New Year's Resolutions Made Easy by Gail Roughton

Another year has come and gone, and it’s that time again.  You know, the time when everyone sets themselves up with impossible goals and unattainable dreams.  “This year I’m going to lose enough weight to get into a size two.”  “This year I’m going to eat only organic.”  “This year I’m going to write the Great American Novel.” 

People! Enough already. We don’t have enough stress in our lives already? Why set yourself up for disappointment?  Instead, set yourself some goals you know you’ll have no trouble reaching.  Take me, for instance. Here’s my list:

After 41 years in a law office as a legal secretary/paralegal/general troubleshooter, I’m going to retire.  I’m retiring in March 15, 2016 and I’ve been on countdown for two years.  Especially this last year, so much so that when folks around the office ask me how much longer, I immediately respond “Six months, two weeks, four days and 3.5 hours”.  Depending on the time of day, of course.  I think they’ve kept asking just to see if I’m keeping an actual mental calendar in my head.  Uh—yeah.   I’m giving myself a bit of leeway on the actual date.  Hopefully March 15 and March 30 at the latest.  So that’s a resolution I’ll have no trouble keeping. 

I’m going to eat what I please, when I please, and not worry about my size or weight.  And since that’s pretty much what I’ve done all my life (okay, so I’m blessed with good genetics and apparently a high metabolism  and I’ve never had much of a weight problem), that’s another resolution I won’t have any trouble keeping.  

I’m not going to take a trip around the world.  In the first place, I can’t afford it, and in the second—I don’t like to travel.  So there’s another resolution out of the way.

I’m going to finish my current work in progress, Book 2 in the Southern Justice series, which has been a long-term off and on process these last two years.  I’ve got a big incentive there.  My publisher’s going to kill me if I don’t.

  

I’m going to spend a lot of time with my family in general and my grandchildren in particular. Not difficult, since my house is already Granddaddy Day Care Central.  With my husband already retired, neither of our grandchildren have ever seen the inside of a Day Care Center, and with their parents’ somewhat unorthodox work schedule, they’re at our house pretty much every week day from roughly noon or earlier up to eight or nine p.m.  So I already spend a lot of time with my grandchildren.  And I definitely enjoy them.  But as a bonus beginning in March, I’ll be able to enjoy them a lot more since I won’t be braindead and exhausted from a day at the office.  I don’t know about you, but personally, I’m of the opinion God gives us grandchildren because we didn’t have enough sense when we were young parents to know what was important in raising children and what wasn’t.  We thought we knew, but we didn’t.  Or maybe you did, I’m not passing judgment here.  But I didn’t.  For example:  I didn’t realize how unimportant it was that the dishes were done and put up immediately after supper or the kitchen floor swept.  What I now realize is of vital importance is sitting on the floor and working puzzles with three year olds and listening to nine year olds tell you about their day at school.  Yes, of course  I did that with my own kids.  But did I give those wonderful interactions the full attention they deserved?  Many times, sadly no.   So grandchildren are our second chance to get it right.  

Now.  See how easy it is to set manageable goals that won’t set you up for failure? And if you’re really pressed for time, here’s a short version that encompasses everything calculated to make for supreme happiness.  It’s not original and in fact, it’s rather “out of this world” in origin.  But it pretty much covers everything.  Resolve to make every attempt to “Live long and prosper.”  

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The Death of King Charles II by Katherine Pym

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 Last time, I mentioned King Charles II's death and how nasty it was. Happy New Year to you with this macabre tidbit. May 2016 treat you better than 1685 bestowed upon the poor king.

King Charles II, Older but Healthier

First, a little about him…

After his father was beheaded, King Charles II went into exile where he learned to keep his own counsel. He loved sex. Prompted by others, his revenge extended to only a few of the regicides, but he took no joy in it.

Charles took a long time to come to a state decision. He’d put it off with a wave of his hand, and play with one of his women. He loved spaniels, and several romped in his private chambers, soiling the floors so that no one could walk across the room in a straight line.

Even though he reigned in a Protestant country, while on the run in 1651 after his defeat at the Battle of Worcester, Charles was protected at their peril by Roman Catholics. For a few hours, Charles hid in a priest hole, very snug and claustrophobic, while Parliament men searched for him. By the end of his trek through England and into exile, Charles had gained a high regard for Catholics and Catholicism.

But I digress.

While Charles reigned, he did not confide in many. He was considered an enigma by both his contemporaries and those who study him. He had a kind heart. His nature made people comfortable. They confided in him, wanted to be near him. But when Charles wanted to be alone, or was tired of the subject, he’d pull out his watch. Those who knew of this would quickly state their business, for soon their king would walk away.

Charles loved reading (not political or religious). He brought great strides to the theatre sector, and he enjoyed science. In 1660, he approved a charter for The Royal Society. The group of great minds, Isaac Newton for one, met at Gresham College in London City. Experiments took place there, including draining the veins of a dog into the veins of another dog. The results amazed those curious people.

So, we come to his death…

Physician's Tool

‘He fell sick of a tertian fever’, but the official cause of death was: Uremia (per dictionary.com—“a condition resulting from the retention in the blood of constituents normally excreted in the urine.”), chronic nephritis and syphilis.

On the evening of February 1, 1685, Charles went to bed with a sore foot. By early morning, he was very ill with fever. His physician (Sir Edmund King) tended to his foot while a barber shaved his head. Suddenly, the king suffered apoplexy. His physician immediately withdrew sixteen ounces of blood.

Sir Edmund took a big risk, and could have been charged with treason. The protocol was to get permission from the Privy Council prior to a bloodletting the monarch.

For several days, Charles was tormented by his physicians. As a private man this must have been difficult. Surrounded by more physicians than could gain his bed, they attempted to remove the ‘toxic humours’ that penetrated his body.

17th c - Hooke's Microscope

He was bled and purged. Cantharides plasters were stuck to his bald pate, which caused blistering. They attached plasters of spurge to his feet, then red-hot irons to his skin. Besides the large number of physicians crowding his bed, His Royal Highness’ bedchamber was filled to the walls with spectators (family members and state officials).

They gave the poor king “enemas of rock salt and syrup of buckthorn, and ‘orange infusion of metals in white wine’. The king was treated with a horrific cabinet of potions: white hellebore root; Peruvian bark; white vitriol of peony water; distillation of cowslip flowers; sal ammoniac; julep of black cherry water (an antispasmodic); bezoar stone from the stomach of a goat. He was forced to drink boiled spirits from a human skull.”

After days of this, he apologized for taking so long to die, then added, “I have suffered much more than you can imagine.”

Finally, on February 6, 1685 “the exhausted king, his body raw and aching with the burns and inflammation caused by his treatment, was given heart tonics, to no avail. He lapsed into a coma and died at noon on February 7.”

His death is considered by historians as “iatrogenic regicide”.

~ * ~ * ~

I give thanks to:

Royal Poxes & Potions, The Lives of Court Physicians, Surgeons & Apothecaries, by Raymond Lamont-Brown.

Wiki-commons public domain