run on sentences

It started out as the usual 5:40 Am run. Jack and I headed out the door to greet Becky, who had just pulled up. As we walked down the driveway, I was amazed at how warm it felt. I didn't anticipate the patch of ice at the end of the driveway, nor did my right fibula. I went down, thinking "oh shit!" My right foot hyper extended and I heard/felt popping, pinging and other not so good things to hear/feel inside one's ankle. I fell on my back with my foot bent at a not anatomically good angle under me. I sat up and repeated several times "Son of a bitch!" My dad would have added "Cocksucker" like he did when he would be all settled in his recliner and realize he forgot to put his false teeth in. I could hear my mom saying "Jesus Christ Donna, I told you that you are too old to be running!" Becky got out the car. Her nose was bleeding for some reason. She helped me hobble back into the house - a fine pair we made, her dripping blood, me ho...

My sister and I were texting each other tonight (after already having had our evening chat and the signing off "I love you" that we have been doing ever since our mom died 10 months ago and isn't here to tell us that). We ended our conversation discussing the possibility of Scarlett and Bill having twins. Barb was pretty sure that there were twins on both sides of our family. We knew Grandpa Ojanen had a twin brother and she was sure that there were some on my mom's side, but she just couldn't remember. We hung up frustrated because we couldn't even ask anyone. Barb's first text said "Aunt Lucille and Uncle Jack?" (my mom's mom's siblings). "They were twins?" I asked. I remembered that they did look alike....what I could remember of them. They both had what we call the Maxfield eyes - eyes that always make you look half awake and in need of eyelid lifting surgery. "I think so" she responded. "I would have had twin...

There's always things that are good despite the bad air, economy, people and life's disappointments. I decided to focus on them - at least at this moment. Here's a few on my list: 1. Finding your car's gas tank full in the morning. 2. Pulling up to the coffee drive up for some yuppie coffee and having just what I wanted handed to me with a good wish for the day - without my even asking. 3. Remembering a morning conversation with my mom - and not tearing up - at least not too much. 4. Nurses going home from work as I am walking in - they whistle as they pull out their cell phones to call loved ones. Some smile at me and say "Hi Donna". They are know they are privileged to take care of other people's kids. Or maybe they are just happy to be going home. 5. A friend giving me a new hand made coffee cup, just cause I liked his a few months ago. I didn't even remember liking it. 6. Cookies from a former employee and a note saying how much she appreciated us...

Two mornings ago I woke up at 5 am to run. I let Jack out to pee and when he came in, he was covered with snow. After I dried him a bit, he looked at me and went back to the bedroom. He's never done that before. I decided to be a wimp too. So I sat down with my coffee and turned on the tree lights. I decided to sip and ponder the remains of this Christmas. The camera was sitting beside me so I took this picture of the tree too. Not much left under the tree - well except my Bosu ball given to me by the boys and Scarlett. How cool is it that at 56 I get a balance ball to develop my core and improve my running? They haven't given up on me yet so I guess I won't either and it will become one of my New Year's resolutions to work out on it at least twice a week...along with weights. The tree will come down on January 2nd. It is losing some needles but not too badly. I will savor it until the very end when it is awaiting pickup to be turned into mulch and give back to the lan...

Yup, I have neglected my writings. I am surprised at the people, few that they may be, that noticed. I am sitting here thinking a bunch of things in no particular order. Tomorrow is Christmas Eve. I didn't have to buy any gifts for my departed mom (or my dad) who comes to me silently in dreams - like last night when I heard her cry out and I ran in to see what was wrong and she was lying on the floor with her shirt open, waiting for me to start CPR. I woke up before I even checked for a pulse. I guess she came down a few days ago to get one of her good friends and escort her to the place she is...hopefully it is a good place but none of us know even though many people think they know. The tree is up. The kids are home - or at least two of them. Billy is at a family reunion with Scarlett which is where he should be. How lucky I am to have had my kids home with me every Christmas. Kseniya missed one and this is Bill's first missed one. Some Christmas cards have been sent - and s...

Not only was this World run day but it was also the day before my birthday. The picture is of Tom, Me (looking good one day before I turn 56 I must say before I go on to say anything else - and the hair color is real, dammit - my friend Enid says "you don't get that color out of a bottle" and she should know, being 83 and a stylist in her younger days") and Suzanne - who might make me look short and stubby when you see the rest of me standing next to the rest of her. I am inspired by my friends on this day. I got up to run at 6:30 with my 84 year old friend Sid. We walk most of the three miles, me with Jack the dog and he with his dog, Curly. He needs a new knee and at 84, instead of hanging it up, he has made an appointment in January with an orthopedic surgeon so he can run again. Instead of saying "I'm 84 - I better quit", he is making plans to fix it and also wants to lose ten pounds. That's inspiration for you. He has some great stories...

" When you're turning on the sun.... Turn it on with Johnson's" This was a lyric from a commercial about the benefits of using Johnson's baby oil as a tanning adjunct. My sister and I, while watching the NY Yankees tromp on the LA Angels, and drinking crabby with Siggie, in their cozy home in the UP, were discussing how we both got burned (literally) by believing this. She, while on the shores of Gitche Gumme, by the shining big sea waters ( From the land of sky blue waters...Hamms the beer refreshing - another jingle from a commercial of the 60's) or Lake Superior, as it is more commonly known, slathered her already freckled legs with baby oil and lay on the sand, sometime in the 60's, probably listening to Janis Joplin on her transistor. While she was listening and drinking beers, her legs fried to a frightening crimson, and then got swollen enough that she had to go to the doctor and was hospitalized for a few days. "Keep your pants on" t...