I began the process of unmooring my mother’s possessions from their resting places in her apartment. I wasn’t there for her initial downsizing from the house where she lived with my father. He died in 2007 and she shopped around for a place where she could be happy. She found one, but it was too […]
Mom’s been in the hospital for a couple of days now. She was admitted one day after her 90th birthday, on the day that I left her to travel back to the west coast. With her kidneys failing, low blood pressure and other troublesome vital signs, my brother and I had lost hope. The nurse told me […]
I just got home from a visit back east to see my mother, on the occasion of her 90th birthday. I spent a lot of time in New Jersey when I was younger and the word that comes to my mind to describe the the winter environ is ‘bleak’. This is especially true of the […]
Back home: I’m back in California. I went to Mom’s birthday party in New Jersey and stayed for a couple of days more. Six months ago or so Mom asked me if I was planning to come to her 90th birthday. I said, “Sure, I wouldn’t miss it.” She said, “Good, I’ll hang on until then.” […]
This is my last night of my visit to see Mom. I flew in from California for her 90th birthday. I hadn’t been to see her in quite a while, and it is getting more and more difficult to talk with her on the phone. She doesn’t hear too well. I mentioned in another post that […]
Process prior to writing: Yesterday, I blogged about my mother’s 90th birthday party, the passage of time, and how things change. I alluded to a strange quality of my visit. I have found that it is nearly impossible to write well about things that I haven’t fully processed; this is particularly true about ongoing situations. Sometimes I need to […]
I recently posted about aging (Diminishment) and disability (Comfort Zone). Some reduction of faculties are gradual and can be tolerated I imagine, much as one gets used to the shock of jumping into a pool of cold water. Although frightening, this aspect of the human condition is often a topic that people in older age groups can […]
Today’s watercolor experiment: Inspiration: I was still thinking about aging and diminishment of faculties as I was trying to decide what to paint today. The visual sense is very important to me so I view the loss of sight as a very scary, dangerous prospect. I though of Paul Klee‘s drawings. I don’t remember any specific […]
I don’t think of myself as old. I think of myself as a person who has been young for a very, very long time. Except for a couple of things. The other day I was just walking along and I was stopped in my tracks by my ankle. And pain. When I limped to the doc, […]
I just got back from the doctor. He told me, “It doesn’t take a football injury for people like you and me to get hurt,” or something to that effect. For the record, I am probably at least 15 years older than my doc. He is diplomatic. It happened in the bookstore at The Grove, down […]
