Welcome to the Misadventures of Widowhood blog!

Welcome to my World---Woman, widow, senior citizen seeking to live out my days with a sense of whimsy as I search for inner peace and friendships. Jeez, that sounds like a profile on a dating app and I have zero interest in them, having lost my soul mate of 42 years. Life was good until it wasn't when my husband had a massive stroke and I spent the next 12 1/2 years as his caregiver. This blog has documented the pain and heartache of loss, my dark humor, my sweetest memories and, yes, even my pity parties and finally, moving past it all. And now I’m ready for a new start, in a new location---a continuum care campus in West Michigan, U.S.A. Some people say I have a quirky sense of humor that shows up from time to time in this blog. Others say I make some keen observations about life and growing older. Stick around, read a while. I'm sure we'll have things in common. Your comments are welcome and encouraged. Jean

Friday, December 17, 2021

Fangirling a Fellow Resident

 


You’re probably wondering how come I’m posting when it’s not a Wednesday or Saturday. Or maybe you’re not and you just think I’m getting forgetful or confused as to what day it is. I’m not and I didn’t. I’m throwing in an extra post this week because I have too many posts in my scheduler and they’ll get too “dated” to be relevant, say, if one about a holiday party gets published mid-January. I’ve had to discard unpublished posts before and if you knew how much I like to write, you’d understand how much it bugs me to do that. This post will be short. I promise.  

Back when we had the resident’s art show here at the continuum care complex I’ve been stalking a woman who was rumored to be a retired college professor in the arts department of a local university. Her entries into the show were definitely at a professional level, far above any of the pieces the rest of us entered. I knew where her apartment was by the pedestal outside her door with a metal bust sitting on top---one she’d entered in the show. A few times I’ve walked down her hall hoping I’d get lucky and she’d pop out the door on her way to who knows where. 

Last night I was sitting and laughing in the cafe` with three other ladies and it came out that one of the ladies was the retired art professor. Ohmygod, I totally fangirled her. “I’ve been stalking you for weeks!” I said practically bouncing in my seat. “I’ve been wanting to meet you and here you are! Right next to me!” She laughed. We were all laughing, having a totally silly conversation for over an hour before she got around to asking why I wanted to meet her and I admitted I hoped she taught drawing or painting so I could pick her brain but, she didn’t. She spent her whole career teaching sculpture, jewelry design and other 3 dimensional arts. 

When we parted she wanted to know my name and I answered, Jean.  “There are five Jeans here,” she said, “how will I know which one your are?” “I’m the fat one,” I replied. She looked at me like I was Duffy-Duck so I confirmed what I said, “Well I am.” “What is your name?” she asked again and for a minute I felt like I was in that Abbott and Costello skit “whose on first.” My old brain cells weren’t working and she had to come right out and ask what my last name is. I felt a connection with the woman or maybe it was the fact that I’d been fangirling the heck out of her that made me feel so giddy---and obviously brain farts were involved. I was in grade school again and I wanted to skip on home to tell my mom I’d made a new friend. She probably went home thinking she’d met the dumb or dense Jean. Since it took two and a half months for our paths to finally cross who knows how long it will take for that to happen again. Meeting her made my happy. Checked that goal off my list.

In other headline news from my tiny world, I am finally prescription eye drop free and I don’t have to go back to the doctor again for six months. I do have to give my left eye a test once a week and call the office if a bunch of lines on a grid start breaking up or fall off the chart, which would indicate a change in my macular pucker. I left the complex after ordering five hundred dollars worth of eye glasses---two pair---happy as a meadowlark on a sunny day. I probably should have shopped around but I wanted this whole saga behind me. It’s been over two months since the surgery and the promise of being able to see street signs sharper was just too good to put off another day. Once I get them I'll be braver about exploring the area I moved into.

