Today’s prompt: Write a piece of prose around the question: What does a return to “normal” look like for you?
My new normal
Each day I awaken with the sun. I climb out of bed, get dressed and head downstairs. First, the dog goes out. During his business I pick grasses and dandelions for the guinea pigs. We come in, the guinea pigs get the fresh greens and then the dog gets fed. Next, my medications and vitamins.
Each morning I do the same things but in different orders: WordPress blogging, building miniatures, cleaning the house.
I go shopping once a week for groceries.
I have one online appointment on Monday morning with my therapist.
I don’t go anywhere and I love it.
I don’t want to return to how it was….Doctor’s appointments, running errands, meeting up with people. I know it isn’t exactly the friendliest of lives but it suits me just fine to see a few people every so often while staying home accomplishing things I want to do each day.
Many years ago, I was a lot younger and in better shape. I loved yoga and all of its benefits. I was good at it and loved that too! I am, or was, very flexible and after practicing for probably over a year, I was strong enough to do some of the more challenging poses. I just loved how I felt.
I cannot remember the exact year, but my hip suddenly began bothering me. It ached and hurt when I strained it. It slowly got worse, so bad that I couldn’t even stay in child’s pose because having my hip bent like that became terribly painful.
For two more years I endured so much pain, so much to the point where I finally got the remedy I needed. My hip doctor sent me to a Hip Specialist (there are different levels of expertise in hips) and I found that the previous surgery hadn’t worked like it was supposed to. Apparently, when I had the first hip surgery the doctor removed the torn labrum in hopes that scar tissue would build up in the joint and act as cartilage. Well, it didn’t happen so for over two years it was bone on bone in my hip. So, I got a hip replacement at 45 years old.
Jump ahead to now….I’m 48. My hip still hurts almost all the time. It healed perfectly and looks fine under the xray but the doctor said I need to lose weight to keep the joint from hurting. That is great except too much movement makes other joints also hurt. That is the psoriatic arthritis.
Long story short, I am dying to get back into yoga and do the things I used to be able to do. I just need a way to get there. I will find that way, I know I will. I feel it coming.
Someday, that picture up above will be me, easily stretching, getting warmed up for a beautiful yoga practice!
I have been trying to think of how to use this prompt. I could write a poem about Alice. I could try and list all of the Alice’s I know of. I could write a story of Alice or talk about how much I love Alice in Wonderland. So I will do a little of each…..
Alice’s Puppy
Alice is a lady who lives right up the street
Every time I’m walking she smiles when we meet.
She has a little puppy, whose name is Baby Blue
He is so cute and fuzzy, you can’t help what you do.
You have to touch and hold him, cuddle him right up
Take him home, bath him good, and call him your new pup.
Alice in Wonderland Alice the waitress in that diner (can’t recall the show) Alice on the Brady Bunch Alice, the lady I used to cook pies for ***not a very long list***
Alice Bakes
Once upon a time there was a woman named Alice. She was a chubby woman because she loved to bake and eat all the goodies herself. One day a nice family moved in the house across the street from Alice. She knew right away that she would bake them something nice to welcome them to their new home. First, she baked chocolate chip cookies, but you cannot really give someone only two or three cookies as a welcome gift, especially when there are at least four people in the family. Next, she baked a sweet peach pie. She could not bring that over because by the time she was done there were no peaches left in the sweet crust. Knowing she had to do something, she thought and thought about what she could bake that would be enough to bring over. Alice took out all her pots and pans, her flour and sugar, rolling pin, electric mixer, and all the other ingredients she was going to need. She worked and worked to get the recipe exactly right. Finally, she had her baked goods for the new neighbors. She had made peanut butter cookies! What was different about these you ask? Well, she was allergic to peanuts. She figured she would have to make something she really could not eat. Problem solved and new neighbors are happy to meet Alice.
Before even writing for this I thought to myself, cypher…hmmm…why does it seem like I should know this so well? Well, I know decipher, which now makes total sense. I guess I never really used the word cypher (cipher) before now.
It was the evening of the dance and everyone had their elaborate costumes. There would not be anyone without a fanciful mask for the masquerade ball at the castle. Dina knew tonight would be the night she would meet her forever love, although she knew not who it would be. She learned at the stroke of midnight one other guest would unmask at precisely the same moment she did, and that guest would be with her for the rest of her life. It would be a magically exciting evening.
This is Jasmine. She was my beautifully sweet Therapy Dog. Bob brought her home when she was just a puppy, back around 2000 or 2001. She was part black lab and part dalmation. Her fur was soft brown and her skin underneath was spotted. We had to put her to rest somewhere around 2012 maybe. She was such a good dog, I miss her so much!!!!!
Stine Writing 
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