What a month! November felt like forever!
Football is finally over. Is it horrible to say I'm thrilled that we are done with this chapter in our lives? Each of my sons played football. One son suffered a life-changing injury during a football game. Two sons were team captains in their senior years. While my youngest enjoyed many things about playing football, I will say his final season was quite challenging. With six or seven starting players injured, it affected the entire team. Although we were without our star quarterback from last year for much of this season, we were fortunate to have a back-up sophomore quarterback whose father was a professional football player. During the few games where both QBs were in the game, we did very well. Our team won the sectional championship game.
Sadly, during that game, our beloved senior QB suffered injury yet again - this time with a staggering injury, tearing his ACL, MCL, meniscus, and breaking his leg. I'm so sad for him. He was no doubt scouted. Are those dreams shattered now? Sean struggled with injuries throughout the season as well. He injured his knee while playing male volleyball and the injury flared throughout the football season. Every single day he iced and elevated the knee. Then, he rolled his ankle. During the hardest practices and games, he fortified his defenses with ibuprofen. Since the PT only helped briefly and they couldn't identify what was wrong, his coaches were unsympathetic. They expected him to suck it up and play on. And he did. But, boy, am I ever glad the whole thing is over.
At the close of the regional game (tragically lost in the last seconds), Sean noticed his back feeling off. Thus, the following morning, we headed to an urgent care facility for the achy back, a case of pink eye, and a week-long sore throat. They ran tests for strep and mono. "Ding! Ding! We have a winner!" the doctor exclaimed. He tested positive for mono. Wonderful!
In mid-November, I took part in an ornament exchange. The evening promised a festive potluck, and prizes for the "best holiday outfit," "best wrapping," and "most stolen ornament." I'm not zany or creative enough to win the first two categories, but thought I might stand a chance with the final one. The day before the event, I ditched my original purchase when I noticed an ad on Facebook for a store selling a 4 foot inflatable ornament. Sadly, I should have stuck with the first idea (which included a Starbucks gift card). Nobody stole the ornament I opened, thus I didn't get a chance to do any stealing. But watching the game unfold was fun!
I also took the bull by the horns in November and attempted to remedy a long-standing issue. I have been unable to write creatively since things grew hectic with my prodigal in mid-2023. Surely, I could whip out a poem each day for a November Poem-a-Day challenge, right? Well, I went in with the best intentions and did well for a spell. I completed poems for 11 of the 30 prompts. While they were nothing stellar, it was at least progress.
While I might have had minimal progress, my husband suffered loss in November. He set off to run errands, intending to take a donation to Goodwill and drop off a bag of clothes at the dry cleaners. Alas, he gave the bag of good clothes (meant for the dry cleaners) along with the cast-offs to Goodwill and is now out a whole section of his closet.
November is also the time for author fairs (anticipating Christmas gifting). I attended two, and while my success was meager, it was good to share my story. I passed out several promo cards and met interesting people. The author seated next to me at one fair received many phone calls. He apologized and said he simply ignores the spam because they call constantly. Can such a thing be contagious, like mono? Now my cell phone rings off the hook with these annoying spam calls. One identified as "healthcare" and I worried it concerned Sean, so I answered, unfortunately. Will this problem ever go away? Sadly, I think this problem is going to linger in December. Perhaps December will be even longer than November!
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