34 yrs married...

My hubby and I just celebrated our 34th wedding anniversary. Oh, do I feel old.

It hasn't been an easy 34 years. We married just out of high school. Don was a year ahead of me. He proposed to me on my 18th birthday. Our folks were not pleased. We married on my high school graduation day.

Chronic illness is second only to financial problems as the source of marital problems. Since my health problems contributed to the financial stress the odds of our marriage surviving for so long were low. Oh well, I've always been one to defy the odds.

When I am asked how we have managed to still be together I tell them "separate bedrooms". lol. My room is set up for my needs. If my body clock is turned so that I am awake until dawn and sleep until noon then I can watch TV or putter on my laptop without bothering my hubby's need to get his sleep and get up for work. If he tosses about all night he won't keep me up either. We like different temperatures for sleep. I enjoy having my cats sleep with me and he keeps his room cat free. My CPAP machine doesn't cause Don any problems. Don used to be a smoker and I am allergic to it. But if we want to cuddle.. then cuddle happens.

Tonight I am up late. I had a busy, active day and my body is still wound up and so is my mind. I am reclined on my bed with my laptop on a bed tray, the TV on, with cats beside me. If I tried to sleep right now I would notice all the achy places on my body that I can ignore while I am paying attention to other things. The aches and pains will be uncomfortable enough to keep me from relaxing enough to doze off.

I will not be surprised if I am up until dawn. The short night of June will make for an early dawn. One of the most annoying parts of living with M.E. is the delayed fatigue problem. I will pay for several days for the energy I used in the past 12 hrs. But I did have an enjoyable day so I have no regrets. Regrets just make for sleepless nights.

When I am tired I tend to ramble, and I am tired. I wish that tired equated to sleepy for me, but it doesn't. For many of my friends with Fibro, M.E., PPS, or MS, the problem is a shared one. We don't need caffeine or any other stimulant to keep us feeling like our eyes are crazy glued open. Then we get other times when all we can do is sleep.

Another year has come and gone.. and my hubby and I beat the odds for another year.