The light is a freight train

 You know when things finally start looking up? You're feeling healthier. A little lighter. Maybe even, dare I say it, a little happy. You start to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

Then BAM.

Turns out it wasn't a light. It was a meteor.

Such is my life.

To recap some of the fun stuff before the universe decided to remind me who's in charge...

Oklahoma kicked off Route 66 Centennial celebration. Oklahoma has the most drivable mileage of Route 66, and Tulsa still has a significant portion of the original route intact. In fact, the original route runs less than a mile from my house.  There are events planned throughout the year, but things started with the drive-in celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Admiral Twin Drive-In. They were showing a double feature of The Outsiders and Cool Hand Luke. Since The Outsiders has become a minor obsession of mine, and I hadn't been to the drive-in since the weekend I graduated college, we decided to go.  My older sister and brother-in-law bought tickets too, which made me a little nervous. They went to dinner beforehand and got there earlier than we did, saving us a spot beside them.  It turned out to be a really good evening.  Everyone was on their best behavior. If there was any drinking involved, it wasn't enough to notice. None of us are used to staying up that late anymore, and since the movie didn't start until dark, we all voted to skip the second feature and headed home around midnight.

Watching the movie at the drive in watching them watch a movie at the same drive-in

The next day was the big Centennial Cruise, an attempt to break the record for the longest classic car parade. It was wildly successful, maybe a little too successful.  The turnout was much larger than expected, which was unfortunate for some of the classic car owners. It was pushing 90 degrees, the route was nearly six miles long, and contrary to what most people think, Tulsa is actually pretty hilly. Five thousand classic cars crawling uphill in Oklahoma heat did not end well for some vehicles.  What surprised me most was the planning,  or lack thereof.  Participants had to pre-register, so organizers had a pretty good idea of attendance. Yet only one gate was opened at the fairgrounds, which served as the staging area. The route was only closed for three hours, and there were still cars lined up waiting to get into the fairgrounds when time ran out.  A lot of people traveled long distances for the event, so I know there were some disappointed participants.  The frustrating part is that it felt avoidable.  I totally missed my calling because event logistics are absolutely my thing. I've planned more rescue events than I can count, and somehow managed to do it with very few complaints. I still think there's probably a way to market and monetize that skill.

I hadn't planned on attending the parade, but my usual Saturday meal pickup was only a couple of miles from the route. So I grabbed my food, parked at a fast-food restaurant, bought a burger, and sat there watching the cars roll by for a while.  The turnout was incredible on both the participants and spectator front. 

After I got home and unpacked my groceries, I decided to drive over to the grand reopening of the Blue Whale.  For anyone not familiar with Oklahoma roadside attractions (which is everyone but me), the Blue Whale is one of those wonderfully ridiculous Route 66 landmarks that exists simply because someone thought it would be fun. During COVID, I would occasionally grab lunch and eat at the park there.  As part of the Centennial celebration, they built a new visitor center and gift shop and held a ribbon-cutting ceremony. It was packed, but it was nice seeing so much excitement around preserving a piece of Route 66 history.

All in all, it was a really good weekend.

The good news is that I have made it through the first phase of the program and officially graduated to phase 2, what they call "negative" training. This apparently means the machine helps you lift the weight and then makes you control it on the way back down with more resistance. In other words, someone looked at exercising and thought, what if we made gravity more aggressive?  The machine has decided I am now capable of this, which seems optimistic.  The good news is that I haven't died.  The even better news is that I can actually tell a difference.

I'm not suddenly entering bodybuilding competitions but I feel stronger, my balance is improving, and I don't feel quite as fragile as I did a few months ago.  Considering there was a point earlier this year where my vitamin levels were so low they seemed more like a suggestion than actual numbers, I'll take that as a win.  I still hate some of the machines. There is one that appears to exist solely to make me question my decisions. But overall, I have reached the point where going to the gym feels more routine than punishment.

It's also been nice to have something measurable. Earlier this year there were a lot of things I couldn't control. My health felt like a moving target, and some days just getting through work felt like an accomplishment.  For the first time in a long time, I feel like I'm moving forward instead of just trying to keep up. 

