Saturday 5 July 2003

Pic of the day: After the thunder had silenced, we walked up on this hill and looked out over the land and the sea. That was while the day was bright, though.

Family & other headaches

I had been quite tired yesterday, so went to bed an hour earlier than usual. I also woke up an hour earlier than usual, and was too hungry to go back to sleep. I noticed that my eye did not feel quite well, but it was early morning. I can usually hardly read for the first minutes after I get up, sometimes closer to half an hour. So I was not overly worried.

It seems now it was not the eye, or at least not mainly. A moderate headache on the left side, and tenderness running from the eye down to the lower jaw but only on that side. It is a good bet I got a sinus infection again. (Or it could be another local infection that have spread, possibly, but it feels a bit like sinusitis. I used to have that a lot, although I always thought it was the roots of my teeth that were infected.)

It still wasn't so bad when I walked to the supermarket to buy groceries, around an hour to noon. At that time it was still so moderate I did not think much about it. It has grown steadily worse since. No fever yet, though.

***

In the afternoon, my brother and his family came to visit me. That's Torfinn, the youngest of my brothers (but still three years older than me). The kids have grown a bit in the year or two since I last saw them. Well, two years I guess, I believe the girl was just barely walking. She is much better at it now. And the boys get along better ... or perhaps that's just when they are away from home. But it looks like they do ... and I am not convinced they have any concept about being away from home. It did not look like it in any other way. Still, it was OK. We played The Sims as there was thunder and a bit of rain. The heat was terrible inside though, so as soon as we felt safe (and the game crashed) we went for a walk.

My sister-in-law jokingly remarked that it may be because of those boys I don't have any kids of my own. Well, obviously not, although they don't particularly help. When I visited on the farm, the memories of my own childhood were a bit too close for comfort.

You can move away, but can you really? I don't know. My brother married someone from another part of the country and a somewhat different subculture. Then why do I see so much of our own childhood in their kids? Well, that's not a question you can answer. But having spent so many years getting out from the shadows ... no, I am not eager to see another generation start at the bottom again. Your mileage may vary.

But anyway, not tonight, dear. I have a headache.