mistressofmuses | Misc post:

Today is my dad's 70th birthday.

I did give him a call, and we were able to talk for a bit. He told me that he never planned to make it to 70, so just feels a bit out of place and kind of "now what?" about it. I managed not to say "that's how I feel every year!" but lol, same.

He was going to lunch with my step-mom, and has dinner plans for later with some friends. He's had a busy week with a bunch of music gigs, which is good, but I also want him to rest! (His mystery health issues from a couple months back are still not entirely resolved. They want him to use a CPAP, but every step of the process was delayed multiple times, with constant reschedules and "well, now you have to go to a different office that's two hours away" nonsense. He did finally get it, but I'm not sure it's been long enough to know if it's fixing the issues.)

I still have a hard time thinking of my parents as being 70! My mom especially doesn't seem like she's that old.

I am concerned that I might be getting an ear infection. It feels like there is a very small person in my ear that is using my eardrum as a punching bag. It's really not an extremely high level of pain, but it has been a constant throb for about a day and a half now, and it suuuucks.

Work drama be work drama-ing. It'll all be fine, but some mild frustration right now. Looking forward to a four-day weekend, since I took Wednesday off.

My mildly ambitious reading plan is not going terribly well. I had hoped to try and get a bit over 100 pages read per night, which would let me finish out all of the books I hoped to complete by the end of the year. Unfortunately, I've been starting to fall asleep at closer to 50 or 60 pages. We'll see if I manage to catch up. I sort of doubt it at this point, as we are shockingly far into November. I am glad that at least the reading is steady even if it isn't as much as I'd hoped. If I have to carry over the rest of this year's books into 2026, oh well.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Happy birthday to your dad!

Ear infections suck. In the past my chiropractor helped me avoid ear infections by yanking on my ear. I'd remove all earrings and he'd grab the earlobe and give it a HARD yank. To me it felt like he was opening up the channel so the ear could drain, but I don't know if that is actually what was happening. I'm not saying you should remove your earrings and have Alex yank on your earlobe, but I'm also NOT not saying that. o_O *g*

Sorry that your work is drama-ing. It seems like there's always something.

Good luck with the reading!

Thank you on his behalf!

Ear infections do suck. Luckily, whining about it seemed to help, haha. It's felt better the last couple days. (Either complaining chased it away, or maybe the very hot shower and bath I took a couple nights ago, ha.) Though yanking on it until the tubes drain is an appealing fix!

There is always something in the work drama realm!

And thank you!

I hope your dad gets to have a good birthday while also being responsible and taking care of his health. I feel the same way about my sister, who turned 72 this year, and it becomes a little more difficult for her to do some things than how she was able to conquer them in the past without effort. It's hard to see her at that place just as I know it's hard for HER to have reached this point because her brain still wants to do all that stuff while her body is going, "Wait now. Hold up. We CAN'T do that shit anymore - or not as fast or as well as we used to!" I know she worries that I'm taking on a lot to help her out, but with her, I don't mind most of it because she's not Joe or Linda, who expect and demand that people do for them and why should they have to *ask* when we should all just *do*? (Nevermind that Kathy is between them in age, but they were expecting her to do so much stuff for them and not paying attention to when Kathy would show pain or exhaustion or even tell them, "Yeah, I can't do that anymore.") Kathy doesn't expect, she doesn't demand. She asks, and even if I'm doing stuff, she still tries to offer to help in ways that she can. She doesn't take for granted that I'm here and I can do things she can't easily.

So I get it. You probably don't think of yourself as old enough to have parents in their 70s. If my dad were alive today, he'd be 4 years shy of 100. My mom was only four years younger than him, and they've been gone for more years of my life than they were around in it since they both passed before I even graduated high school. Hopefully your dad will take care of himself and not make his health issues worse. He should get to enjoy all the music gigs he wants to do!

He tells me that he has survived the birthday weekend, haha. But yeah, it's definitely tough to see how much more difficult it can be to do things, especially when it's a mismatch with how much you WANT to be able to do/think of yourself as being able to do. It's definitely the case for both my parents. I mean, I notice it even at my age, where I have to worry about reinjuring my back, or know that it takes much longer to heal when I do get hurt or sick compared to five or ten years ago. And I know that five or ten or twenty years from now I'll be thinking how I had no idea! Haha.
My mom especially I can see the mismatch: She wants to hike and do outdoorsy stuff... but has to potentially worry about going out alone in a way she never used to. It's rare, but she's fallen and hurt herself a couple times; what happens if she falls while she's out on a hiking trail?

I'm glad that you're able to help Kathy with things. It's miles away from what Joe and Linda do. There's nothing wrong with needing help, but there IS something wrong with demanding help from someone that you don't even respect. Asking and demanding are different on their own, but I also know that Kathy respects and cares for you, and will do what she can to help you in return. She, I'm sure, appreciates the ways in which you help her. With Joe and Linda, they never seem to respect or appreciate you or Kathy; they certainly don't respect your time or your own health, and instead just feel that they're entitled to your time/energy, on their own time, even at the cost of your well being.

It does feel strange to have my parents be so old! I still feel unprepared to be the adultier adult, ha.

I'm so sorry you lost your parents so young.

I hope your ear's better by now, or at least on the mend!

Looking forward to a four-day weekend, since I took Wednesday off.

A+++ life choice! ^_^

Luckily my ear does seem to be doing better! I'm very relieved.

Thank you! I am looking forward to it.

I remember my dad was eighty when he died, in 2012. But I also have to remember my family breeds late. Our generations take deep steps.

An ear infection! Just dreadful. The grocery store sold me some homeopathic bullshit I had to return as it had no effect. There is a good one that's fussy to find. At least it works, right?

Oh, work-drama. Mine makes the local news. I don't wish to diminish your pain, but it could be worse. Ride the high that it isn't worse.

My parents had kids fairly late, too. They were 33 when I was born, 38 for my younger sibling.

The ear infection luckily seemed to clear up before taking too deep a hold, to my great relief. But good to know there IS something out there that actually works!

At least my work drama mostly does not make the news. This is true.

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