Category essay

Tartuffe tonight

Angel Ackerman 3 Comments
Lots of Sunshine

I’m very excited about going to see Tartuffe at DeSales University tonight. They have a strong college theatre program. They offer a program for visually and hearing impaired theatre-goers so my teenager and I attend with our blind friend, Nancy.

The program is a great way to expand my daughter’s horizons as they select great plays and adapt the presentation for other-abled patrons.

For the blind attendees, the cast comes out to introduce themselves. The staff pass out props and discuss how the stage is set.

As someone with a theatre background, it’s an exciting way to connect the experience of the viewer with the technical and magical side of how theatre works.

Some of the shows we’ve seen there:

  • Arthur Miller’s The Crucible
  • Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard
  • Tennessee William’s The Glass Menagerie
  • Evita

This morning, the teenager is with her dad and I’m doing some household chores. I took down my bedroom curtains and washed the windows. In a few minutes, I’ll be retrieving the curtains from the laundry and hanging them up to dry.

Today’s big adventure might be trimming Nala’s nails.

Grateful

Angel Ackerman Leave a comment

This week has been awful but beautiful.

When things get harder, I have to see the magic in the world.

A coworker brought muffins and French butter from Wegmans.

Another coworker came over for a grapefruit margarita.

My daughter and I didn’t see eye-to-eye, but I know she knows I love her and I’m proud of her.

The kittens…

Fog and Mist(ofelees)

And Nala has played with all her toys, she hasn’t plucked recently and went to sleep without someone in the room with her.

Thank you to everyone who supports me.

Two Roads Two Die For and a good friend

Angel Ackerman Leave a comment

I had arranged to meet a good friend at the pub last night. Knowing this would be a hard week, I thought a friend would help remind me that I am defined by more than my roles as employee and mother.

Two Die For

We met at a pub within walking distance of both our homes. The bartender—hearing that I’m a fan of stouts and porters—recommended this Two Roads chocolate raspberry stout Two Die For. And he didn’t even know that my favorite beer ever is Samuel Smith’s organic chocolate stout.

I think I just prefer my chocolate in beer form.

In all seriousness, the raspberry gave it just enough sweet undertones to make it very smooth and refreshing. My friend ordered a Bud Light Lime. We shared some fried pickle chips and buffalo chicken fries (perfect dinner for someone on a no hard or sticky food diet for the next two weeks.)

The stories of work, home, kids and animals began. So many animal stories! Around Christmas, her family lost their dog and her daughter found a rescue dog they recently welcomed into their home.

The rescue agency that saved her offered them a trial with the dog, but my friend’s husband was practical in the matter. “Write the check,” he said, “there’s no way you’re giving this dog back.”

The dog has been perfect for their family and has helped them fill the void of their former dog.

It was a refreshing visit and a great beer.

Tooth Update: ten years of dental drama

Angel Ackerman 4 Comments

Let me pour myself a cup of coffee as I digest the chicken burger with avocado I just inhaled. I will tell you a story as I sit and reflect on one of life’s foremost pleasures: enjoying a mediocre meal that tastes like the most amazing food ever specifically because you had a dental emergency and now your mouth is fixed.

That is a run-on sentence but you can deal with it.

Sidewalk splat

It was May 2011. The teenager was in first grade and I was working very part-time at Target and working on my second bachelors degree at Lafayette College.

I walked the child and a neighbor to the elementary school every day. This day was no exception.

I was almost home. But just like the opening sequence in Ryan O’Connell’s Netflix comedy “Special,” I fell.

O’Connell and I share similar experiences with our cerebral palsy. (For more on that, see my article from The Mighty, Grit and getting published on The Mighty.)

Ninety-nine times out of 100, I get up, brush myself off and keep going perhaps with a scratch or a scraped knee.

This day, I faltered on a bad patch of sidewalk, caught my balance, then stepped forward only to unexpectedly lose my balance again. And I didn’t have a chance to put out my hands or collapse into the fall.

My glasses went flying. My phone also sailed away. My chin was the only thing that hit the sidewalk. This was both lucky and unfortunate.

I stood, gathered my things. I knew my chin was bleeding but when I put my glasses on I noticed something:

There was a tooth on the ground.

I was about four houses away from my domicile. But in my shock, I had no recollection where the accident occurred. I called my husband. He demanded I go to the dentist.

At the dentist, the used butterfly bandaids to hold together my chin as they X-rayed me. They encouraged me to head to the ER next. I ended up with two stitches. (Both the ER and the dentist were utterly impressed I hadn’t broken my jaw.)

Dr. Lorri Tomko

Now, my dentist often has other dentists working in her practice. This particular day I had the true, true pleasure of working with Dr. Lorri Tomko. She went CSI on my mouth explaining what had happened.

When I fell, my bottom teeth and top teeth smashed together and damaged each other. I damaged most of my mouth that day. For the next few years, I had a lot of dental work.

