When is too much WAY too much? Where do you draw the line and say enough is enough? How do you step back when you just can’t do any more?

I eased my world a lot the last couple of weeks when I snoozed, unfollowed, unfriended, and...yes...even blocked a few people on my personal Facebook page. My decision to stop posting, forwarding, and commenting on anything remotely controversial and/or political helped a lot. I’ve even stepped out of a few chat rooms with really wonderful people for no other reason than I just can’t take one more thing right now.

I worked on my website for a few hours yesterday. The office is across the wall from the television in the family room and my sweet hubby was snoozed out in his recliner with a shoot ‘em up action film going. I could feel every boom to my toes so I turned on my music. The booms melded with the tympani of the orchestra and soon I was blissfully lost in my work. Did I mention I hate television? We have agreed on a compromise. Until my second cup of coffee is done, there will only be old reruns of Andy Griffith on the TV. Then I can go do whatever else I want to do. Win-Win!

When my grandma got old and we’d ask her how she was doing, she’d say, “I’m just an old Granny Grump!” I have no idea how old “old” was to me at the time, and I surely didn’t grasp the full nuance of the term “Granny Grump”. But, I think I’m beginning to get it.

Ok...I’m not old, but I’m feeling like it lately. And I’m definitely feeling grumpy. Just ask my poor husband. It’s hard when you go on Facebook and you see your friends out doing things and you aren’t. It makes you wonder if maybe you’re being silly with all these Covid precautions. I mean, really...what harm could it do to hop on a plane or hook up the camper and drive across the country? I want to go camping. I want to go out to dinner. I want to go to Daytona Beach. 

The last couple of days have been super, super busy. I put about thirty pounds of pork in the smoker on Wednesday after I pulled the bread out of the oven. We bought a full rack of ribs and two pork picnics. Those are the pieces of meat that are often cured and turned into picnic hams. We found a good deal at the local Piggly Wiggly and I wanted to stock up on pulled pork for the winter. 

First, let me thank you for the prayers and concern you offered for my sweet brother. I was so relieved when I found out he wasn’t being evacuated. But, with that being said, please pray for my Colorado hometown...Glenwood Springs. Glenwood Canyon has been burning on both sides of the Colorado River with high winds and no rain in sight. I’ve spent many wonderful hours in that canyon over the years and it was never a matter of “if” this would happen...but “when”. And when is now, I’m afraid. There is another much larger fire west of there, as well. Please pray for the smoke jumpers and slurry bombers navigating dangerous territory.

I opened my little needlework shop in Glenwood Springs in June 2002. A few days before my opening, the Coal Seam Fire erupted and several homes were lost in West Glenwood. No lives were lost in that fire, thank God. Forest fires and Colorado seem to go hand in hand. These long, dry spells and prevailing winds can turn the simplest little spark into a raging inferno on a dime.

I used to have what I referred to as “bad nights” in the early years after losing Mr. Virgo. I will never forget the blessed feeling of relief when they finally let up. I will also never forget when they resurfaced years later and I couldn’t shake the thought that maybe this is just the way things are with the new new normal of grief.

Let’s face it...2020 has been a year of storms. Every single day, we see something incredulous...something unimaginable...something so unbelievable our minds can begin to be numbed by it all. I don’t even need to write out the list, but who in their right mind would have thought up murder hornets and zombie cicadas...let alone all the other stuff?

I was feeling a little overwhelmed by it all this last week. I found peace in my garden and on my walks with Jesus. Then I would look at the news again and it would be another awful thing. Balancing between informed citizen and sensory overload is getting more and more challenging. Then, Mr. FixIt and I sat down to enjoy online church yesterday. Like He always does, the Holy Spirit brought me exactly the sermon I needed to hear.

I told Mr. FixIt yesterday that I want to go camping...right now. And I don’t want to come back till February. I don’t want a TV or a radio. I don’t want the Internet. I want my iPad and the ability to write and post essays to my blog everyday. But I don’t want anything else but peace.

The other night, I was heading out to the camper to write. We have been blessed with some lovely, cool nights so we’ve been taking advantage of that and “camping” at the Ponderosa. We still haven’t fixed up our “campground” here on the five acres. It seems there is always something else needing our attention. Hopefully, it won’t just be a pipe dream and we will have this ground available so my camping friends can join me.