Current Books

I am halfway through a book titled Relentless Pursuit: A Year in the Trenches with Teach for America. Very good book. I will review when I am done with it.

A book I really want to read and have started several times is A Man on the Moon: The Triumphant Story of the Apollo Space Program. Despite really wanting to read this book, I can never get past page 15. What is up with that?

Next up is a book titled Conspiracy of Fools, which is about the collapse of Enron.

More about books later...

Well, Hello Spring! And, A Corner Turned

It is 8:40 pm and I just got home from a FANTASTIC run!!! It is finally Spring! It stays light out longer...the temperature is perfect...the birds are singing...there is finally a spring in my steps as I run!!!

Tonight: 2 miles, only took 2 short walk breaks, and I felt strong. STRONG, I tell you. It feels good.

Tomorrow is a walk day.

:)

My Lobotomy

OK, some people go through the most horrific things, and still come out okay.

This book, My Lobotomy, A Memoir, was written by Howard Dully. When Howard was twelve years old, his VERY evil stepmother recommended that he get a lobotomy, because he was hard for her to handle, and she had always seemed to have it in for him. His father agreed to this procedure after only thinking about it for two days, after this step-mother had taken the kid to numerous psychiatrists, "looking" for someone to say he was crazy. The lobotomy was performed using "ice picks" inserted behind the eyes. ~shudder~

Following this horror, the poor kid spent the rest of his childhood in various mental institutions and halfway houses, wondering what the heck was wrong with him. Why his family deserted him. Several doctors told him that there was nothing wrong with him, but this evil woman did not want him in her home, so he was made a ward of the state. He got in trouble with the law, got into trouble with alcohol and drugs.

Eventually, he met and married a woman, went to school, had a son, and got a stable job, but not until he was close to 40 years old. It was at this point in time that he went on a quest to find out what had happened to him. He got to read the doctor's notes who performed the lobotomy, he interviewed his father (who is equally to blame for everything...what parent lets a person decide to lobotomize their son?????), and eventually came to peace with it all.

I listened to an interview he did on NPR about 4 years ago, and he is a very well-spoken man. You would never know he had this horrific procedure done to him. He actually had an MRI so that doctors could see the damage that was done, and they told him that if he had had this same procedure done as an adult he would have been a vegetable, there was THAT much brain damage. But since he was so young when he had the lobotomy, his brain compensated for the damage.

This was a good book. It is unbelievable how much someone can go through and still end up having a good life.

Getting Back In A Groove

I have sort of been treading water for the past month, which is okay, but now I need to and am ready to kick it up a notch. The past four weeks have been busy...I attended the birth of my friend's baby (and actually ended up missing it because she had a c-section!). I was surprised by my feelings following this experience. It took me about a week to process it all, which I have found out from others is totally normal for a labor support person, especially when you prep for birth, and then something unexpected happens like an unplanned c-section. Both the baby and mom are doing great now, so all is very good.

The kids were on Spring Break last week, and that was stressful. For alot of reasons. The lead-up to the vacation and the actual vacation were stressful, and I am glad to be back to a normal life now.

Needless to say, I have been feeling rather depressed. But I think the fog is lifting. I am feeling more energy, and more interest in MY goals. I am ready to go!!

:)