I'm sorry but I've been unable to get a post up this morning do to being rather ill. I'm assuming a flu bug since I can't eat anything without feeling sick to my stomach. Hopefully I'll be able to get over this soon and go back to life as usual.
Take care everyone.
Wednesday, June 10, 2020
Wednesday, June 3, 2020
Lefties by Bonnie Le Hamitlon
Lately, I’ve seen a lot of things about lefties. First, just
this last week, I was reading an online article about different things service
people have seen, and one of the stories was a waitress walking up to a table
as the mother took the handle end of her knife and rapped the knuckles of her 5
year-old daughter, telling her that nice ladies use their right hand.
I was absolutely appalled! How Victorian can you get? I mean
really?
Okay, I know as recent as when I was growing up, people
considered it best to teach all children to use their right hand (Konnie has
clear memories of teachers scolding her for using her left hand, and that is
the reason she is ambidextrous today.)
Aside from her experience, I’ve heard stories of people
having emotional difficulties later in life because of the abuse they endured
in their youth over what hand to use!
The fact is, today we know better! We know there is nothing
wrong with being a lefty. Beyond that, what that mother said and did to her child was abuse! That is just wrong.
Here are a few I know about lefties:
First, Konnie isn’t my only lefty sibling.
Our baby brother, the youngest of the bunch, is a lefty. Of
course, he so much younger than us that by the time he came along, the world
knew there was nothing wrong with being a lefty, and accommodations should be made.
Dan had the good fortune of having Konnie for a big sister, let alone that she’d
already figured out she was a natural lefty before we learned he was one.
A fact I recently reminded our middle brother of.
Not too long ago I saw a post on Facebook about lefties being
creative and such, and it was asking viewers to comment if they knew any
lefties, and the first comment I saw was from our middle brother. He posted
that his younger brother was a lefty. So, I replied to his comment pointing out
that Konnie was too.
Okay, maybe he was too young remember Konnie being the one
who had to teach Dan to tie his shoes. I admit we didn’t have to worry about
sitting on Konnie’s left side at the dinner table, unlike Dan, but Konnie can
use either hand.
Which leads to more stories than anything.
One would be when we went to take our ACT. The test was
given at a nearby university and when the whole group entered the room where it
would be held, a lady informed us that the room had a few desks meant for lefties
and if they didn’t have enough lefties in the group, there might not be enough
seats. She actually asked if anyone would be willing to take one of the lefthanded seats.
Konnie, of course, had no problem with using a seat with the desk on the left arm rather than the right. And all the lefty seats, what
there were of them, were at the end of the aisles, so I got to sit next to
Konnie, being a solid righty.
I just remember the way that women looked at us when Konnie
announced she could use her left hand. I mean really! We’re identical, yet I am
a righty. And I can imagine the reaction of her classmates when she’d be
writing notes with one hand, get tired, and switch to the other for a little
bit.
Sometimes I wish I could do that, but alas, I was never
forced to use my nondominated hand in grade school.
Though my knowledge of lefties does help out some.
One time in college my roommates and I had several friends
over for dinner, and as we were sitting down, one of the guys said he
was a lefty. I had been about to take a seat at the head of the table, but the
instant he said that I told him he could sit there.
All my roommates wondered why I did that while all his knew
the issu e.
As we sat down, he leaned over to me and asked me who I knew
that was a lefty. I informed him I have two siblings who are lefties. He was
shocked since he was the only lefty in his family and amazingly, he had about
as many siblings as I had.
Turns out they run in my family. Remember that Facebook post
I mentioned earlier? Well, several distant cousins posted on it that they were
lefties! Not one, or even two, but several.
Yeah, I know more lefties than I thought.
Anyway, happy writing everyone!
Wednesday, May 27, 2020
EDS Awareness Month by Konnie Enos (and May Enos)
In
looking for a topic for today’s post, I came across the information that May is
EDS awareness month.
Now,
I have one child diagnosed with EDS and we assume at least two others have it
as well. (They have the symptoms but no doctor has diagnosed them.) We’re also fairly
sure they got it from my side of the family. (The EDS specialist who diagnosed
my daughter said I have at least a mild form of it.)
Since
my daughter’s is not mild, I could expound on how it has affected her life. I
could also explain how it affects her siblings. And in doing so I might bring
some awareness to the illness.
But
why would anyone take my word for it? At most, I can hyperextend a few joints.
I don’t have all the other issues this illness can come with. So instead of
reading what I have to say about it, I thought it’d be better to let you see,
hear from young women who are dealing with EDS on a daily basis.
