THINK PINK & BREATHE

I woke up to snow on the ground, here, this morning.

7:30 AM

I had a car maintenance appointment in Kelso around noon – the street looked fine, so I kept the appointment 😉

I decided to wear pink today. A lot of pink 😊

On my way out the door, I grabbed my latest read, and stuck it in my purse – it’s a good read, and it keeps my attention; I’m already ¾th’s way through it.

Keeping everything in the pink range of color.

'Primrose' Lipstick & 'Pink Quartz' Lipgloss; and 'Grape' nail color & 'Crystal Clear' topcoat.

Car maintenance appointment this afternoon ....

Driving back home, I topped the gas tank, and noticed the price has gone down a bit … and I also got an invite to lunch at the Indy Diner on Industrial Way 😊

A breather with the gas prices.

Blue Burger; Indy Way Diner.

Listening to Christmas music while driving home on Old Pacific Highway, those pesky peacocks were stopping traffic again. They really need to have their wings clipped! They are pretty – but they are also a nuisance.

These peacocks are going to cause someone to wreak.

I had barely gotten around the pesky birds, when I got an incoming text: Mr. Complication was in the hospital ☹

That bit of news was additional complication. He has the key to the building where the Jam Sessions are held – people needed to be told the session would be canceled. Another friend texted me and told me that the roads would be too risky, and everyone needed to stay home; I agreed … but I also texted back saying the people who would be showing up (those used to driving in the iffy weather) still needed to be told the session was canceled: I needed to get into the hills and meet them with the news when they showed up (some people are weird about giving their phone numbers out).

So, that’s what I did.

And I’m glad I risked it because the roads were really not that bad, and people did show up. I arrived safely, and the news was relayed. I really didn’t have much to tell them, other than he was in the hospital.

Not a lot of snow.

The drive home was a little dicier – there was ice under the slush; but I drove very cautiously, and managed to get back home in one piece 😉

A bit icy, and a lot slushy; I drove very cautiously over that hill.

The entire drive over the hill - and I didn't care if the drivers behind me were getting angry.

When I got home, I ate Supper and decided to see if I could find out anything more about Mr. Complication’s situation. I spent hours on the phone (no one knew anything more than I did). When I got an actual person on the hospital line, I even went as far as hinting that I was a “close friend” (and I would have had the info if the test results had come in faster); all I managed to get from mutual friends was that he’d been throwing up earlier at his house, and drove himself to the hospital with severe pains, he thought was an appendix attack.

Hearing how severely he had been throwing up – immediately sent my thoughts into flashback mode, remembering Bob violently throwing up before I rushed him to ER that horrible day, that landed him in ER with a death sentence hanging over his head.

Around 9 PM, Mr. Complication texted me that he had been diagnosed with kidney stones. OUCH! Again, flashback memories hit fast and furious. I literally had to school myself to calm down and breathe calmly.

All the memories and feels that went with those memories were crowding my thoughts: Bob’s situation spiraled out of control because he didn’t feel the pain like a normal person would (so he missed the warning pains), and an infection set in that could not be controlled; which led to his physical death … Mr. Complication feels the ouch; he will fare better than my Mr. Wonderful did.

NO! I do not love Mr. Complication! But, he is a friend, and I don’t like to think of him suffering that kind of pain. I hope that this affliction will be tended to quickly, and that he will be on the mend speedily.

FRIDAY ENCOURAGMENTS~Shabbat Blessings

I wasn’t sure how this Friday would turn out: both of my scheduled freewheeling Friday options didn’t look like they’d be happening today.

And I was missing Bob.

Big time.

Today is a special day for me; this is the day Bob called me to set up our first date. Admittedly, April 15^th, 1974 was a long time ago … but, in my heart, it seems like only yesterday.  This is not an ‘old woman thing’, or a ‘widow thing’ – I have always felt this way about today’s date: 44 years of marriage, or 48 years of remembering, hasn’t dulled the glow that that memory touches my life with: it had a special significance to me then, and it has a special significance to me now.

