Going to Ground

It's been a very intense couple of weeks as you can see from the attatched firedoglake crossposts. Still awaiting the outcome on a couple of races including Charlie Brown in CA-04 and Begich Sen-Alaska. Our man Larry Kissell NC-08 in '08 has won won won won!!!! After just missing it by 300 votes in 2006 he cruised to a lovely 55% victory over the longtime incumbent.

And so, to rest and reflect and recuperate. I have little idea even how to begin. Daughter-west is taking me to a spa over the weekend for some proper reeducation into that rest thingie, not to mention taking care of oneself. I'm always so brain oriented, keep the mind busy, I forget everything else. Dinner with a friend a couple days ago, a girl talk fest. A little shopping - I was good, just one new pair of lovely shoes. Restocking the frig with healthy food. Getting out the door with walking shoes on every day. You know, the basics.

Not quite there yet. I went to prepare my coffeemaker for the morning - 6:45am editor shift is an abrupt way to begin the day, must have caffeine - and realized I had purchased beans instead of ground.

Oh well, I figure, if you can laugh at your own mistakes, you'll never run out of material.

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Rest? What would that be like?

No verdict today in the Libby trial.

It's been fun, in a manic kind of way, to share this waiting experience with thousands of FDL folk. I'm feeling happy about being given a set of keys to help behind the scenes. I have a set of keys for our department at the children's hospital in Russia. It makes me feel that I am included and needed, both important to my psyche.

So many comments made me laugh out loud. When I suggested that sufficient pacing would constitute aerobic exercise, Rayne said she was at that moment trying to figure out how to connect her laptop to her treadmill. Commenter squirrel hiller asked who else had a blood pressure cuff right by the keyboard. Looseheadprop and littleprop talked about prosecutor mom jumping 10 feet every time the phone rang. HAHA I typed rant. It's a habit.

It's been that kind of a day.

So when the news came, no need to keep the vigil until Monday, all of a sudden I was SO TIRED. I have several interesting projects for this evening which have mostly lost their appeal. I don't want to do anything. Well...maybe some puzzles :) But all other plans will apparently have to wait until tomorrow.

Is this what other people experience, the setting down of work, and the adoption of, what do you call it, rest?

I am the mother of three. The oldest of seven. The daughter of a bipolar parent. The founder of a charity that literally saves lives. If I ever knew what rest was, I have forgotten.

Rest, relaxation, re-creation. A different set of keys. I need them too.
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Heroic rescue: healing the healers

These words of encouragement from Kevin Hayden:

You will, I bet, choose the necessary course. Sometimes (since I've done social work) that requires a psychic retreat to heal the healer. Such retreats never last, as there's always more lives at risk and always more that require extra attention.

Not all will be saved and we have to trust that life's chosen moments include proper moments to cease.

Trust your heart. Those of us who catch glimpses of it do, and for good reason. Folks who love you, even at a distance, would naturally wish you proper health, proper rest, and all the same good that you provide others.

So the moments you choose for your own renewals are just as vital as are the others you carry your missions to. Your life, too, is worth the extraordinary effort, worth the heroic rescue.

Do what you can and do what you must. It is not just the babies you save that adds value. You inspire thousands more (at least) to persist against long odds, to resist the uncaring, to remember that every life deserves extra attention.

You will inspire just as many to care for themselves when you take your retreats to take care of you.

Remember the old TV series 'Mission Impossible'? Only the tapes self-destructed. And the missions proved possible.

Do what you must. And never fear asking others for help when the bad guys are near.