What
follows are my daughter’s own words about EDS and a link she posted on Facebook
to a YouTube video by another suffer from EDS and some of her friends with the
condition.
May
Enos’ Facebook post 5/25/20
My friend Cheyanne,
put together this video for Ehlers Danlos Syndrome awareness month this year
and I just thought I'd share it for anyone interested in learning about this
genetic condition. The 2nd part is on her Youtube channel as well.
Ever since I
was diagnosed I have had way too many conversations with my brother, sister and
mom that shouldn't happen. People attack my character behind my back, to my
family. Claiming that I'm not really as sick as I say I am and that I'm making
it up. They call me a hypochondriac, crazy and say that I just heard about
Ehlers Danlos Syndrome and now I'm trying to convince everyone that I have
it...
The truth
is, I knew as much about Ehlers Danlos Syndrome as many of you before I was
diagnosed- that is absolutely nothing. I had never heard about it before my
doctor diagnosed me 7 years ago and those first couple of years I thought my
condition was mild and that EDS was not a big deal. Turns out I was wrong
though, because it's affecting me a lot more than I ever imagined. Due to
Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome I have Chiari Malformation, early onset degenerative
disc disease with spinal instability, kyphosis, scoliosis and spinal cervical
stenosis, Dysautonomia, heart valve issues, and I had an aortic aneurysm 2
years ago. I have Mast cell activation syndrome, and digestive tract paralysis
(my diagnosis here have included gastroparesis, gastrointestinal dysmotility,
and Chronic Intestinal Pseudo Obstruction among other things) where essentially
my entire digestive tract from the esophagus to colon is paralyzed and I also
have bladder paralysis. My abdominal organs are prolapsed by a condition called
Visceroptosis which has been classified as a rare and severe complication of
EDS. Along with these symptoms I also have daily joint subluxations (partial
dislocations) and dislocations, soft velvety skin, stretchy skin, and easy
bruising. I honestly could not make this stuff up if I tried.
My worst
symptoms of EDS are the digestive issues (the paralysis and organ prolapse
combined) and MCAS which has sent me into atypical anaphylactic reactions to so
many different things. Essentially I'm allergic to life but my worst triggers
have been nutrition (oral, enteral and parenteral nutrition) as well as various
chemicals in medications- which is why I'm not on many medications right now.
Everyone with EDS and it's various comorbid conditions is
different. This is just me. I didn't know about EDS before I was diagnosed and
now I know more than most of my doctors. Though I never imagined my life would
be like this I am grateful for my feeding tube, benadryl, and face masks (as
well as my old central line) that have helped keep me alive as well as for my
wheelchair, catheters, braces, ring splints, forearm crutches and heating
pad. 🙂
I think the biggest lesson I have learned through all of
this is that you have to believe in yourself. I had to learn to listen to my
body because doctors studied medicine, but they only know textbook and I'm
definitely NOT text book!
Now
here is the link she gave in her post. My EDS stories/EDS Awareness
Now you are a
little bit more aware.
Smile. Make the
day a brighter day.
Wednesday, May 20, 2020
Instagram and Me by Bonnie Le Hamilton
Since when is Instagram a dating service?
This is a legitimate question. I really need to know,
because I seem to have become the desire of every Tom, Dick, and Harry on
Instagram. And this is why I changed my profile picture to include my wedding
ring.
Yeah, I know, I’m a widow, but I’m also not looking.
Someone else might get bored living alone, or living with
just one pet, like I do, but that someone isn’t me.
Hey, I don’t mind them following me, but messaging me? Especially
messaging me like you already know me! This is not smart. I can see right
through that. Though I also got one message from a guy who started right into
giving me his bio, which included the fact that he owned two liquor stores.
Clearly, he doesn’t know me.
Just for the benefit of everyone who thinks both that
Instagram is a dating service, and that I, as a widow, am looking for a man,
you lose me at the mention of things like coffee and alcohol. Because even if
I were looking, which I am not, those things are against my religion, so, I’d
never pick a guy like you.
Except there is the big issue of I AM NOT LOOKING!
Yes, I am a young widow. And yes, there is no taboo in my
church about widows remarrying, but its personal choice. My choice is to stay
single.
I have a cat for companionship and I have family nearby, why
do I need some man to share my home?
So, what could be prompting these men into thinking I’m
searching for a man?
