“Foreside’s Bottom”, “Rearward’s Bottom”, “Install’s Way”
(What is it? A chinese sex manual? No!)
It’s…
Grandmother is now a resident of Hollywood, Florida. She will spend the rest of her days in a reasonably posh setting. Susan is over unpacking her things.
Today Susie Budowsky and I went up to our kids’ school, Virginia Shuman Young Elementary, and planted two trees with a group of 2-5 Grade students. The kids were very interested, very respectful, and I believe will take ownership of the trees in a meaningful way. I dug my customary 5 ft. deep holes, so we were able to see the layers of soil as they had formed over time in Florida. I then backfilled the holes with good potting soil, and we planted two Hildegardia populifolia trees (photo), which according to the IUCN there are 20 of left in the wild. According to the person who collected the seed in India, there are “at least 200″, which does not make me any more comfortable.
My grandmother moves into her new accommodations on Wednesday of this week, at a luxury retirement center run by a luxury hotel chain near my mom’s condo, about four miles from here. My grandmother has given her car to my mother, and my mother is giving her car to me, a Honda CRV. The Volvo (yes, one of the good ones indeed) will be sold.
Let us now henceforth refer to the current conflict by its correct name:
“The Iraqi Civil War”
When this becomes common parlance, there will no longer be a question about whether it is or isn’t. It is.
Two nights ago, a dream where I am standing on a short hill which looks down into a lagoon. Suddenly, the gray mass of a large shark shoots into the lagoon, not towards me, but near me.
Recent sleep: disturbed
Thanksgiving at the house with 28 guests, including my mother and now-going-blind and already-going-deaf grandmother. During the morning and afternoon a familiar feeling, the feeling of how family gatherings felt when I was a child/teenager, when both of those people were present. There was drama generated by mother person concerning the impending/imminent necessity of my grandmother moving here, for which she has put a deposit on a very nice retirement setting. Mother person does not really want her mother person to move here, and there are great discomfort vibrations being/attempted-to-being shared. I recognize the discomfort vibrations, as do others in the thanksgiving party. Susan the Hero helps shoulder the burden of this intractable mess.
The food was good, the friends and Susan’s family were great. My family…I invited my cousin Greg, who has estranged himself from the family. He made noises about coming but didn’t really try. I for the first time in many years understand why. He figured out what it took me many more years to figure out: intractable discomfort ain’t no damn fun at all. Hats off to him.
P.S. There’s money involved, not a huge amount, but not a pittance. It doesn’t directly affect me, but it drives the situation like a fanged, top-hatted villain lurking in a back closet.
Yesterday afternoon a 9-year-old little boy was killed when he rode his bike out in the street in front of a garbage truck, about four blocks from here, right up the street. His twin brother was with him. He attended the local elementary school, and was in the class of our friends’ son last year. It is very distressing, and continues to vibrate through the local community.
Henry drew a very nice biography this evening of his father:
“About my dad”
“He grows a beard. He always wears shoes.”
“My dad.” He was very careful to draw the laces in the (Converse Chuck Taylor high top) shoes.
It is very hard to describe the change that has come over me since my birthday gift from Susan, the reading of my astrological chart by a seriously gifted professional. Right place, right time, right circumstances. An all around lightening, and a deep connection with who and what I love is evident, and my only fear is of going back. The concept of an inner garden has true and literal significance for me.
Tonight I learned that the boy who was killed wore a hoop earring, to be just like his dad. His nickname was “twin”.
I spoke yesterday with the wife of a Crafty I know in California, as I had heard through local channels that one of their children is seriously ill. It turns out this is true, and is very worrying. We spoke with her mother at length, and know the upside and the downside.
Alice Donut’s new video
In other news I returned this morning from a trip to my grandmother’s house (solo) where yesterday I drove her to see her lawyer in Lake Panasoffkee, Florida. The news is that she is now officially too old to live by herself, which I can tell from her failing eyesight and somewhat untidy house. The death of Al, her boyfriend and caretaker, has brought us to a new era. Long discussions were had between she and myself, culminating in brass tacks this morning over breakfast. Over Thanksgiving she will be driven over here to visit and to check out some assisted care facilities.
