Growing with gratitude for life's challenges
FaceTime, phone calls and videos exchanged cannot replace in-person chats and hugs, especially when the recipients are grandchildren. I miss chasing eighteen-month-old Auggie around the house, or cuddling with Sloane to “watch something”, or exploring the million why’s of Finn. I miss my grown children, family and friends whom I value deeply. Homecoming, I know, […]
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“No guarantee about this RV park,” Ric said as we pulled off the highway and entered the spaghetti bowl of roadways into San Antonio. Bit by bit we moved off the main thoroughfares onto city streets, and as we did the landscape changed drastically. Abandoned buildings with overgrown lots popped up between commercial and industrial […]
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What I love about my husband is that he is a planner. Post Memphis, he had arranged for us to spend a few nights in Hot Springs, Arkansas, noted for its healing baths and spas. His timing was impeccable. We arrived on a Monday, and unfortunately one of the popular spa houses was closed the […]
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The ‘misspent’ years of my youth were dedicated to sneaking into blues bars, underage, to catch the soulful music of Muddy Waters, Downchild Blues Band, and even B.B. King himself. I was hooked on blues, so the thought of visiting Memphis thrilled me. Beale Street was top of my list of ‘must sees’. To kick […]
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“Is there a good place to eat around here? And how about a grocery store?” “Just up the road is the town. There is one Bar-b-que place, but it will be closed up by now – they sell out fast.” It was 3:00 p.m. “How about Mexican?” “There are five Mexican restaurants, three that are […]
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“Don’t you get scared?” Yes and no, I think. Many things frighten me: a decline in my health, the loss of my spouse, something happening to one of my family members while I’m so far away from home. This is not what my mother is referring to, though. At 90, her view of the States […]
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The English language is full of expressions that have more than one application. To back up – along with its many forms – is one of them. For example, as in my last post, backed up is a euphemism for excrement that is not following the protocols of natural processing – or in our case, […]
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It is literally days from departure, and the preparations have been, as they say, mighty. Yesterday, we finished off some business with the bank, picked up something for my Mom and had a farewell dinner with my sister. We were not able to complete all the tasks we’d set for ourselves, because a) I am […]
Read More“I had lunch with some of your old colleagues yesterday and we were talking about you.” Never a good start to a conversation when your relationship to the mentioned parties ended the day you stopped working. “Oh, who?” The people mentioned are acquaintances, only one actually worked with me and it was before ME/CFS struck. […]
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“I’d like to be on the road by 10:00 am,” Ric told me the night before our five and half month stay at the beach trailer park ended. “There are high wind warnings for tomorrow afternoon, so we should be at our destination before they hit.” I had pushed myself the night before to get […]
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One Woman's Quest II 