#Rise_and_Shine Welcome to Tuesday, July 4, 2023
Yesterday, early morning swim at Conimicut Point Park, in Warwick, RI; lunch at @IggysRI, at Oakland Beach; then, join friends back at Conimicut Point Park for food and fireworks. A perfect RI day! #Happy4thofJuly #RhodeIsland #ConimicutPointPark #WarwickRI
Early (12:30 AM) Monday, June 5, 2023, I experienced a feeling in my chest that migrated down my left arm and back, and radiated from front to back and front, again. Medical professionals would call it “pain”. I describe it as a deep, specific ache. Within short minutes I knew something was very wrong and not me. “We’re going to the emergency room.” I told my husband, Al.
Longer story short – I was having a heart attack. Because of the location of the blockage, no stint or ballon. I’m being treated with medication for now. After the procedure, my cardiologist said: “You are no longer a smoker.” I replied: “That’s right.” Done and done.
As a life long swimmer I took baby steps to get back into Narragansett Bay (RI), where I had just swum the Friday before for the third time this season. Two days ago I was back in that water – slowly, attentively. It was wonderful.
Follow-up appointments with PCP and cardiologist are on the calendar. I was very fortunate. I’m feeling blessed and filled with gratitude. June 5, 2023, was not my day to die.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
NB: Because of this life-changing health event, I’ve begun researching women and heart attacks. There’s alot of information available. It’s my intention to write atleast three (3) pieces focusing on different aspects of health care, heart attacks, and women. More needs to be known. More needs to be shared. More needs to be talked about to elevate the knowledge and understanding. Women and men don’t, necessarily, experience heart attacks the same. What’s your heart attack story women? I’ve just, briefly, told you mine. Thanks, in advance.
“I’m grateful and humbled for this unasked #love from those known and unknown, often dropping me to my knees.”
The day the universe brought us into our life, together,
was some kind of miracle, saving us
unexpected, but not (perhaps) unbidden
When we meet someone for the first time
we’re strangers to each other
Strangers no more, forever.
Jessan Dunn Otis (c) 2023
Stepping into this morning’s light, it’s the same as yesterday’s but not. My heart breaks open, knowing that, someday, I’ll have to go away. Tears of sorrow. Tears of joy. Who will come and comfort me? Who will come and comfort you after I go?
One bird sings its morning call,
waiting for a reply
The sun sneaks up, silent in the East, again
There were no shadows
I sit here #writing this to you.
@JessanDunnOtis (c) 2023 #Writer #poem #poetry #poet #RhodeIsland
I just wrote and posted this poem on Twitter.
Since May 21, 1996, I’ve marketed myself as an independent, freelance writer/editor, collaborating with some amazing clients. To them, as always and again, many thanks for trusting me.
It’s true, from time to time, I did my own work. Not enough, however.
After twenty-seven (27) years it’s time to reconfigure.
Going forward I’ll be focusing more on my work that has laid dormant or ignored too long.
This is my path. Not to walk it is unconscionable.
#DanceOn…
This place called home has shifted over the decades. Growing up the first several years, home was a Cape Cod-type bungalow, built just after WWII, in a suburb of New York City – commuting distance. The large tract of land behind our home was an old orchard farm. The barn still stood, slowly falling into disrepair. But, the apple trees! Oh, those acres of Granny Smith apple trees were magnificent!
Those trees had, obviously, been tended, pruned, and nurtured. The branches were smooth, easy to climb. The apples were tart/sweet, brilliant, sap green, and always in abundance. I used to climb those trees as the Granny Smiths ripened, perfuming the air with their plump greenness. The pruning created upward, smaller branches where some of the best fruit was.
Sitting among the apples, dangling my legs over smooth branches, crunching baby teeth into sun-warmed flesh that puckered my lips – was there anything better than that those days?
Social Media Fanfare Winner Shares Her Telework Tips
Social media has changed the way we interact with friends, family, and yes, even coworkers. As part of Telework Week 2012, Telework Exchange launched a Social Media Fanfare contest, to find the ultimate telework fan.
We sorted through hundreds of tweets, likes, posts, and tips on Facebook, Twitter, and Foursquare to pick the top fan who actively posted on Telework Week’s social media platforms. Read more below about her telework experiences as well as some of her favorite things about teleworking. Congratulations to our Telework Week 2012 Ultimate Fan.
Jessan Dunn Otis
Teleworking isn’t anything new to our Telework Week Ultimate Fan, Jessan Dunn Otis. A teleworker since May 1996, Jessan finds she can accomplish more when working from home. Not only is she more productive, but telework allows her to spend more time with her family and friends while still being able to manage her work schedule.
An independent freelance writer, editor, consultant, and mentor who works in the Providence, Rhode Island area, Jessan says telework helps her be more accessible to her local, national and international clients since she can spend more time working, and less time commuting. “[I have] a very short commute (approximately 12-14 steps),” she says. Technology tools such as her laptop computer, phone, and voice-over-Internet Protocol services help her stay connected.
Jessan knows work/life balance is key when teleworking. She takes breaks from her work schedule to go for a walk, sit in the sun, run errands, and enjoy lunch every day with her husband. “Celebrating 2nd day of #TeleworkWeek by going 4 a well-earned walk. Enough ‘time on task’ 4 now. Join me? #PVD #RI pic.twitter.com/w6rgzYtf,” she tweeted during Telework Week.
But for this full-time teleworker, Telework Week is not a once-in-a-while thing. “Alas (for some), #TeleworkWeek comes to an end today. For those of us who’ve been teleworking a long time … #DanceOn…! Cheers!” she tweeted.
Jessan can be contacted at:
website|blog http://JessanDunnOtis-Writer.com
LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/jesssandunnotis
Twitter: @JessanDunnOtis
P.S. Ten years later Jessan’s still teleworking, now referred to as remote working. This piece was slightly edited in October, 2022.
As when you touch yourself for the first
time inside and out
Or when you have left without saying goodbye
for the last time and you do not know it yet
Like walking into a dark room where everything
is known and you are excited that
something alive and beautiful will brush
your face
Or I am the long tree whose branches
move gently wild from the wind
and leave marks on your face
that you will remember when you dream
and you will go back to stare for days
until your eyes ache
Like arms that nobody who has ever loved you
has had before or has held you more strong
than you will ever be held again
And you will weep because you know that
that is true.
(c) Jessan Dunn (DeCredico) Otis – 1985/1987 – CQ, California State Poetry Quarterly, Spring-Summer 1987, Volume 14, Number 1, p.11.
Jessan Dunn Otis|Writer 