So there you have it. I was bubbling over to share my fangirl stalking incident and the fact that no one got hurt in the process. Between here and the new year we have so many parties and events on the calendar round here and I signed up for all of them and knew this post would get bumped if it had to wait too long to get published.  Life is good. ©

21 comments:

  1. Me looking at you like Daffy Duck --- I could read your posts every day! Don't delete, please share them.

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  2. Fangirling and happy as a meadowlark - such great imagery!

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  3. This is fun news. Both your girl crush and your party schedule. You are rocking your new world. Good for you.

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    1. I'd like the Professor even if I hadn't been fangirling her before we even met. We have similar senses of humor but she has a classic way of summing lessons learned out of every antidote someone shares which I think is a classic characteristic of most born-to-be teachers.

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  4. Don't ya love chance encounters? So glad you got to meet the prof and that she lived up to your expectations. Sounds like a new BFF in the making.
    Please let us know how the new glasses work. May they also live up to your expectations.

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    1. I don't think we'll be BFFs or that I'll even find one here. But it fun finding chance encounters that are almost certain to me laugh around here.

      I hope the glasses do, too. But looking through a pucker on my cornea is never going to get corrected with glasses. I'll be happy just to have it stay stable and me be able to feel comfortable driving again.

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  5. Life is especially good if you find the person you have been stalking. LOL

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  6. Haha! I totally get it. I recently had a fangirl moment myself, when I was surprised to find a content creator I have been watching on YouTube on the sidewalk in front of me...well, I noticed his bulldog first and then when I glanced up at his owner I burst out with "HEY, I KNOW YOU!!!!!" I told him I enjoyed watching his videos so much and he said it was encounters like these that explained why he was in such a good mood usually. And then his bulldog wanted to follow me home instead of stay with his master and that made me laugh and feel good too.

    Deb

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    1. What a great fangirl story! You win---the dog gave you extra points and the fangirl scale.

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  7. I was Happy to see you threw in an additional Post when I came for the Weekly coverage on the CCC Life. *Smiles* I too have too many Pre-Scheduled Posts and so some aren't so relevant but I refuse to delete them since it took so long to write them and remember which pixs have already now been used. People don't really know what we're doing in Real Time anyway, so I suppose it all could be relevant enough to read from a distance. Glad you got your Fangirl Moment with The Artist. There are people whose Work I greatly Admire and getting to meet and talk with them is always exciting, to see what THEY are like, since the Essence of them is in their Work and getting to meet them in person is an extension of getting to 'know' the whole Artist/Person they are.

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    1. It's a good think they didn't have the internet when I was young and could have fangirled too many people who impressed me.

      You are such a prolific writer I can't imagine what your scheduler looks like. I get four ahead and I panic.

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  8. Congrats on healed eyes! And new specs!

    How did you publish without sending notice?? Smarty pants!

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    1. It took me a while to figure it out that when the woman who set up the subscribe by email boxes, she had asked what days and times I posed so the notices are pretimed off the information she was given and I can't figure out how to add or change that at Mailchimp.

      I got to wait too weeks to get the glasses and last night I lost my new over the counter pair. I'm so mad at myself! I rare lose anything and I need them!

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  9. I love that you were already laughing and enjoying time with the whole group before you found out the identity of the artist. It gave you confirmation that she'd be someone you'd like to know and provided her with a glimpse of your personality to round out the fangirl moments. She was being fangirled by someone she liked. Once we get to a certain age, isn't it wonderful to know someone is still impressed by you? You gave her that.

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  10. Well done on the eyedrops! And it's really always wonderful to meet someone whose work you admire! Pity she doesn't teach painting or drawing but maybe you'll pick up sculpture!

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    1. If she taught a class in sculpture here I'd take it but think she's still teaching a little at the college.

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  11. Good news about your eyes. It is so relieving to get one medical issue behind you. So interesting to meet the new person and possibly a friend in the making. I hope she turns out to be really interesting when you get to cross paths again.

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    1. Our paths have crossed twice since that night. She's a really nice lady.

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