Happy New Year! Do You Have Fat Ears?

 Hello and Happy New Year (yes, I know it's almost the middle of the month)!  I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season and survived without getting covid or even a cold.

We had a great Christmastime and New Year's, and this weekend we will be taking down all of the decorations and putting them away until next year, which is always sad.  But then it's so exciting when they come back in December that it's worth it.

On to the question in the title of this post - do you have fat ears?  I have to admit, I've never once even given the "fatness" of my ears a thought one way or another.  I do have pierced ears, and have always had earrings that I could wear without any trouble.  But then my sister in California sent me these for Christmas:

I opened the package and thought, "Oh how nice," and it was a lovely surprise.  They were sent directly from Madewell, and she had told me to expect a package, so I didn't open it when it came, knowing it was a gift.

Then when we put away our gifts, I put them in my jewelry box.  A couple of days later, I decided I would wear them.  I put one in one ear, and it pinched a little bit, but I figured that was because I'd been fiddling with it, since the part that goes through your ear is really stiff.  I went to put the other one on, and the little post that is so stiff and goes through your ear just didn't fit.  I mean - DIDN'T. FIT.  I couldn't even push it through to try and finish putting it on.  So I gave up, and then took off the other one, which left a HUGE red spot on my other ear, where I guess it was too tight even though I'd worked it through.

OK, well, clearly they just wouldn't fit.  I called and asked if I could return them, even though I was pretty sure that since they are "personal" items, I couldn't.  And I was right.  When my sister asked me if I liked them, I told her that I did, but they didn't fit my ears.  And she responded, "Well how FAT can your ears possibly be??? I mean some people do have fat ears (do they??), but yours must be incredibly fat!"

Anyway, she said she had also sent a pair to my nephew's wife and they fit her, but "she's so tiny anyway, I'm not surprised."

So there you have it - I have what are apparently the world's fattest ears.  I have since learned that this style of earring is called a "huggie" and is supposed to fit tightly around your *thin* ears.  

Now.  Other than the fact that I thought the earrings were nice, and would have liked to wear them, none of this hurts my feelings.  This particular sister is, and always has been, obsessed with fashion and thinks anyone over a size 10 is doomed.  Also, as I mentioned above, I have never given much thought to my ears one way or another, as far as what size they wear ... 😀

I will likely pass these along to one of my nieces with skinny enough ears, but I thought it was worth sharing this in case anyone wants to start a support group for those of us with fat ears ... assuming not the only one!

When It's Necessary to Make a One-Time Exception

Hello - I generally don't do this, but today I'm sending you over to my other blog to read what I wrote.  I realized that I would be writing pretty much exactly the same thing here, so just decided to link to that post (because, laziness).

I hope you enjoy it, and have a lovely weekend!

My Hope For You

Yes, I've been absent for a bit.  And likely will be, except for a Happy Thanksgiving post.  I'm busy on my other blog with writing a post for every day during November.  So if you only read this blog and are just plain desperate to hear from me otherwise you should head over there.  :-)

I'll be posting there later with details of our trip this past weekend to Baltimore, where we visited some of my nieces and their families, and they threw a party for The Tim, whose 60th birthday was on Friday.

And that made me want to write this here.

I love my family.  They drive me crazy, are crazy as a matter of fact, and though we all may appear somewhat conventional, we are not.  Sometimes, I'm not even sure we would all be friends if we were not related.

But they are great.  Granted, I don't get to see my sister in California very often, or see her kids and grandkids, who live in California and Arizona.  Nonetheless, I still get to keep up with them all on a regular basis and see pictures, etc.

This past weekend we had just the very best time in Baltimore.  I took exactly one picture, because I was too busy otherwise laughing, singing, talking, eating, and drinking.  And though it would be fun to have more photos, I have the memories which are making me just as happy right now.

I know for a lot of people, Thanksgiving and the following holiday season can be difficult, since not all families are like mine.  And I also know that especially this year, with election results, so many people are dreading seeing other family at Thanksgiving.

So here is my hope for you:  I hope that you will have a wonderful holiday season with your family. Whatever and whoever your family is.  Whether or not they are related by blood.  Whether you have known them since birth, or just in the last month.

Life is too short not to have a family to love.  It's great when it is your own family and you all have your history with each other.  But we are fortunate in that all of us can create our own families and even if outsiders are appalled, it's none of their business.

So enjoy.  I know I'll be with my family - not my extended family, but my immediate family.  Which consists of The Tim and four furballs.  I wouldn't have it any other way.

A Lesson Reinforced

This past Tuesday, my sister-in-law Sheila died.  It was a surprise, in that this time last week, she was still alive.  But apparently, when she was leaving her office on Friday to go to her car, she fell in the parking lot and knocked herself out.  Turns out she had thrown a clot from DVT in her leg.  They sent her home Sunday, she fell in the house again, and was found by a friend on the bathroom floor, unconscious but with a pulse.  The doctors at the hospital said it was a massive brain bleed, and they were just keeping her comfortable.  She died early in the morning on Tuesday.

Last summer, Sheila's husband Dave died from congestive heart failure and cirrhosis of the liver.  He was four years younger than she was.  From all accounts, she just gave up and didn't even try to move on, other than going to work every day.

About ten years ago, Sheila was asked to be the matron of honor in her younger sister's wedding.  She and Dave embarked on a mission to get into shape.  They showed up, both the picture of health and fitness, and apparently were able to keep up with that for years.

Until about two years ago, when Dave was laid off from his high-level publishing job.  From what I can tell, it sounds as if he became broken.  He stopped caring about taking care of himself, or making any effort to be active.  It sounds as if at some point Sheila thought that if he was giving up, she might as well give up too.  My husband's younger sister told us this week that Sheila was huge - losing 60-75 pounds once Dave died, and it didn't make much of a difference.  But she also said that Dave was incredibly obese when he died.

I was sad to hear this, not just because I loved both of them dearly, but because they had been able to remake themselves into healthy and fit people for several years.  Unfortunately, they could not get the incentive to keep going when times got tough.

So now they are both gone, and there is a huge void in our family.

But as strange as it sounds for me to say this, there is a bright side.  My husband has decided that he needs to get back to his activity and healthier eating.  He told me that he sees their lives in the past couple of years as a cautionary tale.  He is now recommitted to a healthy life, and has been inspired to get moving and paying more attention to his health.  This is a relief to me, as he had become pretty lazy in the past 8 months or so, and I was worried.

In the end, then, the deaths of Dave and Sheila made a point in his life that will likely stick.  I just really wish that the lesson didn't need to be learned this way.

Rest in peace, Dave and Sheila.  We love you, and will miss you.  Here's hoping that you are both happy and at rest now.