An end

The virus is at an end, so, of course, this means that now, my nose is completely covered in cold sores.

Big, painful, ugly cold sores. Quite honestly, the worst outbreak I have ever had IN MY LIFE. The entire external surface of my nose, on the left, is covered. All the way up to where my glasses sit.

Both nostrils are ringed on the outside, and on the inside, and at the base of each nostril. In all, there are seven patches of blisters, the largest being the one covering the left side of the nose.

I have never had cold sore pain like this before. It's excruciating, and radiates up into my eyes.

And I cannot begin to express how ugly they are, and how much uglier they will get. People will stare. Literally.

Great. As if suffering with a bug for THREE WEEKS wasn't enough. Oh well, at least it's finally gone.

Minor congestion left, a little of that deep, rattle coughing. But, at least now, the coughing doesn't wake me at night.

I still sound like a life long smoker when I cough, but it's happening less often.

Changes in the home selling efforts include another 3 thousand dollar price drop, and an increase in the commission to the agent who finds a buyer. This is truly the last ditch effort.

I can't go any lower and still sell.

Looked at other units in the complex with my realtor, and mine really is the nicest. All of the ones we looked at were either not updated at all, or only partly updated, and all of them had visible damage of some kind somewhere.

My place does not. It's only partly updated, too, but it seriously was the nicest one of the lot.

Got confirmation yesterday that one of my parents' surviving friends has passed away.

She and I exchanged cards and notes, and I drove past her house every day on my commute.

I had noticed lately that the name was gone off of her mailbox, and that her car was not in the drive anymore. I had not seen her out at her mailbox, or at the grocery store, for a long time. Weeks.

Then yesterday, a card in the mail from her grand daughter.

I recall a picture of my parents, and her, and her late husband....when they were young, and wild, and beautiful. Before kids. Before illness, and age, and death. Before everything....

Holding martinis, dressed to the nines, and smiling into the camera...all glamorous and polished and happy.

I choose to remember them all that way.

(note to my brother....it was Vi. Mike died a while back.)