Polly, I only just started back with DL after probably a 10-year hiatus. Just in time, it looks like. You are so funny, so uplifting because of it. The Web page is great. Your cartoons make me smile. When you talk about how you have helped students, it fires up my reverence. Teaching is hard. I just completed teaching my first college English Composition class in 39 years. You read that right. Back when I first started, adjuncts were just becoming the norm (1976). What a rip-off for teachers, but that’s another topic. I will never do that again. Too hard, and I too weak.
By that I mean I have fibromyalgia (diagnosed in 1981, had it 3 years before that) and neuropathy that makes me stumble, from Lyme disease I got after helping dozens of feral cats for several years and picking 21 ticks (at least) off me in that time. So I sympathize with your Chronic Fatigue issues. I also had to move 8 times in 6 years, but that too is another story.
Point is, I have published novels and short stories, but it’s been supremely hard for me to do it given all that listed above. At 74, I still have hope. As soon as I …, well, you know the traps. By reading your story here I am all the more inspired to get back to it. Thank you for being so welcoming, too. I don’t write on anyone else’s blog, but I’m thrilled to make you a Fave and keep up with you now.