New Routines

 It is 3:56 am. My stomach burns and my heart races from the blasted Predisone, and none of my podcasts, books, or audiobooks will soothe me back to sleep.  

This is the third night in a row that I am wide awake. Wide awake.   One night I designed this blog.  Last night, I cleaned the bathroom and did some lesson planning.  

Tonight, I poured a small glass of milk and tackled some edits.  Funny story (another Unexpected Answer to Prayer, perhaps): I did my best last week to keep my schedule open, because I had major edits due for a forthcoming article. It is always hard to get writing time at midterm.  So--I had my plans! And then all of that "free time" went to unexpected doctors' appointments and five hours of phone calls with doctors (not to mention violent illness while attempting to talk to said doctors).  I had time, in other words, to take care of myself. Answered prayer?  I am awake now, and revising my article, and perhaps, doing so with a semblance of lunacy lucidity.

I do not expect this new routine to last. But I am having to make new ones, or to unlearn habits. 

Putting on New Habits...

In addition to needing to remember (ahem!) to use eye ointment for my right eye, since it's rude enough not to close, I need to tape my eye shut each night to protect it from getting dry.  This is a production.  It's one thing for a doctor to say, "Put on the ointment and tape your eye shut." It's another to actually do it. It involves 1) ointment 2) surgical tape 3) forcing the eye shut and making it stay shut (this has yet to happen) 4) getting the tape, and then patch on, with a semblance of straightness and actually over your eye.  It's a comedy of errors and tears. Tonight is the first night I did not cry.  Hubby excels and is the closest to mastering the art of the Eye Care, and I am thankful for his help.

Taking off Old Habits...

Really, this has been an exercise in learning how to eat and drink civilly. 

Perhaps I needed it.  

My routine has always been to brush my teeth, cup my hand, and rinse from the sink. That does not work anymore. It is easier to spit into the sink when brushing one's teeth if they...use a glass instead of drink water from their hands. I've always wondered why would you use a glass. Why dirty extra dishes?  Now I know. 

The demand for new routines with eating shows me my old were not...so civil?   I am not a scarfer, and I can behave well in public, but I'm not exactly a delicate eater.  I am usually in a hurry.  I eat my salad with my office door closed for a reason.  But now.  Tiny bites.  Lots of cutlery. Small and not big spoons.  I feel somewhat like Sandra Bullock in Miss Congeniality, getting schooled in etiquette.  

Yeah.  Yes. 

It is 4:27 a.m.

  Meme from The Daily Edge