A week's worth of wanderings

Sometimes I write a few posts in a week and then I forget and realized I haven't done any. I was going to put an exclamation point but recently I read a quote attributed to Mark Twain about why NOT to use this punctuation: "An exclamation point is like laughing at your own joke." I don't usually use it anyway though I do allow myself maybe one per email or blog post, but from here on in, maybe no more.

Last Wednesday: Still playing tennis outside. Backhand slice really working. Ran for two in a row and got both ! (Oops one snuck in.) George asked how did I do it and I said I had a good teacher. We always like to make him smile.

Had the time to stay longer because ECP , the light therapy for my blood, now every three weeks, but was still a little sore from my fall so decided not to push it. Needed to take a nap afterwards so as to have the energy for the debate watch party hosted by New England Public Radio at New City Brewery.  With the Holyoke Hummus Company truck serving food, several big screen TVs, beer, and like-minded people, it was much better than watching it alone.

Friday: I drove to an early morning appointment in Boston to have a bothersome spot looked at. It's been there for months – an irritated circle on my ankle – and nobody seemed to know what it was. Taking it upon myself to diagnose with that foolproof tool, searching the internet, I decided it must be ringworm. 

After this occurred to me right before bed, I looked it up and found a lot of disgusting photos and learned that it is a fungal infection. I emailed Melissa that I had a self-diagnosis of the mystery spot. She forwarded it to one of my dermatologists, Dr. Lin, who said it was not a fungus and told me to have it re-checked. I ended up with my fifth dermatologist in the practice. She cleaned it up and gave me a prescription antibiotic ointment and said she could biopsy it for a possible "squam" (shorthand for squamous cell) or we could wait to see if it healed. Since I was then heading to Connecticut for a weekend with friends and knew we would be walking, I skipped the biopsy and made an appointment for three weeks from then.

I cleverly left Boston early enough to get through rush hour traffic. But I not so cleverly forgot about Hartford traffic. It started raining, which made it even worse. I arrived in New Milford in the dark, having spent more than four hours in the car and listened to a variation of the same NPR stories multiple times. A glass of wine never tasted so good when I got to the Candlewood Lake house where we've been going on and off since high school.

It was great to see my high school friends for the weekend. It rained for a good part of the time, but that didn't matter. We always have fun together, and we did most of what we would have done anyway. (Walking, talking, shopping, eating...)

Two of those friends have fitbits. I don't think I need one because I'm hyper enough anyway. I was surprised to learn, though, that my iPhone has been keeping track of me. I saw that on one of those days I did more than 11,000 steps, for four-plus miles. The walk in the rain was nice in its own way, but when the sun came out and we walked off our regular path it was especially beautiful. And interesting as well because of some of the things we discovered, such as this tree with branches turned into hangers. 

When it was all over and I got back home, I have to admit I was in a bit of a funk. The house was empty and I missed my kids. I sold Joe's old furniture and started to cry. I realized some of it came from being tired, and also from the natural letdown that happens when you've completed something you were looking forward to. Yesterday I started to perk up.