The oddness of mood swings:

January 28th, 2008

To tell it true, yesterday was pretty awful as Sundays go, with my mood swings hitting their nadir in the early afternoon. Ann is stranded in Georgia, and the pattern of our life is so distorted by the separation. My employers don’t give a damn about my situation, despite the fact that they have a post opening up in Savannah, they are craven about avoiding an accomodation to permit me to move down there. It comes down to money. Raleigh is profitable, Savannah won’t be for months to come, and they don’t want to upset the apple cart that’s selling more apples.

Anyway, it was the kind of day where I would just work at my little projects, doing laundry, whatever, and pause to get teary-eyed at it all. The simplest things would set me off. The cat would stub her toe, and I’d weep from sympathy. The cat was sure I was losing my mind.

I got Ann online or on the phone, and sneezed my mood all over her. It’s astonishing, but she caught it, and came down with it today, feeling very sad and lonely in the afternoon. And wouldn’t you know it: the bipolar thing had worked its magic on me, and I had a very light-hearted day, all in all. I felt good about work, and didn’t feel the hours. I was up all day!

Good thing, because Ann needed a mood massage as the sun was going down. My first approach was NOT working, in that a sad person doesn’t want a cheery spouse being cheery on the phone with them.

Luckily, a DIFFERENT cheery person called her; a pal from our old life up in Boone, and it made all the difference. I’m so grateful for Lynne Dobson ringing Ann up tonight, because it cured her blues, as I learned later on. Thank you, Lynne!

Anyway, if there’s anything to reflect on when it comes to blue moods, I was telling Ann that they make our elated times lighter, fluffier, and more joyous by comparison. I told her I’d rather have highs and lows than be utterly even-tempered and never know joy.

Think about it.