Driven to - Wait, What Was I Talking About?

I really do not know how I completed college (much less graduated summa cum laude) without a psycho-stimulant to help me pay attention. As articulated (!) here, the neuro-psychologist who diagnosed me with ADHD (2 years ago?) said, I likely simply had to work a LOT harder than I would have to have worked otherwise, if I hadn't had this TBI in high school. This is what happened yesterday:

I will begin with the acknowledgement that a different conversation in similar circumstances, a conversation with a friend or meeting someone for the first time, would likely have been quite different and I would've focused better. But really, this was impossible; I was self-monitoring because it was a somewhat important scenario (me meeting the senior pastor from The New Church and his Wife; Matt meeting one of his other Co-workers for the first time), and even when I realized I needed to man up and refocus, my attention would wander again immediately. I did manage to keep my verbal observations to a minimum.

Please Read This

This was posted on Scary Mommy yesterday; I think this woman was really brave to share her story and what she's going through currently: Moving Past a Loss. If you are not familiar with the emotional process of a miscarriage, the entry and the ensuing comments (mine's down at #120, I hope it helped) will probably help you understand more. Thanks.

Yawn ...

Not sure what the next couple of months will hold as far as "ability to post/blog." We are starting to realize this moving thing is for real - this weekend Matt and I are going to visit about 7 rental homes, and get an official-ish tour of the new church. We've started to pack up some books, pottery, etc.; I actually got a package of color-coded Avery moving labels but I think that may ultimately only serve to make me think I'm further along than I am ("I have labels. I'm obviously way too organized to have to worry about this."). Something about that last sentence is really awkward, I admit, but I'm not currently motivated enough to do anything about it.

Regular Stuff

I would say, we are slightly getting back to normal. But I'm not sure what "normal" typically is for our family, and I think even that is off the table for the near future due to the upcoming move.

I was out of town for four days last week, attending a conference in Wilmington and then checking out a few homes in our upcoming city. Either right before I left or the moment I got to Wilmington, I caught some terrible cold germs - Monday evening I started feeling poorly and that continued all day on Tuesday. As I was heading back last Thursday, this giant wave of fatigue hit me hard, and I ended up checking into a motel for a couple of hours to take a nap. (Not really, but) this felt like some sort of personal failure. I mean really, paying $60 to take a nap because I couldn't stay awake? But it was necessary; there was no other way to be safe. Whatever virus or whatever it is, is still hanging around - I skipped church and Simon's soccer game on Sunday, and laid low all day yesterday because I felt basically terrible. Today is a better day, and I'm going to get out and about in the sunshine some.

Grumble grumble grumble

I'm writing this post from Wrightsville Beach, NC; I'm away from home for a few days attending the Clinical Social Work Institute conference, put on every year by NASW-NC. There are 2 required sessions and 9 others where you could make a choice. I selected several veteran-related topic (Assisting Veterans with Post-Deployment Transitions, Caring for Veterans in the VA System, Military PTSD Explained and Psycho-social Rehabilitation with Veterans) to increase my general, ah, fund of knowledge on the subject. My Dad is a Vietnam vet and while I haven't worked in a program specifically for veterans, I'm surprised it hasn't really come up too much in my work (at least not as a primary, secondary, or even tertiary issue) already. Yes, I like using the word tertiary. I have taken a lot of notes so far; I may even post them on the other blog (I keep telling you, it is boring).