Yay! I love this and can't wait to see how it makes you feel! I'm going a slightly different route and trying to reclaim that spark through my environment and mental excitement. Maybe we can get together for coffee and chat about it sometime!!
I'm totally on this wavelength! I've gone back to school, on a very broad program, read a hundred books last year, and am a serial binge hobbyist. I'm loving the world of words at the moment but I'm nowhere near figuring out how it all works together. I gave myself a creative nudge by starting a bookish insta - similar to you, not for the followers but for the outlet to see if it feeds or distracts. Sending you virtual high-fives!
We have had an absolutely crazy three weeks here, and I’m still playing catch up. Work emergencies, migraines for me, that winter blizzard storm that started up here in western Canada, getting the shopping done between said work emergencies, while trying to take care of mundane things like drs visits, cooking, baking, laundry, playing with our Border Heeler (Border Collie Blue Cattle fog mix), and then...
Our beloved neighbor of 14 years was found deceased in her home. My spouse found out the hard way when walking to the neighborhood compost bin after dark, seeing the EMS with no lights on, the clinks and clanging of bringing in equipment and the gurney. He walked back to get me as quickly as one can on ice and snow, and I ran outside in my pjs and hair rollers. I knew that due to her heart condition this moment would happen sooner than later, but of course one is never totally prepared. We were the only friends who witnessed her last journey to the Coroners vehicle. We heard the grunts and groans, metal hitting ice as they struggled to bring down the gurney down the frozen hillside.
I began silently reciting prayers for her transition, her family and the rest of her friends. My spouse, completely unaccustomed to being so close to the medical customs for the recently deceased was shell shocked. I as a a former ER nurse was not.
He talked later about the metal of the gurney clanging as they brought it into the house, and I replied without thinking that a gurney for the hospital sounds different than the gurney for the coroner, “I really didn’t need to know that”. We talked for over an hour about what I believed our neighbors son would do with funeral arrangements, her belongings, her dog. I texted our sons who knew her, particularly our youngest who was shocked and saddened. Many people in their late twenties unless they are medical staff don’t realize how ill older people can be, and still look normal.
Unfortunately I was right. The obituary was the cheapest possible, not even naming her common law husband of 25 years who predeceased her. None of her accomplishments, nothing about her as a person besides the usual loving mother and grandmother. Both sets of children of this couple hated each other, hated these parents together for various reasons, so to keep peace, they never formally married. I made sure she applied for her common law spouse rights under the law. When she fell, I took her to ER, and made sure she was following drs instructions. 14 years is a long time to live among the same group of people.
There was no funeral, no notice to our neighborhood, no donation of her items to the gardening club, no nothing. By Monday her apartment was completely cleaned out as if she’d never been there. No idea where her dog went, but I’m guessing animal control. I was angry at her son for his selfish behaviour, for his lack of care to what his mother had wished, and just how everything was handled.
In my head, I heard his mothers voice, “Typical”.
Judy knew he’d do this. He didn’t give a rats behind about her except to denigrate the people she lived, laughed and shared life with. His callousness was known to all of us, but of course one hopes better in the taking care of the last moments of a parents life.
Zings and zaps of joy: getting there. I’m going to bake today, finishing my cleaning, prep for the weekend, and do some self care. Perhaps I will practice my mandolin. We are moving forward on our plans to move out of the neighborhood, which we had dreaded telling Judy.
We miss you Judy. Hope there’s a card game, with ciggies and booze, and you’ve got a winning hand.
“Happy zaps”—I love that term! Thanks for taking us along on your experimental journey.
Thanks for being here to listen to me ramble! ;)
Yay! I love this and can't wait to see how it makes you feel! I'm going a slightly different route and trying to reclaim that spark through my environment and mental excitement. Maybe we can get together for coffee and chat about it sometime!!
Ooh, I'm glad you're trying some experiments too! And yes, we definitely should now that we're living in the same general area. :)
I'm totally on this wavelength! I've gone back to school, on a very broad program, read a hundred books last year, and am a serial binge hobbyist. I'm loving the world of words at the moment but I'm nowhere near figuring out how it all works together. I gave myself a creative nudge by starting a bookish insta - similar to you, not for the followers but for the outlet to see if it feeds or distracts. Sending you virtual high-fives!
We have had an absolutely crazy three weeks here, and I’m still playing catch up. Work emergencies, migraines for me, that winter blizzard storm that started up here in western Canada, getting the shopping done between said work emergencies, while trying to take care of mundane things like drs visits, cooking, baking, laundry, playing with our Border Heeler (Border Collie Blue Cattle fog mix), and then...
Our beloved neighbor of 14 years was found deceased in her home. My spouse found out the hard way when walking to the neighborhood compost bin after dark, seeing the EMS with no lights on, the clinks and clanging of bringing in equipment and the gurney. He walked back to get me as quickly as one can on ice and snow, and I ran outside in my pjs and hair rollers. I knew that due to her heart condition this moment would happen sooner than later, but of course one is never totally prepared. We were the only friends who witnessed her last journey to the Coroners vehicle. We heard the grunts and groans, metal hitting ice as they struggled to bring down the gurney down the frozen hillside.
I began silently reciting prayers for her transition, her family and the rest of her friends. My spouse, completely unaccustomed to being so close to the medical customs for the recently deceased was shell shocked. I as a a former ER nurse was not.
He talked later about the metal of the gurney clanging as they brought it into the house, and I replied without thinking that a gurney for the hospital sounds different than the gurney for the coroner, “I really didn’t need to know that”. We talked for over an hour about what I believed our neighbors son would do with funeral arrangements, her belongings, her dog. I texted our sons who knew her, particularly our youngest who was shocked and saddened. Many people in their late twenties unless they are medical staff don’t realize how ill older people can be, and still look normal.
Unfortunately I was right. The obituary was the cheapest possible, not even naming her common law husband of 25 years who predeceased her. None of her accomplishments, nothing about her as a person besides the usual loving mother and grandmother. Both sets of children of this couple hated each other, hated these parents together for various reasons, so to keep peace, they never formally married. I made sure she applied for her common law spouse rights under the law. When she fell, I took her to ER, and made sure she was following drs instructions. 14 years is a long time to live among the same group of people.
There was no funeral, no notice to our neighborhood, no donation of her items to the gardening club, no nothing. By Monday her apartment was completely cleaned out as if she’d never been there. No idea where her dog went, but I’m guessing animal control. I was angry at her son for his selfish behaviour, for his lack of care to what his mother had wished, and just how everything was handled.
In my head, I heard his mothers voice, “Typical”.
Judy knew he’d do this. He didn’t give a rats behind about her except to denigrate the people she lived, laughed and shared life with. His callousness was known to all of us, but of course one hopes better in the taking care of the last moments of a parents life.
Zings and zaps of joy: getting there. I’m going to bake today, finishing my cleaning, prep for the weekend, and do some self care. Perhaps I will practice my mandolin. We are moving forward on our plans to move out of the neighborhood, which we had dreaded telling Judy.
We miss you Judy. Hope there’s a card game, with ciggies and booze, and you’ve got a winning hand.
Then