162. What No One Tells You

No one talks about them, at least I never heard much about them growing up. I am talking about angels and spirit guides. Did you all know that we each have them? In multiples, not just one! I mean, obviously, you don’t learn about angels and guides in public schools. I don’t remember learning much about them in Sunday school either but, maybe I missed that week. Of course, we learned about angels in Sunday school, I just don’t remember learning that I could really count on them for help with my daily life. I don’t recall learning anything about spirit guides. Maybe it depends on the church you go to? I went to a Methodist church, and Bible school at all my local churches growing up which included Friends, Nazarene, and Baptist. We kids made the rounds each summer with all of our friends.

Sure, you heard a lot about angels from Bible stories and in sermons, but nothing about guides (that I remember). Remember when an angel filled Mary in and told her she was expecting? What a job that would have been! I’m guessing the conversation would have gone something like this, “Oh, hi. Yeah.. so I’m obviously an angel, and anyway, God wanted me to tell you that you are expecting and having his Son… Yeah, I know it’s a lot to believe, but, you really have to just deal with it because you were chosen… No, really, don’t cry… it’s a good thing!!” I think most people have heard that story and about that angel. Also, there is the part of the Christmas story that talks about an angel appearing to the shepherds, and the shepherds were sore afraid. Those two words will never again have the same meaning after you hear the insane vampire priest say them in the Netflix miniseries, Midnight Mass, I tell you that! Let me just say, if you like scary, I highly recommend it!

Angels are mentioned somewhere around 275 times in the Bible (the exact count varies depending on the version you use), which seems a little low to me considering how many pages are in the Bible. But, I don’t remember ever being told that I have, that we
all have, a virtually unlimited number of angels just waiting for us to ask for help. I don’t remember anyone telling me that I have a spirit whose only job is to stick with me day and night, ready to help and guide me in any way they can. I remember talking about a guardian angel, but that’s about it.

Sonia Choquette is a guide and angel specialist, at least that’s what I’d call her. She shares her knowledge about our guides and angels with everyone who will listen to her. She is only the second person I’ve ever heard talk about a special, “sewing angel”. She wants everyone to know that there are angels for everything you can come up with, including what she calls, SOS angels for emergencies. She says the job of an angel is to help you to feel safe and unafraid. Our guides are here to help us on our journey through life. All we have to do is ask for the help of our guides and angels. Asking is the key. Otherwise, there is only so much they can do, as I understand it.

The point being, is that we all have access to a tremendous amount of help. So maybe do a little research, a little light reading, to find out more about your guides and angels, and see if your life gets a little easier when you start talking to them. Don’t wait for a really big problem, ask for help before the situations have a chance to get to be too big and overwhelming. Are you feeling lonely? Ask the angels and your guides to help you with that. Are you looking for a new job? There’s an angel for that! Your guides might also be able to nudge you to read the right listing for the perfect job if you just ask them to help. Who knows, there might be a lottery angel out there just waiting for someone to ask for the right numbers!!?

90. A Greater Purpose

My favorite couple is back, on Netflix that is…Sheila and Joel.  As it turns out, this is the last season of one of my all-time favorite shows, Santa Clarita Diet.   They are just your average neighbors, one of which happens to be a Zombie… but we all have something about us that might surprise others, right?  You never really know who your neighbors are, do you?  I have a neighbor like that, and I am happy to let them live their lives as they see fit, and hopefully, they will do the same with me.  But, if anything weird happens, you all heard it here first, it was the neighbors (some people know who I mean)!

Sheila is still living life one day at a time.  Joel is still with her and trying to help the best he can. They are just like the rest of us.  They are trying to enjoy their lives.  They started their own business, and are helping out their friend. by hiring him.  Their friend just happens to be missing a body, which makes things much more interesting.  He is, of course, a zombie. They are trying to stay happy, through all the troubles that they face together.  Like many of us when we find things in our lives not turning out the way we planned, Sheila is questioning whether or not her illness may be part of a larger plan.  Does God have a greater purpose for her life?  Why is she going through all this?  Those are the million dollar questions.  Anyone who has dealt with a serious illness will have wondered the same things.  What is the reason for all this?  Surely there must be one.  Sheila’s girlfriend is sure that God has a plan for Sheila, and that she is a part of a bigger purpose, even though she doesn’t understand it.  I think that there is a reason for everything.  Nothing happens by chance.  There are no coincidences.  Everything that happens, happens because it is in the air, so-to-speak.  You never know how you or your life might play into a bigger plan.  You just go about your business, living your life, often not realizing how you are affecting other people until someone lets you know.  I was out, eating at Olive Garden, with my two daughters, when we were reminded of just that.  We were pretty much oblivious to the other guests sitting all around us, when an older gentleman walked up to me on his way out of the restaurant and said, “I am a former physician, and I just wanted to say that you inspire me, you and your sweet family”.   I said, thank you, and that was the end of our conversation.  He apparently had noticed that I wasn’t moving at all, and my daughters had helped guide my wheelchair into place at the table and were helping me eat and drink at our meal.  It was nothing amazing to us, that was just another day for us.  Although, it isn’t every day that I get out and go to a restaurant to eat.  You don’t realize how you might inspire someone else, just doing whatever you normally do.  It’s nice to be reminded that we’re a part of a bigger and better plan.  Remember that you are too, even when you don’t have someone there to remind you.

