A Cloudy Day (Saturday)

All day long I felt as if there was a cloud over me and I couldn't shake it off.  I had trouble getting to sleep last night--maybe because I read my Raymond Chandler-Robert Parker mystery too late.  My dear husband was snoring so I went upstairs to sleep and it was hot up there and I couldn't get comfortable. .   A cup of sleepytime tea at 1 am helped and I slept at least five hours.

I often don't sleep well and still feel cheerful enough but not today. We got groceries, I did three loads of wash, I made pesto and a blueberry coffee cake and fixed a good supper.  I watched the Cubs for a while.  But everything was done with effort.

At eight o'clock I went for another walk with about 2500 steps needed to get my 10,000 steps for the day. While I walked, I prayed that the cloud would lift.  I thought about the sadness in a young friend's life as he learned yesterday that his scan still showed some problematic spots and he will have to continue chemotherapy for his very rare and dangerous kind of cancer.  How much we hoped the scan would show "NED" which we have learned is "no evidence of disease."  But it didn't and he and his loved ones have to go on somehow and face more treatments. I am very sad for them.

And then there are the daily reports of Donald Trump's continued insults and self-centered comments that get reported in the news and argued over on Facebook.  I check Facebook far too often.  I am alone a lot and it is a bit of  people contact in my day.  But I find it impossible to understand how so many can defend his comments and tweets.   I should limit my Facebook checking--maybe to once a day. The political climate means that we cannot talk to relatives about the conventions or the candidates.  I don't want to know who might possibly be voting for Mr. Trump because I believe he appeals to the worst in folks.  And he says he alone is the one who can save us from all evil.  This situation makes me very sad as well. There are reasons for sadness.

So it was a cloudy day in some ways.  But as I walked, I was suddenly aware of a very bright sun just beyond the clouds in the western sky.  It was breathtakingly beautiful and I got tears in my eyes.  Was it a sign for me as an answer to my prayer?  Maybe it was.  I know I felt better--and I got my 10,000 steps!