Mushroom Tumbler: 04/08/20

It occurred to me this morning that I haven't blogged on Godwinking in a while, despite the fact that

God

winks

at me

all the time.

So here goes:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I am finishing up the last few pages of a perfect read-while-quarantined-in-a-pandemic book. It's called The Valley of Amazement by Amy Tan.

I borrowed it from my local library in preparation for a trip because I love a walloping thick book for vacation reading. This did not disappoint at 589 pages.

I keep an electronic list of books to read that I update and add to weekly. Currently, it has 335 titles on it, so when picking what to devour next, I have a broad index from which to choose.

So here is where the winking comes in...I am reading this book during the Coronavirus pandemic. The Valley of Amazement spans a period of 40 years in China and heavily features the Spanish Flu which occurred between 1918 and 1920 (I did not anticipate this when selecting this book to read). Known alternately as the Influenza Flu Pandemic, the Spanish Flu infected, per data I found online, 500 million people - a quarter of the world's population at that time. The death toll loomed large, and although appears to be no perfectly definitive number of those who succumbed to it, the high estimates point to around 100 million making it one of the deadliest pandemics in human history. One source even called it a 'medical holocaust', making me shudder.

Amy Tan's book describes what it's like to be sickened by the Spanish Flu. Medically, there was no hospital, no magic bullet, no cure; people stayed at home and dealt with the symptoms as best as one could, with sparsely arranged visits from a doctor if you were wealthy or had connections. In Amy's book her characters employ both Western and Chinese medicine.

Her account not only astonished me with its level of detail and undeniable comparisons to today's sufferings, but as I read, I also took stock, gave thanks and prayed hard for all of the medical personnel which we have in our country fighting for the afflicted so that we don't end up like Amy's late characters.

A Facebook pal of mine named Katie lives in California and she and I have been in touch more than usual lately because we both have underlying health conditions which make us rather vulnerable should this hit home. I used to think meeting people on Facebook was sort of sketchy but Katie has been an exceptionally good touchstone for me over the last four years. She has Lyme disease with Anaplasmosis and I have Lyme disease with Bartonella and Babesia.

Amy Tan also has Lyme disease, so we are in fine company.

I deal with my sickness in a number of ways, some healthy, some not. It helps me to write. I also walk and brood and cry and read for escape and keep a startlingly delicate balance between activity and rest because much of what I love to do physically has been taken from me. My friend Katie suffers wretchedly but manages to remain calm and refined. I swear it's because she is English by birth. She sends me breathing exercises. She has a ribald and wicked sense of Lymie (how serendipitous) humor. Just yesterday she rattled off four different ways to say "died" in less than a minute:

he ceased to be,
he popped his clogs,
he's pushing up daisies,
he ran up the curtains to join the choir invisible...

This sort of quirky jocularity helps both of us deal with the fact that we are regularly repulsed and scared by what, bacterially speaking, lies within us.

Neither Katie nor I are able to work in the traditional sense but she has a home based business which started out as a way to keep herself from going mad while fighting in the trenches of her illness. It's called Insulting Pillows. Yep, you read that right. She has a business Facebook page which you will want to "Like", because she posts hilarious things on the regular and her latest project for shits and giggles is defacing children's books with her witticisms. Laughter is good for the soul. Her designs are, as she describes them, "delightfully offensive".

So, God, thank you for shrewdly guiding my book selection this month.
This web of 'winking' winds around me, Amy Tan, Katie and now, you, the blog reader.

Thank you for honoring me with your presence.

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Here are a few of Katie's creations that I find irresistible:
You can see more at her website: https://insultingpillows.com/

Wednesday, April 8, 2020

Godwink #4

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