What I should have written on Nov 7:
I am just not adjusting very well to some aspects of being older than a woman “of a certain age” in that I seem less and less able to remember to do things I need to do, and it really hasn’t sunk in that I need to write lists of the things I need to do.
In an e-mail to my cousin yesterday afternoon, who lives on the Big Island and never ever has to deal with this problem, I wrote “It rained almost all day yesterday and overnight and was raining some this morning. Now that front has moved through and the temperature is dropping. I will have to make sure not to forget to go out and open and shut the doors on my car before I go to bed and perhaps they won't be frozen shut in the morning.”
It is now morning. Did I go out last night and open and shut the doors on my car?
No, I did not. I totally forgot.
Are the doors frozen shut this morning? Yes, they are. The button pushes in but the door won’t budge.
Richard is a lot stronger than I am, so perhaps he can yank the driver’s side door open. If not, then I have a backup that spent the night in the garage.
What I should have written last Monday:
When we gathered to decorate the sanctuary and the Christmas tree last year, I dropped 3 of the Christmas ornaments and they shattered. This year Richard told me that under no circumstances was I to handle any of the ornaments or come anywhere near the Christmas tree. No, he is not an overbearing control freak of an ogre. After the incredible embarrassment of last year, I had already decided that I was not going to decorate the tree.
So, I busied myself arranging the figures in the Nativity scene--without dropping any--and tried to make myself useful.
In the meantime, Richard, Tom, and Bill decorated the tree, while Barb, Bill’s wife, wired the red balls together in groups of three and orchestrated how the decorations should be placed on the tree. After the rest of us finished working on the garlands and window decorations, we sat in the pews and watched the 3 men and offered opinions about where there were holes that needed to be filled. The four of them did a wonderful job. The tree is beautiful. It was a successful day. I didn’t break anything.
What I should have written yesterday:
I am so very thankful for our friends Phil and Kim, who once again this year opened their home to us for Thanksgiving. They first invited us for Thanksgiving in the fall of 2011, realizing correctly that it was going to be the first Thanksgiving after our son died and would probably tough. We have spent every Thanksgiving since then with them.
It gives us great joy to be included as part of their family. Excellent food, good conversation, and loving kindness.
And I remembered to bring a camera so we could get picture of ourselves. The last time anyone took a picture of us together was in June 2011. I decided it was about time we had a more up-to-date photo.
And as a fitting end to the day as we were driving home, we passed a field with a small flock of maybe 10 or 15 wild turkeys. Phil commented later when I told them that the hens (I didn’t see a tom) were almost certainly thankful they weren’t on the menu.
