scattered

blew through the 2k mark yesterday at some point.

been blasting through various stuff today...

someone my wife shares an office with was diagnosed with stage 0 breast cancer this week, and following folks like Ezra's personal battle with cancer and Susan's fight that Fatty is sharing, then racing with a team mate who's a brain cancer survivor...

it just makes you pause and reflect what is important... Ezra sounds like he's gotten a great roll of the dice. Fatty's dealing with quite the opposite end of the spectrum... but one really remarkable thing is level of support and compassion you hear about through their writing...

the human spirit... the out pouring on a personal level... that is a remarkable thing.

My grandmother (technically my step father's mother but she's been a strong grandmother figure in my life) isn't doing well. An email came through the family list this morning (or last night) describing a very challenging situation. She's lost her mobility. We saw her this summer when she came down and had a picnic with my brother and our families. A windy wonderful September day. One of the last days shopping at the market. We had a great time, and she seemed quite happy to sit and watch the little ones, and the waves wash in. After that she came over to the house and gave her the best seat in the living room, with a view out the window at a our gorgeous Japanese maple and we talked. It was a struggle then to get her up the front steps to the house... My step father on one arm and me on the other. She was still generally ambulatory with a walker and a railing, but a recent fall has put one of her arms in a sling and she has been wheel chair bound. Unable to get around. And that, for someone her age, hasn't helped. A woman who was so fiercely independent and viking strong (Norway born) not to mention one of the most powerful intellects in the Peace movement has gotten old.

Struggles of health are what we all ultimately have to fight. Even the healthiest of us wind up at some point succumbing to the fact that these bodies we were born with don't last forever. Imperfect systems of evolution.

I'm actually somewhat stuck for finding the appropriate words to carry on for the moment. it feels a bit incomplete, the thoughts just before the line but it does reflect the moment appropriately...

heddwch
G

the one thing i had started writing 2x and didn't was connecting the feelings i had from attending the seattle production of Parsifal with the end of life and the feelings of loss when a parent dies... but i couldn't work it in well enough and i just kept deleting sentences... so if you are short on stuff to read - go read about Parsifal...