I Am A Traveler - Preparing For Our Untour

Today I walked with Cindy along the trails at the PV Interpretive Center and asked myself "Why would I travel when I live in paradise? "

It is true, but the world is so big and there is so much to experience.  This time we are taking an Untour where we will spend one week in Southern France in an apartment in the village of Pernes-Les-Fontaines, near Avignon.

We will explore the area in our rental car, sip wine, eat pastries and veggies and watch locals. Àt the end of the week we will take a train to Barcelona, Spain. There we have another Untour apartment in the Eixemple area of the city for our second week.

In keeping with our desire to travel light we have bought a tablet for the trip to provide our Internet access rather than our bulkier netbook.   In fact. .. I am attempting to write this blog post on the tablet. If I can master it I hope to blog some posts about our adventures.

Who says you can't teach an old dog new tricks? "Arf-Arf"

I Am An Arthritic Person - Dealing With My Hand

No, this is not a piece of flotsam that I picked up on the beach.

It is a Radial Gutter Splint and it is my newest accessory to wear when the joints of my left hand become inflamed and painful with arthritis.

When I was a young girl, I watched my Grandmother struggle with arthritic pain.  Her legs, bowed from rickets as a child, place great strain on her knees.  Over time pain of bone rubbing against bone resulted in two knee replacements which were to some degree, successful, at least for a while.  Her hands also became gnarled and I would watch her working her fingers with thin mercantile cotton thread as she crocheted lacy doilies…working through the pain caused by her arthritic joints rather than give up her beloved pastime.   

At the time, I was young, I felt fit and invincible.  “That will never happen to me!”

Lately, I have been experiencing pain in a couple of joints in my hands.  Nothing that brings tears to my eyes, but feeling enough discomfort to cause me to reach for the anti-inflammatories, to rub cream on the joint, and to rest my hand.  Finally, I decided to consult an orthopedic hand-specialist just to see what I was dealing with and if there was anything I could do to ease it.  After a simple set of X-rays he said… “Yes, you are right, you have the beginnings of arthritis in these joints.”  He suggested that I use a simple hand splint to stabilize the joints when they are in pain and to rest the ligaments. 

My grandmother didn’t have access to this technology of having a custom molded splint of malleable plastic formed to support her fingers.  It took the therapist about 20 minutes to measure, mold and fit the splint for my hand and I walked out with it.  I must admit that while performing daily tasks with it on will take a little getting used to, I can already feel the ease it provides.  In time I should only need to wear it when I have flare-ups. 

While I waited for the splint to be ready, I spoke to two men sitting at the long fitting table where they were having various therapies for their hands.  One man was recovering from having a tendon severed in two places on his right palm when he inadvisedly pushed down some trash in a trash barrel not knowing it contained broken glass. Ouch!  “I didn’t think,” he said.  “I could have prevented this!”

The other young man was trying to recover mobility on his left hand after cutting off the first joint of his ring finger with a circular skill saw while making a play house for his children. Ouch!  “I got careless, didn’t respect the tool, and am responsible for this.” he said.  

We talked about how much we take our physical abilities, our hands, our feet, our eyes for granted and how difficult it is to adjust when they are compromised.  Then one of the men turned to me and said… “And what happened to you?  What did you do to injure your hand?”  What exotic answer could I give?  I was fly fishing and…  I was golfing on the third tee and …  I was preparing a gourmet meal with my Chef’s knives and…  I looked at him and said… “Well, to be honest, I just got old!”

I Am A Grandmother – Preparing for Gino!

One of my happiest roles in my life is that of grandmother.  I resonate with the person who once said…”If I had known grandchildren would bring me such I joy, I would have had them first!”  And now, I get to be one again!!  

A couple of months ago Marc and Charlotte told me they were having a baby.  It is their first child and my third grandchild and I am sooo very excited! 

Marc and Charlotte at the Dr.'s office...can you tell they are excited!

Technology has changed greatly since my first grandson was born in 1986. We did not his sex until his birth when his dad came out of the delivery-room high-fiving his brothers while shouting, “It’s a boy!”  We learned the sex of this new baby when he was just 20 weeks old, when the technician wielding the ultrasound wand over Charlotte’s baby bump said…”There IT is!” 

The 20 week ultrasound of Gino, including a 3 D of his little face...amazing!

My special joy was that Marc and Charlotte invited ME to go to this appointment with them to “share the moment!”  They received the news first privately and then invited me into the examination room to meet Gino!

Hi Gino...I am your grandmother, Mima!

My children have conveniently spaced my grandchildren so I could be fully present to each one. In 1986 Nikolas was born and he immediately stole my heart.  He was the one who named me “Mima.” 

Nikolas Arthur Altieri

Then just when he had a become a full-fledged independent teenager, Gabriel was born and fitted nicely into my empty arms.

Gabriel Michael Altieri

Now, Gabriel has just turned 13 and is a teenager, a fact which he reminds me of every time I see him.  So the time is right and I am ready and waiting for Gino!

So how does one prepare for a new grandson?  Well, first of all I started knitting!  Items are accumulating and I am spending hours going through baby pattern books.  

So far...two blankets, bootie socks, and a Royal Blue Newborn Cocoon!

Secondly, I have to have a place for his extra clothes and toys.  Gabriel still has “his” drawer and “his shelf” at our house! So I need to find a place that is just for Gino!

But most importantly, I have to prepare the rocker!  This rocker was purchased when I was expecting my first child.  It has rocked Joey, Michael, Marc, Nikolas, and Gabriel.  I have so many memories of holding little bodies against me while softly singing songs from Burl Ives or Winnie the Pooh.  Or of holding a baby in the middle of the night while everyone slept except for this wide-eyed little one, of looking out the at the moon-lit sky and feeling like we were the only two beings on the earth. 

Over the years the rocker, like the grandmother, has aged!  It has developed a distinctive creak that Marc swears, if he closes his eyes when he hears it, he has the sensation of being rocked!  It has also developed a build-up of wax that has made the seat and armrests a little sticky.  So this weekend Jay and I worked at removing the excess wax and smoothing the wood.  We could refinish it but somehow I like the weathered, aged look of this family relic.  I think it is ready for Gino.

I love being a grandmother.  When a grandchild arrives at my house, the rest of the world stops and I can welcome him as if I had been waiting all day, all my life, just to see him.  It is an easy role.  I don’t have to do anything to be a grandmother.  I just have to “BE.”  It isn’t a job description; it is a state of being.  There is an Italian saying that says… “If nothing is going well, call your grandmother” and it is my joy to be that person!

So to little Gino Bossie Altieri I say...

 “You are the child of my child, and your life is a joy to me!   

I am ready to welcome you into my arms and my life…you are already in my heart!”