The last few days, you may have noticed that my posts have been a bit more erratic; two on one day, none on another, missing a couple of days altogether. That's because my children and I are in the process of moving to a smaller home, and moving always throws everyone's lives into a kilter.
A little background is in order.
I've mentioned in previous posts that I taught band and other music and math classes in the public school system for thirty years (29, actually. Thirty sounds cleaner.). For the last four years, I've run the alternative school in my district. That change wasn't anything I'd planned - my health forced me to retire from the fierce demands of a marching/pep/concert band director of a hundred-student high school program (plus another 130-160 at the middle school I taught), and the district very generously offered me the opportunity to continue in a position that made use of my experience helping children grow into adults in a more sedentary job (and it's been a literal God-send: I could not have continued otherwise, and this position is the closest thing a public school district has to saving lost souls - being a safety net for kids who fall through the cracks of life).
My health? Sometime between 2008-2011, I started developing a condition called tubular aggregate myopathy, which abbreviates to TAM. (My myopathy specialist calls it "myopathy with tubular aggregates", but MWTA doesn't roll off the tongue very well.) It's a rare enough condition that only 50-75 people in the world have it, according to research we've had to do over it. Basically, 60-nanometer wide tubules 'aggregate', or clump, in patterns perpendicular to the skeletal muscles, and develop and grow the more those muscles are used. There are limited cases found in two groups whose bodies are extremely stressed: pregnant women and alcoholics. I very blatantly do NOT fit either category. None of the major clinics or databases have much on it; fortunately, the one place we've found which knows anything about it is close by at the University of Utah (we live in southern Idaho). I thank God every time I think about the fact that the St. Luke's health care system here in Idaho figured out my condition in only one year, considering nobody in their system had even heard of it! The two others I've visited with with TAM on line suffered much longer before the cause was found!
There's no cure, and treatment is limited to assuaging the symptoms, which fortunately are essentially just two: extreme pain and extreme fatigue. The pain can usually be managed by an embarrassingly potent combination of morphine, gabapentin, oxycodone, and some activator medicines. That part's tolerable, for the most part. But fatigue? There isn't a cure for that. And I get exhausted taking a shower. I get exhausted teaching from my desk, not moving. Hey, I get exhausted sitting in my recliner! That's just part of the life God has given me to work with. In fact, if it wasn't for having to slow down because of the TAM, I wouldn't have quieted my mind enough to hear God calling to me. Literally, having TAM brought me to Christ. (That and my beautiful bride Melissa, God rest her soul, who married me knowing I wasn't yet a Christian but that I would be soon - and she was right.)
So, the more frail I get, the less able I am to care for a 2500 sq-ft home with three yards, and all the requisite stuff that goes with that. As I've prayed over the last year or so, it's become clear that I need to divest myself of not only the large home but of most of the stuff that goes with it. Prayer has the power to connect you with the will of the Holy Spirit, which is the will of God. Over the last year, I've gone from being outright fearful of giving up this home and life, to where the only reason I'm not willing to move into the figurative 'van down by the river' is the comfort of my minor-age children. I'm surprised how comfortable I am with getting rid of literally thousands and thousands of dollars of stuff - because it IS just stuff. My treasures are vested in heaven, not on earth. Whatever I need, God will provide. He always has, throughout my life and certainly throughout my Christian life.
So, in short, I'll try to stay up to speed with posts, and access to a computer shouldn't be a deterrent. And I'll keep you updated on the move, and on life itself - fortunately, this isn't like the three or four previous times I've moved; there's no deadline to be out of my house, and we can move stuff at our leisure over the next couple of weeks. (Besides, I know how important my "FOLLOWING FOOTBALL" posts are to all of you, right? :)
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