It can’t be financial, because while I do have money, I’m
barely making ends meet, and what money I do have is all tied to being Tom’s
widow. Meaning, if I remarry, I would lose all my income and my health
insurance. No thank you.
And, just a word of warning, with my health issues, and
bills, no sane man would want to take all that on.
Or maybe they think I’m looking because I’m a widow and a
romance writer. Both are mentioned in my Facebook profile. But there is no rule
saying a romance author has to have a romantic life, and well, I am an author. We're more like hermits. We like to be alone. It’s easier to write that
way.
What’s really confusing me is the ages of these guys. Some
of the messages I’ve gotten come from guys who seem to be in their twenties by
their profile picture. Twenties? Really? Come on, I turned twenty in 1982. My
identical twin sister’s youngest is nineteen.
Even if I were looking, I wouldn’t be looking that young.
And liquor store guy? Well, he informed me right off that
he’s 45! That would mean he was born in like 1975. Guess what, so was my middle
brother. I used to change his diapers.
I was a teenager when Ben was born. So, if I’m old
enough to have changed the diapers of someone your age, I’M TOO OLD FOR YOU!
And yeah, I have considered that all these men might
actually be scammers. Some may not even be men. I am fully aware of what
Catfishing is. And I have watched Dr. Phil on this topic.
So, it probably boils down the money issue or they think I’m
gullible.
Honestly, I almost got taken in by one guy. But he started
out about some bracelets I’d made and posted on Facebook. Ok, cool. I thought
he wanted to purchase one.
First, he wanted a color I didn’t have.
No problem, he could wait for me to make that color.
Then things got weird.
He started messaging me constantly, talking like we were
dating or something, and how he wanted to meet me. The thing is, at one point
he said he was from Salt Lake – just a couple of hours drive from me, but when
I mentioned having plans to go to Salt Lake, he wasn’t there, he was stuck out
of the country at the moment because of his job. Sounds fishy to me. As in cat-fishy.
Yeah, I ended up blocking him.
But the messages are still coming, so I sort of hoped
changing my profile picture to show my wedding would help.
Men, FYI, a widow who doesn’t take her wedding ring off, is
not ready, or willing, to date.
My wedding ring is firmly in place and I have no intention
of taking it off.
Now to the topic of writing. I haven’t gotten a lot done in
the last couple of weeks. Actually, I’ve managed no writing at all since my
last blog, but I finally finished editing “Mathias’s Dilemma”!
Anyway, happy writing everyone!
Wednesday, May 13, 2020
My Rant by Konnie Enos
As
a writer, I hear a lot about self-publishing. Going this way used to mean you
weren’t a good enough writer to make it in the big leagues. I’ve heard this isn’t
the case anymore but I’m beginning to wonder if the vast availability of new
books/authors is making our reading choices less.
It’s
not that there aren’t more books out there; it’s that there are fewer and fewer
well written and edited books offered. I’m also starting to discover how well written
a book has little to do with the author's experience or whether or not it’s
self-published.
Recently
I read some books that weren’t self-published and weren’t the author's first
books.
One
of the stories I found compelling and it kept me reading but in the end, I felt
cheated. She carefully crafted the story where one young woman was in a new
relationship with ALL the red flags and her four friends were worried about her
but would not listen to them when they tried to voice their concerns. She ended
up running off and eloping with this man and then moving to another country in
Europe. Through all of this, her friends are worried about her and trying to
find ways to make sure she is okay or rescue her if needed.
My
problem is, in the end, the author just drops it. Leaving this woman as happily
married without ever giving the reader any reasons why the marriage isn’t abusive.
If you’re going to put in all those red flags then you had better tell the
reader why they were false indicators or they are going to assume the young
woman is still in an abusive relationship and you didn’t finish the story.
Another
story I read was about a young man who experienced both abuse and bullying
growing up. The abuse was bad enough the local cops were quite familiar with
his family. Eventually, during one of his father’s drunken rampages, the young
man managed to hit his father just hard enough to unbalance him, causing him to
crash down the stairs and through a banister to his death.
The
problem is the whole premise of the story is the young man thought he’d gotten
away with murder so know he’s going to kill his bullies too.
One,
I can’t think of a soul who wouldn’t have seen his father’s death for what it
was. Self-defense. Two, in fourteen years he killed only two of his bullies and
in the same way. Then he killed one lady and attempted on another (again the same
way) before making three very different attempts on one lady and another
attempt on a different lady all in a matter of months. Yes, killers escalate,
but drastically changing his timeline and M.O.?
