(re-run) She hated Friday the 13th. She would turn the car around if a black cat crossed the street in front of her. And mirrors? She once yelled at me when I held my baby up to one in a German restaurant. “That’s bad luck before her first birthday!” My mother-in-law, may she rest in… Continue reading Superstitions
Category: OCD
Pontoon Boat Disaster
(re-run) My parents didn’t swim. When we went on vacation at Clear Lake, and Dad wanted to take us out in a rented pontoon boat, my mom objected. Dad won in the end, and the five kids put on our life jackets. I think my mom did, too. I am sure my dad didn’t wear… Continue reading Pontoon Boat Disaster
The Second Shot
re-run) Three weeks ago, I boldly asked the care home owner where my older sis lives if I could have a vaccine. The CVS nurse was inoculating the 5 residents and two care givers, meaning they would have three extra shots in the ten-dose vial, which would be thrown out at the end of the… Continue reading The Second Shot
The Moon Landing and a Funeral
The day we landed on the moon (July 20th, 1969), my parents took the family to a picnic/fishing spot at the Des Moines reservoir. I was going into high school in the fall, so it was a dorky thing to do on a Sunday, but hey? I couldn’t drive yet, and the food was always… Continue reading The Moon Landing and a Funeral
Have OCD? Make Lists
It’s Monday morning, and I’m a bundle of nerves, not a good way to start the week. My day is booked with Zumba, a worker woman coming, and Sis to visit in the hospital. I haven’t read my Time Magazine from last week. There’s a livestream concert at 1:00 (normally on a Saturday). Writing helps… Continue reading Have OCD? Make Lists
Living with OCD
I always knew I was different in the way I perceived the world. Instead of needing to do classic hand washing or constantly worrying about germs, I had other weird rituals, like never leaving the house without a Kleenex and needing to have a regular routine. I married a last-minute, no plan, fly-by-the-seat-of-his-pants kind of… Continue reading Living with OCD
How OCD Improved my GPA
I’ve been doing research for a kid book involving the presidents. It got me to thinking how back in high school I needed to do a project for my government class about the presidential election. It was fall semester of 1972. It was between George McGovern and Nixon. My class project was to make a… Continue reading How OCD Improved my GPA
Bomb Shelter Blues
Our house on 69th Street in Urbandale, Iowa, had a big bump in the backyard. It’s where my grandfather built a fall-out shelter that connected to our basement. It was during the Cold War, and thoughts of atomic bombs being dropped on us was enough to motivate him to save his daughter and five of… Continue reading Bomb Shelter Blues
If Only I’d Known
As they say, hindsight is 2020, which is referring to your vision, not what year it is. As in, your vision about what happened in the past is pretty good, now that you’ve had time to look at all the angles and analyze it. Looking back over my OCD life, I now understand that it… Continue reading If Only I’d Known
A Good Little Shopper
(re-run) If you think this post is going to be about how I scour the racks at Nordstrom’s for the best deals of the season, it’s not. If you think it’s about how I maximize double coupons at the grocery store, I don’t. What it is about is how I can find the deals for… Continue reading A Good Little Shopper
FIRST DATE, WORST DATE EVER! 