kvetching up

  Fuck. Loss is so painful. I lost my best friend at 17, 5 days after graduating from high school. I lost another close friend now almost 20 years ago. Then my mom. In three days I will mark a year without Jenny. Truth be told, without knowing it, I had lost her several years before. Her death, her dying, was a process of losing her twice.  But that is the Cliffnotes version of loss. I watched so many young boys and girls that we befriended at camp die over the years, I can confidently say I have attended more funerals than weddings by a stretch. The curse of Facebook is that people die and sometimes you know it, and are then reminded of it when their birthdays come along. Worse is when you wish someone Happy Birthday, like I did Tim Fisk last week, only to learn he'd been taken by glioblastoma, after the well wishing had been posted.  I've made it into my mid-50s, so I should feel blessed. In moments of darkness, when I contemplate checking out, I remind myself that I am...

Entry 1  The Week Ahead, The Week Before We make payment via wire today on the home. Over the weekend we signed all the final paperwork. The notary was from Sumner, and was clearly afraid of the city--so cliche that Aesop captured the phenomenon 2500 years ago in the fable of the City Mouse and The Country Mouse .  Wow.  We get the keys tomorrow at 5.  We will bring a few boxes with us, and my coffee maker, which was too big for the current kitchen.  We went and walked the property over the weekend.  It's lovely.  I am pretty sure that it used to be a farm back in the day.  I came upon an old plum tree at the back of the yard, that had tiny yellow plums, the size of a thumbnail.  They were sweet and delicious. I have every reason to believe that the property to the south of us, covered in Himalayan blackberry bramble, likely has many more fruit trees. Packing is a slow process.  We have packed more boxes than I care to admit.  Yeste...