This morning, I’m thinking about things I miss and things that come back.
Some things I miss are not coming back, including the special enchiladas I enjoyed for over twenty-five years at a favorite Mexican restaurant, which is now under different management.
Hmmmm. I thought I’d think of more things I miss that are not coming back, but — for some reason — none of them are coming back to me, right now.
Maybe that’s because I’ve been missing some sleep lately. Any sleep we miss does not come back, I know.
However, some things I miss do come back.
For example, some days ago I wrote about this minor loss: a magazine I’ve subscribed to for many years has changed its format and altered its contents.
When I searched Google for an image of that magazine, the old format I miss just came back to me:
Here’s the new format:
It wasn’t so much the old format I’ve been missing, but some of my favorite puzzles. In that most recent edition, much to my delighted surprise — one of my favorite puzzles came back!
This is what happens, around here, when I try to take photos in the middle of the night (and other times, too). Here’s an unobstructed shot of my beloved Cryptolists:
It’s coming back to me how much gratitude I can feel when something I miss comes back.
It’s also coming back to me that I decided, last night, to take my anticoagulant medication …
… during breakfast, instead of dinner, from now on.* It’s also coming back to me how my boyfriend, Michael, and my son, Aaron, talked to me, over dinner last night, about ways I might remember to take that one, daily pill, which needs to be taken with food and that comprises all the medication I need to take, at age 61, with my very complicated medical history. Why did the three of us have that discussion last night? Because it wasn’t coming back to me, while we were eating dinner, whether I had taken my pill.
It’s also coming back to me how much I’ve hated taking medication, since I was a little girl.
Something else that comes back to me, right now: I truly believe that taking the anti-coagulant with breakfast will come back to me, very easily.
What else comes back (to me and to others)?
- Boomerangs
- People (usually)
- Memories (often in altered forms)
- Blog readers I haven’t seen for a while (sometimes)
- Endocarditis (PLEASE, NEVER AGAIN!!)
- Unhelpful thought patterns (and ways to challenge and change those)
- Colds
- Cold weather
- Friends
- Cats
Which reminds me of a song:
According to that YouTube video description of “The Cat Came Back,” that’s a “Classic Canadian Cartoon.” It’s not coming back to me, whether I’ve seen that before.
Somebody I’ve missed listening to — Garrison Keillor — sang “The Cat Came Back” when I first heard it, if my memory is coming back to me accurately. However, this is all that comes back for “Cat Came Back Garrison Keillor” on YouTube:
How about this?
Or this?
Is anything, in particular, coming back for you, now?
Thanks to Michael, to Aaron, to cats, to any creature who helped me write this post, and to all those who came (back) to read this blog today, including — of course! — you.
* I sent an email to my Primary Care doctor about this change after I published this post. The email that came back explained why a pill with dinner is better than a pill with breakfast: this medication would miss having food in the stomach for absorption. I will go back, as directed. I also don’t want to miss the opportunity to remind my readers: check all medication changes with your doctor!
Dear Ann…my cat Qtip has been missing 36 hours, how ironic that u wrote this blog today..:(
Lena! I hope Qtip comes back, with all my heart.
it’s the not knowing ..why is she missing its a tough world out there I just have to stay positive thats wherever she is.. she will rest in peace..
Not knowing IS so difficult.
Lovely post. Of course cats coming back is always a huge relief.
One thing that saddens me, though, is how development is just decimating places. In South Africa our “countryside” has become an urban jungle.
I don’t know my way around my city anymore – and that will never come back, as it is no longer.
Oh well, at least we live in the era of GPSs now.
All the best with your meds.
Emy
That’s something that was definitely missing from this post — other, very important, things that are not coming back. Thanks so much for adding that (and your kindness) here today.
I also wish some things could come back, despite being impossible. But what about the new things that are to come? We can go into the future, with our cats of course, and smiling about the past 🙂
I am glad to go into the future, Lily, smiling with my cats, and I’m very glad you commented today.
Wonderful post!
First, I agree with Emy Will. Places change, and they don’t come back. There are too many places I used to love to visit that I cannot even go to again. Places that used to be small, friendly and sweet are now built up and overrun.
