Tidbits - January 21, 2021
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- Category: Archives
- Published on Thursday, 21 January 2021 14:12
- Written by Ralph Shealy
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TIDBITS by RALPH SHEALY
WEIGHTED
After that 18 degree morning a few weeks ago, I put on Facebook how I couldn’t warm up that night, even though the heat was running.
I needed more quilts.
I posted on Facebook my childhood memories of spending the night with my grandmother, Eugenia Shealy. Mammy would warm up a towel on the heater in the den, then put it at my feet in the little bed I was sleeping, then she’d tuck me in with so many quilts, I couldn’t move.
There was no heat in the bedroom, but I was never cold,
I got a lot of comments on this, and several mentioned their weighted blanket mocked all those quilts from their childhood.
I had seen weighted blankets in the stores, but I had never thought of buying one. After reading the comments about the blankets and being that I hate being cold, I went on Amazon and ordered the cheapest one I could find. It weighed 15-lbs.
You don’t realized how heavy 15 lbs. is until you pick up the box the delivery man has left at your front door.
“This can’t be right,” I said as I tried to lift the box. “This must be 50 lbs.”
I managed to get the blanket out of the box and put in on my bed. It was mid-afternoon, but I had to try it out.
I have never worked to hard to get into bed in my life. The instructions said it would take three or four nights to get used to the blanket. Heck, I didn’t think I was strong enough to get out of bed after the first time. Tossing and turning took tremendous effort.
You know what? After the breaking in period, I was actually awakened by the alarm clock a couple of times. Normally, I’m awake at least an hour before the clock goes off.
Oh, I haven’t slept through the night. I haven’t done that since I was college age and could sleep through the night and lunch.
Still, when I wake up around 3 a.m., I’ll watch what is playing on the TV. The other night, however, I fell back asleep before I found out who was the bad guy on “Diagnosis Murder.”
I really like my weighted blanket, and it does feel like all those blankets at my grandmother’s house!
BELONGING TO US
Little Caylie Berry died last week at the age of one.
This community “adopted” this beautiful child as she began her battle against cancer at the age of only four months.
I like so many asked, “How does a four month old get cancer?”
Caylie, her parents and her sister, soon moved to St. Jude’s in Memphis where she began getting treatment. He mother, Kayla, kept us all up to date on Facebook.
Things looked promising at first, then Kayla made the sad announcement that the doctors said they could do no more. The family packed up and headed home.
When they drove down Main Street, a big crowd was there to welcome the family. A few weeks later, friends put on a fund raising walk and run for Caylie.
A little over a month after the event, she passed away, and the community joined her family in the heartbreak.
A man who “belonged” to the Town of Saluda citizens, Steve Rhinehart, also died last week.
As a member of the Sanitation Department, Steve worked very hard and followed the mail carrier theme, “neither rain, sleet or snow....”
He was always willing to help the citizens.
Our hearts go out to the families of Caylie and Steve.