All things come to an end...whether it be life or just circumstances. There's no way to fight that...it just is.
Such was the case for my mother, who passed from this earth October 14, 2005 at 8:15 pm. Her fight with cancer is over and she is free of the pain and suffering and with loved ones that passed before her.
I'm sure everyone can relate to the passing of a family member, so there's no need to go into major details. My family bonded on a new level while we worked together to bring Mom's affairs in order and make the necessary arrangement for her funeral and memorial service. Btw, it was a lovely service, tasteful, and the room was filled with Mom's family and friends. Uncle Jr, her brother, made the arrangements with the country club he's a member of for the wake and he did a fantastic job.
It was an exhausting week and although I'm glad to be back home with my hubby and our furbabies, I miss my family very much already and it's only been a few hours.
Since I'm on the topic of endings, this leads me to my farewell to the braveverse. I've enjoyed my time here and meeting the friends I have, and hope to continue to keep up with. However, I feel the need to do this elsewhere.
I hold good feelings about bravejournal, but there is a certain someone, who although this person claims she wants distance from me and mine, continues to hit this journal daily...and more than once each day. I counted one day 13 times! Er...how many times does one think I might make a journal entry during the course of one day? Aside from that, why bother to stalk me here and other places when one wants nothing to do with me? This is the $64million question. Anyone with a good answer is free to email me.
Where I'm going, I will be glad to share. Email me if you'd like to keep in touch via journal or hey, we can just do the email thing, but my time here is at an end.
Take care, y'all!
Shel
...So, I'm just going to put up a goofy email that a friend @ work sent me today. I'm glad I wasn't drinking anything at the time, or I would have spewed it all over my monitor and keyboard.
CLASS PROJECT GONE WRONG
An elementary school class started a class project to make planters to take home to their parents.
They wanted to have a plant in it that was easy to take care of, so they decided to use cactus plants.
The students were given green-ware pottery planters in the shape of clowns which they painted with glaze.
The clown planters were professionally fired at a class outing so they could see the process.
It was great fun!
They planted cactus seeds in the finished planters and they grew nicely, but unfortunately, the children were not allowed to take them home.
The cactus plants were removed and small ivy replaced them and the children were then allowed to take them home instead.
The teacher said cactus seemed like a good idea at the time!
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PS...I hope this doesn't offend anyone!!!
- Mood: Upbeat
- Music: All the Young Dudes - Moot the Hoople
- Notes: Wrote a paragraph yesterday and developed two characters
- Quotes: On cable TV they have a weather channel - 24 hours of weather. We had something like that where I grew up. We called it a window. -- Dan Spencer
...No! Not that kind of 3 way, you pervs. 
j/k No, really, last night my sister called and she had Mom on the line, so we enjoyed over an hours worth of conversation between the three of us. Mom sounds good, and we had a few good laughs. Just as a mom would be, she's more concerned about my health issues than her own.
As they always seem, her spirits are up. She was especially happy that she had a full day of non-stop visitors. I'm so glad for that. My heart was near bursting and I was teary-eyed then entire conversation, but I held it back. The last thing I want is to upset Mom in any way.
She sounded like a little girl when she said her Aunt Mary was coming by on Monday to pick her up and treat her to Bingo! Mom has always loved going to Bingo. My grandmother is to blame for that Nanny loved her Bingo nights, and Mom usually went with her. For many years, Mom was the Bingo caller for one location. I used to go with them a lot when I lived back home. It was just a fun time to spend with my mom, Nanny, Aunt Bonnie, and Nanny's sister Isabel when she could make it. Some day I have to tell you about Aunt Izzy. She's a RIOT!
I stopped by Nienke's journal and spent some time there. It's a great place. 
I found a link there to this quiz and couldn't resist. I'm a sucker for a quiz.
you are steelblue
#4682B4 |
Your dominant hues are cyan and blue. You like people and enjoy making friends. You're conservative and like to make sure things make sense before you step into them, especially in relationships. You are curious but respected for your opinions by people who you sometimes wouldn't even suspect.
Your saturation level is medium - You're not the most decisive go-getter, but you can get a job done when it's required of you. You probably don't think the world can change for you and don't want to spend too much effort trying to force it.
Your outlook on life is brighter than most people's. You like the idea of influencing things for the better and find hope in situations where others might give up. You're not exactly a bouncy sunshine but things in your world generally look up.
|
| the spacefem.com html color quiz |
Okay, it's time for the football games to start. I usually watch atleast one or a good part of one w/ hubby.
Cheers!
Shel
- Mood: Zombified
- Music: Silent Lucidity by Queensryche
- Notes: out line has been completed
- Quotes: T.G.I.F'in.F -- Eric
Not sure if I mentioned this, but Dad broke his leg a couple weeks ago. The doctors were hopeful the bone would mend without having a surgical procedure, but after his two week checkup, it was determined he needed the procedure and the pin insertion. He emailed me a couple nights ago saying the surgery was for Monday morning. I asked him to make sure this surgeon was aware of his aortic aneurism.
