read: Masterminds and Wingmen

Masterminds and Wingmen: Helping Our Boys Cope with Schoolyard Power, Locker-Room Tests, Girlfriends, and the New Rules of Boy World by Rosalind Wiseman has been an interesting read. There is a companion book for boys called: The Guide: Managing Douchebags, Recruiting Wingmen and Attracting Who You Want. Coleman spent a few hours with The Guide. He just began middle school and I feel like now is a great time for me to read Masterminds and Wingmen. Coleman hasn't experienced much of what Rosalind and her recruits (all boys between 11 and 20 years old) describe about growing up in Boy World. I confess, I found their description of Boy World confounding. In particular how internal a boy's world is. It's information that will certainly help me better understand my two offspring. And The Guide can be useful for their future selves. How to communicate without going into a full blown conversation for instance. Fascinating.

{this moment}

 

an occasional friday post by me, inspired by a friday ritual at soulemama.

But Wait, There's More!

Coleman started playing football August 1st this year and his season has yet to end! They have made it to the championship - which it appears they have won, but that's not all! They will go on to play for our regional championship and then if they win again (not sure how many teams will be at the next level) they may in fact go further. And by further, I think I mean we may have to drive to San Diego or LA or Nevada...How great is that?

read: Boys Adrift

Boys Adrift by Leonard Sax is surely one of my current favorite reads. It's thoughtful, well researched and hard to put down. This is a good book for anyone concerned with current social trends or anyone concerned with our future as a society and indeed our children's future realities. This book raises many concerns for the well-being of our children and future society, but also offers solutions.

The book is broken down into the author's five current concerns for boys: 1. Changes at School 2.Video Games 3. Medications for ADHD 4. Endocrine Disruptors (the result is between concern #4 and #5) 5. Revenge of the Forsaken Gods (or lack of positive male role models in popular culture and our society in general). I think this book deconstructs our current social anemia and articulates causes for our boys (and boys beyond US borders) lack of motivation from a medical, environmental and societal view point. Sax is a physician and psychologist he practiced family medicine for 19 years and has written other books: Girls on the Edge and Why Gender Matters. I hope you will have an opportunity to read this book. It's worth every minute you invest in it. Promise.

{this moment}

an occasional friday post by me...inspired by a soulemama friday ritual.

::grateful::

I am grateful for:

the ocean: a peaceful and awe inspiring place
puppies: do i need a reason?
football: for so many reasons
the forest: our playground
wilshire: a place in the forest we like to go.

Learning About Lyme

I was imagining how I might have lived my life had I known about tick born diseases and how difficult they are to diagnose. Would I not have gone outdoors as a child? What would I be like if I had not explored the big hay field and creek behind my childhood home? The woods at the end of the street - what if I hadn't played in those? And, as I got older, would I not have taken my dog hiking in the mountains, woods and fields? Could I have escaped the disease if I had played life differently? Clearly I can't go back and do it all over, so this was a futile mental exercise. Recently I have been imagining my life after this body recovers from these little critters and the havoc they have wrought on it and my mind. It's got me a little giddy.

My history with Lyme Disease goes something like this: I got sick at some point, not sure exactly when. I can trace a rash and illness back to when I was pregnant with my oldest child, Coleman. But I can also say there were changes in my health a few years before that. Once Coleman was born my illness became dramatically worse. Symptoms were all over the place. A friend suggested I get tested for Lyme Disease. When I asked my doctor she said: "You don't have Lyme Disease. You're supposed to feel this awful, you just had a baby." My baby was about to turn one. I insisted. The test came back positive. I was treated. I got a little better but not entirely. And then I lived with it. For 12 years.

Two months ago I watched this movie: Under Our Skin, which you can watch streaming on HULU or Amazon. Hope for being myself again was renewed. But not before a tiny bit of despair set in. I spent a lot of time researching Lyme Disease and its co infections right after watching the movie. I became overwhelmed. Then I made an appointment. I found a doctor through searching "Lyme literate doctors" in my area. Lots of blood tests happened. Results for my blood tests came back positive for Lyme and Bartonella.

This is still a highly controversial disease. It's under reported. Misdiagnosed. Misunderstood. So often we need to learn to listen to ourselves and trust ourselves in the face of experts telling us it just can't be true. It must be in your head. If you're interested in reading more about diagnosing and healing Lyme and Coinfections here are books and a website for you:

Healing Lyme Disease Coinfections: Complementary and Holistic Treatments for Bartonella and Mycoplasma  by Stephen Harrod Buhner

Healing Lyme: Natural Healing and Prevention of Lyme Borreliosis and Its Coinfections Paperback by Stephen Harrod Buhner

 

 Why Can't I Get Better?: Solving the Mystery of Lyme and Chronic Disease by Richard Horowitz

http://www.ilads.org/

{this moment}

A Friday ritual. A single photo, a single moment to savor and share. 

inspired by soulemama.com

{this moment}

A Friday ritual. A single photo, a single moment to savor and share. 

inspired by soulemama.com