False hopes

Pretty much all my hopes that February would be much better than January winter-wise have been continually dashed by one snowstorm after another. Indeed, it appears that January wasn't so bad at all, historically speaking. And, thankfully, we're not in Pennsylvania where storms caused disastrous pileups this past week. So I know we're fortunate, indeed.

But our heating bill this past month, which exceeded the previous record, does tell us that this winter has been unusually cold and snowy and yucky. Because of the bad weather, and thanks to a kind colleague who has loaned me her home, I've been staying several nights a week up near my small college on the hill. Her home is a lovely little cottage with a view to the woods and it makes me wish we had our own small "country home" up there where I could stay anytime I needed to. I have dear friends who always offer me their homes but, because of my physical and other limitations, I'm a lot less anxious when I can have a place to myself. But paying for the college inn gets expensive after a while so this is a great solution for now.

On the flutter front there have been two episodes, including one more ER run early this month, but at least the second one (while I was away from home) thankfully resolved with the emergency medication.  The great news is that, thanks to a close friend, I was able to get an appointment to see an expert at the large research hospital at OSU so I'll be doing that later this month. We had dinner recently with good friends and he was telling us of two people he knows who got treatment at OSU and are "cured." Those stories always make me feel like weeping, not only because I'm so happy for the people who had to endure this and because I yearn for similar good news, but also because I fear I may not be like them since I tend to be that "one in a million" person, and not always in a good way. Still, I'm thinking positive and hoping for the best, as usual. Hope, after all, never disappoints. It's reality that gets in the way.

The constant cold has driven Chiquita to seek any and all ways to keep warm and she now burrows into the large sofa pillows so that you can almost only see her big ears when she raises them to try to figure out what's going on (when there's anything "going on" that is, in her mind).

Meanwhile, I'm looking forward to a trip to Puerto Rico next week to present on my papi's last novela at the university where he and my mom used to teach (and where she now coordinates the research room named after both of them), and to recruit for my small college on the hill at the all-girls' private high school where I substitute taught many years ago. The presentation is in celebration of my papi's birthday and my mom has organized a great panel with presentations on several of his 23 published books (!!). For someone who didn't have a Ph.D. my J.D. father was on a very productive research and publication schedule; much better than my own, that's for sure!

I also know that, after this winter of my discontent, it will do my overworked heart so much good to see some green and blues and yellows, like only my beautiful Caribbean island can do them. The warm break (both in weather and in visiting my mom) will be most welcome and, hopefully, I'll be re-energized to handle whatever the OSU expert says has to happen next with my case.