Just a 48-year-old mom of 2 in Northern California. My kids are Monkey Monkey(MM) and Drama Llama (DL). I am married to Monkey Hubby (MH). This year has been a real slog. MH's movie premiers have been the exception. Ohio trip was amazing. MM(21) had spring break and was able to join us for a few days. I don't remember the last time our flights went so smooth, etc. It was a very nice and peaceful 5 days during an otherwise not peaceful year. Then we had the west coast premier at the IMAX a few weeks after the Ohio premier. It went really well.
I took a staycation a few weeks ago. I did pretty much nothing for 7 days, which was a well needed rest. We did do one day trip to Sausalito, 90 miles from our home. I'd call it an elevated San Francisco. The store fronts were closed by 7pm and most the restaurants were closed by 8pm. But the view across the Bay was amazing (San Francisco & Angel Island). Before that, we had driven 3 miles west to the ocean side.
We hiked for two hours and enjoyed having the bluff to ourselves for an hour.
The kids are busy with travel plans and they both have summer jobs lined up. DL(19) is half way done with college! & MM(21) is just wrapping up year 4. Which is hard to believe, but he has one more year.
Edited to add: MM(21) did a long car camping road trip Memorial Day weekend. 🙄 You know, we gave him the older car (when the kids got a second car and no longer had to share) because it was mostly going to sit in his garage. & then he drove it 3,000 miles in one weekend. I don't know why this car is always the road trip car (with his friends). But probably because it is a little roomier.
I am dealing with a shoulder problem that is apparently a menopause thing? O.M.G. Just adding this to the crazy list of 'weird and annoying' health things in my 40s. The physical therapist told me that I had the most mild case she had ever seen. What!? She made it sound like this was an 80yo thing, because most people just completely give up moving their arm (too painful). But then she tells me it's a 'common 50yo woman' thing. It's been 9 months. I mostly ignored the first 7 months (sounds like there is nothing I could have done, specifically given my high tolerance for pain & low tolerance for meds). But then I started losing range of motion, and finally went in to the doctor. I have corrected pretty much everything that had been bothering me, with just one week of PT. The last 5%-10% range of motion will come back when my shoulder is good and ready. It could be another year or two. At this point, it's more just mildly annoying, and am definitely over the hump.
In other news, a distribution deal has been signed for MH's movie. It's plausible that some money will come in from this. Wouldn't hold my breath, but it is possible. No idea when it will actually hit the streaming platforms, but I will share when it does.
June 30th, 2025 at 02:10 pm 1751289007
June 30th, 2025 at 08:15 pm 1751310951
June 30th, 2025 at 08:34 pm 1751312079
June 30th, 2025 at 08:51 pm 1751313098
July 1st, 2025 at 03:19 am 1751336360
I had similar weird new body issues in my late 40s too despite being healthy until then. They eventually went away. I would recommend that any woman between 45 & 55 who develops new strange issues consider that it's hormonal and hold off on doing anything drastic like surgery. (exactly as you are doing) I met a woman a little older than me who had shoulder surgery when she had the joint/nerve pain and she said that her shoulder will never be normal again. I'm glad I waited it out even as my doctor said that it couldn't be related to hormones. It did take 1-2 years though.
July 1st, 2025 at 12:21 pm 1751368875
Sorry about your shoulder issue. Hopefully the PT will help.