being the seemingly never ending Nor’easter we just went through over this past weekend. Just two weeks before that, we had almost 8” of rain in a matter of hours after having almost that much just two weeks before that. Living in a coastal town, our city ended up under a lot of water…thankfully, as opposed to many others, I live on top of a hill and we fared well through it all. (Although the wind this past weekend nailed us pretty hard.)

Having said that however, it is my favorite time of the year and frankly, I love a good storm. Not that I like the damage they cause of course. But I’m one for sitting in the quiet, listening to the wind and rain rattling the windows while I sit inside with a hot beverage and a good book. Fall feeds my soul. Add in a storm? And I’m in a good place.

(Also, we have VERY loud kids who live in our complex that do nothing but let out high pitch screams for hours and after a Summer full of that, having them have to stay inside because of the storms was a nice break.)

Unfortunately, I’ve also been sick. Even coming off antibiotics, I’m very much still not right and haven’t been motivated to do much. All I want to do is sleep. Although I’m back in a nice rhythm with edits again and have been reading a rather excellent new book, I literally fell asleep with my hands on the keyboard last night. I didn’t remember doing it and woke up in a cold sweat of panic that I deleted chapters by accident. (I didn’t, but it woke my ass up that’s for sure!)

It’s discouraging because I had been doing well. I was walking so much better, working out almost daily again and just gearing up for my favorite time of the year. Then I pushed myself too hard one day and haven’t been right since. Walking is so damned hard. I thought I had Covid, but thankfully tested negative even though every symptom is there. Went on two rounds of antibiotics and still, I feel like hell.

With no discernible immune system, I can’t just get the sniffles. I get sinus infections that lead to bronchitis that in the past has led to pneumonia and 10 years ago, led to me on crutches barely able to hold myself up. I get sick every Fall like it’s on the calendar of public holidays.

I was talking about this earlier. Someone once asked me, ‘if your favorite time of the year is September to New Year’s Eve, but you get sick every year during this time, why is it still your favorite?’ I mean, I get the question. Logically, there should be no reason for it. I should dread this time of the year knowing what’s coming. But Fall? Is my soul season. (So much so, I made a design out of that phrase for one of my shops.)

The leaves changing, the crisp air, NO HUMIDITY OR MOSQUITOS, looking forward to the holiday ads…every little thing to come just gives me a happiness I don’t have the rest of the year. So sure, I may end up in bed and looking at the goodness outside through a window. However, watching my trees change color has me taking deeper breaths of relief. Living in hoodies and snuggling down under blankets have me sleeping deeper. I smile more. And what is so wrong about that? Nothing.

We all have those things that make us do that. Smile. These days, we need to hold on to those things even more. Hold on to the smiles. Hold on to the happy. Hold on to the little things that give us the breaks from the stresses of life.

Do I worry about my health? Of course I do! I’ve been dealing with so much over the last 10 years not to. And now I’m in a panic over possibly losing my insurance when the new year comes. Something, I cannot afford to lose with my situation.

So let me see some bright orange, red and yellow leaves. Let me see the silly M&M Halloween commercials. Let me spot the super early holiday ads promoting new light displays and trees. Because these simple things are not only fun to do every year but hey, they’re free! And when they say money can’t buy happiness? While ok, I can’t fully agree with that, as money can buy books…but there’s so much to see and do this time of the year that IS free and creates a happiness not found at any other time of the year.

I have a line in my manuscript that resonates so much here and is so, so true: “Happiness doesn’t come along that often my friend, grab it while you can.”

And that is where I will leave you for today. As always, I hope you got something out of this post and I thank you so much for hanging in there with me. Consistent posting or not, I promise to keep coming back and hope you will as well.

Until next time friends…Cheers!

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If you’d like to follow my socials including #booktok click: HERE

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If you’d like to check out my shops with lots of my own designs on lots of items, including seasonal, (Halloween, Christmas and more) as well as everyday fun stuff, click: HERE

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If you’ve made it this far, I thank you and will see you soon!!! 🙂

Photo credit: stafichukanatoly on Pixabay

Hey guys, welcome back! I know, I know, it’s been a while. (Good song.) The Summer fog has taken hold and I have been less than motivated to write anything…and I mean, anything.

