dear mom….

i can’t believe that it’s only been just over three weeks since you left this life. this death thing is such an incredible dichotomy. in some ways, it seems you’ve been gone an eternity and i can’t believe it’s been such a small amount of time, and in other ways, i keep looking around the house, expecting to see you there, or hear you yelling at me, or i sit at my desk at work and expect the phone to ring and i am going to pick it up and it’s going to be you on the other end saying "hoi".

i picked your ashes up from the mortuary last week….i can’t even remember what day it was. on friday, they delivered the mini-urns so that each of us could keep you with us. i got 12 of them in case any of the grand kids wanted them or something like that. your death certificates arrived in the mail on saturday…..unexpected and sobering, in some ways again i thought they’d never show up and in some ways i hate it because it’s another reminder to me that you aren’t here anymore.

i talked to a friend of mine who is a paralegal yesterday and she says because we have a deed on file that shows you and i as joint tenants, no one should be able to take the house away from us, which is a relief. i have to file a  paper with the county giving them a copy of the death certificate stating that you’ve passed, and we should be fine from there. of course, that means sis won’t necessarily be on the house, but i don’t know if there’s anything i can do about that. you know i will do right by her.

she hasn’t gone back to work yet. she’s talking today of both going back to the bar to bartend (oh god), or going and applying for a job on a cruise ship. i know you would be rolling your eyes the same i am. she says she has no ties here now, i suppose we and her son have been relegated to the status of chopped liver, eh? we will see what happens with that….

speaking of, dg got laid off last week. before he paid his rent for december and january. sis says she got up on friday to take him to get a copy of his birth certificate so he could go job hunting again, and then he told her he didn’t want to go. i swear, those two are going to be the death of me. it doesn’t seem much that either one of them are too keen on working and i am not too keen on continuing to support them with no help. will keep you posted on that one…..

there have been a million times i’ve thought of you, at least, in the last few weeks. talking things over with different siblings and smiling with rememberance of specific things we did or experienced. i miss you soooo much. in a lot of ways, you were the sounding board and the vent i used to gauge how things were going in my life because i could tell you and you would guide me, being so much more wise than me and having lived so much more and through tougher times, too. now there’s no one to temper me, no one to tell me to think about things before i make a rash decision, and no one to love me unconditionally. d even tried to pull a fast one on me last week, towards the end. i don’t know what’s going to happen with that, but i will do my best to stay the course, even if it should be alone.

the days go on….i have been lazy lately. sis actually mopped the kitchen floor last week…it took every ounce of self-control i had not to say to her "wow, i am impressed….i didn’t know you knew how to mop"….and i totally didn’t mean it mean, it’s just that she’s never done it, ya know? bellydance classes haven’t started again, but the one’s i am doing with the fire group are on-going and things are going good there.

well, i better go pretend to work now.

i love you and i hope that you are at peace.

in other news….

 i can’t believe it hasn’t even been a month since my mom’s been gone. that truly amazes me. i got her death certificates in the mail this weekend, which was jarring.

the weekend was insular and full of sloth. i did see my girl on sunday, first time since before my mom got sick. it was good to see her.

i didn’t do laundry, i didn’t do much of anything. i think sometimes you need that….i have done more than my share of that since mom died =) i know we need to start going through her stuff, and this will ultimately make my life more orderly, but i just haven’t been able to manufacture the energy for it yet. i think i will ask my sister if we can start doing one small thing at a time. even if it’s just one drawer of one dresser at a time, one shelf, one box in her closet….the sooner we have her stuff gone through, the sooner we can move my sis in there, the sooner i can move daughter up there and the sooner we can turn daughter’s current room into a massive closet for d and my stuff. i want all storage devices and stuff out of our room. the only thing that will be kept in our closet will be robes, tv’s stuff like that. the basement will become our lair =) i like that thought. it isn’t like anyone in the house gets up early enough to cause us much trouble getting to the laundry facilities =) these are the initial plans for the getting on with things.

there is more that we need to do. we need to pull up the floor and subfloor in my mom’s bathroom and redo the flooring. there’s a section of the drywall near her shower that needs to be patched and repaired, and her bathroom needs a serious and severe updating and cleaning. i am trying to decide how i want to do that. might get new carpet for sis, but maybe not. we will see with that….it’s going to be expensive and i think that bri’s room needs it more than my mom’s. but the flooring in the bathroom, definately. now it’s just finding the motivation to do all this…..

happy monday, everyone.

bleh.

peace.

my mom….

