December 18, 2021
I'd say I'm going to take tonight off, but I already did-- I've been asleep on the couch for hours (all the way through Bullitt!) and am just over here to post a picture so you all know I'm alive, and then I'm falling into bed.
Semester ended this week. Can you tell?
I'll see you tomorrow.
[Photo by Buddy Poland. Mornings lately have been spectacular.]
Last year, just after my husband died of ALS, I made a plan for what I needed to do going forward. My goal was simple: grieve my loss, care for our daughters and help them recover- and not get lost in depression.
There were four steps in the plan. First, adopt a dog again. Fresh air and exercise are helpful in staving off depression and anxiety and dogs- and their people- need exercise. Second, go back to being an artist-I make and sell bead woven jewelry. Third, go back to school-I had started a masters program 35 years ago; it was time to finish what I’d started. And fourth, get back to spending more time with friends and family.
Adopting a dog proved to be a real challenge-Kiri was advertised as a lab mix. Yes, she is mostly black, short haired and has amber eyes. But she didn’t act like a lab so I did a DNA test on her. Turns out, she is half mountain cur, a third pit bull, and the rest is mostly German Shepard. Three big, active, reactive, aggressive, protective breeds. Yikes! I’d wanted an exercise buddy. I adopted an Olympic level athlete!
Going back to working my art was much easier- and my sales at area art fairs have been off the charts. But going back to school in the midst of a pandemic was impossible-at least short term.
Fortunately, I found Dr. Richardson’s LFAA- and this community. And as others have said so often, I have learned more American history here, and more about how to be active in protecting our democracy from all of you than I ever thought possible. I also found a whole group of people I have come to think of as friends- who care as deeply about preserving democracy as I do and so inadvertently found a way towards my fourth goal-time with family and friends.
All of you have my deepest gratitude for taking me to school with you this year. Thank you! And special thanks to Buddy Poland for the beautiful photos. Now its time to go to the dog park. We’ve miles to go…….
You’ve earned it. A couple of Sundays ago you posted one of Buddy’s photos and said on Monday we would carry on. I’ve been carrying the words and melody of an old folk song that became an anthem of the civil rights movement in my head ever since.
Carry It On
“ There's a man by my side walking
There's a voice within me talking,
There's a word that needs a sayin’,
Carry on, carry it on. Carry on, carry it on“
(It was later recorded by Joan Baez and Judy Collins)
Gil Turner was a prominent American folksinger and songwriter in Greenwich Village in the early ‘60’s. He was the first to record Bob Dylan's "Blowin' in the Wind" and "Don't Think Twice."
Carry it on