WOMEN AGES 50+ FOR MARCH 2021

LisaInArkansas wrote: »

Long weekend - sewer pipe broke, my husband and son worked all day long yesterday digging that out, as we had to cobble together a workaround until the professionals get here Monday. The good part is that we found the septic tank, and we've been searching for that since we bought the house in 2018. The bad part is that it has not been emptied for a LONG time, estimated at least five years, and possibly ten. Can you say, "Ew!" Just yuck, ick, yuck some more.

Anyway, other than that, life is good. Since Wednesday, our amazing son has been working all day every day clearing brush, and the evenings are lovely and relaxed with him here. He's good company. He was in need of the distraction while he waits to start his new job, which starts at the end of the month. Barbara, I think it was you who asked--he will be in charge of one of the employee kitchens at Yellowstone, they provide room and board as well as an hourly wage. The seasonal job lasts through the end of November.

My daughter and family are coming in on the 15th, and my daughter and son-in-law have both also gotten their vaccines, so not terribly worried about seeing them.

Beth, I think of you and your family every day.

Lisa in AR

pipcd34 wrote: »

Kayla- love to hear u were on a bike... morning peeps and happy bday to all March babies

Snowflake1968 wrote: »

Kim - I agree with you about Allie needing time. My MIL had heart surgery after having a heart attack, she said it took about a year to feel like doing anything. Her tastebuds changed too for some odd reason and she ended up losing a lot of weight. She went from a size 22 to size 12. She never told me the weight loss.

Carol - my Grandson will be 10 in September. I can’t believe I’ve missed so much of his life this past year. They grow so fast.

Debbie - love the quilt.

Rebecca -that’s a great idea, I Amy do that. Their birthdays were May and October. I found it cool here the last two summers so I know what you mean. Just rainy and cold.

Heather - I hope to be that type of Grandmother too. I ran away when I was 15 or so to a friends house my Maternal Gram and Gramp came and took me out of school the next day and convinced me to live with them. The funny part was they lived only about 100 yards from my parents. My parents were at their house every evening. I’ll see if I can find a pic. Anyway the deal was I wouldn’t have to speak to my Father and Mother but I would go to school. I lived with them for close to a year. The not speaking to my parents only lasted a couple of weeks though.
My other Grandmother was very difficult but I still stayed with her a lot as we enjoyed some tv shows together and she had a colour tv. We watched Dallas and Dukes of Hazard together every Friday night.
What a great picture of Bea. My Granddaughter was 5 in January.

Beth - my heart breaks for you and your family. I hope the service brought some comfort to you.

I went into work for 3 hours today to try to save myself some grief tomorrow. I was on the fence on whether to go in or do more education. I decided the best thing would be to go in and get some payroll completed. I stopped on the way home and bought a salad for myself for supper. I also bought some chips and pop for later. I have decided that will be my Sunday treat and it’s been working for the last 3 weeks.

Our daughter will be stopping for a quick minute after she is done work to get some papers I printed for her.

Here is the tulip quilt I was describing. I didn’t take a full picture of it as the bed it is on has a lot piled on it right now still from Christmas. I haven’t been cleared to do a major clean yet and that’s what I need to do in that room.


Tracey in Edmonton

grandmallie wrote: »

Machka-my surgery was the 21st of January.. i know just a couple of months..
Fell asleep after 9 pm and slept for an hour,then awake until after 3 am and then got a couple hrs sleep until 8 so about 4 1/2 hrs .
The dr did send in for a sleep apnea test,but has to get approved by insurance so dont know how long that will take but they said they would call me.
So im sure i will nap this morning..

bwcetc wrote: »

Thank you ladies for the good thoughts and prayers sent my way on the loss of my son, Ian. Ian was 34 years old, physically disabled, had a brilliant mind, and was light-years ahead of all us in his faith.

NY's rules have changed in regards to church services/funerals/etc. We had a vitiation on Friday for 3 hours where masks were required. Due to my hearing loss, those who came to see us were given an index card to write down what they had hoped to say to me. They could drop it in a basket or hand it to me directly. I used a phone app that tried to transcribe what people said through their masks. It worked so-so. You don't really need an app, or words even, to see the grief in another's eyes. Their tears and hugs spoke volumes. And yes, every single person hugged me! If I don't contract Covid it will be a miracle. Not that I even care much about that now ...

Yesterday we had a Celebration of Life service at our church. Our pastor/church has been criticized for being too cautious, but as you may recall I shared with him the words from one state governor who said that "the healthy and optimistic among us will doom the vulnerable." He took that to heart months ago. We require masks, hand sanitizing before entering, pews are physically taped off to encourage social distancing. No plates passed or anything like that. We were prepared to move people to other rooms than the sanctuary if necessary We also live-streamed the service and many people took advantage of that. Anyways. the church was well filled yesterday for my son. I gave the eulogy. A young man whom I didn't know prior to Ian's death, spoke formally as well and several people shared. The pastor preached. It was a powerful day. The outpouring of love has been overwhelming. My son was an inspiration to hundreds and impacted lives that we are only now beginning to hear about.

Staff from the group home came to both the visitation and the funeral. The man who overcooked the piece of food (he was not the one to feed it to Ian ... someone else made that mistake by not grinding it according to specifications) that set off the catastrophic series of events came to the funeral home. He was heartbroken. And I forgave him, just as Ian would have. Ian's willingness to forgive was unfathomable.

We had hoped that the service would still be available after the livestream, but I guess we made a mistake with a piece of music that was played during a video tribute and we've had the server (it goes through FaceBook?) pull it down for copyright infringement. If it was still available you could have seen me speak and seen photos of how my Ian defied all odds!

Many, many things went wrong leading up to my son's death. We will be taking the weeks and months ahead to process all of that. To decide how me move forward. For now we are focusing on the details of emptying his room at the group home. We have 30 days. Taking care of the last details ... bank accounts, things like that. It's complicated. Ian was his own guardian/rep payee, but considered our permanently disabled dependent for insurance purposes ... and he didn't have a will.

We have been flooded with food and so, as you can imagine, my eating has been off the rails. So many wonderful salads and fruit bowls ... all of which are still in the refrigerator... since we chose to eat the cookies and sweets instead. Lol. If I don't stop they'll need a double-wide casket when I die.

My heart has a physical ache that will not ever go away on this side of the cross ... but I will be ok. I believe in the gospel. And I will be reunited with my son someday.

Beth near Buffalo