Princess Morag has a love/hate relationship with her feet. She loves one and hates the other. The right foot, despite it's small size is pretty normal looking and that's good as far as Princess Morag is concerned. The left foot, well, that's a whole other story. The princess noted, as a teenager, that he feet and ankles would swell if she had to stand for a long time. It didn't cause much trouble, but she was diagnosed with primary lymphoedema and warned against any kind of trauma to her foot, or it might lead to permanent scarring/swelling.
Then Princess Morag went to work at summer camp in the USA and a mosquito, or some other bug, decided to feast on the top of her left foot. The Princess didn't know anything was wrong until suddenly it was bruised and swollen and red, and she went to the hospital to be told it was an infected bite and she had to rest it. Following this infection, her left foot would swell to a greater extent than her right, so it became her "bad foot". It has caused people to stare, exclaim and point out it's size, much to the princesses displeasure. She is not keen on drawing attention to herself, so this kind of negative attention is particularly unwelcome.
For the last five years, or maybe more, Princess Morag has endured the private shame of knowing that the already 'bad' foot, was embarrassingly also home to plantar warts/verrucae on it's sole. It was quite easy to just pretend they weren't there, until more recently when they spread. Princess Morag procrastinated for a long time in making the appointment with the podiatrist. And then he said he might have to cut them out!! Princess Morag did NOT like that idea. She spent the summer trying to find some courage, and finally made the appointment. They had become a little painful, so getting rid of them now seemed like a good idea. Thankfully (maybe) the podiatrist decided to try acid treatment first. But now her left foot is a gross, painful extremity and Princess Morag is unable to perform all her activities of daily living with ease. Standing on two feet is something most of us just do without thinking, ditto for walking. But when it becomes painful and difficult, you realise how much you have been taking for granted.
Princess Morag wants to say sorry to her left foot, for saying it was 'bad' and for calling it 'fat and ugly'. Because all this time, it has still been performing pretty well, allowing her to stand and walk with ease. She hopes it will make a full recovery.
Thursday, August 29, 2013
Monday, August 19, 2013
It's like potatoes
Princess Morag has entirely changed her view on rain. The old realm was a rainy, grey place, and she agreed with the general consensus that more sunny days and blue skies would be nice. But since living in the new realm where sunny days and blue skies are the norm, she now holds the view that rain is awesome! Rain, in fact, indicates God's blessing. And when you live without it, you start to feel a little desperate. There have been days where the princess has woken up to grey clouds and gone about her day very happy as a result. And the next day, when inevitably the blue sky is back, she actually feels disappointed! And on the handful of occasions that it has rained, she might have rushed outside in excitement, called her children out, and danced with them in the rain!
The earth needs rain, and when there isn't any, man manufactures a replacement a.k.a 'sprinklers'. So then you can grow plants and have green grass, but the areas that the sprinklers don't reach remain brown and dead looking. Anything that is manufactured to mimic God's blessing doesn't quite make the mark. It might satisfy for a while, or give the appearance of something that is good. But it's not good like the real thing.
When the princess sees photographs or film of the old realm, she gushes about how green it is, in much the same way as she used to mock people of the new realm doing. But now she understands, now that she lives in the desert. The old realm has the real rain and you can tell by the lush green grass and trees, and dark brown earth and grey skies. The whole palette of the natural world there is different. And the princess misses it.
When she was growing up, Princess Morag ate a lot of potatoes. They were standard dinnertime fare, almost every night. When she left home to go to university she chose not to eat potatoes very often as she was sick of them. Pasta and rice, these were much better she thought. Until a decade later when she pregnant with her second child and suddenly potatoes were awesome again - she had been missing out, all these years of not bothering with potatoes very much because they had been under the curse of the familiar. Don't discount those things that are commonplace. Be grateful for them. If you didn't have them, you might miss them very much. You might be avoiding a blessing when you scoff instead of embracing the everyday goodness.
The earth needs rain, and when there isn't any, man manufactures a replacement a.k.a 'sprinklers'. So then you can grow plants and have green grass, but the areas that the sprinklers don't reach remain brown and dead looking. Anything that is manufactured to mimic God's blessing doesn't quite make the mark. It might satisfy for a while, or give the appearance of something that is good. But it's not good like the real thing.
When the princess sees photographs or film of the old realm, she gushes about how green it is, in much the same way as she used to mock people of the new realm doing. But now she understands, now that she lives in the desert. The old realm has the real rain and you can tell by the lush green grass and trees, and dark brown earth and grey skies. The whole palette of the natural world there is different. And the princess misses it.
When she was growing up, Princess Morag ate a lot of potatoes. They were standard dinnertime fare, almost every night. When she left home to go to university she chose not to eat potatoes very often as she was sick of them. Pasta and rice, these were much better she thought. Until a decade later when she pregnant with her second child and suddenly potatoes were awesome again - she had been missing out, all these years of not bothering with potatoes very much because they had been under the curse of the familiar. Don't discount those things that are commonplace. Be grateful for them. If you didn't have them, you might miss them very much. You might be avoiding a blessing when you scoff instead of embracing the everyday goodness.
Wednesday, August 07, 2013
A mother's lament
"What happened to my baby girl?" Princess Morag asks.
She got these legs now, instead of stumps!
She answers back and shrieks at taunts.
She's starting school!!
Her brother will teach her what to do.
And she'll make her own way at the same time.
She'll make new friends, and write all her letters.
She'll play outside and walk to the lunchroom.
When she gets home Princes Morag will hear,
that she's done this and that, and what the other girl said.
All the things her brother doesn't bother to tell.
But at night she'll want to snuggle the same
And all tuggled together she'll be a baby for a moment again.
She got these legs now, instead of stumps!
She answers back and shrieks at taunts.
She's starting school!!
Her brother will teach her what to do.
And she'll make her own way at the same time.
She'll make new friends, and write all her letters.
She'll play outside and walk to the lunchroom.
When she gets home Princes Morag will hear,
that she's done this and that, and what the other girl said.
All the things her brother doesn't bother to tell.
But at night she'll want to snuggle the same
And all tuggled together she'll be a baby for a moment again.
Friday, August 02, 2013
Give me a proper cup please!
One of Princess Morag's pet peeves is having to drink coffee from a disposable cup! Even a travel mug turns out not to be a great substitute as it tends to be very plasticky. Really the only thing coffee should be drunk from is a proper cup, made of china. In the old realm, this is how coffee was generally served unless you specified that is was 'to go'. Here in the new realm, this is not the case. In some well known coffee establishments there are no proper cups in sight - aah!
So Princess Morag tends just to make coffee at home, and now that she is selling direct trade, freshly ground, delivered to your door coffee, maybe recreating the coffee shop experience at home might just be the way to go. Unfortunately it means she has to wash her own cup afterwards, but at least she will be treated like a grown up and allowed a proper cup!!!!
So Princess Morag tends just to make coffee at home, and now that she is selling direct trade, freshly ground, delivered to your door coffee, maybe recreating the coffee shop experience at home might just be the way to go. Unfortunately it means she has to wash her own cup afterwards, but at least she will be treated like a grown up and allowed a proper cup!!!!
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