computer has been out of commission until now.

 Something happened to my computer and because I had Ipads I just didn't do anything about it. It turned out it was something super simple and now I am member of the geek squad. When you don't use your computer for 2 years the computer doesn't welcome you back. I am back an so much has happened. So far we've survived Covid19 and Larry had a very bad stroke that if the timing had been any different it would have been fatal. It was in the first two weeks of lockdown and isolation so it was a long lonely road without the children. 

What Am I Feeling?

Not sure what I'm feeling, but a whole hell of a lot of emotion.

A Whole New Christmas

Due to the efforts of our daughters, and our newest daughter, and her husband's combination of airplane miles and generosity, two of our three oldest grandchildren and one boyfriend were able to join us in Illinois for the first time ever all together. It was nothing less than amazing and fun. Larry planned an experience for them at a nearby glass studio and all five of the "kids" got to try hot glass work and each made a paper weight, What an experience, they each have a product and as they left, the glass blower artist gave them each a paper weight from his supply while they waited 20 hours for theirs to anneal.

Right now the adult young uns are enjoying some adventures in Chicago with Leah before they fly home tonight. and grandparents are intermittently  napping and drinking coffee.

Thank you all who made this happen.

The Corpses of Children are not Peaceful

The Corpses of Children are not Peaceful

The corpses of children are not peaceful.

The ones who die of trauma before their time show it

--of illness show it

I avert my eyes but remember anyway

Precious young lives lost--

I can't say this anywhere so I'll say it here in a public privacy of strangers

The corpses of children are not peaceful.

Cancer at 8

Murder at 9

Murder at 2

Refusing insulin at 14

Horrible car accident at 17

The corpses of children are not peaceful.

I avert my eyes but cannot forget

The anger, the pain the battering

On their sweet innocence

The corpses of children are not peaceful.











after several years I decided to publish this poem. 

Goodbye

I'll be saying goodbye to my sister in law of nearly 50 years. She has spent the last decade moving from great disability to complete helplessness from a severe stroke followed by many other health events. A 50 year relationship has ups and downs but at the end, its the good things that stand out. I was happy for her to be free of her broken body, but also am surprisingly sad at her loss. I hope I can say a few words, but not sure I can. We'll see. Larry has lost the last member of his family of birth and it's a very hard thing. I know my own mom was devastated when her last brother died.  I know how odd it felt to me to lose every family member from the previous generation as they took all the answers to ordinary lives with them. Her spirit will be missed even though it seemed so trapped for so long.

I reflect on my very imperfect self at this time as well. She leaves her daughter the last member of her own birth family, our dear niece, Elizabeth whom we have loved forever.

addition. Trudi's visitation and funeral were tremendously healing. Rebecca Z is a fantastic reverend and 6 family members spoke including me. Trudi had a spotify playlist of 53 songs! her final send off was a New Orleans second line, Just a Closer Walk with Thee-- surprising, loud and moving. Members of every kind of family and friends were there-- exes of exes, friends from second grande. family from far and wide. All my children in one place at one time.

A Post for Rick

Ry  and Bob  (Larry's cousin) are all over the DNA  available now. They have done both commercial products. Larry and I only did 23 and Me under duress from Bob. Someone popped up in the DNA matches closer to both Ry and Bob than any other matches. After some memory mining and questioning, it turned out Larry had a thing with a married neighborhood woman who had children. She had another child and she turned out to be Larry's now 53 year old daughter. She lives in the state of Washington and contact was made. She met Ry. We ALL communicated over the winter by phone and face-time and she came to Indiana to visit her family and meet her biological father whom she happily calls Dad.

She's a wonderful woman and has met everyone and met with Ry several times and is definitely taking a big sister role in his life! In the best way. Her name is Mandy  and she grew up i until her senior year then they moved to Texas. She always felt she did not fit in her family. Turns out she had good reason to feel that way and now we have a new treasure in the family.

She and her husband work six months of the year on Antarctica and enjoy the rest of their time in mountain and lakes of the great northwest. She's creative and, except for being very very petite, the family resemblance to all the girls meaning Leah, Rayne, Elizabeth, and Arden, is remarkable. Thats enough for now. Suffice it today she named me her bonus mom and I love it. .

Sometimes FB Doesn't Cover It

Until yesterday, on this earth, I had a cousin I'd only seen a handful of times in my life. She was glamorous to me, beautiful like a movie star. When she and her family returned from Japan I thought she and her little sis were exotic world travelers. The last time I saw her was 40 years ago when my girls were infants. Through the magic of Facebookwe found each other on Facebook and reconnected. Both of us nearing the ends of our careers, mine as a teacher, hers as an animal rescuer who was at every fire, flood, hurricane in these United States. In our time online her husband, Larry died of heart disease, she retired from her work, I retired from mine. She and her sister found and made a home together in northern California to set out on a fun golden time. Just less than a year ago Charlie (Charlisse) was diagnosed with stage 4 bladder cancer I think while she was hospitalized for a kidney stone and a UTI. It was so advanced she chose palliative care only. She was surrounded by so many friends and such a close knit  family all this time and true to her nature, she and Joni went on a trip all over fulfilling a bucket list. Last week there was a photo, very very thin, she continued to post her love and spirit. Two days ago a message from Joni, her little sister and her caretaker, said she had taken over the messages and Charlie was in her last days. Less than 24 hours later to the song Somewhere Over the Rainbow/What a wonderful World she left. Her beloveds are bereft and joyful at the same time.

I had picked up the phone a couple of weeks ago but I already knew she was napping a lot in the afternoon and wasn't able to communicate in the afternoons so I never made that call. I'd wanted to hear her voice one last time. I didn't do it. That I regret. Her choice was brave and she took that choice like the champ at life she was. Farewell to a beautiful lady.

We had laughed because we had aged into our grandmothers face! Quite a surprise!  Both of us Dessies. Both of us surprised.

Update: Her baby sister, Joni, stayed in touch over the next year. I had only seen her as a toddler and a little girl. we shared so much in that time, then after having a horrible accident and over a year recovery and nearly losing her leg, she succumbed to lung cancer at 60. By the tije I tried to talk to he in voice, she was too ill to speak. her daughters and friends surrounded her in great love and she left this earth before the Covid and before the worst fires in her state. Also missed some of the worse of this administration.