Some of it was hard for me and for Dr. Tomko, but she was dedicated and gentle and it helped my anxiety that she walked me through everything that was going to happen.

She’s my favorite dentist ever.

The tooth I spit out was only half a tooth. It was one of the few cavities I had had and the tooth broke around the filling. A really ancient and in my opinion terrible oral surgeon pulled it, reciting the tooth number the entire time. (#29)

I can’t prove it, but I blame him for a bad mouth infection I got upon receiving an implant. He had missed a piece of the original tooth.

Last night’s broken crown

So last night, I spit out a crown while eating candy from my daughter’s recent Universal Yums box. I was frantic when I saw it was my crown and not my implant crown.

That original crown… Dr. Tomko couldn’t get the tooth to numb and she used laughing gas on me and said something about never wanting to work on that tooth ever again. And that we both needed a glass of wine.

I called her office today, but she doesn’t take me insurance and she couldn’t see me until Tuesday.

My normal dentist got me in at 3 pm, but at this point my remaining tooth is stabbing my tongue when I talk, eat or drink.

My dentist could take the impressions and get the temporary crown on. Thank goodness, but my mouth didn’t want to cooperate. I couldn’t stop my gag reflex for the impressions then I wasn’t biting correctly.

Apparently I kept shifting my bite to the left to bite the stuff in my mouth.

You know what’s worse that doing something that triggers your gag reflex? Doing it seven times! No exaggeration. Seven.

And of course, payment was $394. Their regular price was $1250. But my insurance price was $750. But they would only pay 50 percent and I had a copay.

  • If I look at my American Express bill right now it includes (from the last month):
      • $500 for a diagnostic ultrasound for my breast
      $175 for radiology for that ultrasound
      $400 for the dentist
  • Ridiculous.
  • Go ahead, politicians of a certain type, telling me again that the system isn’t broken. Corporations run this country. And medical insurance is big business.

    • A stop at the beer store

    Angel Ackerman 2 Comments

    I stopped at the beer store on the way home from work. My days have been increasingly more difficult.

    Sigh.

    I’m trying really hard to do a great job at my “new” career path. But it’s hard to change fields sometimes. Sometimes people do things to help AND hurt your feelings at the same time.

    Since I started writing grants 9 months ago, I have submitted 22 grants (okay, I think it’s 19 grants and 3 contracts) so I must be doing something right, right?

    Beer Store Goodies

    So to wash down this not-so-good day, I bought Rita’s Fruit Margaritas in the giant can, Yuengling and snacks— some chips and some candy.

    The breadth of choices in the beer store made me happy.

    I came home, made a quick fairly processed dinner and poured a drink as we unboxed the teen’s Universal Yum box from France. We were partaking in the delights when suddenly one of my candy’s was crunchy.

    The teen’s was not.

    I broke a crown off a molar.

    Yup, today is not a good day.

    The Road Trip Home

    Angel Ackerman 4 Comments

    The witch travels from Washington DC home with Mercury in retrograde

    I thought I was on top of everything. I hoped to leave DC around 9 so I could be home by 1.

    But then M’s housemates made this lovely kale frittata for breakfast.

    I love kale and I love breakfast!

    So I enjoyed a slice. And then another.

    Everyone followed me out to the car and wished me farewell… and then M noticed a nail in my tire.

    M called AAA because I don’t have my membership card. While he did that, I called my AAA home office and asked them to email me a pdf of my membership information. They assured me that I was in the system, but a pdf still made me feel better.

    M and I chatted about the international cleaning staples: Lava soap, Brillo pads and Borax powder.

    The AAA man came expediently, plugged my tire and sent me on my way.

    After 25 miles, while on I-95 about to merge onto 695 outside Baltimore, my tire pressure light came on. I did what I always do, I called my dad and started to freak out and cry.

    He advised me to get off the highway and have someone check the tire.

    So I got off 695 on the first exit and pulled into a CVS parking lot while I checked the tire visually, then tried to reset the light, and then gave up and used the AAA app to locate local gas stations.

    Interesting tidbit, it didn’t tell me which were gas stations and which were actual service (repair) stations.

    I ended up at a Sunoco, I believe A.C.E Automotive. I pulled up in front of what looked to be an air compressor hose. I stepped into the office and explained what had happened earlier and asked if anyone could check my tire pressure.

    An older gentleman finished writing up someone’s car repair invoice and told me to move my car “by that silver car.”

    The silver car was my car.

    He checked all of my tires. The back tires were around 26 psi. The drivers side front tire was 31 psi and the freshly repaired tire was 20 psi. The person helping me filled them all and went to get a spray bottle to check the plug.

    After it looked like the plug was good, he then told me to drive a mile or two and come back.

    I still couldn’t get the light to reset.

    So I drove a bit and came back and filled the car with gas. I asked the gentleman his name, and introduced myself. His name was Gary and he reminded me of my dad.

