Wake Me When September Ends

Yes, I know, we're talking romance clichés this month, but honestly, I have no opinion on them good or bad. I think the whole "love 'em/hate 'em" debate is more a writer's peeve than a reader's.  Reader's really don't care if your plot is overdone, or the characters have been there done that.  They just want a compelling story and if you're giving them that, they're going to buy it hook, line & sinker. 

So, anyway...because I'm such a rebel (haha) I'm going to random blog.

This Sunday marks a new season, Autumn, for those not keeping track because, like me, you live in a dessert where the only seasons we have are hot, hotter and hell.  I can't believe it's already mid September !  Man, where’d the year go? Or should I say years?  Seems like just yesterday I was a kid, laying in the grass watching the clouds drift across the sky and arguing with my brother that it was the earth rotating and not the clouds moving, and wondering what my life would be like when I got older and now here I am, fifty-something years old, with four grown children and still speaking a sentence in one breath.  

Like most everyone in the world, I was heartbroken by the death of Joan Rivers last month and watched a lot of the tributes to her played on TV. One thing that stuck out for me was a scene from the show she did with her daughter. It was before she was planning another plastic surgery and she told her daughter, (and I’m paraphrasing) “if it all ends tomorrow, it ‘s okay. It was a great life.”   I have to say, I agree with this  statement when it comes to my own life.  Sure, there were some hard times, heartaches and days where I didn’t think life could suck any more than it did…..but I’ve lived by the adage, “what doesn’t kill you, only makes you stronger” and I’ve repeated it during the bad times.  Things happen for a reason. If I hadn’t dealt with the crises of death, illness, heartbreak, I wouldn’t be the person I am today.  

I recently spent a couple of days in the hospital because my blood sugar levels were too high. In fact they’d been too high for nearly four months, I just didn’t pay attention to them because they’d been under control (and I never check them anyway--bad me).  I only checked that day because I figured the massive headache I was having was probably because of my sugars.  And, of course, they’d gotten so high that the meter didn’t register anything but the word HI…which meant they were well over 600…normal is 70 - 100.  So, even though I really didn’t feel like sitting in the ER, I decided to go ahead and go in so they could give me some insulin. And of course I ended up having to stay while they got the numbers down because by then, they’d topped 800 and if left to continue the incline, I’d have ended up in a coma or dead.  Yeah, that was my reality check and happy to say I’m back to normal and reading the signs better so I don’t end up that sick again. As great a life I’ve had, I’m not ready to see it end.