June 18
Celebrating life in many ways
1966
Saturday! Worked all morning, like a good girl. Then, in the afternoon, we went to Arnold’s I got some trim for my bathing suit. Mom got a pattern and some dress material. She wants me to make her a dress before I leave. We had a cookout. Dad took a picture of me in my curlers and a sloppy dress. I also had his slippers on, because my feet were cold.
Mom’s friend Gussie died. She had lung cancer.
5 days to go! I’m almost all packed. Still have to get summer reading books: David Copperfield and Crime and Punishment. Other choices were Brave New World and Withering Heights. I’d already read BNW and am not interested in WH.
Comment 2023
Her name was Augusta. She was a nurse who worked with Mom at the hospital. Like just about everyone back then, she smoked. She died 525 days after the Surgeon General’s Report on the link between smoking and lung cancer came out. Nearly the entire staff at New Milford Hospital quit smoking after that, including Mom and Gussie. But it was too late for Gussie.
1978
I am feeling very successful, having just set off six or seven requests for catalogs and publications. The pile of order forms has been on my desk for a month, and was begun last winter.
Now I should clean out the fabric box and practice piano. Again, I have neglected my practicing for two days.
K & S came over Friday night and we had a really nice dinner – veal and pasta with butter and cheese – also vino and roasted peppers - mmmm!
Today is hot. We actually have our air conditioning on for the first time, so I am ensconced in the bedroom to keep cool. On to work!
2003
The new IKEA in College Park opens today. I hope this means that life will calm down a bit for Jim. He’s been working so hard!
I, on the other hand, have not! I am puttering and straightening, but generally have this odd limbo-ish sensation like I am waiting for something. Kiddo 2 being sick has been a problem, and getting my new laptop, new Palm and new printer turned out to be a distraction. New toys!
I am simply not feeling either energetic or creative. Feh.
2004
We finally got into Sacramento around 7:30 - - nearly 5 hours late. It still gave me plenty of time to explore “Old Sacramento”, the restored historic district*. The Coast Starlight was supposed to depart around midnight, but it ended up being around 2 when it actually arrived, and by the time I woke up it was nearly four hours behind. So at the next stop (Klamath Falls) we are getting on a bus for Portland. I guess it’s about 4-5 hours. While I’ll miss having my electrical outlet and my privacy, as long as I make my connection I just don’t care. I did some work on my presentation, so it’s all good.
We are riding next to a canal and I swear I just saw about 10 different kinds of birds in under 2 minutes. Pelicans, gulls, a couple of different kinds of ducks, an egret or heron, plus a bunch of turtles sunning themselves.
*tourist area!
4:20 pm This is clearly going to be a very long haul. We just had our first rest stop, at a potty and picnic grove very much in the middle of nowhere. I’ve been reading and gazing out the window, and listening to music. I even napped about 20 minutes. I have no idea how long this ride will be. Someone said “9 o’clock”. Dear Sweet Jesus, no! Good thing I had that good meal last night, and I still have another can of Slimfast in my backpack. My phone is completely dead.
Comment 2023
What a great summer! I had conferences in Denver and LaCrosse, Wisconsin, and a consulting gig in Bozeman, Montana. The Bozeman job paid enough $$ that I could take Amtrak all the way in a sleeper!!!!! Yes, it was the long way around (DC to Chicago, Chicago to Denver, Denver to Sacramento, Sacramento to Whitefish, rental car to Bozeman and back, then Whitefish to LaCrosse, Lacrosse to Chicago, Chicago to DC). Yes, the train was often late due to freight interference. No, I did not care, because a sleeping compartment in a train is my happy place.
2016
One year from today I will be retired. Whatever that means. A never ending weekend. Watching my hands wrinkle. That's progress, in a way. It's OK that I'm 67. The day will come I will think 67 is young. I hope that long after today, 67 will be very long ago, and I will be very wrinkled. My children will have gray hair and my grandchildren will be tall and place their own children in my lap. I want a long life, and I hope to experience ever-increasing knowledge and wisdom. I hope to see peace. I hope the days of armed heat and passive destruction are short, and I live to see a world infused with love. I hope my life makes a difference. I hope my words improve lives. I hope to be remembered for good things and fun times. I hope to move just once more, to the perfect home for a person who needs to be alone more than she needs company. I hope the light is good. I hope my mind still works, that I can hear music and stories. I hope I get to ride the Loch Ness Monster again before I am too old. I hope to love every single item in my wardrobe. I hope to have more red shoes. I hope to write a book for children. I hope to write a story that will help me see how beautiful my own life has been. It has been, for the most part, lacking in drama and extremes. So very ordinary in many ways. I am just one in billions. I want to feel the connection with those billions I want them to feel connected with each other.
Tarot. The sun. Life makes sense and there is purpose and pleasure in expression and uniqueness. The sun is reborn. People and sentient beings are happy and celebrate it is a glorious day!
Soon: the nine of discs. After working alone, it will soon be time to go out in the world and share what I have created. I do not need to be alone so much right now. The beginning of the aging project!
On the horizon: justice. Justice feels out of balance. What could be done to make the world a more just placed? How can I promote harmony, balance, and rightness? Through my words, through my actions.
Comment 2023
I’d better start planning that ride on the Loch Ness Monster.
2024
Last night we had a big celebration for a long-time Star Island conferee who was turning 100. She was born in the Netherlands and was in the Dutch resistance during WW II. She is physically frail, but mentally alert, with a bawdy sense of humor. Her secret of living a long life: taking younger lovers.
And while all of this was going on, I was mourning the sudden death of one friend and waiting for news of the passing of another. It’s a lot to hold all at once, so I don’t try. Just letting my emotions take turns as I watch the sky and the ocean.
