Wesley Woods

To my remaining cold symptoms [chills, little fever, sleepiness]:

In the next 24 hours, I will beat you to a bloody pulp. You've hung around for a week and now I'm kicking you to the curb. You heard me. The CURB. The curb where my industrial-size garbage cans shall overflow with shiny paper, paper that once concealed dozens of miniature bottles of hand-sanitizer. The heavy-duty 99.9% take-no-prisoners anti-bacterial kind. The kind kindergarten teachers occasionally bathe in. And I'm getting a dunk tank full of it, fools.

Merry Christmas, you rotten, filthy germs. I hope you...rot...in your own...filth. On the...curb. Yeah. Huh! Take that! Throwin' you a curb-ball. No gutter. No sidewalk. Psh. Ha.

Although we have nice neighbors. No! I take it back. Mean, nasty neighbors. Or... nice neighbors with WAY more anti-bacterial products than me. Yeah. Killers. Menaces, really. Run, germies, or we'll murder you and your whole kingdom-phylum-class-order-family-genus-species!

Side note: Dear 8th Grade Biology Teacher: Niiiice, right? From: Not Emily

But enough threats.

Kids, wishing you all a truly peaceful weekend, and the brightest of Christmases. The moon is quite pretty. Prettier than strands of blinking lights, even. Go outside and take a breath. May joy be present in your heart.

love and more love,
emma

Chelmsford, Massachusetts

Snowy, sickie. Better-ish. Now rather sickie. Tis the season to draw your family near and share a terrible cold.

gotta sleep more, eat more.

looking forward to seeing friends as soon as my sneezing ceases and fever's fallen. :)

et

New York City

It has been a while. Many good things. A few not-so-fun things. What have I been up to? Time-traveling. Awesome but exhausting. Each day feels like a week. I'm somewhere between 1983 and 2010, most often. Organizing my grandparents' house is a treat. I'm able to do a lot (by my standards), and I'm processing so much and growing so much. It's really good...but weird. I catch myself thinking, What year is it. How old am I. Did I actually have that conversation recently, or was I just reflecting on it? Why don't I have those pink footie pajamas anymore? Is it still Wednesday?

Newsworthy things:
-A POTSie friend of mine (mid-20s, diagnosed 1.5 years ago) is doing SO much better! She's living on her own and working - teaching ballet 6 days a week. Amazing!
-Another high school student in my area has been recently diagnosed with POTS. I look forward to talking with the family and offering our online community support.
-God is crazy-awesome.
-Giving inspires giving.
-I worked for 5 hours at my mom's office! Fun!
-SNOW.
-Got called for jury duty. What up, citizenship.
-Ensure doesn't taste so bad anymore. Drinking plenty of it.
-I'm going to be adult staff for March Snowball!!

So please excuse me, I have some read-give-sing-sort-stretch-wrap-dog-write-eat-sleeping type things to do.

(Sleeping around 10 hours a day. Yay!)

Favorite Christmas song you haven't heard yet: "Toy Packaging" by Sara Groves.

wassail,
emma

Sherwood Forest

Reading. Is. So. Fun. My. Brain. Is so. PRETTY!

 Over the weekend I went to the mall. (Whoa! I love the mall!) I mean, before it was just a mall, but now it's like "Look at me conquering the world." Walking! Touching clothes. Admiring landscapes at the art gallery (soon-to-be-out-of-business - big markdowns). And always staying away from the Scary Area for Sticky, Screaming Children. That's right, I know you know what I'm talking about.

I love mental stamina. Even when my body's giving out, I'm not so overwhelmed by things. Big/small places, lots of people, lots of aisles, too much merchandise, too many price/size tags, voices over the loudspeaker-- normally any one of those could cause me to get dizzy or confused.. The trip wouldn't be worth it, let alone enjoyable. But my cognitive function has been great lately! (Thanks to the Max GXL?) It's a huge step for me, to not only find what I was looking for, but then be able to browse a bookstore and read! books! for a long period of time! while standing! Praise the Lord. Good, good stuff. Someday I'll have days like that every day.

Physically, I'm doing okay. Biggest concern right now is eating. I don't have much appetite. Sometimes food tastes like ash. Still I cannot afford to lose any more weight. Drinking Ensure, plenty of water, Gatorade. Trying to eat mindlessly just to get enough calories. I find I'm not producing as much saliva. It slows down my eating; I have to chew more, so my jaw gets tired and even cramps. Silly of sillies!

Fair trade products are the best! Support farmers and artisans from around the world. Free catalog at www.serrv.org

Happy Thanksgiving! (If you're in town over break, I'd love to see ya! Txt it.)

fleece and flannel fluffy panels,
et

St. Paul's

Hi! Sorry I haven't been writing- it's a good thing in this case. Only have a few minutes; brief summary.

What a week. Enjoyed a successful stay with Aunt Lauren at G&G's for a few days, taking care of the pets. And I had so much energy with the weird warm weather that I got to tackle a couple organization projects. Next up: gift wrap closet of doom! No, not doom. More like, glittery plaid Santa snowmen ribbon/bows, with coordinating paper and tissue paper from Marshall Fields. (Vintage!) Fun. Fulfilling. I like feeling useful.

What else... saw a couple plays. Shopped. Slept. Went to my mom's office. More interesting stories for later. I've been doing pretty well and keeping busy. I'll be back on the doggie duty later this week. My brother is coming home from Japan tomorrow! Hooray!

emma

Allentown, PA

Getting cold. Trouble eating/sleeping. Especially eating. Saw my family doctor about the weight loss. She didn't know, but took three vials of blood for various tests.

Rested up for my sister's show, West Side Story, which was great! Even though I'm particular (see also: snobbish) about dialects. If yeh from Joyzee, es gotta be Joyzee trew-n-trew, arrite buddy boys? Accurate, consistent tone of voice adds to stage presence like you wouldn't believe. Or rather, you would believe, as an audience member, that that ain't just some kid in an outfit onstage. That IS Baby John, Krupke, Maria.

Staying with my aunt - my first night away from home in so long! Yay. My room here is toasty; my toes are happy. :)

night,
et

The Clearing

New theme: places. A place that's on my mind. Specific, common, imaginary, whathaveyou.

Very busy day over the weekend. A treat. I like people. So many good, good people.

Very sleepy. Been sleeping a lot. At least 10 hours a day. Yup. Time for the sleep.

asleep.