To heck with daughters. I'm starting to enjoy my nieces so much, even ones that I haven't often felt fondly toward. Recently I communicated with a niece that I haven't had much previous contact with and was surprised to discover how grown up and mature she seemed. Despite being a high school dropout, she writes really well. Her life is complicated by a number of issues, but she seems to be coping just fine, despite having a slight physical impairment. So I am forced to "eat my words" regarding anything I've said about her previously, and even more, I am forced to remember that everyone (usually) grows up and becomes capable of interacting in adult, responsible ways. Maybe there is hope for the future....
On other topics, I spent Tuesday night in Big Rapids because a storm was coming through and I didn't want to drive up there Wednesday morning during heavy rainfall. My apartment isn't air conditioned, so I had a rather uncomfortable night, and as it turned out, the storm did much more harm to our east than it did to this area. I could have easily have waited until Wednesday. The reason I needed to go up there on Wednesday was because my friend and former landlady Betty was featuring mine and Ellie's book My Mama's Waltz in her book club. The club was a group of about ten women, all "of a certain age," but lively, interested and interesting, and really curious about how we wrote the book. It would have been wonderful to have Ellie be there with me. Maybe one day we'll do another double guest appearance for someone, somewhere.
Afterwards, I stopped by to have my hair trimmed. My favorite woman, Lisa, was back from maternity leave, but she was somewhat rushed and maybe didn't do as good a job as she's done previously. My Esteemed Spouse was rather unhappy with how short my hair was (I personally love it), and he pointed out some neck hairs she'd missed. (I think that was payback for my making fun of his "kitchen," what Malcolm X calls that curly hair that grows down the back of the neck in "My First Conk"). When I combed my hair, a giant clump fell into the sink. No, not a bald spot. Just some hair that Lisa hadn't removed that had fallen back onto my head after she'd cut it off.
So now I have new glasses and a new haircut. I even have a new attitude toward my nieces. Some of them, anyway. There's still one niece who won't make it off my "shit list" anytime soon. The rest, though, are currently in my good graces. It has been wonderful getting to know Tassina again. Last summer I totally learned to adore her baby sister Chelsea. Amber will always have my undying love. And now Stephanie and Elizabeth join the ranks of nieces whom I adore. I just got Elizabeth's wedding invitation in the mail yesterday. She'll be a beautiful bride, albeit a very young one, but women (and men) in my family tend to marry young.
I also have a niece-in-law whom I adore, Tee (Teresa), and I'm looking forward to seeing her again when we go back to Louisiana. Her husband Tommy is one of my favorite people and always has been, since the day he was born.
I am at this moment wearing a pair of earrings that my husband's cousin Carolyn made for me. She sent me several pairs, and they are adorable.
All this happy love somewhat contrasts to the worry and irritation I'm feeling regarding one of my sisters who is (again) in the hospital and (again) having tests run to see whether she has yet another reasonably exotic illness. Mama used to say this daughter of hers was a hypochondriac, and maybe that's true. To some degree, all of us are, perhaps. But in this sister's case, I think she has so much psychological pain that it's hard for her to know where that stops and her body pain starts. It would take an entire blog to list the various illnesses she's presumably been diagnosed with. Just in the last couple of years, she's been "diagnosed" as bi-polar, as having fibromyalgia, as having a potential brain tumor, and now as potentially having multiple sclerosis. Maybe it's a good thing she doesn't have internet and hasn't discovered how easy it is to research illnesses and health problems online.
Guess I'd better move on to other things today while Esteemed Spouse is out playing golf. His golf-playing has been curtailed by weather recently, and he's been eager to catch up. I am eager to get back to painting. I've nearly completed one portrait and am about halfway through another. I've sketched out a landscape (one of the pond views) that I want to work on, and there are three portraits that I started years ago that I want to finish. Oddly, I feel as if I am a better artist now that I used to be, mainly because I have the self-confidence to ignore how others think I ought to paint. Since I'm painting strictly to suit myself and to please myself, I don't have to worry about critical approval. It's major therapy for me, and I love it love it love it.
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