anger fades to sadness

I'm sure people are tired of reading about my sorrows but this is my place to let it out. 
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I haven't been able to make it to church for 6 weeks.  Two of those were general meetings that didn't include Sunday school.  So, I have missed teaching my class for 4 weeks. 
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I have taught for about 15 years.  I think I have missed about 2 or 3 sundays a year, even through all of the years I have had ME/CFS.
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My husband came home from church today and said that someone had been called to teach sunday school and he was in my classroom teaching.  I don't know if he is replacing me or if he was just helping out today and is assigned a different age group.
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That's the point.  I don't know what is going on.  At first I was upset that nobody called me, and now I am just sad.  My heart hurts.
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I was thinking about talking to our Church's leader and telling him that I needed to be released from teaching, but I hadn't said anything yet.  I keep thinking this flare will pass and I will be able to function again.  So strange that nobody has said anything to me.  Whatever the situation, inside of my sadness, I think someone should have let me know.
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Over the years I've had kids and parents tell me they appreciate what I've done for them or their kids.  It's nice to feel like maybe I've made a difference.  I've mostly taught 16 to 18 year olds, a few years I taught adult classes.
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I have been going through the ole "one more thing this illness is taking from me"- feeling.  But, I try to move through it.
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People just don't understand what this illness does.  What it's like.  Especially in a Church that is filled with people trying to be of service and doing good and rushing around. 
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I had borrowed a friend's quilt frame for some projects I was working on.  She told me I could use it for as long as I needed it because it was just sitting in her basement and had been for years.  Someone from the church just came to pick it up to work on a quilting project.  I have felt so sick these past several weeks that I hadn't got around to working on my last quilt.  Now I don't have a frame.  Timing.  My symptoms flare and life goes on without me.
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I feel like I don't have any friends (except my virtual friends here at DS - and I'm not sure they remember who I am. hahahahaha.  Sorry, just some brain fog humor).  I realized that my friends are at my church and if I'm not at my church I don't see my friends.  There are a few that have e-mailed me here and there, now and then over the years, and I thought we were friends, but I haven't heard from them (in a friendship way) in months.  I just realized how long it has been.  Wow.  That's not so cool.
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My siblings are spread out all over the country and since my mom died 8 years ago we haven't gotten together much.  This illness is a very lonely thing.
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It just feels strange to be forgotten.  I'm not one for fanfare and I don't like people making a big deal over things, especially me.  I just thought someone would call me about the sunday school thing. First, I lose my sunday school class (maybe - whether they replaced me or not  I need to ask for a release because the truth of the matter is that I can't teach right now) and then the quilting frame.  I know this sounds foolish, but it feels like everything is being taken from me.  It isn't.  It just feels that way right now.
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This is when the little things become big things because I don't feel well enough to replace what I've lost with something else.  This illness doesn't often allow for replacements.  It's not like I can run out and make new friends, find somebody to teach when I feel like it, or build myself a quilting frame.
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Like I said, it's just timing and how things fall into, or out, of place sometimes.  I feel a bit lost.  Mostly just sad.  It will pass.  I'll shed a few tears and life will go on. 
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carry on
 
 

Replies

deleted_user
deleted_user

Katy,

Thanks for your honesty and the brain fog joke was a good one (although it took me a second). Haha.

My religious views have changed so much that I have almost stopping going to church, although I still want to be like Jesus (in some ways, I really don\'t know how well I know him now) . I really now go just for the people and music. My closer friends know about my health, but it\'s almost like they don\'t want to be around a sick person or someone who can\'t get out and do something (although there are a few exceptions).

From what I\'ve gathered from our digital conversations, if you were teaching Sunday School in my town, I would probably be there. I would be interested to hear what you would have taught in Sunday School. Seriously. So if you feel like posting a lesson, please do and I\'ll respond. No pressure though.

Brent