Friday, August 7, 2026

Bad Luck but Lucky Timing

My maternal grandparents always made my three older brothers and me feel welcome and cherished. One odd recollection is of a bush that bore delicious smelling flowers (?) with an almost leathery outer texture. Having been told it was called a spicebush back then I decided to try and find one.

Well, the thing I planted grew into an out of control tree with few blooms and zero scent. I kept defending its presence to my husband despite the fact it didn’t make me happy and looked, in all honestly, quite ugly. So I cut the entire thing down to a stump a few weeks ago.

Unfortunately, overexertion resulted in a small section of inflamed lung lining. Bending over caused the worst of that isolated little stabbing pain but I continue (!) feeling discomfort. On the bright side my husband just happened to purchase a long handled grabbing tool just days before my injury. Whew! I’m still using it today as day I type this.
My friend Scars welcomed me to what he
termed the Tool Using Monkey Club.

Meanwhile, our lawn grew taller and taller while I waited to heal. Our front yard is pitted with foot sized craters, so no way was I up to mowing. And I am equally averse to letting my husband risk his older self. But more on that for another post… Spoiler alert, this proved to be a blessing in disguise.

How lucky am I to have such an amusing friend? Have you ever suffered a pleural effusion?

-