Changing Seasons

Today marks my mom’s 29th “angelversary.” As I get older, I sense more and more of Mom in me and wonder of the conversations we would be having these days. She taught me the love of travel through summer road trips, our first cruises, and travel to Hawaii and Alaska as well letting me go to the Soviet Union just a month after the Chernobyl disaster. She survived the loss of two husbands and learned to do so many things on her own, including how to stay strong when the world falls apart and to see the beauty around her that she so wonderfully captured in her art and her words. Most importantly, she taught us life was better sharing our love.

In a way, this date feels like the passing of seasons even more than the 80 degree temperatures or the calendar tell me. Winter has become a season of loss for me, now annually marking my father’s passing on 14 Dec, my late husband Patrick’s on 15 Jan, my second love / next partner’s on 22 Feb, and my mother’s on 14 March. But spring brings its warmth and reminds me, as Mom always did, that beautiful things still exist and a wide world is out there to see with so very much more to learn. This year, add in changes at work as I shift responsibilities away from teaching and reference work, and I sense the first tiny seismic waves of change. So comfort comes with remembering Mom today, a little bit more than usual.

Flying With Superman

torso of a man in a blue plaid shirt with black computer case over his shoulder with a superman logo hooked on it

You know those crazy conversations you have while traveling, the kind that start with minimal eye contact and reluctant smiles from mandatory closeness.

Then you start chatting about the book I’m reading, the places he’s going, and you randomly order the exact same drink (tomato juice, with a lemon, no ice). By flight’s end, you realize it was actually pleasant and time went quickly as you prepare to get off the plane.

And then you discover you were flying with Superman! 😉
#liveinthemoment#makeyourownjoy

The Next Step in the “After” Life

Grey walls of a building with a stone walkway of small steps, side by side door sections with one open and one closed.

Let me start with honesty. I haven’t written a personal blog post since the final post on my previous blog, Second Memory, in January 2015. That post marked changes of my life in deep and profound ways with the loss of my late husband, Patrick, the previous day. With his death, life changed in immense and immeasurable ways, creating a distinctive line of demarcation of the before and after in my universe. Writing is one of those ways. While my professional writing carried on, my personal writing halted, stopped instantly in its tracks, and I’ve been slowly finding my way back in the days and years since. Starting anew here reflects a moment in time where I am presently, feeling that 6 years into life as a widow has had me taking many “next steps” in my “after” life. Some call it the next chapter, the next book, the next version of one’s self – all true, and yet I’m still the same me, just with more life lessons, more experience. Just changed. So here I go, taking the next step back into my writing. I’m looking forward to the journey.