I
also had problems with the cops taking over a decade to figure out the first attempt
was murder and another couple of years to decide who his targets were while
they never realized the second and third murder had anything to do with the
case and never, in fourteen years, figured out who was doing it. The clues were
in the story. The entire world is not so dense they can’t figure it out.
I’m
just tired of reading published stories with clear flaws in their storyline or
huge plot holes, clear telling, redundancies, echo, and grammatical errors.
However, what really irritates me is published books with extra or missing
words. Well, that irritates me in drafts too but authors should edit well
enough to eliminate this issue. They should also know their craft well enough
to not have plot holes, telling, redundancies, echo, and grammatical errors in
their finished product.
So
I’m wondering how writers go about editing their books that they are missing
these issues. Do they rely on the same handful of people who can’t get these
problems fixed in their work? Do they not hire a professional editor?
I’m
still unpublished, but I know I need to correct any and all of the errors
mentioned above so I don’t know how or why published authors aren’t making the
same effort. Yes, I’ve read books by well-known authors with an error or two,
which I forgive. Somehow, they missed it in the editing. But those are small,
a missed or extra word here or there. One story has a wrong name in one place
(confusing but oh well, it’s just one error).
I
find the ones with large, glaring errors annoying.
Since
I’m still unpublished, what tips do you have, for other writers, to find and eliminate
these issues in their works in progress?
Let’s
work together to make our writing better.
Wednesday, May 6, 2020
My Thoughts by Bonnie Le Hamilton
I hate all the “May the fourth be with you,” and “Happy
Cinco de Mayo,” stupidity. Star Wars is fictional and Cinco de Mayo is to
celebrate being Mexican as in they are proud of being Mexican rather than American,
but they live in America!
And I do understand why they live here. Better standard of
living, a better job and education opportunities, but it’s like the scripture
that says, “No man can serve two masters.” If you love one country, you hate
the other.
Yeah, that may be an unpopular opinion, but it is true.
I’ve actually started to think St. Patrick’s Day falls into
the same category as Cinco de Mayo, both are celebrated more here in America
then in their so-called countries of origin, and both are about celebrating the
heritage of the people who immigrated from those countries.
Yeah, St. Patrick’s Day has been around longer, but to be
honest, it started in America to celebrate being Irish. But what happened to
being part of the American melting pot? What happened to unity? Why can’t we
all just be American? Not African-American, not Irish-American, not
Hispanic-American, not whatever else, just American!
I don’t consider myself Native-Dutch-English-Welch-Scottish-Irish-American,
but technically I am. And I don’t look at my neighbors and see race. I see my
fellow American citizens, nothing more, nothing less. And I don’t care about
their skin color either.
Not that I haven’t been accused of being a racist.
I have been a couple of times.
The first time happened while I still lived at home.
We lived on a corner, at the beginning of a cul-de-sac and I
spent a lot of time watching the three youngest members of our family. I always
told them to stay in our yard, and not go into the street, or outdoor playtime
would be over.
And I had to haul them in from the street several times, but
one time, I discovered them up the street playing with the grandkids of an older couple that lived there.
Well, they broke the rule, so I hauled them inside for
breaking that rule.
The next day that couple called me racist, which is when I
learned they weren’t in the street alone. I hadn’t noticed those other kids,
just Ben, Dan, and Patty, that’s all. Three little kids (only the oldest was in school at the time) playing in the street! The street where cars could be, and
they were too short to be seen. That was the only thing on my mind, not the
fact that they were people of color.
Years later as a Navy spouse living in base housing. Think townhouses,
four in a row, thin walls. I lived in the next to the last one.
I had lots of problems with noise from the neighbors blasting
their stereos. Once it was my neighbors on either side trying to drown out each
other, and I was caught in the middle.
I walked over to the office and complained.
A few days later I was returning home from the store when
the neighbor on the end walked over and blocked my path to my door.
He looked me right in the face and said I was racist.
I asked him what proof he had.
“First, you hate rap music.”
Excuse me? I couldn’t figure out how repeatedly
complaining about his loud stereo equates to him knowing I hate rap music. It
couldn’t be about the complaints because the neighbors on the other side were
blasting music I like! I still complained about them, almost as often as this
fellow.
“Second, you’re white.”
Wait. What? “That’s a prejudicial statement in
and of itself.”
“I can’t be prejudiced, I’m black.”
Behind him, his wife had buried her face in her hand shaking
her head slowly. Yeah, she was smart enough to realize how dumb her husband
was.