Sis called on Wednesday to let me know mom was in the hospital. She went in because of pains in her side, and found out her liver is jaundice. I had no idea, because speaking to her on the phone doesn't allow me the luxury of seeing her. Anyway, the doctors told her they could do a procedure to eliminate the pain (I assume it has something to do with nerves...), but Mom asked if it would prolong her life and when the doc said 'no', mom's response was 'then what's the point?' 
They brought Hospice in to talk to her and Sis is going to call them to get a first hand explanation of what's going on, because things get muddled in translation from Mom.
Anyway, Sis drove the some six hours back to our home town and by the time she had gotten there, Mom was checked out of the hospital and playing bingo with her Aunt Mary. LOL You just can't keep these women down.
It seems cancer plays a big part in my family on my mom's side. My grandmother, God rest her soul, had breast cancer, but she beat that. She was one helluva lady and I miss her tremendously. Pappy too...
Mom's two brothers, Bob and Jr. also had a struggle with cancer. Uncle Jr. had throat cancer, and battled long and hard to beat it. Uncle Bob had lung cancer many years ago and came through that, but recently, the nasty illness came back full blast and has spread to his bones. He's in terrible pain, Hospice visits him daily, as does my Mom when she's up to it. Uncle Jr too.
The three of them had drifted apart over the years, but these days, they spend every moment they can together. I'm so glad they have each other..
Marcia, my friend from work, has finished with the radiation treatment on the brain tumors. She's lost all her hair and wears a wig. I was amazed at how closely it is to her natural gray/white color and took me a while to realize it was a wig. She's had weekly chemo treatments all throughout the daily radiation... she's getting a break this week and will start up again next week. I can't tell you how much I admire this feisty woman. She comes to work every day, and although she's tired, and really should be resting, she's far too stubborn to do that. She's one amazing lady.
- Mood: Content
- Music: The whispering of cheers during the Jaguar game.
- Quotes: "Listen. Hear that? That's the sound of peacefulness" Mike Jolly
Our trip began on Monday, Sept. 12, departing the Jacksonville International Airport at 6:30 am. After a stopover in Philadelphia, we landed in Bangor (which I learned is pronounced Bang-gor...not Banger as I've heard my entire life. LOL) a little before noon. After procuring our rental car (Ford Freestyle...nice little SUV wannabe), we headed to Bar Harbor, enjoying the scenic view along US 1.
We stayed at a beautiful Bed & Breakfast called The Inn at Bay Ledge. Here's a shot we took of the back porch. 
Isn't it beautiful? This really doesn't do it justice. It's so warm and homey inside...uniquely beautiful. I can't begin to describe it. The owners, Jack and Jeanie were fabulous hosts and made everyone feel comfortable and at home.
Just a side note here... although there was a television in the common room upstairs, we never bothered with it. After our daily excursions, we collapsed into our comfy bed and slept soundly so we could get up early and start again!
We arrived at the Inn around 1:30, took our luggage upstairs, then headed into town. We walked around, checked out numerous little shops...all after we stopped at The Chart Room for lunch. Our waiter, Chris, possessed a good sense of humor. He even took our picture with me holding up my scrumptious whole Maine lobster to show all. Then he taught me how to crack the little monster. It was a lot of fun. Thanks, Chris!
Here's a picture of one of the town's streets at dusk. All those cool shops. I can't even begin to tell you about them all.
We booked passage on The Friendship V for the next day, so let me move on to that. The catamaran raced over the water at exhilarating speeds. I was so excited I was bouncing all over the place. After seeing several porpoise and harbor seal, I was beginning to think we weren't going to see any whales, but almost two hours into the trip, they finally showed themselves. We saw three Finback whales and one Minke whale. One of the Finbacks surfaced so close to the boat that I cried out in surprise when I heard the whoosh of his spout as he surfaced. Here's a shot of one of the Finbacks. I wish it had been the one that surfaced closer, but it came as such a surprise, we didn't have the camera ready!
This picture doesn't begin to show his size. I was awe struck by him/her. Gorgeous creatures. I'm planning on adopting one, so I'll put up that information a bit later.
Let's see...more dinners, lunches, and let me add here that Jeanie put out a nice spread for us each morning at the Inn, along w/ afternoon snacks. Everything was prepared fresh and it was heavenly.
We drove throught the 'loop' at Acadia National Park and enjoyed the sites there...Thunder Hole, Sand Beach, The Jordan Pond House... sadly, Wednesday a misty fog rolled into the area and the view from Cadillac Mountain was nil. Couldn't see two feet in front of us. Still, the scenic beauty of the park wasn't lost on us. We enjoyed it immensely.
One thing we did with consistancy each day...at low tide or the ebbing high tide, we walked down the 79 steps to the private beach at the Inn. 
