Exploring the Jungle - a Column by Mary Lott

Way back in 1974, my now husband, Mike, asked me a question as we waited for the beginning of our next class at Auburn University in Alabama. He started off by telling me of his plans for the upcoming weekend. We were both music majors, and after about five minutes…

“Mom, how did you know that?” My youngest child was astonished that I knew of a particular naughtiness they had done. My two older children groaned. They knew my stock answer was coming. They had gone through this phase earlier and had ceased asking me that type of question. “Easy,”…

It was a rather inauspicious start to a visit. I arrived after midnight one night and my daughter Gail didn’t allow the kids to wake me up the next morning. So, after gaining consciousness and orienting myself to my surroundings, I moved out of the basement bedroom and went upstairs…

I gave up with a sigh. Yet again, I’d spent over half an hour lying in bed, hoping to beckon Hypnos, the Greek god of sleep. His absence was exasperating. Once again, I started my get-to-sleep method. I can’t completely blame my insomnia spells on cold agglutinin disease (CAD).

“Are you OK?” The young woman’s anxious query affirmed to me that I was’t imagining things. I’d just stood up from the wheelchair and entered the women’s bathroom at the airport. “Yes, I’m fine.” “I was concerned. Your attendant wasn’t …” She paused as she searched for a good description.

Mile after weary mile, the oxen plodded ever westward. “When would we get to the end?” I wondered. My husband and I had started our journey several weeks earlier. At least I was riding on the wagon. Many in the wagon train were walking. I couldn’t do that. These were my…

The all-too-familiar tickle in the back of my throat warned me: I was getting a cold. I would rather have malaria than a cold. I hate everything about it, from the achy, run-down feeling, to the stuffy, I-can’t-breathe clogged nose. But the constant sting in the back of my throat…

Boom! Splash! The night sky exploded with a blossom of color showering down overhead. I am remembering a past fireworks display. Talking ceased as we all gazed upward. Then, almost in unison, the crowd said, “Ah!” followed by, “Oh,” as the next explosion shimmered downward. For the next 20 minutes,…

I slumped into the wheelchair waiting for me outside the airplane door. It had been a long 36-hour trip. I was able to catnap in my economy seats, but my exhausted body was looking forward to getting home and becoming fully horizontal. Then my phone buzzed. The notice said my…

It was the best of flights, it was the worst of flights. Anytime a person flies around the world, their body is challenged. It was true 30 years ago when I first traveled to Papua, Indonesia, where I now live. It proved to be especially true on my most recent…