Couch 173: The Odiferous One

Since there's not a "Sassy" mood, I shall select "Twisted" instead.

The "in sickness and in health" clause only applies if he takes his meds.

Lol

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I’m working on the final project for my short story class—rewrite a short story read in the course. One of the posted former student examples turns the couple in Hemingway’s “Hills Like White Elephants” into...vampires.

So I get the sense I can do pretty much anything I want.

So we have this pretty huge, pretty old tree in our backyard. I fell in love with it before I even paid much attention to the house itself. I'm sad though because I think it has to go - about half of it is dead, and the other night during that beautiful monsoon the high winds broke off one of the really big (really dead) branches almost completely, and it's hanging from way up in the tree and touching the ground. H wants to hire somebody to take the tree down but he did agree to leave the stump in the ground, so we can put a big bowl of bird seed on it or something. We'll probably plant a new tree after it comes down.

And he's back in the ER. Now he thinks the iv site is infected. It's definitely bruised, but I don't know about infected.

I just got finished with T. She's not going to be here next week. I'm so heartbroken. Now I'll be all alone at least emotionally. I don't know if I can stick to our safety plan, tbh. But right now, I'm treating myself out to dinner.

Isn’t bruising at an injection site normal? Happens to me a lot with all my shots.

Hugs, Art. A tree can lend such a sense of place and...rootedness?...to a home.

We lost a nut tree to an ice storm a couple years ago. It was one of a set of hammock trees, and a great shade tree. Losing the tree felt like losing a beloved pet.

What kind of tree is it?

Maybe the medical professionals start to see a trend in showing up in ERs and suggest a mental health evaluation?

That's what my T said today.

I often get it from blood draws. I also thought it was normal. I don't think bruising is generally a sign of infection either.

Thanks, it does. I know I haven't lived here even 3 years yet but, yeah. We're not sure what kind it is even....

And maybe there is a way to speed that up...
Quiet word to the doctor, hmmm?

Art, that's such a big loss to say goodbye to a tree like that. When I moved into my home, the previous owners had taken down a giant oak. The stump was so large, and the root system extending from it, that instead of having it taken out, I built a low rock wall around it, filled with dirt, and planted flowers and yard art. The stump is a platform for different items to display. It's like a memorial fairy garden for the tree I never got to know.

.... and in other news I'm not sure if I want ice cream or alcohol right now! my son just told me that he and his girlfriend are going out of town together this weekend for her birthday (she turns 20 on Saturday, my son will be 20 in like 3 months). He said that her parents are fine with it, yes even her Dad, apparently they really like him. What's not to like, he's a good kid. I know this. Yet, I feel extremely overprotective at the moment. Telling myself he's gonna be 20 soon, he's responsible, etc. He's already rented a hotel room! I keep telling myself "Art, if he'd gone away to college, he wouldn't have even told you about it, would have just done it, and never told you so chill out already. Do you trust him or not?"

Maybe I'll try something novel and not eat ice cream or drink alcohol, and just sit here and feel my feelings instead...


and ask y'all should I be ok with this? should i be telling him "not as long as you live under my roof"? I haven't said much about it to him yet. i'm still rather in denial. Might as well add that to the denial Lulabelle thinks I'm in about myself....

That's it!! Thank you! I'm going to put a fairy door on the stump!! Perfect.

When did that ever work?

If you want him to live a normal life, I think you'd be best to accept that this is what happens when people reach twenty.

He could be on the marriage track - maybe you should start looking at dresses?

PS: I was that age for my first night away with a girl. And I'm still married to her.

PPS: OK, so I'm a romantic.

Though beware, H will probably accuse you of that, whether you do it or not.

He's an adult. They're already having sex. You have to let go some day. Be glad that you raised him right and know that he's going to be fine.

You're right, of course, the first sentence. I am accepting it when talking to him, but internally struggling a little.

(And stop trying to give me a heart attack! )

Thanks. Yeah, you're right. I'm doing my best to do so. I don't want to be like my parents were, so controlling that I never grew up. I want him to grow up. And yes, we did raise him right. He's a good kid.

Do you want him to move out? Do you want him to lie to you or just not tell you things?

More hugs, Art. He's an adult, and he's living his life. At least he told you about it.

He must really like this young woman.

I'm glad her parents like him. That's a hurdle in itself. He must be a pretty good egg.

No, no and no.

Just talking through things here cuz h isn't home to talk to.

You're just not ready, right? He should wait until he's forty.

I have a green apple pie in the oven, thanks to the neighbors who planted an apple tree that hangs over the fence. I picked up a box of apricots, halved them and dredged them in a honey-lime dip, and stuck them in the dehydrator. My kitchen smells amazing, like pie and sweet lime apricots.

From the garden today, I brought in giant red tomatoes, small yellow tomatoes, and orange cherry tomatoes, eight cucumbers, onions, yellow summer squash, a zucchini as big as my upper arm, jalapeños and sweet peppers, sunflowers, and a couple handfuls of blackberries growing over the other neighbor's fence.

I love this time of year. I'm literally seeing the fruits of my labors. Plus the sun and the outside time lift my spirits.