I’d planned on a different post for today, but sometimes my migraines get me down and it’s hard to think and/or write. This headache began Monday night and kept me awake as the storms that swept through the South that night raged on. It didn’t go away yesterday but waxed and waned thoughout the day. As one set of medicine wore off the intensity of the pain increased until I could take another dose. I’m hoping it will be better today. I try to go about and do what I need to do when when I have headaches like this, but it’s usually at a reduced capacity when the pain is this intense. So last night as I was writing this post, my medicine had worn off, and I was feeling the intense pain come back. I’m hoping a good night’s sleep will help alleviate this headache.

In my post on Wednesday, I discussed how I haven’t been able to take a nap in the afternoon, even though I was tired. Well, by the time school was over yesterday, I was so exhausted, I could barely hold my head up. I think I might be coming down with something because I ached all over. This was not just a headache, it was body aches. I wasn’t running a fever though, which was good. I got home, got undressed, and went straight to sleep. I woke up a few hours later to check my phone for messages and to answer a phone call, then tried to go back to sleep, but this time I could only lay there. I eventually got out of bed and got something to eat, then I went back to bed. I did some reading, some work, and watched some TV. Eventually, I fell back to sleep. I hope I continue to feel better today. I really don’t want to be sick. Sunday, I am supposed to go with my mother to see the 75th anniversary showing of Gone with the Wind. I’m excited to see it in the movie theater, and to see my mother see it in the theater again. She saw it on the 25th and 50th anniversaries. It’s her favorite movie and these tickets were part of her birthday from me this year. So I need to be feeling better.

Sometimes an afternoon nap is exactly what you need, at least I do. I know there are some people out there who can’t nap, but I love them. I used to come home each afternoon, snuggle with HRH, and, many days, take a thirty minute to an hour nap before it was time to start cooking supper. I haven’t napped much in the last week or so because she hasn’t been here demanding that I be still.

Last night I came to my room after supper, and I laid down. It had been quite an exhausting day. So I laid down, quite similar to the picture above (I did peruse a little porn), and tried to “cat” nap. I just couldn’t. I knew I didn’t want to nap long because I wanted to watch the new NCIS: New Orleans. However, sleep never came, so I got up and went and watched NCIS, which I never do, and waited for NCIS: New Orleans to come on. It wasn’t too bad, and I will give it a shot and at least watch a few episodes of it. I always love seeing New Orleans, though I’d rather be there in person.

Naps are not a luxury I have right now. I hope I will be able to nap again soon. At some point things will have to slow down, and I will have tog,et used to not snuggling with HRH. I usually sleep better at night, if I’ve had a nap, and it certainly helps by making it easier to wake up the next morning and start a new day, though a shower and coffee also does wonders for that.

By the way, I know this post is kind of random, but does this week feel like it is going by incredibly slowly. I kept thinking all day yesterday that it was Thursday. I was so sad when I realized that it was only Tuesday.

I probably shouldn’t admit this, but unless I’m taking notes my mind tends to wander a lot. I kept focused in school by always taking notes, but my mind tends to wander when I don’t take notes, especially in church when I’m just listening. The preacher was giving a lesson on Psalms 46, particularly “Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10). The message was about how busy we get in life, and how sometimes we just have to stop and realize that no matter how busy we are God is there with us. Just because we are busy, God still loves us and we should do our best to glorify Him.

So there were two particular thoughts that I had while in church. Two of the couples that attend my church had their grown sons there today. I will just say this, one I know from the years his family has been coming to our church, but he now lives in North Carolina, the other I’d never seen at church before. My NC friend is pretty hot, just saying. He’s very nice and so good looking. If only he was gay. The other guy was not bad looking either, so I may have had a few impure thoughts in church. Ok, so I did have a few impure thoughts. I couldn’t help myself. Not the best thing to be thinking about, but like I said, my mind wanders sometimes.

My other thought was how wonderful it would be to have a boyfriend sitting next to me in church. I always sat on the bench with my grandmother, with my parents in front of me, and my aunt behind me. Since my grandmama passed away a couple of years ago, I sit on the bench by myself. Our song leader always says come back next week and bring someone. I’d love to take someone to church with me. A friend is a friend, and honestly, no one would have to know it was anything more. But as my mind wandered, it thought how nice it would be to have a man I love sit next to me in church and enjoy the wonderful message our preacher delivered and to sing along with him and beside him. One of the things I love most about church is the wonderful singing. There is no sound more beautiful to me than a church of people singing a cappella. I’d love to share that with someone I loved some day.

