Ups and downs

[shiredancer]

What was really depressing about yesterday was getting bombarded with sad news. Like my best friend calling to cancel our lunchtime walk because she was at her mom's care facility -- and in tears. She didn't elaborate but I'm afraid the news isn't going to be good. Her mom is one of the sweetest women I've ever met, and about a decade younger than my own mother -- but she's been in a stroke-induced decline into dementia (not quite Alzheimer's) and I expect things just got worse. And one of my grad students came in and told me her fiance of two years just dumped her for another woman -- in a really mean way, no gentle let-down -- and she's severely depressed, not eating, barely functioning, but under academic pressure to keep up with her work. Aaaarggghh. I did the paperwork for her to get her out from under the immediate problem, but all I could do was hug her and spout the usual cliches that don't do anybody any good. She was crying and I felt so useless. And four kids from the high school where my sister is the librarian were killed in a senseless automobile accident and not found for two days. One of them might be the son of somebody I went to high school with.

That was about enough bad news for one day. But then one of the faculty was talking about her diabetes, and weight issues, and it suddenly clicked that my husband's *entire* family has diabetes now except him, males and females alike, and my daughter is probably genetically predisposed, and she's been putting on a lot of weight, and now I feel like I've enabled her right into a serious health issue and now I can enjoy a Bad Mother Guilt Complex.

There was supposed to be an "up" side to this, wasn't there? Oh yeah, I had my 50-year doctor appointment today and I'm disgustingly healthy.

Comments

[dustybinx.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I scan white_trillium's friend's list. I suppose it's kind of like evesdropping.

The cat icon comes from 2 cats my mother had. She took several pictures until she was able to come up with this one. They are a couple of clowns.

[shiredancer.livejournal.com]

Oh no, not eavesdropping at all! I think everbody reads friends-of-friends -- as far as I know it's very welcome. That's probably how I met most the folks on my friends list, come to think of it...