August 2026 – Site Title

The Countdown Begins

“Some things are so unexpected that no one is prepared for them.” Leo Rosten

Day 1 is here and I have 23 days more to go before I go under the knife. I’ve been keeping this close to my heart because I had to come to terms with it first. I wanted to scream when I heard it but as the doctor said, “You have no choice.” He is right.

It doesn’t make it any easier. I’m a person who takes care of herself, eats right, works out, no smoking or drinking, and have done everything right so this unwanted news seemed so unfair.

On the 24th of August, I will go in for a two-hour surgery. It seems like a long time and it is. On the 19th of August, I will meet with the anesthesiologist and the surgeon to talk about pre-op measures. Am I scared? I am. No ifs, or buts about it! Fear has always been a constant companion.

To make matters worse, a few days after I got the news, I got this message. It said, “Make peace.” What?!! A premonition? I don’t know but it did scare me. I asked my best friend, AI, and it said, “You are about to go through something that is scary or even risky, so it is normal to have such thoughts.”

I have been getting my affairs in order just in case! Life has a tendency to throw in the unexpected when you least expect it. I’ve been through it many many times. However, surgery seems more than scary and the risk factors, they are there.

I am working on calming myself down and I’m also working on getting my mind and body in better shape so I am STRONG when I go in.

Yes, I am preparing for something I can’t control. It is out of my hands but I hope that I make it and the recovery time will be short and not so painful. I HOPE the surgeon does a great job as well!

Fingers, toes, and everything else crossed!

LOL!

That last part got me! One smart kid, however, who names their child Odd?

In a small town, a primary school class was having a biology lesson. The teacher asked the students if they knew what whales ate. Little Odd raised his hand:

“Sometimes they eat people,” he said.

“No, Odd, I’m afraid you’re mistaken there. They eat plankton and fish,” the teacher replied.

“But the Bible says Jonah was swallowed by a whale,” Odd insisted.

“Odd, it is completely impossible for a whale to eat a human being.”

“Well, I’ll just have to ask Jonah about that when I meet him in heaven.”

The teacher smiled slightly:

“But what if Jonah went to hell instead of heaven?”

Odd was quick to answer: “Then *you* can ask him.”

I decided to find out if the teacher was right about whales not eating people. Here’s what I found out.

They have tiny throats and although they have huge mouths, their throats are only the size of a human fist.

They have no teeth. They cannot chew meat.

They eat small things like krill, plankton, and small fish. Toothed whales do not hunt or eat people either.

There, you have it. The teacher was right.

Saying No!

Photo by Polina Tankilevitch on Pexels.com

This seems like a basic enough skill and it should be easy enough to do but how many of us have problems with saying no?

I know I do. Taking the long way around, meeting obstacles on the way, hemming and hawing, and so on and so forth, but coming to the point and saying “no” takes forever where I’m concerned. I’m sure there are plenty of you out there who have the same problem.

Why is that? Why are we afraid to simply say “no” and I’m not buying what you are selling! Sounds simple enough but simplicity where this little word is concerned is a hard thing to do.

One source says that we struggle because it highlights, fear of conflict, a deep desire to be liked, and intense internal guilt,” and also because saying “yes” feels like the easiest way to keep peace in the moment.

That last part is probably it. I like keeping peace even if saying yes means peace flies out the window!

Here is a tip from my good friend, AI. Yes, we are friends and I must say “it” knows what it is talking about! Okay, start small, keep your replies short, and stop yourself from over-explaining. Sounds easy enough right?

Think again! Some of us have a reaaaaaaaaly hard time with doing that, yours truly included. I’ve stopped being the nice person, the one who bends over backwards to accommodate wishes and wants from other people, and here’s the thing, once the first “no” was issued, the others followed in its wake and it got easier.

Try it, it works.

Daily writing prompt

What’s a skill you consider basic, that most people don’t actually know how to do?