I was spending a typical day in my new home; checking email, running errands, working on client files, etc. All was good but I couldn't settle down. I had a weird stomach ache. I was jumpy. This doesn't happen to me often. So I noticed, but couldn't put my finger on it.
Then Dad called in the early afternoon saying Mom was ill and he didn't like the way she looked. Dad is a pretty carefree guy, so when he calls I usually run. This time my run was much shorter from my new home. Mom was testing the new Daughter Emergency Response System! As I drove to their home, I realized the last time I felt unsettled like this was about a year ago. I blamed it on too much news or too much coffee. It turned out, Mom was sick that day. It all starts making sense. Dad and I are becoming seasoned in triage with Mom's health. She wasn't in any distress. She was sluggish and not really talking, somewhat confused. The temperature changed by 40 degrees in the past couple of days, so it was much warmer and Mom had a little upset stomach from her lunch. Now what? Dad was convinced it was her lunch. I thought it was dehydration. If you know me, you know I can kick into my "Olivia Pope" mode and start problem solving and fixing. It is one of my superpowers! I start running scenarios out loud with Dad. If we call 911, if we take her to the ER or to Urgent Care...what happens next.... We have experience here and know what happens...she will be admitted to the hospital (most likely for dehydration) and she will give up, become weak in a hospital bed then be sent to rehab. It's not a good scenario. So, my very intuitive father and I start monitoring her in 15 minute increments. I make her walk around, we take her blood pressure, we give her small sips of water and we wait. I call my sister so she can participate in the worry and treatment. Mom looks a little better in 15 minutes, so we do it again. Water, walk, sit up and wait. She starts perking up and talking. Then she gets pissy with me that I am hovering over her. We are on the road to recovery! Within 2 hours, Mom and I are in the car, running an errand and singing "Over the Rainbow" very loudly and off key but smiling and laughing all the way. Emergency diverted. I don't recommend not calling 911 or seeking medical attention in an emergency. Mom's health is a challenge. She doesn't speak much anymore and when you need to her communicate how she is feeling to a medical professional she shuts down and they take over. In this case, Dad and I both knew it wasn't an emergency, though we questioned our own intuition for a few minutes and made some calls and just kept waiting. If Mom had taken a turn for the worst, we would have called 911 or gone to the ER in a skinny minute. But she didn't, she got better. My lessons from this experience are:
Wishing you peace, love and sparks of health this holiday weekend! Deb
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Well it happened. I knew it would happen, I just didn't know when it would happen. I cracked under the pressure of buying and selling a home, running a business and worrying about my family! And for good measure, throw in recovering from rummage and trying to have a personal life. The pressure piled on this morning and I sat at my desk crying.
I have those moments when my superpowers don't work, I rip off my cape and sit down and cry. Thankfully, a good friend picked me up and eliminated one of my immediate stressors. With the pressure off, I gathered my thoughts and started working on EVERYTHING! That's not always a good idea. But today, I need to move 'all the balls forward'. It's how I recover. I can't sit on the couch and continue binge-watching Scandal until I feel better. I feel better through action. So while I was in the midst of working in the laundry room, I had an idea for this newsletter. So as I type, the laundry room is a mess and I am finishing the newsletter. It's the way its going to be today! I closed on my new house last week (yay!) and will be moved in by the time I am writing the June newsletter. I love my new place and I will miss my current one. Lot's of good memories here and lots of new memories to be made. Please forgive the brevity of this month's newsletter, I will be back on track next month. Enjoy my blog on the Magic of Rummage. And I promise I will finish reading Your Divine Lens soon (so much for a monthly book, this is month 3!) When you are feeling overwhelmed, rest assured it's alright to simply stop and take a breath. Cry if you need to. Call a friend. Talk it out. Keep your eye on the prize! Nothing is insurmontable. We just have to take it one step at a time. Now, back to the laundry room.... Wishing you peace, love and sparks of happiness! Deb If you know me, you know one of my passion's is volunteering at a rummage sale. And not just any rummage sale but the self-proclaimed oldest and largest rummage sale in the state of NJ. It's quite an event.
I'm in the middle of my tenth sale and the magic of rummage amazes me every time. You see, this isn't your typical rummage sale. Before I started volunteering, if I heard the words 'rummage sale' I thought of the basement of the church of my youth. The women of the church would collect donations and then one Saturday afternoon the sale would commence and we would get to buy things we didn't need for a quarter or a dollar. The rummage sale today is sponsored by the Visiting Nurse Association of Somerset Hills (VNA-SH) and is celebrating it's 95th year, in 2016. 95 years. That's a long time. As I have been told, it started small as a rack of dresses and has grown to a multi-day event (twice a year) with 20 departments and over 400 volunteers. Amazing. You can buy almost anything at rummage. I love just about everything related to rummage. The generosity of people who donate personal and household items. The VNA-SH who provide wonderful services to the local community, including the Adult Day Program which my mother attends. And the volunteers who give their time and talent. That's the good stuff. The not so good stuff includes the portable toilets and bad weather. Rummage is an outdoor event that lasts a month between set-up, collection and the sale. I experienced the magic of rummage during my first sale when I was able to match a buyer with her dream piece of clothing. I volunteer in the Boutique Tent, the home of women's designer clothing. I know this may sound odd, but rummage clothes all have owners and a home. The Spring 2016 sale is no exception. We receive many interesting and valuable donations. This sale we received a wedding gown and wedding gowns are hard to match and sell. This gown found its home when a seamstress, whose niece is getting married in the Fall, saw it and inquired. She was hesitant and started taking and sending photos to the bride and mother of the bride. You see, the bride had champagne taste on a beer budget. The aunt knew she could transform the dress and exceed the expectations of the bride. You could see creativity as she told us what she would do with the dress. The ladies of the Boutique Tent knew this dress had just found its owner. We rallied around and negotiated and made the magic happen. When the dress was sold, we all cheered. Not because we had made the sale, but because the dress had found its new home and the good work of the VNA-SH would benefit. The wedding theme continues as another magical event occurred when a future mother of the bride saw a fur stole and imagined wearing it over her shoulders at her daughter's December wedding. She was hesitant and thought she would come back the next day to get it and immediately started to worry it would be gone. I handed it to her to try on and look in the mirror. Her face lit up when she saw it because it was perfect. It was a beautiful piece, very vintage and in very good condition. I knew this piece had found its owner and I needed to make the magic happen, so I did. With a little negotiation and a lot of good intention, the fur stole found its home. Again we all cheered. It's rummage magic. Not every item sold at the rummage sale has a dramatic story but every item sold is magical. Since my first rummage sale I have said rummage clothes are magical. When you wear them, you carry with you the good intention and generosity of the donor in addition to good will you earned when purchasing the item. Magic. Now that I am in the midst of my tenth sale I also understand that a necessary part of the rummage lifecycle is re-donating the clothing and items you have purchased. I love all of my rummage purchases: clothing, shoes, lamps, chairs, pottery, etc. And as they come to the end of their useful life for me, I send them back to be loved by someone else. Many organizations collect clothing and household items to be sold and raise funds. I can't speak for them, though I am sure the magic is there in its own way. I've experienced the VNA-SH Rummage Sale magic and it’s one of the many reasons I return to volunteer, rain or shine, hot or cold, busy or not. I will be there as long as they will have me. I love the magic. Wishing you peace, love and sparks of magic! Deb |
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AuthorDebbie Moulton is the owner of Real Life Spark, a coaching practice dedicated to Igniting the Next Generation of YOU!™ Archives
March 2019
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