Happy Thanksgiving!! Much better day today. We spent the day (and now the night) in Ida Grove w/ Doug's family just as we've done since 1992, except for last year, which I talked about in last night's post. Dad spent the day w/ his sister and her family in Hampton so I was able to thoroughly enjoy this day knowing he was w/ loved ones also. It's so important to be w/ friends and family at times when grief is guaranteed to overwhelm: holidays, birthday's, and anniversaries.
I rediscovered my love for the art of conversation today. I say, art b/c it's a talent that I fear some are losing in this age of text messages and Facebook. Such technology causes us to lose the nuances in facial expressions, tone of voice, gestures, and body posture. Since as much as 93% of communication comes from nonverbal messages, we' re losing a lot of meaning through these texts, emails, chat rooms, and social networking sites. Sorry........I slipped into lecture mode for a little bit..........haven't seen students in two days..........going into withdrawal!
I'm recognizing that from the point when Mom was first given the prognosis of 2-3 years that I've been functioning in a fog, living in limbo, which all translates into not really living at all. I'm a good communicator, well at least I used to be, and today I found that I still possess these skills, but I have to take them out and practice more in face-to-face situations. Illness and grief have the potential to cause anti-social behavior, usually not on purpose, but they can cause us to carry this shell on our backs under which we pull in our heads at the first sign of pain.
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