In November a friend of mine came to stay with us for a couple of months. This was longer than expected but thats ok. I loved having her around. She is full of wisdom and smiles jokes and laughter! I took her to the town she was looking to settle down in and helped her look for a nice apartment for her to move into. I did not go on my computer much at all since then. Too busy to sit down and too distracted to pay attention anyway. She is settled down now in her apartment and New Years is over.
Then it was off to Arizona to visit a friend I have known since 7th grade but have not seen since our 10 year high school reunion. 25 years later she is here in the West just a 2 hour plane trip and 3 hour drive to her house. I was so happy to see her and she has injected me with her joyous spirit that made me feel more like myself than I have felt in a long time! Catching up on life and good times and bad and getting to know each other all over again was so fun! I love the little town she lives in. So nice. The desert is different. She has a black lab dog that was my lounging in the sun buddy. What a sweetie just like her mom.
The desert, just as I expected all these past years and even to my dismay which may seem odd to you, agreed with me alot. Dry, sunny, warn, I was only there a week but my psoriasis was going away quickly and i had alot less pain than I ever have back home where 3/4 th s of the year the humidity is in the 80s or 90s. I almost felt like my old, normal, healthy, pre fibromyalgia and psoriatic arthritis self. Or I should say "young". I have had this for about 12 years now. All I could think of is the look on my husbands face when he realized that yes indeed, living in the desert is much better for me and I have not wanted to stay where I am living now for a very long time. I know this is sad but I don't think, I know that that living here where I do is taking years off my life and those years I am here are not quality years. They are a constant struggle to just get out of bed and keep moving and try to keep my spirits up through the pain and inflammation and slow mobility. I can hardly go anywhere in the fall winter and spring. I wait for the 2 and a half months out of the year we have sunshine and heat. This is not enough for my body to recover from the dark and cold and dampness of the rest of the year. I think that if I moved south to the warm sunny dry climate of the Southwest I might even get a remission of these diseases that keep me on meds that I do not want to take. But what do you do when your spouse is so deeply rooted in the city you live in. My children are here. My mother and stepdad are here. My uncle. My friends. My husbands job. His music career. And a family home we inherited that is so lovely with a view of the water and Olympic Mts. in the west that fills me with awe and takes my breathe away! And all the green trees. It is so pretty here. But lately I just see it from my window.
My friends are trying to get me to consider being a snowbird. This might be doable. I know my husband is thinking about it. We shall see what we can come up with. I feel like it is very necessary for my life.