 

 

38. At Least You’re Not A Zombie (if you are, sorry about your luck)

One of my all time favorite shows,  Santa Clarita Diet,  just started its second season on Netflix.   Oh Sheila and Joel,  I empathize with you!  I still say (as I did in my first post about this show) that while our issues are very different, Sheila and I have a lot in common.   At the end of season one,  Sheila found out that there was a possible treatment to help stop her from getting any worse.  Not a cure though.  There are now two possible treatments out there for people living with ALS.  The oldest treatment adds maybe a couple of months to your lifespan.  The newest one,  maybe that or more,  for some people,  for others it may not work at all.  Neither of these treatments stop PALS (people with ALS) from getting any worse,  it just slows the progression,  maybe.   I declined the old option years ago.  The new one would not work for me because it contains Sulfa,  which I am allergic to.  Oh well.  Such is life.  Sheila and her family have to search for their own answers and treatments,  because there are no researchers out there working on a cure for Zombism.  Many of us with ALS look for our own answers and treatments because even though we have researchers out there trying to find a cure,  they haven’t found one yet.  They have had enough time already.  I’m not sure what year the official search began, but the disease was first described as being Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis way back in 1874.

It is close to the one year anniversary of the start of my blog.  My first blog post was about comparing Zombism and ALS,  and about Santa Clarita Diet.  A year later,  Sheila and I are still hanging in there.  Still searching for a cure.  Still adjusting as we need to, to the changes in our life, to keep on keeping on.  We are still laughing,  and crying, along with the craziness that is our lives and our new normal.   Sheila and Joel are still together, surviving as a couple through all the changes in their lives,  as are my husband and I.   I  am pretty sure the divorce rate is even higher for couples when one spouse is struggling with a serious illness or some type of major issue.  If you have a spouse who stays with you after you are diagnosed with ALS, Pica (Google it), Cancer, or some such dreaded disease (Zombism), they instantly become saints in the eyes of pretty much everyone you will encounter.  Especially people who you don’t really know very well.  When they find out you are still married,  you hear an audible gasp,  and maybe even a “wow”!  “That’s so great”,  they will say, “that he/she has stuck with you!”   My husband and I always find it funny that people think anyone deserves praise for not breaking the vows that they took before God,  and usually everyone they know, to stick with their spouse in sickness and health.   I guess it’s just that when you take those vows,  you and your spouse are generally very healthy,  and you are not thinking about what might happen in the future.  You certainly would never guess that one of you might end up with ALS or wake up one day a Zombie.  But, it happens.  If you don’t believe one of those is true,  just listen to episode 26 of my all time favorite podcast,  Lore.

I haven’t seen them all yet,  but so far in Santa Clarita Diet, every episode has a surprise ending.  Similar to ALS,  where every day has a surprise in store.  Not always the good kind,  but not always bad either.  Sometimes things just fall into place for Sheila,  and she finds a new fresh meal where she least expects it.  More often than not,  I receive a surprise at some point in my day.  The Universe/God is always looking out for Sheila and I!   Sheila’s husband sometimes complains that she gets too messy when she eats.  My husband sometimes complains that it takes me too long to chew up my food.  I say it takes the right amount of time for me to not choke and die…one problem Sheila doesn’t have.  You know,  since she’s already dead.   Well, technically undead.

Sheila and I both think that our husbands complain a lot (see episode 4), and they claim that they don’t.  Sheila says it’s okay,  even if Joel complains,  because he gives up so much for her.  Joel says,  it’s not about what you give up,  but about what you get.  I think he’s right.  It’s not about what life takes from you,  it’s about what you get out of your life that’s important.   One thing is certain, Sheila and I are made of tough stuff.  As are most people living with ALS and most Zombies (I assume).  Life throws it’s toughest challenges at us and we do our best to dodge some of them, and survive the ones that hit us.  And,  we try not to complain too much while doing it.

 

 

1. ALS and Zombism…Pretty Much the Same

In the Netflix series, Santa Clarita Diet, ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjRnbOgoAUQ ) Joel and Sheila are two happily married realtors going about their business when one day Sheila gets sick. Very, very sick. I mean, throwing up sort of sick. A hilarious amount of throwing up. Long story short, Sheila is a zombie. She and her husband and daughter go on with their lives trying to remain as normal as possible, all the while becoming less and less normal. Watching this hysterical show made me realize how similar my life with ALS was to Sheila’s life as a zombie. Like Sheila suddenly becoming a zombie with very few symptoms beforehand, I also was just busy living my life when a few non specific symptoms led to an ALS diagnosis. Suddenly having ALS, as with becoming a zombie, just happened and no one knows why. Maybe a virus? There are plenty of theories out there, but no one knows for sure how or why it happens. Just like with ALS,.there is no cure for being a zombie With both ALS and life as a zombie, you go on living your life as normally as possible until your body stops working. With ALS, body parts give out. When you are a zombie, body parts fall off. With both “diseases “, the things you are able to eat change, although for very different reasons. With both, you may notice a change in your personality, again, very different reasons. With both ALS and zombism, your life and the lives of your family are forever changed. The good news is that, like Sheila, I’ve found that I can be happy in spite of living with ALS… or in Sheila’s case, zombism. We both take things in stride and just go on with our lives. I might suddenly notice one day that my little toe will no longer move or help my foot to bear weight, and Sheila (spoiler alert) might  suddenly find that her little toe is missing. But, what the heck, we still have four more on that foot, right? We shrug it off and just keep going! Zombies and people with ALS, we never give up!