Musings
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In the afterlife…
Do you think there’s food? I mean, with no body, no hunger, no need for nutrition, there wouldn’t be a need for food, right? And yet good food is such a wonderful part of life as we know it. Hmmm. I was thinking about my mom, and how much it sucked that she had lost her appetite and her enjoyment of food after her surgery, because one of the things she was so looking forward to in coming to California is the wonderful produce. And when I brought it to her, she ate a little bit, but she didn’t enjoy it like she used to. She even gave some of…
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Mom’s obit
Joycelyn Ward April 23, 1942 – June 15, 2008 We mourn the loss of Lilith Joycelyn Ward. She leaves behind her daughter, Julie, her son, Richard, her brother, Forrest, her sister Lori, her mother, Virginia, her Aunt Florence, and her many nieces and nephews, and their children. And of course, she was Maya’s Granny. Joycelyn was born in Oakland, CA, and moved a great deal in her lifetime. She lived in California for much of her life, most recently in Sacramento and Citrus Heights, but also spent many years in Stockton and Berkeley. She lived in Juneau, Alaska from 1993 until February of this year. She devoted much of her…
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Happiness
Finding happiness in difficult times can be a challenge. I suspect that to be happy when the world is going to hell around you, you either have to be the type of person who is generally happy anyway, or insane. I hope I fall in the former category, and not the latter. Because yes, I am generally happy. Things are bad right now, with my mom not recovering as well as I wish she would, and all that that may imply; with Ted losing his job and the uncertainty of where that will leave us. With a winter and spring that pretty much kicked our asses. Despite it all, and…
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What Is Love?
[youtube]http://youtube.com/watch?v=v6nB71tqgB8[/youtube] Last night in yoga class, I was tied up in my own world and thoughts and pose, and then I looked over at Maya next to me, all twisty herself, and I thought, “child, no one will ever love you the way I do…”. And then, when my brain was supposed to be empty, or at least focusing on the pose, I drifted off into thinking about the different types of love. I mean, no one will ever love a child like their parents. No one. And perhaps mother’s love is different from a father’s love as well. And, no one will ever love a parent like their children. …
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Save the Trees!
Several years ago, a neighbor gave me a Christmas gift, which was a little glass vase, used to ‘force bulbs‘. It came with some rocks to hold the bulb, and a bulb for a pretty flower, whose name I know not. Anyway, I forced the bulb, enjoyed it, and put it in the ground after the flower had died off. But I still had the little vase and rocks. Perhaps a year after that, I was slicing an avocado for our salad, and it occurred to me that I could perhaps use the vase to grow a little avocado plant. So I popped it in there, added some water, and…
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Go Big Brown!
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoFquax2F-k[/youtube] This video is of Secretariat, who won the Belmont Stakes, and the Triple Crown, in 1973. Even if you’re not into horse racing, this is an amazing horse race to watch. Watch him make all of the other horses look like they’re standing still, as he goes on to win one of the most difficult flat races for 3 year olds in record time (still unbeaten), and make it look EASY. The Triple Crown is within reach of Big Brown, but just because he’s won the first two races does not mean he’ll win today’s Belmont. 11 horses have won the Kentucky Derby and Preakness, and then failed to…
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I’m ready to complain now…
(unenviable job picture found here) I must say, I am not enjoying 2008 thus far. Can it end now, rather than waiting until December 31st? Please? (BlackBeltMama noted on her blog that Spring is over in just a few weeks…so let’s just start with Summer for the turnaround, k?) Why the complaining, you may ask? Am I really that crabby about my stupid stove and dishwasher? No. This has been a hard year thus far on our family, and it doesn’t seem to be getting any better as of yet. Perhaps the Sickmas we spent in Portland was a portend of things to come. So. I’ll fill you in. First,…
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Friday Randomness…
Anybody else amazed by these photos, of an uncontacted tribe in the Amazon? I was pretty surprised to read that there are about 100 tribes of people who have never had any contact with the outside, modern world, and that about half of those tribes are in the Amazon. Really pretty interesting. Still processing last night’s season finale of LOST. Clearly I need to watch it again today. Stupid work. I will say that I shed a few tears, actual tears, at the Sun/Jin thing. Sob. It’s OK, he’s probably still alive. He knew that the ship was going to blow, so he probably jumped and got off in time.…
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1,000 Things About Me
OK, just kidding. But WordPress tells me that this is, in fact, my 1,000th post! Really, truly, 1,000! OK, not really truly, because there are a few in a holding pattern that I’ve started and not published. There are a few that seemed like a good idea, and then I ended up deleting them (like one I wrote last night about how I prefer to watch The Price is Right over American Idol). But this post has the distinction of being the 1,000th post that I’ve written, for better or for worse. So, how to celebrate? How to commemorate this, er, occasion? I’m not sure. I could tell you a…
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Baby, it’s hot outside.
According to weather.com, it’s 102 outside. According to the National Weather Service, it’s 96. It feels more like 96 to me than 102, but I suspect 102 gets more sympathy than 96, so I’ll go with the Weather Channel on this one. Hey, at least it’s a dry heat, right?
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13 Ways to Beat Stress
You will all be relieved to know that I’m doing much better lately. There is, of course, still worry, but I feel like I’m doing a bit better as far as the stress level goes. I had my first therapy session on Tuesday, and the therapist told me that she thinks I’m doing pretty well, and gave me a few tips to help me to cope. As a favor to any of my readers out there who might be stressed as well, I’ll make a Thursday 13 out of a combination of tips she had for me, and things I’m already doing, which she agreed would be helpful. Keep a…
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My Therapy
What if these last practically three months in hospitals and care facilities and confusion have taken too much of a toll on my mom? What if she’s too far gone down the road of depression, and no amount of encouragement, no words of love and support, no gifts or even medications, can bring her back to the point where she’s willing to fight the good fight, the fight that must be fought, and fought by her, to eat and move and get well again? What if she’s given up, without realizing that that’s what she’s done? And what if that struggle, that giving up by her mind and the not…
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Cadettes!
Maya has been a girl scout for several years now. She was first a Brownie, for one year I think, and then ‘bridged’ into a Jr. Girl Scout a few years ago. Never having been a girl scout myself, I was indifferent to her participation at first. Especially at the Brownie level, it seemed like a lot of crafts and kind of make-worky, and while I didn’t dislike it, I didn’t really see the benefit. Jr. Girl Scouts has been a whole ‘nother ball of wax, as they say. To watch these girls take charge of their meetings, their projects, and their awards, has been wonderful. They have worked really…
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Burma
That tiny country (not really tiny, not really) in the middle of Asia, flavored by India and Thailand and the middle east… a tiny country (not really tiny, not really) now named Myanmar, torn apart and wrecked by a horrid combination of God’s wrath and man’s indifference. Burma, a tiny country (not really tiny, not really) full of suffering and sorrow and pain Burma, that tiny country (not really tiny, not really) if I knew how to pray, I would pray for you.
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Apparently, I’m Stressed
Seems like these last few months are taking their toll on me, and my mom’s latest setback has thrown my stress into full gear. She had a horrid reaction to the Prozac (duh), in that it made her paranoid. She thought she had been kidnapped, and that people were trying to kill her. That wouldn’t be horridly stressful, since I’ve seen this before (far too recently, with the Paxil), and I know the answer is to change the meds. Except that gosh, she hasn’t eaten more than a few bites of anything in a few months, and she isn’t motivated to get up and move like she needs to. Her…