Prepare For the Worst

February 10, 2024 ~ JodiLea

You may have heard this saying, “Think positive, but prepare for the worst.” I think it is a practical idea, and it was suggested to me to pack a “Go” bag. In case of a natural disaster or something preventing me from getting home. Do I have one packed yet? No. However, in my defense, I do have a list of things to put in my ‘Go bag.’

I need to get a large box. I don’t have big enough bags. Since the theory is each carries their own load (bag), I probably will not be able to pack clothing and shoes. Besides the oral medications and the diabetic paraphernalia I need to keep me alive, I will not be able to carry much else.

It’s funny how our priorities turn around during an emergency. For example, if I spend a few days visiting my daughter, I pack my skincare, make-up, and hair products. I have a separate bag for craft projects to work on, my journal, Bible, and snacks. A third bag contains my meds, insulin, and pump supplies. I can carry those 3 bags myself, but only to and from the car when there is no urgency.

I decided to get a shoe box and put it in my bedroom. When I got low on skincare items, I would toss them into the said box and replace them in my cupboard. My travel cosmetics bag already has a few items in it. I don’t have to put cosmetics in it. I can use it for alcohol wipes, tweezers, bandaids, antibiotic creams, etc. I can set aside meds and pump supplies, already packed up, and then I would only have to grab insulin out of the fridge and an ice pack from the freezer.

Oh yeah. I need to bring my glucose monitor sensors. They are small, but the applicator they come in is huge. Those are lightweight but will take up a lot of space. Sigh. This is why I can never “pack light” or “go at a moment’s notice.” I am way too high-maintenance to travel well. Maybe I should invest in a pack mule. Another deeper and longer sigh.

Did you know that if you Googled “Go Bag,” you get 3,200,000 results? The ones that pop up first are trying to sell you bags, organizational notebooks to plan for a Go bag and survival kits. Scroll past those ads, and you will get to articles about How to pack one and how long it should last, ad nauseam. Advice from emergency services, State departments, and consumer affairs. After trying to read this information over to check if I was missing something important, I discovered I was…

Now, my Go bag is complete.

Funny You Should Ask…

January 31, 2024 ~ JodiLea

Bloganuary writing prompt

What’s the thing you’re most scared to do? What would it take to get you to do it?

View all responses

Drive at night in places I’m not used to. I get lost in bright daylight, and I can’t see well at night. I stopped driving at night a couple of years ago when I kept getting lost going home in my own town!

Just 2 weeks ago, I drove for an hour in the complete darkness of mountain roads, country highways, and narrow bridges. What it took me to do this was that Hubby asked me to take him to the ER. He had a horribly bloody nose that he could not stop for two and a half hours. [I thought he had gone to bed early]

He never would have asked me to take him anywhere at night – my driving in the daylight scares him enough – unless it was serious. I was shaking with adrenaline. I drove faster than a ‘blind’ woman should. I’m happy to report we made it both ways unscathed except mentally. It took me hours to unwind and work out all that adrenaline.

While thanking God, I asked him to give my guardian angel a promotion.

STOP! What’s Your Last Word?

April 6, 2020 ~ JodiLea

When I was a kid, pre-high school, one of the most memorable summers ever experienced was when my cousin flew to visit our grandma & pa who lived in California. My cuz, Mags, and I had been pen-pals for a few years and I could not wait to meet her in person. It was BFF’s at first sight.

We had so many things in common it was eerie. One of our ‘things’ was writing. Both of us had spiral notebooks full of poems, short stories, episodes of our favorite TV shows. I was working on a new episode for “Emergency!” and I think Mags was working on one for Alias Smith & Jones. It was a Western romance – that I remember.

We were busy scribbling and all of a sudden, Mags yells “STOP!”

“What?! What’s wrong?”

“What’s your last word?”

I looked at my notebook and the last word written before her scream is “thready”

“Hmm.” she contemplates.

“What is yours?” two can play at this game.

“muscles,” she said.

“Ohh,” I say. “You win.”

We must have laughed for 20 minutes. Then we refilled our sodas, grabbed a snack, and went back to work. When I noticed Mags hitting a roll with her focused scribbling, I hollered out, “What’s your last sentence?” Only one word at a time was not giving me any clue about where her story was going. Yes, even back then, I was impatient.

I wished that I could remember that episode! I knew it had to be juvenile and corny – it was corny back then. Curious, I dug into my file drawer that had research, old drafts, and false starts. And there it was. My old blue THEMEBOOK 100. Five short stories were listed on the second-page table of contents. (Table of Contents!?) I laughed when I found “Code I LUV U”. That had to be the infamous Emergency! episode. 42 pages (front and back) of pure corn. Beyond corny, corn. Copywrite 1972. The summer between junior high and high school. I was 14.

The last sentence? My character was singing, “Everything’s all right, yes, everything’s fine.”

I’m still smiling about that.

I hope that Mags can find hers.

♥ TTFN ♥

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