Marching Onward, Part I

 So, here we are. Welcome to March, everyone. With that comes, of course, our first threat of severe weather for the year.

Yes, that's right, today we're set up for any and all kinds of severe weather -- anything from severe thunderstorms and giant hail to straight-line winds and possible tornadoes this evening from about 5pm to 9pm -- you know, the worst time for that to happen because it's dark outside.

Sigh.

My weather anxiety has been well-documented here over the years. I've not exactly been quiet about it. I was hoping that we wouldn't start getting these weather threats until later into the spring and early summer months, i.e. once we had gone to visit my parents in NC and had returned, but it doesn't look like that's in the cards this time around. After a decidedly very mild winter with only two storms of truly measurable, accumulating snow and ice, now we're beginning meteorological spring and tornado season in the northern plains, and I...I am just so tired of it. 

There is always, of course, the chance that the forecast will amount to nothing -- the storms may form south or east of us and we get nothing but a bit of rain and wind -- this does, on occasion, happen, and when it does I am relieved. However, even when it does, the anxiety leading up to whatever does or doesn't happen is still there and still very taxing on my body and stress levels. When it happens on a weekend (like it is this time around), it's worse, as I feel that it sucks my weekend away from me -- until the threat is over, dealing with it and trying to compartmentalize my fear and anxieties about it takes all of my time and energy, leaving me drained. It's similar to how people say autistics -- if they have an appointment or something later in the day -- are useless the entire day leading up to it because they're hyperfixated on it. 

Well, that's me, except replace the appointment with storm predictions. And my dustings of autism are well-documented here on this website.

Time is at a premium right now on weekends anyhow; we only have a short few weeks before we'll touch down in North Carolina to visit my parents, and in that time we still have a lot to do around the house and to prepare. Daisy and I were supposed to spend the day today cleaning out the back yard and back porch area, but with the pre-storms we had last night (yes, because spring), the backyard is now a rain-drenched mudhole. Daisy's father's birthday was yesterday, too, and we're planning to stop over there today to visit for a bit and give him his presents. By the time we return home, we'll be entering the severe weather threat time window for the day. 

I am tired.

 A week from today, Daisy and I have appointments with our new doctor -- a new doctor we had to select in a new network because, of course, insurance coverage and changes from our new jobs and new benefit policies. I've stayed up to date on my medications through somewhat nefarious means -- i.e. I got an e-prescription from an online prescription supplier and ordered all of my meds generically and in bulk, so I'm set for nearly the next year -- but it will be nice to get my prescriptions officially renewed by a doctor and sent over to Amazon Pharmacy where I can get my insurance to cover them and keep them rolling in on a schedule. It will also be nice to get my labs done, to check where I am when it comes to my A1C, and to see what my options are for other diabetes meds -- I was on Trulicity, as you know, up until late last year when my refills ran out. It wrecked my stomach and guts, and I'd really like to see what other alternatives there are. Wegovy comes in a once-a-day pill now, after all. Like, let's get on that horse if possible, and see if my insurance covers it. 

I would also like to see if I can get a prescription for Chantix -- the stop-smoking medication -- so I can see if I can finally get off vaping. Mind you, I love to vape, but it is ungodly expensive now and nowhere near as easy or cheap to obtain supplies as it was 4-5 years ago. And it's just another habit, another addiction, that I'd really like to be free of if possible. A quick glance at Amazon Pharmacy tells me it's usually fully covered under most insurances, too. So, there's that. To be fair, Daisy has wanted me to get off the vapes for years. 

But yeah, prep for the NC trip continues. This weekend -- as long as the house is still here after the predicted severe weather tonight -- I need to do a reassessment of what's needed and what's not for the trip. I packed for it a month ago and since then the suitcase has just been sitting in my office upstairs untouched. I need to go through it based on weather forecasts for the area and re-parse/re-examine everything I've packed to pare it all down as much as possible. It is usually very likely that I'll bring home a bunch of new things from Gabe's as well as as many bags of Utz chips I can stuff into our luggage. I'll also need to, basically, figure out a way to get all of the comics to my Dad without making my suitcase overweight for the trip. All of this is, predictably, harder than you'd think.

Yes -- it's not even a full week there. Still. Still. 

I mentioned last month, when I began prepping for the trip, that when we had the wiggle room of a few weeks before it, I planned to go to Amazon and pre-ship some stuff down there to avoid the need to a) take it with us in our luggage, or b) to purchase it while we were there. I originally had a giant list of about $150 worth of stuff, but I later looked it over and was like this is ludicrous, Brandon and pared it down quite a bit.

Well, I shipped the stuff last week. It included some vegan protein cookies, a case of energy drinks, some almonds, K-cups of coffee, and some chicken jerky treats for the dogs. All of it has since arrived. I don't plan to bring any of it back with me -- the energy drinks I will drink the vast majority of while I'm there, the coffee and cookies are as much for my parents as they are for me/us (and likely Daisy will partake of neither), the almonds are basically a treat for all of us, and the dog treats are -- of course -- for the dogs.

We're down there at a weird time; there are no holidays surrounding our trip, my parents' birthdays aren't for another five months after the trip, and none of the tourist crowds are in town until after Memorial Day. It should all be very peaceful, and we have zero plans whatsoever while we're there. We have nowhere we have to go, nobody we have to see, and nothing to interrupt just straight-up relaxation and downtime. We'd like to take them out to dinner once or twice, and I would like to find a comic shop or music shop to take my Dad to (similar to how we take my mother to Gabe's), but we have nothing concrete on the docket. I would really like to just lounge on the couch or on the porch and feel my responsibilities melt away for a few days. It's really all I want to do. I don't even know if the farmer's market is open down there yet. My primary goal is good food and some relaxation. I don't care about anything else, really -- I've got a ton of things to read on my Kindle and no major distractions. 

I also get the sense that Daisy really needs the vacation too. She's getting bogged down by life and responsibilities and work just like I am -- and, of course, right when the weather starts getting nice, we start getting severe storm and tornado forecasts, because Nebraska.