(1/27/2026 - The below post was written on a different platform, and over the years, I have no idea what picture was originally on this post, so I've added one of my favorites...)

this is a great picture of my mom.

it was taken a couple of years ago.

i miss her.

peace.

yesterday….

 it makes me sick to think of how many more lives will be seen as expendable if this draft goes through. thanks random, for letting me know that it was soundly defeated. only two people in the house voted for it, but it’s still scary when one has son’s or anyone else they care about in that age range. ack!

yesterday was a rough day. it was as hard as i thought it would be.

my mom used to call me several times a day and i used to wonder if my employers were getting upset with me because she called a lot. yesterday my phone was silent.

i had to go to the doctor yesterday, for a follow-up. need to get some lab work done, and will take care of that this week. i had to tell the doctor what happened, so i got to cry on him too =) he talked to me and asked me if i was going to be okay. it just takes time. he did give me the card of an attorney though, that he says is a decent human being if i think i need that. i am not sure what i want to do yet. i think first i am going to wait for the death certificate’s, so that i can talk intelligently with what data i have in my hand. i also think i’d like to see if i can be named her executor. i don’t think anyone will have a problem with that, but we will see. i had the fucking will, she just hadn’t signed it =)

i spent a lot of time crying yesterday.

the custodian for my building is a friend and she had the entire month of december off. she came in yesterday afternoon and asked how my mom was, so i got to tell her too.

then, i came back into my office at one point and elvis’ "blue christmas" was on the mp3 player. my mom ADORED elvis, so i cried some more.

all my coworkers asked about the holidays and if i was doing okay. it’s nice that they care, but i want to cry every time they ask. it’s okay, though, i made it through. the whole day. i am pretty proud of that.

when i got home, my sister was a mess and she remained a mess for the rest of the day and into the night. we are different people. she, being the narcisist thinks about how horrible this is for HER and can’t seem to see that anyone else is affected as much as she is. sometimes she has moments of clarity, but when she’s in her pit of sorrow as i’ve been calling it, there’s no consoling her. i asked her when i came in if she wanted me to put the urn with my mom’s ashes somewhere out of sight. she said she didn’t care, but if she is as upset about it today, i might move it to my room so it isn’t the constant reminder.

today is a new day. yes, i have cried already today, but i feel slightly more sane today.

this morning, i had a dream about this song by blind melon, called change. here are the lyrics:

I dont feel the suns comin out today
Its staying in, its gonna find another way.
As I sit here in this misery, I dont
Think Ill ever see, no Lord, the sun from here.
And oh as I fade away,
Theyll all look at me and say, and theyll say,
Hey look at him! Ill never live that way.
But thats okay
Theyre just afraid to change.
When you feel your life aint worth living
Youve got to stand up and
Take a look around you then a look way up to the sky.
And when your deepest thoughts are broken,
Keep on dreaming boy, cause when you stop dreamin its time to die.
And as we all play parts of tomorrow,
Some ways will work and other ways we’ll play.
But I know we all cant stay here forever,
So I want to write my words on the face of today.
And then theyll paint it
And oh as I fade away,
Theyll all look at me and theyll say,
Hey look at him and where he is these days.
When life is hard, you have to change.

of course, i would change the "boys" to "grrls", but other than that, it seems to fit =)

today will be a better day.

peace.

Year, in Review….

So there it is.   And there it was.

And here it is: the year in summation.   For those of you who aren’t familiar with this little exercise, basically it’s just the first sentence from the first entry of every month.   Last year’s seemed to be a bit more accurate and relevant, but hell.  My life is nothing if not inaccurate and irrelevant!

JANUARY:  "i found an amazing resource today. it spoke to me in a way that nothing has for a long time."

FEBRUARY: "part of me wants to write, and part of me does not."

MARCH: "i went to new york for five days and got to see the city all by myself."

APRIL:  "one of my major stressors lately has been work."

MAY: " the jazz festival was awesome, as always. it’s so funny the range of emotions that occur during this weekend…everything from "OMG i can’t believe it’s here" to "why do i do this again?!?!?!""

JUNE: "i am sad for people that i have read here for a very long time who have just experienced a tremendous loss."

JULY:  " i feel kind of bad for my poor son."

