His Name Was Michael

The experience was hopefully a once in a lifetime for me; I never want to re-live anything like that again. We were very fortunate structurally, as we lost nothing – just several beautiful trees down and a yard slam full of Pine limbs strewn everywhere; that would take days to clean-up the debris and get it to the road for trash pick-up.

We managed better than many as we have a gas water heater and a gas stove top. Both of those things provided hot showers, and manageable, albeit minimal meals. And that was okay in the first few days of the aftermath as we had a “cool front” come through. Then the heat began to climb again to crazy temperatures for any October on earth, and we were all sweltering and wondering if we would survive it.

For about 36 hours afterward, I would have to say the scariest thing was no cell service. The towers were all struggling and we couldn’t get a call in or out – and no texts were going through as well. My parents live in Albany, Georgia which is where the storm would travel to next and I had no way of knowing how they were faring through it all. Between not being able to reach them or talk to my oldest child in Vermont to reassure him, I am not exaggerating in the least when I say I thought I would lose my mind.

The way this town came together in the days afterward was just amazing. Everyone helping everyone else, chain saws buzzing and moving from house to house to help their fellow neighbor. As friends/people regained power, we had so many offers to come shower, borrow a generator, wash some laundry, or just come and sit and soak up some a/c and have a refreshment or two and try and feel human again for a few minutes.

And I have to give a special shout-out to Allen Suber of Winton Suber Heating and Air – he never fails to call on us and offer to help in absolutely any way that he is able; I will never forget his kindness and compassion during this time.

For days afterward, I would humor myself and maybe Face Book land, with my hair-drying antics and stories. Nothing about this has been fun, but you have to find the humor somehow or you just can’t get past it. Of course, continuing to look at pictures from all of our neighboring towns and beach cities was enough to sober anyone up and certainly enough to bring anyone whining back to reality. But I gotta tell you all, drying your hair (because eventually you have to go back to work and look presentable) while your home is 85 degrees INSIDE and trying to apply make-up that you’re sweating-off as fast as you can apply it – well it was quite the experience in itself.

I am praying for quick healing and recovery for all and I know how far and wide this horribleness spreads; but I still believe if we all come together, we can do anything. Even get through something as horrendous as a hurricane named Michael.

The Fight Continues - This is What Breast Cancer Looks Like

Breast Cancer – it’s an angry beast. It sneaks in, out of nowhere, in between one annual appointment and another and it plots. Sometimes it’s just a spot. Sometimes it's spread like branches on a tree. And sometimes, it’s exceeded the space allowed for the breast only, and is already invading lymph nodes, and lungs.

I don’t know about the rest of you ladies, but once I’ve had my annual mammogram, and it comes back clear, I don’t think about it again for another 365 days; at least I didn’t used to think about it again.  

Six years ago changed all of that for me; how I thought, how often I thought, and how much I would worry. One by one it seemed, I had female friends receiving that “you’re your worst nightmare” call. Within a four-year span, six of my closest friends would receive that call and their lives would change forever.

Every single one of them had been diligent about their annual breast exams, and all of them had gotten clean/clear results the year prior. So, to say my outlook on what a clear visit would really mean, would drastically change – is putting it mildly. Actually, one of them would test clear and within 6 months of a fluke recheck – she would find out she was positive.

Talk about unnerving for the rest of us gals. I personally felt like the check was only good for the day you had it, as anything could happen and you would never see it coming.

All of my friends rode their journey’s out. Some had to have their breasts removed and some just chemo and radiation. And please know, I don’t say “just” as loosely as it sounds, but it does seem less radical than the total removal of very personal body parts.

But I still have one very special friend who was diagnosed with Inflammatory Breast Cancer or IBC who is still fighting for her life. She is in remission but she has not, and may never reach the “all clear – you’re cured now” status. She was officially diagnosed in 2014 and she is still struggling. Still taking oral chemo treatments – only the radiation has stopped. She has 3-5 PET scans annually to ensure it’s not spreading into other parts of her body.

She knows this is her life – and yet still – she works every single day. And I mean manual labor work too – not sitting behind a desk in the air conditioning. She is a store-re-modeler/re-setter and she works harder than many men that I know. She lives out of a hotel 3 weeks out of 4 each month – and she is married to one of the best men alive.

She’s a fighter through and through, and anytime I’m having what I think is a crappy day – my head hurts or my knee is giving me problems; all I have to do is think of her and life is right back into perspective.

Get your annual exams. Be vigilant about paying attention to your body, you know it better than anyone else ever will. And love yourself the most – you have to still be alive – to be here for everyone else.

Life of a Television Addict

The question of the day in the Mims household is: how many shows can you pre-record on a cable DVR box? I have tried an internet search to find out, I have tried calling to find out. First thing, I don’t know what kind of box I have in my home. Second thing, WHY DON’T THEY KNOW what kind of box I have in my home? They gave it to me, I’m paying them for it monthly. Yes, it’s probably on my statement, but I threw that away once I paid the last monthly bill that was due, and no, I don’t do on-line bill paying.

So now that you know what an old antique of a human I am, you should also understand why I think THEY should know all of those answers! But they don’t, so they gave me scenarios over the phone that didn’t help me one iota.

Now if you’re wondering why all of a sudden, I need to know all of these things, it’s quite simple. The new Fall programming has begun and I watch A LOT of television. Almost of my shows from last year are back, with the exception of a few cancelled shows that I am still writing letters to the studio’s about as we speak, and there are at least a dozen new ones!

All of these shows of course, come on different networks at the same time, on the same night! It’s just not possible to watch them all as they are originally aired. The other night when I began to see what was scheduled so that I could pre-record to my DVR – my screen was lit-up like a Christmas tree with red bulbs all over it! I had no idea what the limit was of course, so I just kept hitting record until it told me to stop – or refused to go any further – neither of which happened!

But my other question was just how long it will hold all of those recorded shows for me? Is there a time limit? And once again, we went back to issue of what dang box I have that no one, including the people who bill me, quite extravagantly every month I might add, seemed to know.

I need to know that because some shows I watch alone and some shows my husband and I watch together. And depending on when he is working, and what time he has to go to bed, (with the chickens) also limits us as to how much time we have available to watch together. And you couples that watch together know what I’m talking about when I say what a hail storm it is when one dares to watch a shared program without the other!

So basically, what I am saying is this: I have an exorbitant amount of television viewing to do. I’m actually rather frazzled even thinking about it and it’s only the first week of the season! So, unless it’s a dire emergency, like you’re on fire, or you can see my house on fire from across the street – I’m going to be very busy. Don’t call me; I’ll call you.