Shirley Belk
Bio
Mother, Nana, Sister, Cousin, & Aunt who recently retired. RN (Nursing Instructor) who loves to write stories to heal herself and reflect on all the silver linings she has been blessed with
Stories (159/0)
Fibromyalgia
Ok, so I've got it. Not that I wanted it. But it explains a lot. And once a medical doctor diagnosed me with it almost two years ago, I could relax a little. At least I knew I wasn't going crazy. And I could stop drinking those Jack Daniels & Coke just to make the pain lessen and to help me sleep. (Anyone who knows me, knows I'm not a big drinker and anything carbonated flares up the old interstitial cystitis that I'm also blessed to have...so I couldn't win.) Interstitial cystitis (IC) is a relatively uncommon and enigmatic disorder characterized by pain in the bladder and pelvic region, typically accompanied by urinary urgency and frequency. Fibromyalgia is a more common disorder, with the prominent symptoms being diffuse musculoskeletal pain and fatigue,... IC patients display diffusely increased peripheral nociception, as is seen in fibromyalgia. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/9201654/
By Shirley Belk6 months ago in Longevity
Wrapped Up Again
Humans must transform themselves to progress. At times in the lifespan, we are in the cocoon, so comfortable and so hidden from the world around us. But then we get the urge to escape and we scratch and claw to get out of that womb. We want our wings and our beauty and our freedom, not giving thought to the safety we left, but we go flitting about, happily interacting with the new environment we have placed ourselves in.
By Shirley Belk6 months ago in Poets
- Top Story - December 2023
Frederic Fletcher Webb
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Early Life ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ His name was Frederic Fletcher Webb. You probably have never heard of his name before. I hadn't learned of him too long ago, either. But why would we? He wasn't found by name in any history books. He was found in the hidden pages of ancestry and of American history events. Mine to be precise. He was my 2 times great-grandfather, my grandmother's grandfather. And American history became very real to me as his story unfolded.
By Shirley Belk6 months ago in History
A Glimpse
As a child I loved going to the planetarium. I loved it from the beginning until the very end. I hated it to end. I loved taking a journey upwards and being surrounded only by imagination. A beautiful orb where this loud world ended in a dark room and a new one began. A silent awesome and endless floating where you could become one with the stars. And there were no walls, no boundaries, no need for gravity. Just still beauty. And peace. Nothing missing and nothing broken. Like the mystery of childhood with innocence eternally intact. Yet, you don't feel small or fearful. You just feel free.
By Shirley Belk7 months ago in Poets
Calling out Jezebel
"Oh, Jezebel, oh Jezebel, we call upon thee from the bottom of the River Styx to aid us into this spell we tell..." And there they were. The popular ones. The pretty ones. The "fake" ones. The ones that wore heels and only carried purses with a name brand. Not a hair out of place. With pouty lips colored red and fingernails manicured precisely... almost as sharp and pointy as their countenance, critical remarks, and haughtiness; the lot of them, all gathered together in one clump of unadulterated, manipulating, scheming.
By Shirley Belk7 months ago in Fiction
Pen Pal Chat
https://vocal.media/writers/write-me-a-letter-challenge My Dearest and Newest Pen Pal, Heather, I was so happy to hear from you and I want to learn so much about you. So far, you sound very interesting. And thank you for taking an interest in me, as well. I don't get out much since I've retired. I moved to a "new old place" three years ago. (I'll explain a bit later.) So, having a pen pal is so nice.
By Shirley Belk7 months ago in Humans