AUGUST:  " another weekend is gone by and wow, am i tired =)"

SEPTEMBER:  " burning man was as amazing as it ever is, this year. this was a very good and cool year for me, personally, professionally/volunteer-wise, and relationship-wise also."

OCTOBER:  "i spent my ENTIRE WEEKEND cleaning my house."

NOVEMBER:  "i knew my mom was sick, and i knew she had a lot of issues."

DECEMBER: "so, yesterday i got up and went to get my mom up to go to the bathroom in the morning."

so there it is. and there it was. and now i have to figure out how to continue to exist. i have to be responsible. i have to be a grown up.

i don’t have a mom anymore.

i feel somewhat adrift.

peace….i write as in my town, the 3000 american soldier killed in iraq is being protested in my town.

2007…

i have been off from work for the past ten days.

i should have been finishing and settling my mom’s affairs, but neither my sister and i have been able to bring ourselves to do it. it’s like, we are trying to learn how to exist without my mom. maybe we have been hiding, but tomorrow the hidind stops because i have to return to the world, to my life. there’s a part of me that’s afraid to do that, that is telling me that i am not ready to reenter my life, that i need more time. that i am not ready to face the world without my mom, but the bottom line is that i have no choice. now is when the tough stuff starts.

my mom didn’t do a will before she died. the good news is that we are on the deed. the perhaps not-so-good news is that i don’t remember if we did right of survivorship on the deed…if we did not, then i might have to go through probate, which will drag everything out.

my mom has been cremated and tomorrow i have to pick up her ashes from the mortuary. how morbid and depressing! i bought some small urns to split up some of the ashes amongst all the kids and grandkids. and we will scatter some, and i will keep some. i want to do an ancestors altar for my mom. we are also thinking of changing some things up around the house. now i have to wait for the death certificates to come in the mail to take around to different places to get things settled. we also need to go through all my mom’s things and decide what my sister wants to keep and what we will give to charity. as it is, though, neither one of us has been able to spend much time yet in my mom’s room without doing a lot of crying. we know we have to do it and do it soon, it will be better once it’s done, but it brings about finality, which is good and which is not so good. what it definately is is sad.

new year’s was quiet. i did safety for a fire show at one of the ski lodges last night, and it was fun. i got to spin some poi during the free burn, which was way cool. and it was a great time. one of the guys who safeties with me and his wife had an after party. they have a house that overlooks the city, so we got to stand on his deck and watch the fireworks downtown. it was sort of lame after being to burning man, but i suppose they were okay as city fireworks shows go =)

that’s life. i have to get back to it tomorrow and i am feeling anxious about that. like i can’t hide anymore after tomorrow.

today there was a peace vigil/protest at the federal building in my town to memorate the 3000 american service person death in iraq in this crazy war. my son tells me they are voting on the draft this week and i am afraid for the young men in my household and in my life. i have heard that this draft does not exempt women or college students. i am afraid for them all. i hope this ends soon before many more of our young people are killed or maimed.

peace….a good goal for 2007. 

happy yule….

okay, so technically, it’s not until tonight at 22 minutes after midnight, but it’s almost yule then. yule eve? there we go. i got my pathetic, fake, three foot christmas tree out yesterday.

i had an okay day yesterday.

it still seems very surreal not to have my mom around at home. my sis has been doing great keeping the house in order. she cleaned again yesterday, which was very cool of her, but then again, she isn’t working right now, either. that will have to change for sure, but if she needs some time too, i can understand that. for me, work has been an amazing comfort.

so many people have been so nice to me, it ALMOST gives me hope for humanity. seriously. so many people gave of themselves and their own personal pain in order to share with me…to let me know i wasn’t alone and that others have had to make the same awful choices and live with them. i have been truly blown away by the kindness i have received from people i didn’t consider myself that close to when this whole weird thing began.

i am not sure what else to say, except that i miss my mom. i am sure that i will miss her for a long time. i don’t think i can ever stop missing her. but i don’t want this entry to sound like nothing but sadness because that’s not how i am right now either. i guess surviving would be a good way to put it. i am making it through the days, trying to keep myself distracted, and doing a pretty good job of it too =)

in general, life is still good for me and i have many blessings for which to be thankful. and in other ways, there’s just an underlying feeling of sadness.

i can’t believe christmas is in a few days.

take care, everyone…..tell those close to you that you love them.

peace.