This and That

This is my desk. Can you appreciate my immense dislike of wires and cables? That blue one that loops behind the monitor and through my pencil cup? Goes around the corner, through the kitchen, down the hall, across the entry wall and over to the other TV in the games room. Playing X Box online is fun. Apparently.

Why don't we hook that blue cable up to the TV that is right beside my desk? Cuz it's BROKEN. We have not turned that TV on for 6 days.

For 6 days, each of us has sat in front of our own personal screen (either a computer moniter, a laptop, the 'games' TV or a personal DVD player) and quietly spent the evening without saying a word to anyone else.
Something is so wrong with that.
I will be replacing the broked TV as soon as I can. So we can sit together, in the same room, and stare at the same screen. Like a real family.

Wow. I got way off topic there.
The reason I took a photo of my desk was to lead into this link of other people's desks.

That's what my fridge looks like. This is what other people's fridges look like.

Nice how I could post that link without ranting first about the way we eat food around here.

Oh wait.

Maybe a rant is coming on ...

.

.

Tonight a record was set. Max ate a made-from-scratch tortellini with meat sauce supper in 2 minutes and 14 seconds. Then he left the table. I had barely sat down, and hadn't even finished serving myself.

I apologize now to my future daughter-in-laws... "I'm sorry, girls. All I can say is, don't waste too much time preparing meals. You will not get that time back in meaningful dinner conversation."

Guess who this is? While snurfing around the internet tonight, I came across this pic. He looks like an '80s' rock star, eh?

Don't you just love the joy and happiness that bubbles out of this artwork? It's all light and sunshine. I'd love to decorate a little girl's room with tapestries like this.

Great photograph, eh? This artist has a whole collection of them. They're people inside blankets and sheets, jumping up. Cool.

Ha ha. This was just funny.

To encourage adults to 'play in the rain' - this inventor added a squirt gun to an umbrella. The water from the top of the umbrella drains into the gun, keeping it loaded.

I love these rocks. Doodle art on rocks. Tres cool.

Do these not just make your heart melt?

Father and daughter dancing shoes ...

Awwwhhhhhh.

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There were 17 traffic lights between here and there, and I got 15 of them red. I got them at the beginning of the red ... meaning I lost at least 10 minutes of driving time. So I was late. Ten minutes late.

I hate that.

Especially since I'd never been before, and someone would have to wait for me. To let me in. And show me where to go.

My sister was on time, and it was her second meeting, so she saved a seat for me - right beside her. And on the other side of me was the meeting's facilitator.

It was my first Alzheimer's Caregiver's Support Meeting; Jule and I were about 30 years younger than most folks in the room. The gal in charge started the meeting as soon as I was settled by asking a fellow on the opposite side of the table how things were going since they had last met. She asked about his wife, his living arrangements, then she asked how he was doing. After he'd shared his journey, she moved on to the fellow beside him - and so on until she came to us. She asked us how our dad was, and Jule looked at me and said, "do you want to talk or should I?"

I told her she could, and as she starts to speak, tears overflow out of my eye sockets and drip down my face. The gal beside me, reaches out her hand, puts it over mine, gives me a squeeze and says, "and you? How are you doing?"

I point to my soaking wet face and say, "about this good".

She caresses my hands and forearms and says, "My name is Jane too, we're in this together." And that did not dry my eyes. Oh no it did not.

She asked why we were there, and we said because we want to know how to support our mom through this ... and then 6 white haired ladies started giving us advice. No one sugar coated a thing. And Jane, who reached out again, and put her hand on my shoulder said, "This is not going to get any easier. You're in for a long stretch of pain."

When the meeting was over, Jule and I went over the the flyer table to pick up some brochures and one of those ol gals came over to me, and said with concern, "Are you in denial?"

"No," I said, "I just cry very easily. Don't mind me. This is my way of releasing it all. I can't stop them, they'll just flow for awhile longer. I think I'm almost done."

Then she said, "I don't cry. Not one tear. There's none in me."

"Well, I've got your quota then," I responded. "I cry enough for both of us ..."

Later, Jule mentioned that she hasn't cried over any of this at all.

"OK, so maybe I cry enough for 3 people then ..."

Anyone else unable to cry out there? Chances are I got your portion of salty water too.

That was 13 hours ago. I pulled myself together in time to go to work after lunch.

But my eyes?

Burning from all the activity this morning. THAT was quite the workout.

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And so it is that once again I'm up til 1:30.

Three things I'm thankful for:

1. Support groups and women named Jane

2. Comfortable jeans

3. Arrow for letting me take the morning off to cry

Shalom,



Oh look. Two more links.

Do you want to look literate?

Do you love before and after renovation stories? Click on the red title to open their photo album.