Later I talked to her about it, including asking her how she
could allow her husband (the stepfather of her FOUR young daughters) to play
that crap around her children.
She shrugged. “It’s just entertainment.”
“Have you listened to the words?” I know it’s changed since
then, but back then, that kind stuff was mostly about degrading and raping
women. It was sick.
She didn’t know what to say at the time, but a day or two
later she informed me she made him move his stereo off our shared wall. I never
heard that crap again. Though I have no idea if she realized that wasn’t decent
stuff to be listening to, especially around impressionable children.
And I can’t be the only one who has
experienced this kind of reverse discrimination since I’ve seen examples of this
on social media quite recently. Do any of you have such examples?
Happy writing everyone.
Wednesday, April 29, 2020
Of Celebrations and Holidays by Konnie Enos
Even
in stressful times, life still goes on. Babies are born, couples get married,
and people still have other events, such as birthdays, to celebrate. Only in
times like these, people have to change their plans.
No
large family gatherings to celebrate Easter, or Mother’s Day. You can’t go to
church or throw a birthday party. You can’t even have that regular lunch date
with your friends. Planners have to cancel meetings, events, conferences, etc.
Parents
who had been planning big parties to celebrate milestone birthdays, or Easter,
with their children, find themselves having to scale back, regroup, and re-plan
the whole affair.
My
granddaughter celebrated both her first birthday and Easter home alone with just
her parents. (Okay, technically last year was her first Easter, but she’d only
been a few weeks old then.) My niece wanted to give a birthday party to her
youngest, inviting all her friends. My husband and I both had conferences we
had paid to attend. People all over the place are changing plans because of
this.
I’ve
heard of numerous churches finding ways to have their church meetings online
(ZOOM, etc.) My church changed its semi-annual largest meeting to a completely
online version without the large gathering of believers. My local congregation
is posting our weekly lessons online.
My
daughter planned my granddaughter’s birthday party to be online. The only ones
in the room with her for her big day were her mom and dad. Her aunts, uncles,
and grandparents had to watch it on Facebook. My niece asked about celebrating
her daughter’s birthday and I suggested she do something similar. Easter for my
granddaughter was also just with her parents with pictures posted after the
fact. In our house? The day after Easter, we finally got some candy because
some members complained about not having any, though that’s about all we did to
celebrate it. (My kids are all adults.)
Now
I like to plan for birthday celebrations just as I start shopping for Christmas
almost as soon as the New Year starts. Because of this, I usually have all the
gifts I’m getting my youngest son for the entire year purchased sometime in
March. April at the latest.
This
year?
Well
first, I was working full-time and had no energy for shopping. Then we were in
lockdown. By early April, my son asked me if I’d gotten his gift yet. I think I
shocked him when I told him no. What’s worse, I didn’t even do the shopping
that week. It was mid-April before I even considered it.
First,
I asked all my family members to give me ideas for gifts for them. Once I
started getting the suggestions back, I started shopping. Of course, the first
one I got gifts for was my son, then my sister and her sister-in-law. Next,
I’ll get them for my middle daughter. (I do them in order of birthdays.)
What
finally spurred me into action?
My
youngest son came and sat down beside me, with a long face. “My birthday is in
a couple weeks.”
“I
know.”
“Are
we even going to be able to celebrate it?”
My
immediate response was, “Of course.” Then I got to thinking about everything.
Of course, I set to work making sure he’d get a gift, but I also thought of
everything my daughter and niece had to go through to celebrate their
daughters’ birthdays. I was thinking about how different their celebrations had
to be than what their mom’s had wanted them to be. How many people are
celebrating their birthdays in ways very different than they are used to?
My
son is high functioning autistic. He doesn’t handle change very well.
Then
it dawned on me.
We
are going to celebrate his birthday exactly as we always celebrate it. At home,
just those family members who live in this house. He picks the cake, dinner, and
ice cream. We sing “Happy Birthday” to him. He opens any presents we got him.
For
him, nothing needs to change because how we usually celebrate works just fine
during all of this.
So
Friday, we’re going to get ice cream and make a cake and pizza. We’re going to
eat pizza and sing to him before we cut the cake. If his gift has arrived yet
(which it isn’t scheduled to), he’ll open it. Then we’ll have cake and ice
cream. Just like we always do.
It’s
nice to know not everything has to change when the whole world is topsy-turvy.
So
happy nineteenth birthday, Royce. I hope you have a day just like normal
because I know you’d prefer it.
Smile.
Make the day a brighter day.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)