A week's worth of musings

Every time I've sat down this week to write a little, something interfered. Finally, now, some peace. It's almost 1AM. Diana is spending the night at a friend's house.

Had a long talk with my old friend Jeanne tonight. Her mom died earlier this month, after a number of years of decline both mental and physical. Jeanne says she really did her grieving years ago, when she came to the realization that her mother would never be "herself" again, and that dealing with her actual death has been much easier than what went on before. Still, she expects a hard weekend, since the memorial service and interment of her mom's ashes will take place on Sunday. Jeanne's father died many years ago, she herself is long divorced, and she hasn't any siblings. Her daughters are both in high school and within a few short years they'll be gone from the house too. I guess these things don't happen suddenly, and by the time she is really alone, she'll have had time to cope with the transition, but still..... Makes me wonder how I will handle my own life transitions. Being alone is definitely not something I like or crave.

I also spent some time today working on a handout for our block. The home of one of my neighbors has been burglarized twice in the past month, which has made everyone very edgy. Since long ago I volunteered to be our Neighborhood Watch Block Captain, and I figured it was time to resurrect the program. So, I made up a little handout about common sense safety and security, and handed it out around the block. Our best community defense is, it seems to me, our community of eyes and ears. What is that Benjamin Franklin quote? Something about "if we don't all hang together, we shall certainly hang separately."

Tomorrow I'll be out selling scarves, cards, and CDs at another craft show, this one over in the Northgate Park area. I'll also have a selection of Diana's jewelry. Hope there's a good turnout, and it's a chilly day, so the idea of buying a nice cozy scarf has extra appeal!

I've done a bit of Christmas shopping but definitely not all. I'm kind of a last-minute person anyway. I am thinking about our Christmas Eve family dinner, and considering various menu options. One of my most favorite types of entrees are those that pair meats and fruit. Saw a great recipe for lamb with apricots, but I know Diana wouldn't even think about eating it. It's hard to please everyone.

Finally, I wanted to talk about work yesterday. I scrubbed a liver transplant, all by myself. Pretty good! The recipient was a 15 year old girl who had gotten Hepatitis C from her mother at birth. The mother died when the girl was 5 and she has lived with her grandparents ever since. This was one scared, and very sick, kid. When they took out her old liver I hardly recognized it as a liver--it was covered with nasty, infected-looking cysts, and was a dusky color. The one she got was from a 21 year old South Carolina boy who committed suicide. It pinked up right away after they connected the hepatic artery. What an extraordinary thing, for one family's tragedy to be another's miracle. I really feel honored to participate.

Night, all. Still hoping for a comment or two from the hordes of readers I know are out there!