This past Tuesday I was working when I got a message on my phone from a friend who just saw the news that Ozzy Osbourne had passed away. Earlier in the month he’d given his final show during the Black Sabbath Tribute in his home town of Birmingham, England. Total legend. I remember the first […]
Upsides, Downsides, and Omens
For the past few months, my life feels like it’s been turned upside down with having to deal with my mom’s ongoing health issues. Some of it has resurfaced some old feelings from when Mario’s health was tanking. I think that’s a natural human reaction though. If you’ve been through similar things in the past, […]
Past and Present
The summer of 2020 was a weird and unsettling time. We were early in the pandemic and there was just a heavy feeling all around. Mario’s health was really tanking, yet he was still not acknowledging it. We’d gone on a short camping trip about 50 miles to the east. I remember we had a […]
The 4th of July
4th of July was arguably Mario’s favorite holiday. It was not his favorite due to any sort of patriotic leanings. It was his favorite because it was a giant party. Years before we lived in an apartment together in Orange County, CA, we would get together with other friends and go to whatever giant rave […]
Going Through It
If you’ve been following along with me, I’m going through a situation with my mom right now (almost exactly a year after my dad passed away) where she came quite close to death. I’m realizing in hindsight that it was only because of the quick actions of the team of nurses and doctors in the […]
Ghosts of the Past
If you read last week’s post, you’ll know that I’ve been having to spend some time at the hospital where Mario spent his last few days. Shortly after posting that, I had gone to visit and the nurses in the ICU told me they were moving my mom to a room in the PCU (progressive […]
Back where it all ended.
I’ve lost track of how many times I’ve had to return to the place where Mario left his earthly body behind. It’s the local hospital. Why I’ve had to go back, repeatedly, is primarily due to the fact there are a lot of older people in my life. Every time I have to go there, […]
Days Gone By and Memories Passed
Days gone by and memories passed, we can’t hold on, they’re not meant to last. Every now and then, something will trigger an old memory for me. They’re almost always of the good times. Thinking back, I really spent the majority of my youth living in the moment. In hindsight, current me is rather impressed […]
Free will, again.
I swear that in this life, my lesson is to learn all about human free will. You’ve probably heard the term (I’ve also mentioned it in a previous post). It’s been around since the ancient Greek philosophers first talked about the notion that humans could freely decide between doing/choosing or not doing/choosing something. Philosophers ever […]
Unexpected Downtime
This week has been a kind of awful that I have not experienced for probably 20 years or more. Tuesday night, I started to feel progressively ill. Like the kind of ill where you know it was something you ate (in my unfortunate case it was a deli salad). By 11pm I was absolutely wrecked […]
Solo Traveling
I’m currently on a 4 day outing on the Oregon coast and typing this post up from my little teardrop trailer. On the drive out here on Wednesday, it occurred to me that I’m not really “camping” in the old sense of the word. No, I’m basically just traveling and living in my little home […]
New Traditions
(Originally posted this in 2024 for Mario’s birthday. I didn’t get to really celebrate this year because I had too many client meetings that day, but am hoping to pick the tradition back up next year.) Just about anyone who’s lost someone will tell you that birthdays of that lost person are tough. Birthdays just […]