Re-Entry Issues


I think I am having re-entry issues. First there was the vacation in Utah. Then I returned home to have my friend, Dianne, stay another week to help me finish up the furnishing of the rental unit.  Then she left and I thought I could get back to some semblance of normality and my sister called to inform me her husband, Alan, had just died. Below is a typical image of him on the vacation.


I have lots of images with him and my sister. I find them every time I go through looking for a particular picture I want to use as a basis for a painting. Like this one.


Or this one.


And yesterday after I returned from the memorial service I had all the telephone calls to make to those who asked to be notified how it went. And then this morning I got the calls from the people that somehow had not heard but were wondering if I had returned from my vacation yet.

I had asked my neighbors to watch the fur kids and water some plants on Saturday. It did not look when I had returned that either had been done. I gave them my set of house keys because I was not sure the set they had was from before or after I had changed the locks because of the contractor from hell. I called to get them back yesterday afternoon and only got their message machine. Neither ever returns a call so I bopped over this morning to get the keys. (I had only the key to the studio door and needed to unload something through the front door.)

Steve has been making a career out of dying - not unlike Sanford on Sanford and Son. The only difference being that he has been diagnosed with a fatal cancer. His wife, not to be outdone, has decided to enter the medical mystery arena with a D & C scheduled for next week. This would mean they have to put off Steve's lens replacement surgery (new eyes for the dying). I wanted to get my keys and run a quick errand and get home but upon being let into their home (they had to hunt for the keys) I was assailed with all the latest medical information and how they were too sick the last three days to do more than open a can of food for my pets.

To cap this off both dogs of theirs had gotten a porcupine or it had gotten them and before the emergency ward because her bleeding was worst there was the vet.

I wanted my keys. I did not have time for the stories and besides they just seemed to be having too much fun dying. After the shock of my brother-in-law expiring in the shower I just did not see death as funny or enjoyable. What do you say at moments like this? "My keys. I want my keys."

Please, Lord, make my life about living and not dying.

Comments

Post a Comment

I write for me but I care what my readers think. Please be polite and no scamming.

Popular posts from this blog

Polyethylene Packaging - a Dark Times Journal entry

Image
I was in the fourth grade when our family moved from El Paso, Texas to Albuquerque, New Mexico. We moved because I could not breathe the air there. I want to say they cracked petroleum there. But what did I know beyond the sky was sometimes yellow and I could not breathe. Mom was pregnant with Debbie, and Gary and I rode in the backseat separated by a round tank full of Dad's tropical fish. Dad had a job with Sealright, Inc which made paper milk cartons. Sealright was a polyethylene packing subsidiary of Phillips 66. The petroleum company. I was rather proud of myself for learning to say that, and to not laugh when adults would stare at me not knowing what to ask about that. Albuquerque smelled better. Then. Before all the freeways were built and the shape of the valley trapped the exhaust down near the ground in the winter months. We lived in the foothills. I could breathe. I learned that if I could see the air I could not. Still it was better than El Paso though I missed our trip...
Read more

Swimming

Image
For much of my college career my fitness workout was swimming on the B squad of the swim team. I remember it as the days before heated pools and women coaches. I also remember being so exhausted and cold I could only lean against the shower wall and throw up. Not exactly warm fuzzy images but I was in awesome shape. Needless to say it did not leave me with a overpowering desire to swim laps. Point of fact for years my swimming became really informal: Swimming to shore after the canoe tipped over, challenging my sister once a summer to across the lake and back, seeing how long I could back float without moving a muscle, and a scuba course. I also played around with other ways of staying fit: aerobics, bicycling, jogging, skiing and dance classes. All of which seem to be bad for the knees, back or feet. After my ski accident my physical therapist steered me back to the pool. Damn if I was going to swim laps! However, aqua fit was just getting rather seriously taken so I took it. It r...
Read more

The Pruning the Crown of Thorns

Image
Crown of Thorns Before I am a lover of Euphorbias . They are from the deserts of Southern Africa and Madagascar. They have evolved physical characteristics and forms similar to cacti of North and South America and are often incorrectly referred to as cacti. My big Crown of Thorns was one of my first of a growing collection of these succulents from the spurge family of Euphorbiaceae. I picked it up as a 6 inch plant in a New Iberia nursery when my sister and I were touring the northern gulf coast. I believe that was 15 years ago. I made an attempt at limiting its height a few years back to allow it to devote more energy to the new branches and make it a denser plant. That failed. And the height of the plant continued to challenge the window space and soon the long branches were leaning over and leaning against the window. I googled and found the proper way to prune this treasured plant. Still it was very difficult to cut off the four longer branches. Even with a plan. The f...
Read more