20 -- MG and the Sea / SCARS AND HONEY

Sept. 3-7, 2018

BEACH!!!


Usually by September, I have been to the beach 
several times. This being 
“the Summer that Wasn’t” 
– I have only been once, early on, and at the time I
 felt so awful I barely remember the trip.

We decided to go the week after Labor Day.  For one thing, the crowds will be thinned out considerably since school has started.  My immune system is compromised at the moment, so the less people I am around, the better. 

I just wanted to park myself underneath an umbrella with a good book and read.  And that’s pretty much exactly what I did.  My "light" beach read:  "Alexander Hamilton" by Ron Chernow -- only 731 pages.  (Hey I made it halfway through!)

I felt fairly good the whole time, though I was really jittery and at times quite weak.  The Vitamin D of the sunshine, and the “Vitamin SEA” both did me a lot of good.  I almost got a tan, haha!  

One of my “big beach things” has always been to walk to the pier and back.  It’s a bit far for me to make it right now.  So I scaled down my goals – our “beach spot” is located about halfway between two rock piles (now mostly covered with sand) that were placed in the 1970's to stop beach erosion.  I decided to try to walk from our spot down the beach to one rock pile, then back up the beach to the other rock pile, then back to our spot each day.  I ended up walking to one rock pile and back to our spot, resting a while, then to the other rock pile and back every day but Thursday (my “weak” day).  


As I walked one day, I realized a truth:  Myasthenia Gravis and the Sea bear similar attributes.

Each day is a clean slate.  The sandy beach is wiped clean by the night's tide.  Energy exerted the day before is gone.  When you take those first steps in the morning, you start anew, whether it is a good day or a bad day.  You leave footprints, the waves wash them away. 

Both are confusing.  Each day – sometimes each hour -- can change.  Will your path be smooth, flat, and easy?  Or will it be littered with rip tides, obstructions, barbs, and stings? 

They both swirl around, ever-present, unending.  Sometimes calm, sometimes violent.

Both MG and the Sea can be treacherous.
They will grab you.  Knock you down.  Drag you under.  You flail against their powers.  They will pull you into a vortex of confusion, rolling and tumbling you down into a dark abyss until you don’t know which way is up.  They will blind you.  Choke you.  Suffocate you.  Then they will spit you out on the shore, exhausted of energy, weak, weary.  
They can kill you.


And yet….both give up treasures.  

Little gems like colorful shells and shark’s teeth, sparkling in the sunshine.  














The quiet calmness of a good day – it is such a blessing when you can float through tasks easily with little stress, or hum a song without running out of breath.  The steady rhythmic waves of energy remind you to be thankful for all gifts, great and small.   The opportunity for introspection and contemplation of what is truly important in life is offered as you rest upon the sand.  There is a source of inspiration, offering strength to fight another day.   

The greatest treasure, I believe, is the realization that life, love, and hope spring eternal in the human spirit, just as the waves will continue to crash upon the shore for all time. 


***   ***   ***   ***   *** 
Untethered Time Travel:  SCARS AND HONEY


It is the summer of 1970.  I am almost 14 years old.
I’m at the swimming pool in Peachland – my mom takes my sister and me nearly every afternoon.  It’s a welcome cool treat 
to splash and play in the water with friends!

I have a crush on a boy there – and confide to Teresa, the lifeguard.  
She is an “older woman” – probably all of 19!  
So she decides to find out if the fellow likes me too.

I watch from afar as she goes to talk to the guy.  

I hear him laugh, then say loudly “NO, she is ugly!”
 
I can tell you the exact spot where I was standing at that moment.  

There are probably scorch marks on the concrete there to this day, where the shame and flames of my embarrassment flashed through my body.  
I wanted to evaporate, or to jump into the water and never come out.  To this day when I think of that moment, I feel so defeated.
Isn’t it funny how one silly remark 
can leave a scar that never completely goes away? 

Now it is current day, 2018.  I am 62 years old.
I wake up, stretch.  Reach for David.  
He wakes up, smiles and says “Good morning, Beautiful!  I love you!” 

He has said this every single morning that we’ve been together.  
Even when we were living apart, he called me first thing every morning to tell me that he thinks I am beautiful and he loves me.  
It is a sweet, familiar, lovely routine 
that makes me smile first thing, every morning. 

Kind words are like honey--they cheer you up and make you feel strong.  ~~Proverbs 16:24

Comments

Nancy Detweiler said…
You are beautiful, especially when people know YOU--the Anita that so many love! The little girl that I often stopped to see first thing when I arrived in Peachland from Winston-Salem. The Anita that traveled to Ghana 5 times and contributed in so many ways to the people there ... like getting facial surgery for a little girl with cleft lip ... managed to get power for at least one village ... worked with David to bring a way to purify water for at least one village ... was my very dependable go-for on errands while I researched the Caudle Family's genealogy ... drove to Rockingham,NC and trudged across a field to get me a brick from Great Falls Cotton Mill where our Grandpa Jim was a child laborer in a cotton mill where children were required to work 12 hours daily, 6 days a week ... baked me a delicious fruit cake for Christmas one year because I mentioned missing having one. You are beautiful because you are Anita! The boy at the swimming pool did not know all the reasons why you are not only physically beautiful but, beautiful as you radiate your light from within. I'm sure David has convinced you of the Truth and I wanted to echo that Truth--you are truly beautiful, Anita!
September 7, 2018 at 10:01 PM
Anita said…
Thank you, Nancy! I've lived an amazing life, and I'm grateful for all the blessings I've received. It's funny that a careless remark by a kid can stick with you through a half-century of life.
Beauty is a concept that goes far beyond the physical look.
Anita
September 8, 2018 at 9:55 AM
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