Mom had cataract surgery recently, so she's been laying low. She gets terrible motion sickness, and since she couldn't wear her glasses during recovery, we were a little concerned about what that might do to her balance.  As a result, I got a few weeks off from Mom Duty.  Her final follow-up appointment was Wednesday, and for the first time since she was a pre-teen, she no longer needs glasses.  I informed her that this was entirely unacceptable because I'm not sure I can get used to seeing her without them.  She was absolutely thrilled. She could read the smallest line on the eye chart without any correction and was grinning from ear to ear.

On a much sadder note, HMF's dad passed away not long after entering hospice.  She told me that A was having a difficult time with it, but for most of the family, much of the grieving happened while he was still alive and suffering. By the time he passed, there was almost a sense of calm. Relief isn't quite the right word, but peace might be.  I haven't seen her since, but we have tickets to The Notebook on the 21st.  Neither of us is particularly looking forward to it.  I haven't read the book or seen the movie, and romantic tragedies aren't generally my thing. If it's as sad as everyone says, I'll be bringing tissues.  Sometimes shows like that feel less like storytelling and more like emotional extortion, here, be sad about these fictional people.  We'll see.

Meanwhile, just when things were settling down, Dennis lost his job.

That situation is still unfolding, but it has added a layer of uncertainty to everything.  It’s a whole mess.  He requested the form to request FMLA to help with his mom.  She still isn’t driving after her stroke and getting her to the doctor appointments has been challenging.  He wasn’t concerned about getting paid for the time off, just wanted reassurance his job would still be there.  They provided him the forms and put a note on it saying that they had to be back before June 8.  I am not sure how they can do that as it requires a doctor to review and sign and we all know they work on their own timeline.  Luckily, the kept that note, but I digress.  He was told that the board of directors would have to approve his request, which struck me as unusual.  All of this blew up before he got the paperwork back signed.  According to him the manager came to him and asked him to sit down and Dennis told, him that he would rather stand and apparently that was insubordinate?  It's especially frustrating because he had never had a write up or any disciplinary action, had been told he was doing a good job, and there hadn't been any indication that his employment was in jeopardy. One bad interaction suddenly outweighed all of that.  That paired with them failing to provide him with promised benefits when he signed on pushed me over the edge.  I sat down with chat and typed up a time line, which turned into a 4 page dissertation, to send to the board of directors and HFH international. Chat put a caveat on the write up that the letter shouldn’t be sent until consulting with an attorney for multiple violations and infractions.  We got some good recommendations and if he doesn’t stat making appointments next week I will do it for him. 

Financially, we'll be okay for a while, but it definitely wasn't part of the plan. Then again, very few of the things that end up consuming your time and energy ever are.

To add to the stress, when I came home from work on Friday I was having really bad headaches from my trigeminal nerve caused by TMJ.  It is excruciating, causing electric shock type pain in my ear and my scalp is sensitive to touch.  When I woke up on Saturday it had gotten significantly worse and my jaw was locking inhibiting me from chewing.  I did a telehealth visit with the doctor and got steroids, muscle relaxer, and high strength NSAID.  I ended up calling out from work on Monday and going to physical therapy.  Never thought I would end up in physical therapy for my jaw, but apparently that's a thing now.  It is doing significantly better and I am back to eating regular food instead of ice cream and pudding.  Although, my jaw is still clicking more than normal.  Because of this I didn’t work out on Monday and they told me to kind of back off a little as the strain from lifting can exacerbate the issue.  I am still going but went back to one set.  That worked out well because when I was there on Wednesday it started to get busy after my first circuit.  Not sure what I will do today since I am feeling somewhat normal but know not to push it too much. 

It's strange how quickly life can shift gears. One minute you're celebrating feeling better, and enjoying a little breathing room. The next minute you're researching employment law, calculating budgets, and wondering whether retirement-aged people should really have to start job hunting all over again.

Nothing catastrophic. Just one more thing.

And that's kind of the theme lately.