Following my own advice...

is often the hardest thing for me to do. What did I tell the congregation on Sunday? That when our spiritual reservoirs are drawn way down, we often get signals that we need to heed (hmmm, there's a useful pairing of words---tuck those away for future use as a title of something: "needing heeding"). One of those signals was "getting sick".

I'm not sick, exactly, but one of my classic signals (and I hate to get it because it is so hard to ignore) is muscle spasms in my back. I have one area that begins to warn me a day or so in advance---an upper back "tiredness", a feeling of having sat at the computer too long or hunched over something working. I have been fending off a real attack for days with ibuprofen, hot and cold packs, that sort of thing, but last night, after a day on the mainland shopping for catfood, litter, and those great chocolate covered caramels at Trader Joe's, I couldn't ignore it or put it off any longer and I succumbed to the heating pad and cyclobenzaprine.

This morning I still have it, only it's harder now to consciously relax and let the muscle go. The pain makes me clench up, which makes it worse. I may have to go to the doctor for a renewed prescription, but I hate to do that, knowing that it will subside on its own if I wait it out. The cyclo is over two years old and doesn't seem all that effective, though it did help me sleep.

The thing is, I have tons of stuff to do today and don't want to put any of them on hold. There are some that I can let go but we have a Pete Seeger concert meeting tonight here and that really does need to occur, if possible, as we only meet once a month. So I'm going to scan my to-do list and see what can wait, what I can skip entirely, and go back and lie down. I did take one Vicodin, in hopes that would deal with the pain, because ibuprofen and other NSAIDs just don't do it. But, of course, the big V has other effects which I don't like---sleepiness and trouble focusing.

Anyhow, I am going to take my own advice, look for the message in this trustworthy red flag, and let go of what I can. At least the cats didn't wake me up this morning----I think they may have learned that scratching at the door at 4:45 a.m. doesn't exactly endear them to Mama, what with all the shouted "NOs" and bangings and throwing things that it incurs.

So ta ta for now. Back later.