I was asked to be a guest blog for my friend Robin at My Point and I Do Have One. It was great fun to get up on that soapbox for a bit.
There once was a time when the only rehab that was on the radar was for alcohol or drug abuse. Something has shifted over the years. People go to rehab for everything from overeating to sex, but there's a new addiction on the horizon. This week Chynna Phillips announced that she's in rehab for anxiety. I know that panic attacks & severe stress can wreck havoc on a person's body, mind and spirit. The solution used to be taking a yoga class or learning to mediate. Or going on a long vacation or getting a new job to help relieve some of the stress. Is anxiety really a disease that requires rehab? Now I'm curious about what actually takes place in this kind of facility. "Hi. My name is Chynna and I'm a stress monger..."
I'm not trying to make light of Ms. Phillips situation. She could be dealing with something very serious like a nervous breakdown for all we know. I do feel like there's some key information missing from her story. I'm just wondering why in the good ole USA are there rehabs for just about anything that ails you? And are these afflictions truly classified as a disease? Is having 27 mistresses at once really an ailment or the result of a sense of entitlement & power?
Turn on your TV and there are drugs on the market for all kinds of conditions now referred to as a "disease." Take acid reflux and dry eye. I had tons of both when I was pregnant. It was the result of hormones, having a very big belly and eating too many cannolis. Both magically disappeared after I gave birth and dropped 40 pounds.
My point, and I do have one is that it seems to me that many Americans are looking for the easy way out. Label my condition a disease or an addiction and suddenly, it's not my fault and I do not have to truly take responsibility for it. I can take a drug or go to rehab and it will all just go away or at least ease the pain. Am I being too harsh on this subject matter? What's your take on this subject? Thanks Robin for letting me guest blog!
I've always been a fan of vinyl. I held out as long as I could before I bought my 1st tape. I hated it! Then came Cd's. I held on to all of my records even when I did not have anything to play them on. About 7 years ago I was given a turntable & I broke out my record collection. I cannot explain the joy I felt listening to the crackles and hisses featured behind the music. Tom made lots of comments about how inferior vinyl was to Cd's. I did not care & continued to play them with glee. So many wonderful memories were wrapped up in those albums.
Technical difficulties made it impossible to play my records for a couple of years. Basically something got unplugged or wires were crossed & it affected not only my record player but my VCR as well. Hmmm.. suspicious..since all of Tom's modern playing devices worked just fine. YES, I still own a VCR! I have some great thing on tape, like me jumping out of an airplane & Buns of Steel. Tamilee Webb's workouts kick butt (pun intended) to this day. Well, quite recently, Tom decided to conquer the abyss of wires behind our entertainment unit & fix my antique artifacts.
It was no small feat. We have 5 pieces of equipment, but there are 300 wires back there. I could not even sit in the room while he performed this surgery because watching made my stomach queasy. I moved to the kitchen & some time later I heard the strangest sound coming from the living room.....Olivia Newton John. Tom was playing Xanadu. And it sounded awesome!!! We both sat back and listened. And then something magical happened; Tom finally understood the beauty of vinyl. He got it. Those crackles are pure and good. Voices sound so clear and real & you can feel the emotion in a singer's voice on a record.
And albums covers are fun to look at. Many were works of art. They opened up and had great pictures and lyrics in normal sized print. Many record sleeves also had more eye candy printed on them. I spent hours as a kid looking over every inch of them. I wonder if any else remembers this....sometimes posters were included with your albums. You would unwrap the thin layer of plastic, pull out the record sleeve and folded up inside would be a poster of the artist. Bonus!! I inherited a Prince poster this way. Can't remember which album it was from but I treasured that free gift with purchase. Put it up on the back of my bedroom door and kissed him every night before bed. Kissing posters through the years is a story for another time. I'm going to pull out a record for Leo and play it for him today. I want him to be familiar with vinyl and learn to appreciate it. Not sure what I'll play. Maybe some old school Prince or Madonna. The Boss is always good or maybe The Cure.
Big, thick, creamy ones. Not anything that can be purchased in a store or comes in a plastic bag, though I've enjoyed those immensely. Nope, today I'm dreaming of the homemade delicacies from City Bakery. It's hot chocolate month there & I've yet to get me even one sip. Today's flavor is "Moulin Rouge". MMMmmm..sounds hot.
There are a few things that you begin to realize once you have a child. One is that you may forever have dark, puffy circles under your eyes from lack of sleep. The other is that time is no longer your own. Gone are the days of wandering around the city just to window shop or explore. Leisurely strolls through art museums are few and far between. Special trips to City Bakery 14 times in the month of February just to get my hands on the latest chocolaty nectar are non-existent. At least until Leo goes to school.
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