Self-Assessment

This and next week, I’m taking lots of online classes. A Facebook writer’s group I belong to, Write Without The Fight, has a series this week that will help us blast through those times we just can’t write. There are lots of theories why we “get” Writer’s Block. I might agree we’re procrastinating; and it’s usually out of fear. Fear of not being good enough. Fear of not writing well, not being liked, etc. stops a lot of people. By my point in life, that doesn’t matter anymore. 

Our questions were twofold; What kind of creative thinker are you?; and what kind of thinker are you? “What,” you say? I say it depends on what I’m doing. Why?

As a retired systems analyst, I received calls to Mutual of Omaha in the middle of the night. There would be a problem over a program ending abnormally. I had to be a divergent thinker (full of ideas). We needed to think fast; get the program going again. I can go back home to sleep.

Working on something I’m unfamiliar with, I had to be a slower thinker. Assessing what the program was doing. And why. Looking where we might make a change. Then test the results before having Operations do their thing.

I’d do some convergent analysis. Work at a slow pace. Think things through. I took a few perfect places to insert the fix. I needed to get home. The kids needed to get up for school. I would get ready to go back to work, in full business work attire – showered, suit, pantyhose, blouse tucked in, hair and makeup done. One memorable night, I went to bed at 11:30 p.m.; they called me at midnight; I went to the office and returned home at 6 a.m. Short night for sure.

As a “retiree,” and now an author, a woman who created her own publishing company, her own daily blog, and soon to release a children’s book, I use my brain in creative endeavors, until it comes to the business part of my life. Then, well, it’s all business.

I can’t wait to hear about today’s class, at 2 p.m.; Name the Unnameable. Thy name is Writer’s Block? My personality kind of shuns the trendy things, writer’s block being one thing I sort of doubt. What keeps me from writing? Time, most of the time. And chronic pain, when I just can’t sit in my office chair anymore. Oh, I can go to the recliner. It’s not isolated from everyone (the dogs, the Babe), and what they’re doing.

I write better when I’m at my seat, feeling the creative vibes of my studio/office. It’s my safe place for sure. Just like the old Beach Boys song, “In My Room.” Being the only girl, I had my own room. My sanctuary. My hurts were left at the door, and I’d enter a world where I drew, designing clothes, wrote plays for my girlfriend Karen and I to act out, and wished all the stuff teenage girls wished.

Now, in the Home Office, my quilting studio, my writing and business office, I dream, design quilts and stories, and get ready to tell the world my stories. There’s always a story. Make yours a good one. I will, too. Thanks for reading today; time to go pick up groceries. The fridge looks like one in a single guy’s apartment. Bare! See you tomorrow!

Optimism, Part I

Some folks prefer to stay in a depressed mode, mumbling all along they are being realistic. My definition of being realistic is knowing how well something could go and being prepared to accept if things don’t go well. That is a big difference. As beautiful as this world is, I cannot believe God created us to be down as a matter of our nature. There are ways to cope with real depressions, and you must admit out loud you have it. I believe all of us have some level of it. It is in getting help and learning to find positivity in life, people, events, that we all can have optimism. Life is so much better.

I’m writing about optimism because of Michael J Fox. I am consciously optimistic to this very day because of people like Michael J Fox, and the late Christopher Reeve. They were both in the news during a very significant time in my life, one that I may need to write about one day. Fox has released a book titled, “No Time Like the Future: An Optimist Considers Mortality.” His previous books, “Lucky Man,” and “Always Looking Up,” have both inspired me on my journey from a dire outcome to the life I have today.

I really need to write to Fox and tell him how important he has been on my journey. I would not have been able to even think about overcoming some physical challenges if he hadn’t written the book. Well, maybe. But he announced his Parkinsons in 1991, he was only 29. They hid the news for a long time, sadly; we were not a sophisticated enough society to realize these things happen to good people. Hollywood, perhaps being as superficial as it’s always been, would not hire him if they knew. I would like to think that changed thirty years later.

Christopher Reeve, the actor who was “Superman” as I live and breathe, injured and paralyzed in an accident while in an equestrian competition, was about four months younger than me. It injured him in 1995, he remained paralyzed from the rest of his life. He was 42 years old. I mourned such a fate for such a vital, healthy, young man. Meanwhile, I kept reading about Fox as well. Both men, one younger and one my age, were inspirations.

What do these tragedies have to do with me? Nothing directly. But in November 1995, I had an unheard of live-changing-medical-challenge of my own. Also at 42. I’d always had back issues. First time in grade school, I threw something out and ended up in bed on muscle relaxers for a week. My friend, Karen Wingerson Smolinski, could come inside and visit with me. Mom never let other kids in the house, especially upstairs, during the day. She was worried.