On the plus side, what’s coming back to me is the season in which I begin my travels to a little beach place in Mexico. In the summer, the village is too blasted hot and humid, but now it’s cooled down and the humidity is down. This place hasn’t changed much!
Sadly, I’m totally busy for the next month, but I head down in about five weeks! WOO!!
Here’s a WOO!! coming back at you, Emilie. I’m so happy you have that adventure ahead of you, in a short five weeks.
The thing that always eventually comes back to me is that I need to keep lists to stop me forgetting.
I am an old curmudgeon when it comes to format changes. I hated newspapers going from broadsheet to tabloid. Change for change sake is wasted on me. I think I should do some puzzles to stop my grey matter atrophying. Then I may not need to keep lists.
You don’t seem or look like an old curmudgeon to me, Andrew. Whether you do lists or puzzles, it’s wonderful whenever you come back here.
One of my favourite cartoons! Love it. You might be able to find it if you go to the NFB’s website — “National Film Board”. http://www.nfb.ca
Love the cat videos!
I’m wondering if I linked successfully to the cartoon in this post, Louise! I see it here … can you?
and…. here you go! http://youtu.be/gtI1pWkHto0
Thanks for coming back and providing a missing link, Louise!
Pill-taking tip, Ann, but first I will add that you are fortunate to have to take just one, in my way of viewing it, because I have a.m. and p.m. batches and I’m not going back. Anyway …
You may want to go to your pharmacy and purchase a seven-day pill sorter. Once a week, place one pill in each compartment. That makes it very easy to spot whether or not you’ve taken it on the day written across the little tab. Empty, yay, full, nay. But you do have to remember to fill the sorter when it’s empty at the end of the week. I use this method because otherwise, I’d never succeed in taking my meds seven days straight.
I hope QTip returns, MonaLee!
thank you Mark….but theres allot of things that could of happened to her but I don’t want to think it..
Think instead that she’s just taking a little break from her humans. Go home, QTip, pretty please!
I’m assuming that this response will be getting back to Mark AND MonaLee. I just want to say that I appreciate all that you brought back here today and I hope that whatever is missing soon returns.
I have to assume qtip is not coming back but I remain hopeful
It has been my life experience, Ann, that when I find a shampoo, or lotion, or cleaning product that I love, they discontinue it, and it never comes back!
Diana xo
I have had that experience, too, Diana, although i tend to forget about the things I love that they DON’T discontinue. For example, I got to enjoy those friggin enchiladas for a loooooong time.
Ann xo
haha I, on the other hand, go on and on and on about the things I love that I get to enjoy forever! ❤
I love that magazine too, in all its iterations. My favorite puzzles are the “Paint by Numbers” and the Double Crostics (though sometimes I need to “cheat” to get me started, because some of the references are so obscure. (For example, I am not nearly as big a movie fan as you are, so how am I supposed to know who played the lead in the 1968 remake of so-and-so’s spy thriller?)
Debbie! So great to see you back here. I LOVE “Paint by Numbers” and Double Crostics are another one of my favorites. I was really glad those didn’t ever go missing in the new form of the magazine.
In the future, if you don’t know who played the lead in the 1968 re-make of so and so’s spy thriller … you could always ask me!
where did my thought come from,
and then where did it go?
I’m just glad when thoughtful you
shows up here
amid your comings and goings.
Fajitas beat enchilades surely? 🙂 Nice post as always.
Nothing beats a comment from you, Alex!
I love the animation The Cat Came Back. Our school choir has sung it numerous times and the kids love it, as do I. Thanks for bringing back wonderful memories.
Thanks for bringing yourself back here!
Oh, m’ goodness, it takes me back to my children’s days when they would drive me crazy (or maybe crazier) with that song. My brother has a way of putting things that I call a “Rayism” “I forget if I remember that or not”, and I find that becoming more and more true as the years advance. There are so many things around me that will never come back, so I keep them in my memories, and hope they will remain green and growing forever. And when it comes to my own meds. I frequently forget if I remembered them or not, because I hate taking them, also. Some days I need a keeper for that.
