Another week done gone, this one just so-so.  I got my nails and hairs done, thank goodness.  I started to post a daily picture over at instagram, just a little experiment to see if I can start the habit of using that app more.

But if you really want to know, it’s been a tough time mentally.  My sleep is off.  That is the first indicator that I’m going into a spell…  For several days I woke up irritable and all day paced around feeling that vague “something is wrong” feeling.  I have completely torn apart the downstairs, rearranging Everything, then moved upstairs to start there pulling things out.   Casey’s out doing his thing, but he’s used to having to stop and help me move the piano, or a table or two…  Now that everything is moved, I don’t like it and want it back the way it was, but I Know that’s pushing the old man’s limits.   I’ve taken a few meds and have got my sleep back, but the mess I’ve made with all this re-arranging is Real…

It’s time to re-up our cable contract, and we had long ago decided to discontinue our landline.  The only people who call us on that line are trying to sell me something, especially aarp and medicare supplements.  There are just a couple of others who don’t have my cell #, I guess, but we don’t even check who’s calling anymore and there is no answering machine.  Next Wednesday we switch to a much better deal, sans phone.

That may be what triggered this hypomania…  I’ve been having flashbacks of all the years that the phone was my best friend.

As a teen-ager, I was often alone at the dusseldorf prison (home) and spent hours on the phone.  My aunt Joyce, inspired by my addiction,  commented that they should invent a phone that I could just put in my pocket.  Way ahead of her time.

I was so alone, and nuts, as a single mom:  up all night smoking, pacing, calling up friends who were awake, too.  I worked 3rd shift at the hospital once, talking on the phone to my girlfriend (who was working 3rd shift also) from 1-4am every night to stay awake.

My Mom and sister and I would kill days with our arguing, and hanging up on each other was a regular occurrence.  You just can’t do that with a cell phone…  However violently you hit the little red button, it just doesn’t take the place of a slam that can be heard across the room…

Don’t forget the drunk-dialing years…

Soo many stories… We thought we were the Jetsons when they came out with push-button phones, but I stayed with rotary quite a while, honing my excellent speed-dialing skills.  We added 50ft cords so we didn’t have to stop talking to pee.  No answering machines, so if you missed the call, forget it.  Busy signals were the rudest sounds in the world.  When we first got “cordless” phones, they were giant…

About 15 years ago I learned from another Joyce to “go to the Throne before you go to the phone”  and it changed me.  I stopped telling all my problems, stopped talking about them, and it helped diminish them.  As I cleaned up my thinking, I also quit listening to stories people would tell me about other people–it’s called gossip– and that cost me some friends.  Of course, religion and politics, which I used to discuss quite freely, are taboo — and that cost me some friends, too.  So what’s to talk about on the phone?  What Did we talk about for all those hours???

I have 3 out-of-town friends (including Aunt Shirley) that I call “just to talk”, but that’s it, folks.  Melissa and I try to work in an hour here and there when we can, and Michael gets frequent short calls.   Who knew such an important part of my early adulthood would be so obsolete…  Makes me kinda sad…

Anyway, that’s last week…  Can you believe school starts this week here in Eville?   My friend Kathy and her daughter and grandson are coming to Southern Illinois sometime this week, so I’ll either make a trip to Carmi, or they will visit Sonnystone, or maybe both!  The Bluegrass Festival is going on the 9-10th over in Henderson, and I’d like to bring over a lawnchair and listen to some folk music.  I’ll have my phone with me at all times…!

Peace