I’d been doing office work for several years and was programming at Mutual of Omaha when I really started having low back pain. I devoted 90 minutes to working out every day in the Mutual gym after work. I didn’t miss, ever. I was in pretty good shape, too. Strong, single, and only had my daughter at home. The back just got worse and worse. After a diskography which gave me a disk infection, I was in increasing pain for about two weeks. Finally, diagnosed with an arachnoid cyst and in great neurological distress, my new neurosurgeon and his mentor scheduled surgery.

I too knew I may wake up to the possibility of being paralyzed. I too had little idea what my future held. My son Frankie, the oldest, counseled his twenty-year-old brother and his sixteen-year-old sister, that they didn’t know how this would turn out. He, (at twenty-three) would become their guardian, and they would live in our house. He was my beneficiary on everything. I named him in my will as the one to take care of the others should something happen. I had not yet met the Babe.

My kids & me. Frank, me, Becky, and Nick. Best job I ever had. Thanksgiving, 2009.

What a bunch of heavy stuff for these kids! They were so wonderful to me during that time. I’ll be grateful to them forever. The surgery was a very complicated and took over eight hours. They did laminectomies on several vertebrae and couldn’t remove the cyst. It was entwined in all the nerves up and down the spine. Since it was a cyst filled with spinal fluid, they perforated it so it would never fill up again. It’s still there, poked full of holes, and here we are. A veritable miracle. The spine couldn’t be stabilized with rods because the infection would spread there, so I was bedridden for probably six weeks, and was on IV antibiotics for a full six weeks at home. December 1995 through January 1996, was the worst month of my life. It was depressing, and I worried about money. Even though I had a very generous sick leave package, you still worried about having a job when you returned.

Thank you so much for reading today. I’ll continue Part II tomorrow. Be positive in your thoughts. It makes all the difference in the world. See you tomorrow!

Imagination vs. Electronics

There have been many discussions on imagination lately, asking if all the electronics kids have are decreasing the ability of our kids to play and develop their skills while imagining. I loved how we imagined as kids.

The first recollection I have of imagination play was with my older brother, Tom. He is my Irish twin, he is exactly eleven months and four days older than I am. He was born in June, 1951, while Dad was in Korea. While I was reading my dad’s equivalent to a DD-214 (Military discharge papers), I discovered he was separated from the Army in August of 1951. Brother Tom was three months old? Well, if you do the math, I was born sometime eight months later, plus a few days. That makes me chuckle.

Tom was my best friend for a long, long time. We played on Saturday mornings, using bed pillows to make imaginary boxes, complete with a top, and jump out of them when Mom came into our room. She always acted surprised. Mom’s are great at that, aren’t they?

We had the coolest linoleum in our room. The room had all wood floors, and we had an area piece of linoleum, and it had squares divided with different sayings, game boards, and even a checkerboard. It was much like an area rug. We spend hours playing in the room, using our imagination for a lot of games of pretend.

When we were a little older, I played with Peggy and Karen, neighbors. When we were older, we rode bikes together. Before that, we did what a lot of kids did, reenact TV shows. When my brother played Army with the neighbor kids, we played together, and I was the nurse. A young Hot Lips Houlihan, as it was (MASH had not come out yet. There were a lot of Army themed shows, though).

For Christmas, I received a nurses cloak, bag with doctor/nurse stuff, and some sort of hat. When I put that cape on, I was not me anymore. Those were some good times.

The other great times were playing with Peggy and Karen, we played “Bonanza.” I was madly in love with Little Joe, so I always called him my boyfriend. Those were such innocent times, really fun. Life had little concern for us then other than who would be our fictional boyfriend.

When I was probably sixth through eighth grades, a friend and I used to write plays that we pretended into live action. They revolved around our fictitious lives as the girlfriends of our favorite rock and roll stars. It was probably pretty juvenile, but we wrote them and practiced them just like scripts, complete with music, and it was even more fun. That friend sent me a photo a while back of this very sweatshirt. Karen Smolinski, I loved it! Thanks for thinking of me! I’ll be wearing it soon if it doesn’t warm up a lot!

My New Writing Hoodie!

So here is one of the items the Babe brought home from the store. He knows us so well! It’s a great day for ice cream by the fire later. What a guy. I’m so lucky.

Here we are at the end of another blogpost for today. Thank you for joining me, I hope you stop back again tomorrow. Hopefully, I’ll have more done on my character’s origin stories. Been way too busy again this week.

And, by the way! You can also connect with me on Facebook, Kathy Raabe, Author, On Instagram @authorkathyr, and on Instagram @Author_KRaabe. Please ask your friends to give us some likes and follows. Thanks!

Be Safe, Kind, Patient, and Thoughtful today and every day. We’re all kind of struggling at one time or another. This will all be worth it. See you tomorrow!