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Category Archives: Family
Was It a Bad Choice?
My wife’s first evening in her new temporary home (a skilled nursing and rehabilitation facility) did not have a pleasant start. Once she was situated in her room, she did not see anyone for several hours, even after pressing her … Continue reading
Posted in Family, Health, Love
3 Comments
Trying Times
The past several weeks—approaching a month, now—have seemed impossibly long to me. That span of time must have seemed far longer for my wife. Since she tripped on July 14, she has been poked and prodded and exposed to X-rays … Continue reading
Posted in Family, Health, Love
6 Comments
Friday Evening Roundup
I delivered Janine to CHI Rehabilitation Hospital (AKA Encompass) this afternoon about 6:15 p.m. It took all day for the process of referral to CHI to play out, I guess. By the time she was formally discharged (the paperwork said … Continue reading
Posted in Family, Health
5 Comments
Update
I’m tired, so this will be brief. Janine was moved out of ICU this afternoon to a regular room on the floor below. A while after the move, though, her blood pressure dropped precipitously, so the nurse said she may … Continue reading
Posted in Family, Health
4 Comments
Relief
Yesterday was impossibly long, beginning when I went to sleep after midnight, awoke at 3:30, and then played out during a day that stretched out almost to midnight again. My wife’s sister helped me get my wife to the nearby … Continue reading
Posted in Family, Health
5 Comments
Chiselers
I don’t remember where I came across the word “chiseler” in the past day or so, but the word stuck with me. I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone speak the word since I heard my father use it many, … Continue reading
Posted in Family, Language
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Another Birthday
If he were still alive, today would be my father’s 116th birthday. He reached only 81 of those 116 years before he died. “Only” 81 is an odd way of putting it. That’s more than a respectable age, though he … Continue reading
Posted in Family
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My Father was a Carnivorous Xylopolist: A Rambling Recollection
Yes, my father was a xylopolist. I did not know that until just a short while ago. Somehow, some way, I stumbled across the word online. I didn’t recognize it, so I looked it up. It wasn’t in the free … Continue reading
Posted in Family, Memories
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Things on My Mind
I learned yesterday that one of my brothers, from whom I unfortunately have been estranged for more than two years, is in the hospital. He is to undergo a heart catheterization and placement of a pacemaker as a prelude to … Continue reading
Posted in Anger, Family, Frustration, Government, Politics, Rant, Regret, Stream of Consciousness, Writing
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Borrowing Money or Time
I’m sure I’ve written about it before, haven’t I? That I am the sixth of six children? That I was an unplanned intrusion into a family that was more than complete at five? That I was a mistake, probably discovered … Continue reading
Posted in Family
3 Comments
In Memory of My Mother on Her Birthday
September 28, 1908. That’s when my mother was born. Were she still alive, she would have turned 110 years old today. She didn’t make it that far. She died thirty-two years ago, when she was 78 and I was 32.
Posted in Family, Memories
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Musings on a Wednesday Evening
I got word late this afternoon that my brother will be released from the hospital on Saturday. So, I’ll head down to welcome him to my niece’s home; I should arrive by late afternoon. There’s no time-frame for my visit. … Continue reading
Posted in Family, Music, Philosophy, Rambling
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Mom’s Birthday
My mother was forty-five years old when I, the sixth child, was born. I cannot even imagine the stresses she must have endured, rearing six children from birth through young adulthood. Each of us required at least eighteen years of … Continue reading
Christmas
Last night, we spent the evening sampling several soups at the Unitarian Universalists’ Christmas Eve service. The soup sampling followed a carol-fest in which the church choir sang carols, often with the audience chiming in. And there were readings sprinkled … Continue reading
The Year in Pictures (of food)
Anyone who knows me knows I have this thing about food. I really enjoy cooking and eating and, as the collage above attests, taking pictures of food. Food is more than flavor and texture; it is eye candy, as well. … Continue reading
Posted in Family, Food, Friendship
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Vitrectomy
In just a short while, my wife and I will make a trek to Little Rock with my sister-in-law for the latter’s eye surgery. She is having a vitrectomy to correct a macular hole. Post-surgery care requires the patient to … Continue reading
Posted in Family, Health
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Seven Lonely Birthdays
Seven now. Seven of her birthdays without her present to celebrate. My oldest sister died in 2010, just about three months after her November 2, 2009 birthday. On the day she died—Friday, February 19, 2010—I wrote a tribute on the blog I … Continue reading
Posted in Family, Love
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Another Day to Remember
Just like every year on this day, my mother’s birthday, I pause to reflect about her. She was a good woman, a good mother, and a good teacher. I owe my love of language and food to her. And, of course, … Continue reading
Posted in Family
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Today is Dad’s Birthday
Today is my father’s birthday. He was fifty years old when I was born; were he still alive, he would have turned 113 years old today. But he’s not. He died when he was 81 and I was 31. It’s … Continue reading
Voices and Memories and Energy
The last swallow of coffee is cold but, surprisingly, energizing. I look at my cup and wonder how I could have let that little bit of coffee sit, unattended and unswallowed, for so long. Ah, I know. I was writing … Continue reading
Posted in Emotion, Family, Friendship, Health, Poetry, Walking
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Of Course I Remembered
Remembering my mother’s birthday takes on a new dimension every year. Either I remember more about things she did and said or I pay closer attention to snippets of memories locked deep in the recesses of my brain. My memories are … Continue reading
Posted in Family
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Old Newspaper Clippings
Old newspaper clippings, even those clipped by someone else for reasons unrelated to one’s own experiences, can trigger memories. Well, memories may be the wrong word. Longings may better describe it, though even that’s not quite right. It’s more like … Continue reading
Posted in Family, Just Thinking, Memories
2 Comments
My Father’s Birthday
Dad was fifty years old when I was born; he was born on July 18, 1903. Were he alive today, he would be one hundred twelve years old. But he died in February 1985 at the age of eighty-one, when I … Continue reading
Posted in Aging, Family
4 Comments
Fledge
When you were a child, you understood the role of parents. When you were young, you understood how the world worked. How did it come to pass, then, that the older you got the less conscious you became of the … Continue reading
Posted in Family, Philosophy
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Creative Cookery
One of the many things I love about mi esposa hermosa is that she is creative in ways that surprise me and that encourage my own creativity. Yesterday, as we discussed what we might do with the awaze paste I made, she … Continue reading
Posted in Family, Food, Love
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