rocks and meds

A couple of friends and I are going to paint rocks in memory of loved ones who have passed. I am going to place them around the fire pit where I (we) occasionally had gatherings. Not an original idea, saw this at a place and I liked the idea. I already have a rock in the flower bed that I privately call “mom” as it marks some of her ashes. (it will soon get an official painting)

Of course, this has been in the back of my mind for David. I came up with the idea of asking to take a rock from a Yuma friend’s back yard. This was the last place David visited in Yuma. She was having a birthday party for herself and I was glad we were able to attend. We left earlier than I had expected but David was ready and we still had the drive to El Cajon. I had thought we would be back to Yuma in a week or so as we had been doing. This friend was then going to then have a birthday party for me. However, that never happened; we, together, had had out last Yuma trip.

Recently I shared my idea. My friend was happy to supply me with a rock for this special project. It’s Yuma so her yard, like so many here, has a lot of rock “landscaping”. I found a rock then looked just a little bit more and found the just right one. A heart shaped rock! It’s perfect. Now its just a matter of actually getting out the paint and following through on this memorial project. Even if I don’t get around to actually painting, when I look at it, I’ll have some special memories.

California here I come and go again. I’ve been to CA and back twice in the last two days and it only took about ½ hour! OK, it was only to the Winterhaven post office. I had to pick up medication. I constantly get emails about saving money and time and in these days contact exposure so please use mail order prescriptions. Nice idea, and convenient but then they stopped mailing outside of California. I don’t understand this at all; not sure whose brilliant idea this was. I’m glad this didn’t come into being until after we stopped full timing. Bottom line, I came up with my own brilliant idea, have the meds sent to the CA post office, general delivery. Winterhaven is just a hop, skip, and jump from me. I’ll need to work on my timing and fine tune getting vacation supply meds, etc. General Delivery only allowed once a year. But this sure worked for right now.

I’ve recently been having some dental adventures but fortunately for you all, I’m done typing for now!

Life is short, Break the rules, Forgive quickly, Kiss slowly, Love truly, Laugh uncontrollably, And never regret anything that made you smile.

Quanitity or Quality and the Dentist

What about the quality of life? Sorry folks but this isolation and insane mandates do not provide any quality of life I am interested in. David and I had more than one discussion on how important the quality of life was to each of us and to us as a couple. This current situation would not meet our criteria. Our criteria – I’m saying this for me. No friends and family visits or hugs, no sitting on the beach watching the waves roll in, no… you get my point. While the last 4 years were extremely difficult, we did have quality time. We were able to plan with a real likelihood that we would (and did) make some trips. We were able to even do something like attend an early, not to crowded movie theater. That included wiping down seats, ours and those next to us, sitting in the back so no sneezes carried onto us (David). We were able to attend Washington DC Advocacy Day, which for this year has been cancelled. We took necessary precautions and last trip even a wheelchair. Well, ok, the wheelchair has nothing to do with “isolation” except that we had our wipes to sanitize the one we borrowed. There were times when it felt right for David to wear a face mask. We joined friends for gatherings, no handshakes, fist bumps only (hence the name of his PanCAN Purple Stride Team name).

What I’m trying to get at is that we/David took risks because without participating in life, being with friends, doing service by way of the PanCAN events and outings in general, what was the point. The last year outings were very curtailed but those few short wheelchair strolls, fresh air, sightseeing, were vital to each of our attitudes.

I miss David like the dickens. There are no words. While it seems, he died “before his time” I know that it was exactly his time. For whatever reasons and whatever your beliefs, he is gone. And guess what, we will all have our “time”, young or old, sick or healthy. Sure we ought to do what we can to live long, I eat healthy and exercise regularly. Or at least until the pandemic “rules” curtailed some of my Freedoms to walk and shop as I wished.

Yes, I realize this is serious, my blog, my opinion. But pandemic doesn’t mean panic, which seems to be the interpretation, it means widespread.

Wearing a mask is like the Amber alerts; neither is necessarily helpful but it makes “us” feel like we are doing some good!

Here’s what happening in sweltering Yuma. Dental appointment. I’ve had bad experience with dental. Once I ended up in the hospital from an infection after a tooth extraction. It was quite serious. My sister, Barb, probably remembers the phone call. She gets a lot of panic calls from me and always comes to my rescue! Anyway, dental issues and appointments fill me with dread. I’m having a crown replaced. Yesterday while sitting in the chair I tried meditating to calm myself. It came to me that David bravely sat through many more serious appointments and procedures. He used meditation to calm and relax and finish that particular procedure to move him along to the next challenge. That helped me. And I felt close to David. It was nice that the picture I had to look at was of beautiful clear blue waters; tiki huts on the beach. Reminded me very much of the 3 days we had in Tahiti way back in 1984! David had me take a photo of him coming out of the gorgeous water shaking water drops from his long hair. It was to be a take off of some famous actor and a similar scene. I’ve forgotten who he was trying to imitate but I sure remember that photo in my mind. No idea if/where that photo may be today. This was before digital and storing all your vaca photos on a thumb drive.

I’ll leave you with that enchanting memory. Really sorry I don’t have that photo to post. The long hair alone might give you all a chuckle. Not yet, but soon I hope to compile some kind of collage of David photos. I know it will make me laugh, cry, and fondly remember lots of good times.