So much of everything lately makes me roll my eyes or grit my teeth. I seem to be seething, constantly. Like so many others, I am horrified and frightened and angry as all hell by the news, by the news, by the unending, ungodly, unbelievable news, that you keep thinking can’t get worse, but then it DOES, but I feel mute. As if what I say doesn’t matter because it doesn’t change anything, even when I know that’s not true. There are so many things stuffing up my brain that nothing can get out, despite all the pushing.
I don’t feel like I know the right things to say: to my daughter who’s struggling with the reality of a long-distance relationship. To my son, who’s probably not going to be able to finish out this year of college since the money is running out. To my sister, who I don’t talk to enough and don’t know what to say to, when I do. And in the midst of all the anxiety and pressure and stress, there are good things. Of course there are good things.
Two weekends ago, Anders and Karin and I left late Saturday afternoon, after Karin got off work at the cafe and drove 3 hours north to Kalmar. Kalmar is a city on the east coast of Sweden, with a bridge that leads from it to the island of Öland. We’ve been to Öland, and in fact, we’ve been to Kalmar but it was years ago, when Martin was a baby, and we were just passing through. This time, our purpose was to see the da Vinci exhibit at Kalmar Castle before it closed.
Karin, who is really good at this sort of thing, found and booked an AirBnB for us, and it turned out to be a delightful, cosy and spotlessly clean tiny apartment that looked like something out of a magazine, right near the main walking street and downtown area. We got there around dinner time, unloaded and then set off to find a place to eat dinner. We ended up at an Asian buffet place which was nothing to write home about, but did the job, then went back to the apartment and watched “Svenska Nyheter” until we were too tired to stay up any later.
On Sunday, we had a fantastic breakfast at a downtown hotel, and then headed to the castle. It was a perfectly gorgeous, mild autumn day. The trees are turning and people were out walking their dogs. We walked along the edge of the Baltic Sea and over to the castle entrance. Kalmar Castle is lovely and in a great shape, with large halls perfect for an exhibition with lots of large items. The da Vinci exhibition was all about the artist’s inventions, and there were tons of them. Lots of prototypes to walk around, touch and read about, huge posters of his drawings and notes, and several really well-done, interesting films and then, of course, the rest of the castle, with all its history. We really enjoyed it.
Afterwards, we went back into the center of town and had lunch at Pinchos (tapas with a circus theme, haha!) and then we drove home again. A perfect little weekend outing. It was much better than this past weekend, when I was down with a bad cold, and then cracked the back of my back molar off. AUGH.
Today, however, I was at the dentist, and they fixed it in half an hour. And I managed to get through the whole thing without gagging once. Yay, me!
I’m trying to keep my mind on positive things: what I’m looking forward to in the near future includes dinner with my best friends this upcoming weekend, going to two different musical sing-a-longs in the next couple of weeks, and figuring out how to be positive for the other people in my life who need it as much as I do.
If you have positive things going on, please share! It helps to hear about good things, no matter how small or trivial they may seem.
Other good things: Karin registered to vote today. My brother has a job again. The weather has turned warm enough that my tomatoes might finish ripening. There are more green peppers coming, too. And both my rosebushes are blooming again.