Mood:  rushed

At 4:15am a marvelous thunder and lightning storm wove its way across south central Kansas and landed over Wellington with much flashing and rolling noise. When that happened and the barometric pressure dropped, my back (which I threw out picking up an old lady's change for her) went crazy. I had a seizing of my lower back muscles that woke me from a fairly deep sleep and tossed me out of bed. I was up and stumbling around, clutching my back and making a beeline to the bathroom - I didn't want to wake Matt.

So there I sat, in tremendous pain, counting out Tylenols in my hand and feeling like pooh. All the joints I have damaged, broken, sprained, etc in my accident prone and formerly athletic life were aching. The elbow I broke roller skating, the knee I hyper-extended sliding into third base, my neck I hurt when learning to surf with a nice face plant into the sand and board into my neck and head, the wrist I broke playing basketball, the other wrist I sprained learning my drum major mace routine and then sprained again when I was learning to twirl a riffle, the ankle and knee I severely sprained cross country skiing, the fingers I have slammed into doors and piano covers...OY VEY...every single one of the was throbbing all in time to each other. I was sick to my stomach and dizzy with the pain. Finally, after some very deep breathing exercises remniscent of Lamaz, I made it back to my bed.

Deep breathing again, and mentally relazing my muscles took effort, but I eventually fell back asleep...and then the alarm went off. Well, Matt got me out of bed and gave me more pain medication and told me to take more at 8am, which I dutifully took. Driving to work in the pouring rain with lightning strikes every other minute or two next to the turnpike was far from interesting and more hair raising than anything.

Well now, the storm is gone, the barometric pressure has returned to normal, and a majority of those aches are a memory. Thank you sunshine!

Ahhh, the weather in Kansas...don't like it...just wait it will change. That is SO the truth.

I really didn't need to feel like pooh today, and I am feeling better as I write this whilst I chomp on my chicken caesar salad and guzzle my Sierra Mist. Year end has really come crashing down on the Financial Services Division, and I mean literally crashing - as in - OUR FINANCIAL SYSTEM! Yes! It crashed!!! Well, the actual hardware, the servers, yeah - they went crispy critter on us Wednesday night. We were having issues Tuesday and went down two hours before end of day, then we were down half the day Wednesday and all day on Thursday. We are up today, but that means I will have to work overtime this Saturday to catch up like I did last Saturday. It's not Oracle's fault, it is the server hardware, not the software. Still - I have to keep telling myself - it's Oracle, not miracle!

Overtime - normally that would mean money in my pocket woo hoo...well, less woo hoo for Matt and I than normal. My co-worker Sandy has just lost her son. He was 32 years old, and him and his wife had just had their second child who was only nine days old when - massive brain aneurism! He simply dropped dead. They kept him on a ventilator for a day or two and ran tests, but he was indeed brain dead. They said it was congenital. Well, Sandy had just had hip and knee surgery and has no time off left, so she has been out since Monday without any pay, and she won't be back until July 6th with arranging for the two memorial services, one in Virginia and one in Wichita (her son was in the military stationed in Virginia), and with attending the actual military burial in North Dakota. His widow is moving back home to be near her parents and Sandy is going to help get everything together. SO she will be out a whole month worth of pay AND of course all the cost for her to fly out to Virigina on an emergency ticket, flying home to Wichita and then to North Dakota and back. We've taken up a collection here at the office to help her. I've decided I am going to give her all my overtime I work this month and make her some meals in small packages so she can freeze them. I can't even imagine her pain and sorrow right now.

Well then, my little back pain can't compare, and I should feel grateful and lucky to be alive. Believe me I am, and I tell Matt I love him everyday. Life is too short.