Milestone

Wednesday, Jul. 13, 2011 - 5:50 a.m.

I just saw John's brother Joey mention in passing that he and mom and aunt went to go see the musical Billy Elliot.

Here in San Francisco. You know, which would have made it completely possible to go.

We never get invited to baby showers or outings or anything like that.

Hearing about them later and seeing the wonderful time everybody had is officially wearing a little thin.

After twenty years as John's wife, nobody on that side of the family knows anything about me.

Well, not quite twenty years, October will be twenty years.

But somehow, it's still a bunch of strangers. Dad got to know me, but he skipped to the end of the book last August when he hanged himself, so that's that.

Once, my uncle and his then-wife even came up to me one Christmas and said they'd Had A Conference between themselves to figure out how my first name was spelled / prounced.

I have yet to figure out what prevented them from putting out feelers and finding the answer.

---

But I do understand how that can happen.

You can't look something up on the internet or otherwise if you are drawing a blank in the first place.

Me: John? Who's that saggy old punk guy with the stringy hair and the piercing eyes?

John: Sounds like you're talking about Iggy Pop.

Me: THANK you.

What I was trying to look up was that mashup he did with Peggy Lee.

You can find it on YouTube under the title "Passenger Fever".

---

Finally -- For the last six months, I've been grappling with my severe and ongoing overuse of an over the counter medicine.

Nasal Spray. The rebound congestion has held me in its grasp since I was nineteen. I'm now forty-six.

So, for nearly thirty years, I've been addicted to nasal spray.

A regular dose should last for twelve hours.

I'd been taking a dose approximately every hour, and panicking if I didn't have a bottle with me at all times.

I mapped out where I could go to dose up, and timing it with the flush of a toilet or the running of water in the sink if I were somewhere other than home -- just like every other drug addict who wants to hide when they need a fix.

But I've been down to once every twelve hours now, for an entire week. Technically, I'm not supposed to be taking those twelve hour doses for more than a week at a time, and one of these days I'll be completely done with the stuff. But for now, this is something of a milestone for me, so I figured it was time to share.

---

That's it. Have a good day.

---

what you missed - what's next - leave a note
first post - cast page - diaryrings - top ten

THE LEGAL STUFF: All content on this site that was created by me is copyright 2003-infinity by Brin Marie McLaughlin. Steal my stuff and I'll squash you like a bug. All incoming email or any other form of communication with me is subject to publication or other distribution by me in whole or in part at my sole discretion. This diary features the sole opinions and experiences of one person, namely me, the person who is paying for this space. In the interest of safety and accountability, no anonymous input will ever be allowed here, ever, for any reason in the entire history of ever. Whenever there is a comments section appearing in this diary, it's to be considered part of my paid presence on the web, and shall be used by my readership to supplement the things I have written here with relevant information in a polite manner. Comments that do not fall in that category are subject to deletion at my whim. Your visit to my diary along with your use of my comments section constitutes the understanding of this statement. Anything else on these pages including any comments belongs to whoever created it. All external links are current as of the date of the entry in which they are first featured, but at no other time. News excerpts used here are for educational purposes and are permitted under the Fair Use Doctrine. Hold hands when you cross the street, and play nice.