Just Keep Swimming

I took the kids to see Finding Nemo yesterday. Yes, we own it on DVD, and we've seen it many times. But of course we had to go see it in the theater, because now it's in 3D. I didn't really mind, though, because it's a cute movie, and seeing it on the big screen was kind of cool.

While the whole movie is fun, and all of the characters have their merits, Dory has always been my favorite. Sure, she has issues. But she is incredibly sweet, and caring, and always means well. And I love her attitude. She never lets her problems get her down, and her glass is always half full.

I've always kind of related to Dory in a way. I don't exactly suffer from short-term memory loss like she does, but thanks to the issues associated with the CRPS, coupled with the years of pain medications, I do have trouble with my short-term memory sometimes. So every time I suddenly forget what I was doing, I think of her.

And sometimes, I like to sing her song.

I've been a bit of a "Mr. Grumpy Gills" the last few days. I've been trying to fight it, but even those of us who do our best to always look on the bright side can have our cloudy moments too. Unfortunately it comes with the territory of living with a chronic illness. 

We all have our ups and downs - I know I'm not alone in that. Sometimes it's easy to believe that we can get through it, and that things will get better... and then there are times when just getting drunk and having a big bowl of ice cream for dinner sounds like a really brilliant idea. (Not that I've ever actually done that. But I can't lie - there have been moments lately when it did briefly cross my mind.)

But the "downs" do eventually pass, and the "ups" come back. So we can never let ourselves forget that all we have to do is just keep swimming.