I had two brief relationships over the summer, but both dissipated for whatever reasons. I continue to search for the right man, though I fear that I won’t find that man until I am moved away from here. I’m still searching for a better job opportunity, and hopefully something will come up, and it will allow me to live a more open life. Until then, I will not stop dreaming.

Her Royal Highness “The Queen”
AKA HRH
September 13, 1998 – September 11, 2014

It’s with a very heavy and sad heart that I write this post. Victoria (HRH) took a turn for the worse last night and today. I took her to the vet this afternoon after school. There was nothing they could do for her. I had to have her put to sleep. I couldn’t watch her suffer. She’d begun gasping for breath, and when they did a blood test today, they knew she was severely anemic. Oxygen just couldn’t get to her tired and worn out body. She was already in enough pain from the arthritis. The vet said it could be one of two things, either her kidneys were failing or there was a disease in her bone marrow. Either way, there just wasn’t a treatment for her. He said I had a choice. I could take her home tonight, and she may pass away with a great deal of pain in the next twelve hours, or she could live through the night in pain and I could bring her back in the morning, and he’d spend all day running tests. He said they’d have to let her rest between each test because they’d already almost lost her when they drew blood.

I couldn’t let her suffer. I asked if I could have some time with her, and they let me. I petted her and stroked her head, talking softly to her and reassuring her that the pain wouldn’t last much longer. We cried together, and then I called the vet back in. They gave her a sedative, and she did not react well to it, then they gave her the other medicine and she went to sleep. Victoria passed from this world to the next at 5:35 pm, Thursday, September 11, 2014. She would have been 16 in just a few days.

I will always miss Victoria, just as I will always miss my beloved Calico who died in 2003 at the age of 18. Whereas Calico was always sweet and even-tempered, Victoria could be ornery. But Victoria loved me and I loved her. We’d been almost constant companions for 16 years. We’ve been with each other and comforted each other through some difficult times. She will now never suffer again.

I love her, and I will miss her terribly. Good-bye, Vic.

I have to keep HRH isolated from the other cats so that we can monitor her bathroom habits and eating more closely, so we have her in a large dog cage. It’s large enough to give her room to move around but small enough for her not to be too far from her essentials. As soon as I got home yesterday, I opened the cage door, but she showed no interest in wanting to get out. I finally got her out of the cage to see if she’d walk, which she did but he still can’t put full weight on her back legs. The steroids have not had enough time to bring down the swelling along her spine, but she was able to move more yesterday, though it obviously caused her a great deal of pain. When she walked about three feet and them sat down and began to cry, I went and picked her up and just cuddled with her and stroked her. She began to purr and seemed content. When I got ready for bed, I put her back in the cage where I hope she slept peacefully through the night. The night before I got up several times to check on her.

First of all, the photo above has nothing really to do with the post, but I loved it and wanted to use it. That being said, I saw a tweet yesterday by my friend and fellow teacher Robert (@seminole94) that said, “At some point this school year I’m going to feel like I’m ahead of the game. I’m guessing that’ll be around June.” I feel the same way. The Rolling Stones may have sang “Time is on my side, yes it is,” but I don’t often feel that way. Time is not on my side, no it is not. I was in the midst of writing a post for last night, and I realized that it was going to be a fairly long one with a lot of editing and it had already grown late, so I decided that I’d postpone it for another day, either Friday or Monday.

Anyway, there’s a lot going on and I’m just trying to keep my head above water without wearing myself out in the meantime.

Though summer isn’t quite over, and if the heat wave Alabama is currently having is any indication, we have quite a ways to go. But for many people, Labor Day marks the end of the summer season. Schools used to wait until after Labor Day to start back, but I don’t know any schools that do anymore. For educators and students, our summer has been over for nearly a month, if not more. I had a busy but wonderful summer and I hope all of you did as well. Here’s to looking forward to the cooler temperatures this fall. I hope you’ve all had a wonderful Labor Day weekend, maybe some of you even went to Southern Decadence in New Orleans. One day I’m going to make it down there for that.

I’d originally planned a longer post for today but I’m having Internet issues here on the lake, so this will have to do.