    Meanwhile my dad is texting me. My dad encourages me to be cautious and not to hesitate to buy a new tire.

    Gary checks all the tires and they are holding pressure. He knows I have 175 miles to go. He tells me to text my dad that I’m fine and I don’t need a new tire.

    I try to pay Gary and he tells me I don’t owe him anything because “that’s how people should be.”
    I stop at the visitors center right over the Pennsylvania state line and finally am able to reset the tire pressure light. I thought about how much those lights scare me. “Back in the day,” we got in the car and took our chances. We didn’t have warning lights. Cars just broke down.

    And now a light comes on and I’m calling my dad in tears terrified I’m going to have a horrible accident.

    But at the visitors center, the light goes out. I buy coffee from the vending machine.

    And I notice the rest stop has free wi-fi. How cutting edge of Pennsylvania.

    I was considering stopping at a truck stop to buy a tire gauge, but I did not.

    I also promised myself if I saw a Popeye’s I would get a chicken sandwich. I did not.

    I got home at 3.

    That was a long day.

    For more on my weekend away:

    Saturday mini-break in DC

    Sunday Funday paperwork

    Things I noticed on the bus in DC

    Things I noticed on the bus in DC

    Angel Ackerman 1 Comment

    Today M and I went to Georgetown for Falafel, more exciting adventures in Washington DC with forty-something friends from their university days.

    • A little girl with a sequined backpack and pinstripe pants dancing
    • A woman with big snowflake like costume jewelry stones on her knit ski cap
    • A 20-something lanky young man with crisp jeans rolled above the ankle, extra tight
    • a young boy in the back of a crowded bus while his mother had other children and a baby in the front
    • A young couple holding hands, both of Asian heritage with baggy black pants and colorful hair. She wore thin but enormous gold hoop earrings. Emo, maybe?
    • A lot of people with very similar winter coats
    • Most people absorbed in their phones
    • construction
    • Live music (Music on the way into Georgetown DC)
    • Bell bottom sweatpants
    • An obese woman in crocks with her feet on the seat in front of her
    • A hauntingly beautiful woman with a life’s worth of luggage surrounding her, looking a tad scared, taking pamphlets with maps from the info display
    • A young white woman with a canvas bag and a yoga mat
    • A couple hugging sadly outside a hotel on the edge of a flower garden pretty much standing on the “Keep off the Grass” sign

    Sunday Funday paperwork

    Angel Ackerman 1 Comment

    Day 2 of my Washington DC mini break.

    I slept so well that when I woke I had forgotten I wasn’t at home. M had a glass of water and a clean coffee cup waiting for me when I emerged from the bathroom. Then, as is custom, we chatted for a couple hours

    PJ and Princess

    I brought my other traveling companion with me, many of you may remember PJ the bear. He brought his girlfriend, Princess.

    So while PJ and Princess are lounging in bed, doing whatever naughty bears do, M tackled some of his upcoming travel arrangements and I filed not just federal but ALL my taxes.

    I win adulting for the day.

    I rewarded myself with the oatmeal cookie M bought me last night at the 7-eleven. Which turned out to be a very tasty cookie.

    Poached eggs with the hottest sauce ever

    So now that our big adulting tasks arrived done, M has made the perfect poached eggs and offered me some killer hot sauce.

    Death by Wings

    Saturday mini-break in DC

    Angel Ackerman 3 Comments

    My day started early when I couldn’t sleep past 5:15 am. I tossed and turned in bed until I finally got up at 6.

    I spent some time with my Goffin’s cockatoo, Nala, before pretending to head to work. I was really going to get my nails done and going to visit my traveling companion, M, in Washington, DC.

    The teenager is caring for the menagerie in my absence.

    Beth trimmed my nails and filed off the old nail polish and gave me a fill on my acrylic manicure.

    I went with a dark plum with a cat eye for my farewell to winter nails.

    Beth was running a little behind so M mentioned not to worry he was occupied doing his federal taxes. So after my appointment I stopped home to get my tax forms. I grabbed my divorce paperwork too.

    I was on the road by exactly 10 am and I arrived here in DC at 1:30, with one potty break. I had forgotten how much I enjoy driving, blasting my music, singing and thinking. Traffic is not so fun.

    M and I then sat on the couch drinking coffee for FOUR HOURS. I laughed hard and often.

    Then at 5:30 we hopped onto the bus and headed to Taqueria Habanero. (Taqueria Habanero) I had a lovely sangria with tequila.

    And I ordered the pork and pineapple taco and a salmon taco, which was a really nice piece of fish, and ate M’s mole chicken for him. (For food photos, see instagram.)

    The two men beside us at the restaurant were very old and very loud and I think they were meeting for the first time on a Tinder date.

    Then we went across the street to the 7-Eleven because M wanted to buy me these chips…

    … which I ate on the bus ride home. They start out smooth and ranchy.

    I also asked M to buy me cookies, which he did. So now we are relaxing in his living room with cookies.