And this is only a portion of the staircase! Not so bad going down, but what a climb going back up!
Btw, did I mention the Inn sits atop an 80 foot cliff? The view was spectacular to say the least! We spent hours scouring the rocky beach for my hubby's new obsession...beach glass...or sea glass...however you want to call it. We had more fun doing that and skimming stones than almost anything. We felt like kids again.
I think I'll end this here. Our trip home was uneventful, if not long...with a couple delays caused by bad weather in Philly. Still, we got home Thursday just after midnight...technically, Friday morning, huh? lol 
Oh, one last pic...
This is hubby inside the rock formation dubbed 'The Cathedral". It's absolutely breathtaking and is part of the Inn's private beach. There's also a formation called 'The Ovens'. Perhaps I'll post more pictures later...along w/ a more full view of The Cathedral. Many couples get married here. It's very romantic.
Hope you enjoyed the pictures! We took well over a hundred shots...Maine is such a beautiful state.
Cheers!
Shel
Hubby and I spent four days in Bar Harbor, Maine this week. We flew up on Monday and came back Thursday (walked in the door just after midnight) and I'm sooooo tired...still! And it's Saturday. LOL I need to download the pics from our camera to share some of our adventures. Hopefully I can write out the details in a coherent fashion a bit later. Suffice to say, we had a fabulous time and I really miss it. The Bed & Breakfast we stayed at was darling and so comfortable.
More details to come
Cheers!
Shel
- Mood: reflective
- Quotes: "My hopes are not always realized, but I always hope." —Ovid, Roman poet
Marcia is a co-worker and friend. She's a terrific lady with a few more life experience years than me...about twenty, I'd say.
Let me tell you a little about Marcia. She's got a great sense of humor, will fully admit that she's 'a little backwoods', offers no pretenses about anything, she's a hard worker, cares genuinely about others, Sure, she's got her 'bad' side, as we all do. She is human after all. She can be as cantankerous as a grissly bear that's been interrupted during hibernation, but over all, she's a sweetie.
So, a couple months ago, she started complaining about her shoulder, thinking she hurt something when she was up on a ladder pruning some small branches from a tree in her back yard. Sadly, it wasn't as simple as that. A few weeks ago, Marcia was diagnosed w/ lung cancer.
Her spirits remain optimistic in the face of her illness. I have to admire her courage. I don't think I had one tenth of her strength when I faced my ordeal with cancer.
She's seen so many doctors in the last few weeks, had numerous tests done, had the port put in for the chemo, had her radiation treatments scheduled...the whole nine yards.
This past Thursday she was given more news...brain cancer...two tumors. The scheduled chemo treatment was postponed to have her fit for a special mask to wear while radiation is directed at the brain.
I feel awful that she begins these treatments while I'm away on vacation. She's always in my thoughts and prayers. She wouldn't hear any of that though. She wants me and hubby to go and have a good time. She reminded me that he and I have not had a 'real' vacation in over ten years. Always something else would come up and the last couple of years we've dealth with cancer, heart attacks, and more cancer on my side of the family (my cancer included).
In this day and age, it's hard to get away from it. Back to Marcia...she was already out wig shopping, bless her heart. When I get back, I'm going to go look for those turban things I've seen people wear while dealing with hair loss after radiation. I know I'd want something comfortable to wear... Who am I kidding? I don't know what I'd want.
I do know I want this though...for Marcia to get well.
- Mood: Exhausted
- Music: None except the music in the background on the movie "Dodgeball"
- Quotes: Though old the thought and oft exprest, Tis his at last who says it best. -- James Russell Lowell
It's so hard to watch the news and see all the suffering and devastation Katrina has caused. My heart and prayers continue to go out to all those affected.
Yet at the same time, I'm so angry and mortified by the behavior of some ignorant and soulless people that take advantage or prey on the innocent suffering from this natural disaster.
A friend of mine keeps a journal, and suffice to say, she's much more eloquent on this subject, as well as many others. If you've a mind to, please check out her page. She also includes a link to the American Red Cross. Please donate if you can! http://members.tripod.com/eripaul-ivil/id14.html
On a more personal note...had another medical scare, but according to the radiologist, nothing abnormal was found. Still, a six month followup mammogram is recommended. 
Work is hectic as our operations department puts forth a 24/7 effort to meet the needs of the FAA and FEMA to provide trucks and drivers in the hurricane relief effort.
A friend of mine showed me this site, and if you can't get out to light a candle and say a little prayer, perhaps this is the place for you. I found comfort there and I hope you can as well.
Light A Candle
Take Care,
Shel
At first expected to be a level one, maybe level two hurricane, Katrina fooled everyone and made landfall in Louisiana/Alabama/Mississippi, leaving devestation in her wake.
My heart goes out to all those affected by Katrina. My thoughts and prayers are with you.
~Shel
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