Wednesday, April 24, 2024

 Wednesday, April 24, 2024

     I had a very, very bad night's sleep. I woke up at two, and that was it for the night. I had a bad bout of grief. It would help if I could cry easily. Unfortunately, I'm too well-trained to do that easily. When I do relax and let it happen, it's intense. Friends have told me my sobs sound like laughter. I'm not laughing.  The tears finally came once midmorning. 

 Dan came over to cut down the Schefflera tree breaking up my driveway. I walked down to the bottom of the property to show him the other tree I wanted cut down.  We took Elsa with us. Elsa wasn't with us as we came up to the fence to leave the lower area. That had never happened before. Dan and I ran around calling her name. Nothing. Finally, Yvette called out. She had let her into her house. I figured she wouldn't do that because Elsa, excited by the hospitality, leaves a hostess gift- an unwanted one.

  Dean arrived by bike as Elsa, and I walked back into the house. Dan was going to take the cut logs over to Dean's house. Dean would use them to divert the rain so it didn't flood his property. It was a neighborhood effort.  Dan didn't have the time to take on the second tree. He also felt he would need his extractor to do the job. That meant caring about Little again. The job, including the delivery to Dean's house, took less than two hours. 

    I had an appointment with Shelly. I worked on the grief. How do you deal with debilitating, painful bouts of grief? No easy solution came to mind. You have to go through it. Around it is not a good option.

  I met with Adolescent D at 4. I had him read a very simple story. He made all sorts of errors because he made assumptions using just the first letter of the word and the context of the story.  I told him he had to take charge of his mind. He should give his mind instructions before he starts reading, "Pay attention to the letters."

  I looked up information on Truffoire products. I found a site praising the product, but nothing that sounded like an independent evaluation. Then, I found a site that said it was a good product but vastly overpriced and recommended another brand. When I checked their pricing, it wasn't great either. The Truffoire products are all-natural, with no chemicals. That's what makes them pricy. Buying the products was an indulgence, even at dramatically reduced prices