April Reflections Post: https://jeastofeden.blogspot.com/2022/04/april-reflections.html

I was standing in the kitchen this morning, admiring how the yellow parrot tulip had opened so prettily overnight; and also thinking how each heart-shaped rock had been discovered every time my life needed a boost (most of them were found in the river rock surrounding this house, months following Bob’s physical death).

Yellow Double Peony Tulip & Heart-shaped Rocks.

Bob liked the sunny color of yellow. And when I started planting tulips in my flowerbeds decades ago, Bob’s favorite was the yellow tulip.

While I was standing there, admiring the colorful spread of the salvaged tulip blossom (https://jeastofeden.blogspot.com/2022/04/in-for-pennyin-for-pound.html); and remembering how and where each heart-shaped rock had been discovered and collected, I was encouraged to join the Lexington Coffee Hour.

Obviously, my quick exit following Sunday’s Communion, was not going to be an issue (https://jeastofeden.blogspot.com/2022/04/walking-with-god.html).

I washed my hair, and switched my pj’s for out-of-house clothing.

We are all learning about each other.

We are building community; we do not have to agree with one another about everything in our lives … we do not necessarily have to like the same people: we just have to be a friendly team, moving together in harness, as we move through life 😊

There will be bumps along the road of life’s journey.

None of us share ourselves 100% – there are parts of our lives that no one will ever get to know. And that’s okay.

True Friends understand that. MPO

But we can get to know the parts of each other we are all comfortable sharing 😉

Deborah Kerr – ‘Getting To Know You’ song:

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vlx6gQWfjp0)

While we talked, laughed, shared memories about people we’ve known, commented on the snaky turns our personal lives have taken over the years, shared about how we’d met our spouses, listened while grandkids were praised, ect.; I worked on my second set of fingertip towels.

Fingertip Towels; set 2. 'Stripy' Peaches & Creme Cotton Yarn.

Before we knew it, 3 hours had passed. In the beginning of our coffee time I mentioned that I had actually planned to be in Adna this morning to buy veggie and flower transplants I don’t have a green thumb for growing, but the snowfall all week had put the kibosh on that plan. As I was leaving, I was asked what I planned to do tomorrow, and I said I was hoping to get to the Vancouver Seder I had planned to attend; but again, recent snowfall was a concern. One of the fellas said, “Boy, you sure get around, don’t you?” I smiled, and said, “I try; there’s no reason to be home.” I took a lot of ribbing for that remark, but I didn’t care because it was all in good humor 😊

I felt Elohei’s blessing on this Shabbat.

On my way home over Hazel Dell and Delameter, I noticed a snowy hillside and recalled that Bob and I had driven over that hill many times while we were dating.

Snowy hillside seen from Delameter Road, Castle Rock.

Bob was a logger when we started dating, and for half of our married life, and knew logging road tie-in’s; on weekends, we could weave on and off those logging roads all day long, from Naselle to Castle Rock; briefly driving a short strip of Ocean Beach Highway in between the gavel road weavings.

The gated logging road at the Delameter and Woodside Drive Roads was one such road we spent a lot of time on (before it was gated and closed to the public). After all the decades that have passed since that time, I can still clearly see in my mind’s eye those hot summer days when we were young and carefree – Bob driving his old red/white Ford, gritty dust kicked up from the graveled backroads circling around and dusting the interior of the truck as it filtered in through the opened windows … music blaring from the 8-track player, and us laughing and clowning around as we bounced over the heavily forested rough roads: Bob’s big right hand on my knee, and my left arm over his right shoulder – sharing cigarettes and beers. It may not be the romantic stuff idealized dreams are made of for some folks; but these were magic moments for us 😊

Memories triggered here ...

Bob and I had enjoyed several backcountry logging road tie-ins: this one was accessible from Abernathy before it was gated off. None of the tie-ins are accessible anymore.

There were a few spotty snow patches along Woodside Drive, but most of the snowfall had melted with the warming 49-degree temperatures.

And by the time I exited Coal Creek Road, the hills outside of Longview looked encouraging; the snow seems to be sparse: I'll check the forecast and see what it says about where I need to be traveling - if I decided to 'go for it' tomorrow afternoon.

Feeling encouraged to try for Vancouver tomorrow ...

We’ll see what tomorrow afternoon holds for me 😉