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On Grief and a Rotten Year
This year for me has been particularly bad, and not just from a political standpoint (though that has been awful too). I lost three friends in the space of a year and my husband died on January 5. That, I think, constitutes calling 2025 a rotten year, and saying that next year can’t possibly be…
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Three full days post surgery
I came home the same day, Friday afternoon. My daughter, Rose, chauffeured me to and from the hospital, and she even waited there all day until they let me go. The procedure I underwent is called a laminectomy, where they shave a little bit of bone off that’s pushing on a herniated disc/nerve root. The…
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On the eve of surgery
Friday morning, the 14th, I go in for back surgery again. As I said in an earlier post, the good news is the neurosurgeon knew exactly what the problem was, and knew exactly how to fix it. So, barring anything unforeseen, I should be home the same day and in markedly less pain. Hopefully. I…
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For the love of anything you hold dear, go vote!
I know there’s not too much at stake this election, aside from local races. But those are just as important as the national ones. We need to send a message to the elites that we are mad as hell and not going to take it any more! If you need a sign, well then, Dick…
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Hunger? In MY America? It’s more likely than you’d think
Once a week, I volunteer at our local Survival Center, which is our version of a food bank. The last few weeks have been beyond hectic, as people are panicking over the SNAP benefits. If you’ve been under a rock and haven’t heard, the current so-called administration is in complete shutdown, and even though there…
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O! Canada
We’re back from a week-long sojourn into Canada, specifically Ontario and Stratford-on-Avon. We went for the Shakespeare festival, and ended up seeing five plays, two of which were also musicals. Unfortunately, it rained for a substantial portion of our trip, but since we were mostly indoors, we didn’t care. Tuesday we had an evening show,…
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I needed a little good news
Ten years ago, I had a fusion at the L5-S1 level in my back. I have spinal stenosis and arthritis all over the place so it was pretty necessary. I’ve been relatively pain-free for these ten years until late last year, when the sciatica started up again. I got shots in my back which calmed…
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My fortieth wedding anniversary
Today, October 12, would have been our 40th wedding anniversary. I remember on our 39th anniversary wondering if we would make it to 40, and, well, we didn’t. We found out the day before that anniversary that the damn tumor had come back. The rest of last year was a blur of traveling back and…
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Blog, part the second
Without my husband, my last blog at Mrshamill.com is defunct, and I have no idea how to resurrect it. So this is my second attempt, which is apparently necessary if one wants to be a ‘real’ writer. I have no idea what to write, but will update as the wind takes me. With luck, the…

