Ever heard the term, “stuck in the doldrums”? The doldrums is a nautical term for the equatorial region of the Earth where the prevailing trade winds converge, often resulting in calms, sudden squalls, and little to no forward progress for sailing vessels. Metaphorically, it’s used to describe the same sort of thing: little to no […]
Miscellaneous
Memories … I have a few
“Separation is an illusion. Though your loved ones are not physically with you, they are with you spiritually and energetically. They live in you and through you. They are ever with you, as close as your breath. When you are overwhelmed with missing their ‘form’, remember that their essence is woven into the fabric of […]
A Meaningful Memorial Day to All
Weekends are often difficult and long for widowed people, and holiday weekends are especially challenging. So many of us have distant, and not so distant, memories of holidays gone by. For me, the Memorial Day Weekend holds many. Places like the New Jersey Shore, embrace the unofficial beginning of the summer season even though summer […]
Needing to Get Back to Balance
If you’ve been reading my posts every Friday, you’ll know that the last couple weeks have had a lot of kitty health issues. Thursday evening Freya and I made the trip one hour north to Eugene, Oregon for a life-saving blood transfusion at an ER vet (side note: I never really thought about cats donating […]
It Is What It Is
To honor the strength it takes to face what we did not choose—and to recognize the quiet courage within ourselves and others that rises up to meet it. Oprah Daily Intention, April 4, 2026 I survived ‘the visit’ just fine (reference last week’s post). As usual, my thoughts and fears beforehand were far […]
Awaiting the Unknown
So they’re coming this afternoon … I’ve boxed up all of the things for them to take away. Lots of photos that I know they want and a lot of other things I hope they will want. I read a few more of those letters Jim wrote to Estelle from Vietnam and they are just so […]
Paw-sing to Thank the Dog Moms
Happy Dog Mom’s Day (always the Saturday before the human version) and Mother’s Day Weekend. I don’t have any human kids of my own, but I do have four sweet K-9 Kiddos for which I’m grateful. And I’m not the only one who feels that way. I spend considerable time on sites for the […]
Life’s Ups and Downs
May 3rd marked what would have been Mario’s 53rd birthday. So it was one of those anniversaries. In life, Mario never made a big deal out of his birthdays. Like I’ve mentioned before, I think it was because he knew he’d get a more limited amount of them than some people get. But rather than […]
Ya gotta feel all the feelings
… and I’ve sure been doing a lot of ‘feeling’ lately. Feeling Jim’s absence here in our home as the days, weeks, months pass. Feeling my age … in my brain and in my body. I just don’t have the energy to “people” – to put on that happy face for others. I have a […]
Alternate Routes
It was an eventful week filled with emotional milestones. I spent most of the week up in Georgia again to ready my home for a new tenant. As I’ve shared previously, I put my house up for sale two months ago and in doing so, invested considerable energy and funds to make it shine. I […]
The Wild Wild Southwest 🌵
First things first, and the most important thing first: this airline gets me!!! ➡️➡️➡️➡️➡️➡️ But seriously, the polarity of this journey that goes from one end of the emotional spectrum to the other in a nanosecond, I had to take a picture of it. Well, we did it! We survived and, may I dare say, […]
For Better or For Worse
I just found this newspaper cartoon clipping in Jim’s bedside drawer. It was folded up in a basket of miscellaneous keys, coins and receipts so I hadn’t yet taken the time to sort through all of it. I love Iris’ words: “We made a commitment … and although it’s not easy, this is all part […]