Clearing the Fog April 9, 2014

When I get sidetracked it is often difficult to return to routines I find fulfilling and helpful. Thus, when my husband became ill last month, I stopped writing--including this blog-- even though he has since fully recovered and is requiring less of my time visitng and worrying.

When there is a difficult problem I need to solve, I seem to get lost in a fog with only the problem and its subsequent decisions and behaviors taking up all of my energy; the rest of my days seem to go by on automatic pilot even after the crisis has past, usually until someone calls me on my neglect.

It is so helpful to me when a friend phones and says "I've missed you at the gym. Are you all right?"

This time it was a friend from NY who phoned and asked why I had not written a blog entry since March 18th. It is time to awaken to the beauty of the Arizona Spring - April when the cactus bloom and the desert is alive with color!

I attended an Alzheimer's Association Support Group Facilitator's Training session yeaterday about the need for healthy as well as symptomatic folks to volunteer for clinical trials at the Alzheimer's Institutes. The speaker stated it was due to the thousands of volunteers that an antivirus was found to treat HIV-AIDS. We need to find a cure for Alzheimer's disease! It is so difficult to watch the fog around my husband deepen which locks him far from us who love him.

Clearing the fog is sometimes as simple as cleaning our eyeglasses and seeing the world more directly. Sometimes it is confronting an issue that seems too difficult to tackle; facing it head-on, asking for help will often clear my head so I can deal with whatever I have been avoiding.

And now preparing for the holiday will give me the lift I need. Passover and Easter are times of rebirth, revitalization, of reconnectiion with friends and family. It is time in April to remember the six million who perished under the tyranny of Nazism and it is also the time to celebrate life, to appreciate the blessings we have and to purposely enjoy the relationships old and new we have made, to invite others to share in the bounty of the spring fruits and vegetables and to share ideas and companionship.

Happy Passover and Happy Easter.