February
2012 News, updates, &
pronouncements from Pat Ballard,
the Queen of Rubenesque Romances
Nobody can make you feel inferior
without your consent. Eleanor Roosevelt
Something to think
about....
We're all a little weird. And life is a
little weird.
And when we find someone whose weirdness is compatible with ours,
we join up with them and fall into mutually satisfying weirdness—
and call it love―true love. Robert Fulghum
A few weeks ago as I browsed around on Facebook, I
stumbled across the Facebook page of the wife of an old flame from years
ago.
As I read a few of the postings about their life and activities, I felt
myself being pulled into the mental attitude and place where I was all
those years ago, and I felt myself almost panicking.
Where would I be in my personal growth if I'd stayed there? If "things"
had worked out for us, who would I have become?
I'm sure most of us have wondered about old flames. How would my life have
been different? Would it have been better? Would I be happier?
But I had never asked myself how it would have changed me. Who
would I be? One thing is for sure, while the basics of me would have
stayed the same, there would have been other changes. And I'm pretty happy
with the "me" that I am now.
So I turned from my computer and sat and listened to my husband of 38
years—as of the 23rd of this month―gently snoring (like a caged lion) in
the next room, and thought about how I have become the "me" that is today
because of my life with him.
I thought about how he frustrates me, challenges me, makes me think
outside the box (sometimes just to win the argument!), and how hard I/we
have to work to keep the relationship alive.
I thought about how we can laugh together and cry together and how easy it
is to pick up on each others' thoughts and know what the other is thinking
without a word being spoken.
One of the things that attracted me to him was, as the quote above says, I
had found someone whose weirdness was compatible to mine.
And as I sat there, lost in thought, two little words crept into my mind
with an overwhelming peace.
"No regrets."
And I'm happy that he's still my Valentine!
Happy Valentine's Day,
everyone!
Well, it's been a while since we've chatted.
In December Pearlsong Press publisher Peggy Elam was very busy
assisting her mother in Mississippi, so I didn't do a
newsletter. Then in January I had an enormous amount of "things"
going on—one of which I'll get into later.
I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas or holiday of your
choosing, a Happy New Year, and is having a great Valentine's
Day as I write this, even though you may not receive The
QP until after Valentine's.
Since September my husband, Joe, has had a "fluttering"
in his chest and was convinced that it was his heart. So on
Martin Luther King Day, January 17th, he went to the doctor to
have it checked. As a result many tests were done and finally on
Friday, Feb. 3rd, the problem was found.
As the cardiologist did a heart catheterization he discovered
that Joe had a 99% blockage in his Left Anterior Descending
(LAD). This is the artery in the front of his heart, one of the
three major coronary arteries. Some of you probably already know
what the LAD is, but I didn't. It's also called "the Widow
Maker." Even the medical field calls it that. The cardiologist
told Joe he had an angel on his shoulder.
They immediately admitted him into the hospital that Friday
evening and did open heart bypass surgery on Monday, February
6th, at 1 p.m. Joe came through the surgery beautifully, and we
got to come home Thursday afternoon, three days after the
surgery.
He is still doing extremely well. And I'm almost rested from
spending night and day at the hospital with him.
He had no warning signs that he was on the verge of a massive
heart attack. The doctors assured us that if the artery had
closed totally off, Joe would be dead.
The one mistake that Joe had made was not keeping up with his
cholesterol and triglyceride levels. And he'd had borderline
high blood pressure for several years. His triglycerides were
real high; the doctors think it's genetic. His cholesterol
was 216, which isn't real bad. As one of the doctors told me,
"He had two out of three problem makers."
My education from all this is to have blood work done once a
year, or every couple of years, to make sure those three numbers
are okay.
Until next time, everyone be well, safe and happy.
Happy Valentines Day!
Love,
Pat
Something
To Think About: Reflections on Life, Family, Body Image &
Other Weighty Matters by the Queen of Rubenesque Romances
Click on the Bookbuzzr graphic (if visible on your computer screen) to browse an excerpt from Pat's
newest book.
Dangerous Love
by Pat Ballard
Now available in PDF, Mobipocket & Kindle ebook
format as well as original trade paperback!
Ava Manning has allowed her heart to be broken once. Once is
enough. She never intends to let anyone get close enough to hurt her
again. She just wants to do her job as a lab technician at Cloneall
Drugs, Inc, without any complications in her life.
But after Ava saw some research she
wasn't supposed to, someone wants her dead. And now she has to deal with
the Southern talking, g-dropping, charming LAPD detective Ricky Don
McKinzie.
Her life is just beginning to get
complicated.
More info at the
Pearlsong Press
website.
(All copies of Dangerous Love purchased from the Pearlsong Press website are autographed by Pat.)
If anyone was watching
the news a few weeks ago, then you know the big blowout about Paula
Deen's announcement that she has type 2 diabetes.
And you also know how the
media and so many others jumped on her for being a "bad influence" with
her cooking shows, recipe books, etc.
But Paul Campos
wrote a wonderfully informative article about the situation for The
Daily Beast that it will pay everyone to read.
No Proof Paula Deen’s
High-Fat Southern Cooking Caused Her Diabetes
by Paul Campos
First, there’s no
evidence that a high-fat diet plays any role in causing type 2 diabetes.
The best demonstration of this is provided by an eight-year-long, randomized, controlled dietary modification trial
involving nearly 50,000 American women, which cost $415 million, making it
one of the most rigorously designed (and most expensive) health studies
ever conducted.
Editor's Note:
Post a review of one of Pat's books
at an online bookstore, magazine, or public website,
email us at proclamation @ pearlsong.com to let us know, and we'll
consider your review for inclusion in The QP.
"I read your
Something to Think About.
Just like all your other writings, it is not only beautifully written
but profound.
Listen to the mp3 recording of Pat, her fearless publisher, and
several other Pearlsong Press authors in a Pearlsong
Conversationabout
creating fat friendly fiction and fat
positive characters.
Listen to a Feb. 11, 2009 Conversation with Pat Ballard
(blog post with link to 50-min mp3 recording of Pat talking about her
journey to
self- and body-acceptance and -love, her writing process,
and why a truly Happy Valentine's Day and satisfying sex life
starts with loving
your body,
no matter what it looks like.
Calendar of Events
Now available from Pearlsong Press in
original trade paperback & ebook—Pat's
newest book, Dangerous Love.
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Something
To Think About: Reflections on Life, Family, Body Image &
Other Weighty Matters by the Queen of Rubenesque Romances