Besides missing out on the fun here, I haven’t even touched my manuscript in several weeks. This has never happened before. I’ve gone a day or two to regroup, but I haven’t so much as opened it up and looked at it in quite a while. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not done. Not by a long shot. I’ve even been coming up with some story ideas that can get me from cover to cover while being able to delete a bunch of things and get my word count under control, it’s the sitting down to do it that gets me stuck.

I’ve mentioned here several times that I am not a Summer person. The heat gets to me, the humidity messes with my breathing (and my hair), all things that don’t exactly inspire motivation. Funny thing is though, these last weeks, physically I’ve been feeling better. I’ve lost weight, I’ve started moving a little more and yet, the brain fog continues. It’s like I can’t concentrate on anything except reading. I just want to sleep. A lot. So I have been. I had just come off of a long insomnia period, something I get a few times a year and making up for it in spades. I’ve finally talked myself into sleeping whenever it hits me. Like most people, I try to push myself to stay awake to get things done. But how good is that if it feels like you are going through life sleepwalking? Besides, my most recent health setback hit a year ago this week. If I push myself too much, it will just hit all over again and I refuse to lose another year of my life. So I rest when I need to rest…as should you. Listen to what your body is telling you, trust me on this one. The rest will even itself out and soon I’ll be back to my regular OCD schedule of doing the same thing day after day, something that most may consider boring but I consider almost soothing in a way. It’s what makes me, me.

Anywhoo, onto other things…

These dog days of the season have me reminiscing a lot. For me, it’s a kind of milestone time as it was twenty years ago this year that I met the group of friends I have now and my life was never the same.

Our group here in CT is the most international mix of people I have ever been with in my life. We have French, Dutch, Danish, Asian, Czech, Hispanic, tons of Irish among others. Less than a handful of folks are actually from Connecticut. I’m not originally from here myself, but I have now lived here for 32 years, longer than anywhere else in my lifetime and I now consider my city my home town.

I don’t know about you, but one way I relive memories is through music. Lately, I’ve been listening to a lot of old playlists and with every song I’m thrown back in time like I’m still there. I can picture being on the dance floor on a Friday night or staying after hours at the bar with the late night crew making up our own drinks. Seeing each other every day. Talking for hours about nothing and everything all at the same time. Heading down to Yankee Stadium or to a concert together and getting silly on the way to and from the venues. Sunday brunches and dart games and laughing until we had tears in our eyes and our stomachs hurt.

Since those days we’ve seen couples meet, get married, have kids. Some of those kids are now in high school dreaming of their own futures and still not knowing what their parents were like back in the day. I have graciously offered not to tell them as long as I’m paid handsomely by their parents. I mean, what are friends for, right? 🙂

We may not see each other every day or hell, even every month or year anymore but knowing they are still there means everything. I dubbed them my second family a long time ago and I mean it every time I say it. We know that whether a few blocks away or several states away, we can still drop a text or DM and they will be on the other end. If there is an emergency, we know who to call. They are never far from my heart, head or occasionally, my back deck. They found me when I was in my mid thirties and through them, I found myself. Twenty years later, I still owe them for that.

While looking back is always fun, looking forward to the unknown can be scary. It can also be exciting. Case in point, FALL IS ALMOST HERE! Yes, I am excited. My favorite time of the year is almost upon us and as I missed it all last year, I refuse, REFUSE to miss out this year. At least that’s what my mind is telling me.

I get such a rush from the cooler temps, the changing leaves, all the pumpkin spice lattes and goodies that come out every year. I breathe better, I think better and here’s hoping that this year I move better. We all have that time of the year that speaks to us. For me, it’s from September 1st through New Year’s Eve. After that, you can have the rest of it. Ok, so I’ve been enjoying Spring a little more, but the ‘Ber months? That’s when I feel alive and that is something to look forward to!

And that my dear friends, is where I will leave you for today. I hope that you too have something to look forward to and that maybe you got a little something out of this post.

Thank you for continuing to follow me here, even though I drop the ball every now and then. But hey, I always come back and when I do, I hope that you get something, even a little something, out of what I post here.

Until next time folks…Cheers!

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To find my links including my Amazon storefront, shops and socials (including my #booktok) click: HERE

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I am doing the Read Every Day Challenge in August for the American Cancer Society. If you’d like to make a donation, you can click HERE (thank you!)

To listen to Staind’s “It’s Been a While” click: HERE

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If you’ve gotten this far, thank you so much and I’ll see you soon! 🙂