You came back and commented again! Yay!
hey ann! just found your blog. i wanted to see it and it’s great. i love it! it is so inspiring, like you! it is great to see you doing this! i wanted to say hi and let you know that i am doing really well. in the past couple of years since i’ve seen you i have done a lot. i made a hip hop demo album, i wrote my first book, i am working on a sequel to that now which is close to being finished and working on editing the first one. right now i’m not really looking to publish because it is personal and i’m not sure i’m ready to handle letting the world read it, but i do think when i am done editing that it is going to be really good. it is already a page turner, according to the one person who read it. they couldn’t put it down. i hope some day i will be able to give you a copy. part of what inspired me was when i wrote you the goodbye letter i sent you and stuff came hurling out of me that i knew needed to be put down in a form where i could really tell the whole story. but while i work on editing and taking things slow with the book i am also doing a lot of visual art lately and i have an instagram account for that which is gaining popularity and while i cut half the people off my facebook for some security, i have a lot of fans of my page, which i use like a blog to inspire people and i get told often how much it does. this past year i have cut a few more negative people out of my life and made ammends with some people from my past. i’ve been getting out of the house practically every day and really just trying to live and enjoy it. in the past few months i have had to deal with some major stresses… pieces of my life’s war had come back to haunt me on top of my being stalked and harassed by someone who actually kicked me out of their life, then regretted it when they realized what they were missing, but it was like the 5th time he’s done it and i always let him back in even after being hurt, but he went too far this time and i had already given too many chances and he has been stalking and harassing me since the beginning of july, but things have let up the past few weeks with him, while other increasing chaos is also starting to calm down… but the good news is that i stayed completely stable through the whole thing… and the triggers were incredibly severe and my team was worried but everyone has been super proud of me, even my parents at how much i have not let this even slightly wreck me… and at the same time the chaos started in july, i also started dieting and i have lost almost 15 pounds and i haven’t even started going to the gym next. i start at one soon. i found a good one with a pool. anyway, things are good. i have my cat moo next to me proof reading this as i write… i’m not at the program anymore but i am in touch with many from there and i say hi to people when i’m at the building… i go to a few appointments there a week and once in awhile i go to a human rights meeting too. i am still doing my activism for equality and mental health issues and all that too. just taking life a day at a time and making big strives… i thought you would be glad to hear that and to know that you meant a lot to me and my recovery. i still think about how incredibly sick i was and how far i have come. it’s been a crazy ride. thank you for being a part of making me stronger. peace and love to you. i miss you
Many thanks for coming back here,Jymi.
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I wrote two paragraphs as a comment and I thought I posted it here 😦 but I think either I forgot to click on post comment or there was some problen with my wordpress app 😦 .
I am missing that comment now, mk, but very pleased you came back to tell me!
Because that was the era in which I grew up, if there is a Muppet Show skit related to just about anything, I will come back to it, like the Cat! It seems these days the one I most often come back to is Zero Mostel talking about “Fears”: “Once they are counted and compelled, they are easily dispelled!” (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxb1P9-8pT0) For what it’s worth, I have a wristwatch with two alarms reminding me to take my AM and PM pills; I have a very weak concept of time as well as a flaky memory, so I’d be in bad shape without that watch!
I am thrilled you came back with that Zero Mostel clip, which I’ve never seen before. Thank you for counting, compelling, and dispelling fears, Sunshine!
Well, I’m a blog reader who has been missing in action a little bit, but only because I started school and now I have HOMEWORK, which is a very odd thing at my age, but now I’m all settled in … and back to your blog. 🙂
Something that was missing from this post — you were somebody I was missing as I was writing it. Thank you for doing the additional home work of coming back to this blog.
🙂 I’m really happy to be here.
Sleep missed is a real pain, though strangely we can do some catch up there. But small things missed can sometimes matter a lot. I lost my engagement ring for two years, but never quite stopped looking… and it turned up again. Love the Garrison Keillor.
I’m so glad your engagement ring turned up, Hilary. I am always grateful when you turn up, here.
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