The jitters are gone (from my consciousness at least). I have no idea why. I’m at the airport as I write this. I was at the airport almost two weeks ago, traveling back east to celebrate Mom’s 90th birthday. The day I left to return home, Mom had to go to the hospital. She isn’t […]
Mom died this morning (February 20, 2015). I was so fortunate to be able to be by her side at that moment. My flight arrived yesterday night at 10:30PM, Dave picked me up, and we drove like bats out of hell directly to the hospital. We got to there about 11:15 and I got to talk […]
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 […]
My wife’s aunt (AM) is no longer gravely ill. She died this morning, just a couple of days past her 90th birthday. Joy took it pretty hard, since they were very close. I met AM more than 10 years ago, but got to know her better since we moved out here to the west coast […]
In addition to the books I mentioned yesterday, I am reading The Book of Dead Philosophers by Simon Critchley. I enjoy philosophy. It is thought provoking, and after all, what’s better than thinking? Philosophizing On the first page of the introduction to The Book of Dead Philosophers, Critchley gets right to the point, quoting Cicero: […]
I think The Healing Garden gardener is correct: Arthur, my pet avocado sapling is irretrievable. I’m going to probably chronicle Arthur’s demise, since I did all I could to revive him. Is that wrong? It probably isn’t for a plant. The animal kingdom is probably different. Some would say it is definitively wrong to chronicle the […]
Happy New Year again, everybody! Does anyone else feel weird about the new year? I feel differently than I have felt in the past. Perhaps it is because the bloom of middle age is past; maybe it is because of the ridiculous political situation in the US; I don’t know, but for me, this year […]
A week ago I was just getting back from seeing my families. In my original family, my place is that of a son and a brother; in my family of choice, I am a husband, stepfather and grandfather. My granddaughter calls me Zaydie out of respect for my Jewish heritage. It was her parents’ idea. […]
Not thinking too clearly today. Last night another person I was acquainted with died. Yesterday I mentioned that a former colleague of mine took his own life, even though he was a religious person. The idea of death itself isn’t on my mind as much as the changing landscape that accompanies it. The fact that […]
Over the past few days and weeks, end-of-life issues have surrounded me. A wonderful blogger friend of mine is having problems; on my wife’s side of the family, several of her relatives are gravely ill and not expected to live very long; a former colleague of mine took his own life just a few days […]
