I looked at a few stores where they
definitely had butt ugly sweaters, but I was not inclined to spend $40 for a
sweater so ugly, I’d only wear it once. I had already cancelled out of one
party, and I was in such a funk that I just didn’t know if I was even going to
make it to this one.
Finally, a few hours before the Alzheimer’s
Walk party, I breezed into Walmart and looked at several sweaters so ugly they
were kind of cute—in an odd sort of way. I chose five sweaters and took them to
the dressing room. It was important that the sweater fit because I was down to
the wire and certainly didn’t have time to exchange it.
I put the sweaters on a hook and one
started flashing. It took me a few minutes to find the off switch. I finally
got a good look at the sweater that was flashing and knew it was the one. It said, “I’m having a meltdown.”
Ah, perfection.
This entire season has been one big
meltdown for me. I’m to the point where I don’t want to go to bed at night, and
I don’t want to get up in the mornings. I’ve decided it ’tis the season to be
grumpy. I’ve felt like an ugly sweater inside and out, and this one told the
story of the past six months.
Sometimes it’s hard to decide
whether my knee or my head hurts more. I feel like crawling into a shell and
pulling my head inside like a nervous turtle. I went an entire week without
going out of the house except to walk the dog.
The season of Ho-Ho-Ho, is more like
bah-humbug. There’s nothing like losing two family members to take the jolly
out of the holiday season.
On the positive side, my house is as
decorated as it’s going to get for the holidays. We finally found a mutually
agreeable date for our annual family get-together. Now that two of my
grandchildren are all grown up, we have a lot of working adults with schedules
to coordinate. We had eliminated all weekends in December, but a Christmas
miracle cleared up a day this upcoming weekend.
When I turn on the trees and the
fiber optic bear, it chases away the blues. Now I need a little Christmas magic
to give me back my stamina, enthusiasm, and optimism. I would so much rather
have a white Christmas than a blue one.
Oh, and that sweater…turns out that
I kind of like it. I combined the “ugly” sweater with a Santa hat, a “rosy the
riveter” scarf, fingernails painted in five bright Christmassy colors, one red
and one green earring, and I found some of that good old holiday cheer. The
flashing lights helped temper the “Meltdown” message.
Copyright © Dec 2018 by L.S. Fisher
#ENDALZ
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