Holiday Bounty

It was...enough.
--Last line in Star Mother's Youngest Child, by Louise Moeri, illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman.

Today an unexpected knock came at my door just as I was about to leave, to visit the Ear, Nose, and Throat specialist. I was too excited not to open the box, as I wasn't expecting anything at all, so I opened it and found it was a cornucopia of holiday gifts from Blip friends LocalFoodLover and her husband, Pilipo. They sent me cookies, nuts, granola, chocolates, a slice of fruitcake (my favorite holiday treat, I never understand why people make jokes about it), a piece of their Panforte (theirs from Italy, while Chaiselongue makes hers at home). Best of all, there was a starry card, a bookmark that says, "Writing is easy. All you do is sit and stare at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead." And best of best, a little book about a grumpy old woman with a grumpy old dog named Uproar (great name for a dog!) and a rather ugly, irascible child. It's a book for children (and grumpy old women), delightfully un-sentimental and tender and very moving.

I put my gift aside and rushed off to see the doc, who I quite liked. He spent nearly an hour with me, asked lots of questions, and concluded that I have a bacterial infection of the bones of my sinuses. I'll need to take two antibiotics for at least two weeks, if not for a month (we'll check back after the two weeks), and some steroids. He says it takes a long time to heal bone infections, so I'm to go slowly, expect not to be fully myself again for several months. Don't push. Don't overdo. Rest. Take time. Drink fluids. Eat yogurt and take acidophilus. This is not contagious, so I can very gradually resume my social life. Good news really, and I need no longer castigate myself and call myself a malingerer. I did have something seriously wrong. I'm not just a lazy lump. That's a relief to know.

Back home again, resting from the effort it took to walk two blocks to get to the doctor and two blocks home, I sat with my gift, and another gift of tulips which another friend left outside my door a few days ago, and I thought, if nothing else happens for the rest of this month, this is more than enough. My thanks to Blipfriends for their thoughtfulness: the ones who sent the package, the ones who write such kind and encouraging comments, the ones who send book suggestions and cooking suggestions, the ones who make puns that I don't always understand, and the ones who go traveling (at home and abroad) and make my life richer with their pictures and stories. Thank you all. Thanks to Blipcentral for making this community possible. It's WAY better than Facebook. It's deliciously, delightfully enough.