“Not in Assisted Living (Yet): Dispatches from the Edge of Independence!

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
Showing posts with label Panasonic phone. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Panasonic phone. Show all posts

Wednesday, August 2, 2017

Life in a Holding Pattern



Everything going on in my life this week will happen in the last half which is a bummer when I have blog posts due on Wednesdays and Saturdays. Well, except for the “running of the bulls” aka the dash to secure RSVPs for all the senior hall events happening in September and October. (I should start calling it the running of the broads, but I’d probably offend someone.) I got my RSVPs in exactly at 9:00 on Monday but it will a few days before I’ll find out if I made it on the list for a fall color tour and in various classes for things like Healthy Legs, Perfect Bra Fitting, Making Soup and Cardio Drumming. The Life Learning Lectures are rarely full so I’ll have those to look forward to for sure---one is titled “Ghost Stories” and the other “Rakish Reeds Lake.” Don’t ask, I have no idea how a lake can be "rakish." Four of us Gathering Girls are trying to get on the same color tour bus, the first time we’ve tried something like that so that put a new twist on the running of the bulls. It’s a gamble, though, because there are four buses and time slots and one of our ladies was only available for one of them…it works better if you’re flexible making your RSVPs. 

The bra class isn’t a class per say but rather a 15 free minute appointment with a company that’s been around town for years. I’ve always wanted to do a fitting with them but I figure I’ll be under less pressure to buy from them this way than by going to their specialty store. I know several people who have gotten fitted there and they love the change a proper fit made in their posture, looks and comfort but it’s a pricy place to buy you undies---they even custom-make bras, if needed. Yes, I will have to get naked on top but I did it for a mammogram last month so I will do it again while trying to keep my mind off why someone would take on a job handling a different person’s boobs every 15 minutes, all day long.

Monday I was going to do re-con mission in preparation for the painting class I’ll start on Wednesday, but I decided to live dangerously and skip it. The woman teaching has a home and studio fifteen minutes north of me, out in the boondocks in between two lakes and anyone who lives in Michigan knows how hard it can be to find houses in "cottage communities." Google Maps wasn’t any help. Their Google satellite shot showed her living in the middle of a giant swamp with no roads in or out, obviously taken before the land was developed. I learned ten years ago not to trust those satellite shots on Google Maps when one identified my neighbor’s house across the street as being mine. The house numbers for the whole street were flipped. I was glad they were nice neighbors otherwise I would have worried about getting raided by the police---not a far-fetched notion. My husband actually witnessed that once where we used to live. A bad-ass, multi-agency swat team took down a large drug ring that lived across street even shot their two, nasty-tempered pit bulls which made all the neighbors happy. Don was tipped off ahead of time when it would happen because he’d been keeping track of license plates coming and going from the house for a month and was calling them in to an undercover cop/friend of his. Can you believe it, they were getting large quantities the cocaine delivered by a UPS truck and supplying half the city! Life is sure full of weirdness and wonder, isn’t it.

In the wonder department, I started back to the YMCA gym this week after not going for two. It wasn’t much of a workout since my chiropractor told me not to do any upper body stuff just yet. Basically all I did was break the ice by going up and down the staircase a million times, walking the treadmill, using the strength training machines for the lower body and wondering why in heck I’m still paying for a membership. I don’t want to be there anymore! I really don’t and it’s not in my DNA to keep doing things that are good for me when there are more fun ways to spend my time. And can you believe it, I dropped five pounds while the UTI and pinched nerve took me out of commission. I’ve never lost that much doing 14 day's worth of workouts. Silver linings, you’ve got to love them. 

Speaking of things you’ve got to love I bought a new landline phone because my old one was getting to the point where it wouldn’t dial out anymore---not a good situation for an old person who worries about dying in middle of the night when stumbling out to the middle of street and yelling “Help!” wouldn’t get me noticed. Oh-my-god, my new Panasonic makes my (four year old) landline look like a dinosaur! It even has a “block caller” button. The best part about the new phone is it doesn’t take an advanced degree in computer coding to program it. So even though I’m in a holding pattern, I’ve still had something to occupy my brain. ©