frazzled & frumpy

Did you know your toes are called phlanges? (I thought that was just fingers.) Or that the big toe is called Hallux? The middle toe, kind of like the middle child, doesn't get a cool name. It's officially called #3. It's sort of overlooked. Like Edith* on Downton Abby. It's the left-at-the-altar-not-as-pretty-as-your-sisters toe. Sad, yes? I wonder if that's why the Handy Man's #3 grew that awful mole. For attention. See? Tiny. Then, huge. (Sorry for the close-up.) The doctor even told the Handy Man that he 'wouldn't even miss it'. Poor toe. Ignored in life and not missed when it's gone.  If it had been the baby toe, like **Sybil, we would have cried to have it torn away from us. But, no, not #3. He'll walk and work just like before. On its way to California for testing, we'll never see it again. I'm grateful, though, for Middle Toe. He sacrificed himself to keep my sweetheart alive. In my book, it's the best t...

We contemplated the ride for a while. Knew it had breathtaking twists and turns. Knew we couldn't really afford the trip. And, so we turned our backs, pretended it wasn't there. July 23, 2013 Voldemort We haven’t said the word. Sort of like Harry Potter- “Don’t say the name.”  We’ve talked about the ‘mole’. We refer to his 'toe'. I set up ‘the screening’. But we are loathe to say it. To verbalize the word would make the possibility all too real. It stands there just beyond my reach, taunting me with billboards and ads and facebook posts. It is the ghost that haunts my days and keeps me awake at night. Worse than anything in the closet or hiding under the bed, it is brazenly mocking me in broad daylight.  And, then, the roar of the wheels could no longer be ignored. Reluctantly, we got on. July 31, 2013 Screening Four a.m. his alarm jolts me out of a fitful sleep. I lay there, in that ignorant moment, wondering why there’s a heaviness in my stomach. Then ...