Thirty Days of Mo(u)rning

It’s currently 6:53am and I’m sitting at the end of a terminal in Burlington Intl. Airport. International!… funny. The first alarm was set for 3:45am (Harp), by 4:00am the chorus of old car horns and telephone rings started… so I got out of bed… got coffee… took a shower to wake up a bit… put on my travel clothes, double checked the schoolhouse to make sure I turned off things that needed turning off, threw my backpack in the Jeep… and headed off to Burlington.

The reason I was going to the airport was so I could surprise my mom… by showing up.  The short of it… because it’s 3:35am right now… is that I basically wanted to see my mom, to see how she was doing, how was she holding up with this cancer shit.  I haven’t seen her in four and a half months and I just didn’t want to wait any longer to see with my own eyes.  This is one of the challenges of moving away from your family… they aren’t around… and neither are you.

She had a doctor’s appointment today, and thankfully she is doing well! Things are stable!  For me, I was able to see with my own eyes that she is doing much better than the images that have been racing through my brain… and it was relieving.

It’s quite the fun story… and I  really enjoyed surprising not only my mom, but my entire family by just popping in! When I first went to my father’s work… where my sister works, as well… she told a co-worker, “that guy looks a lot like my brother” when I was in the parking lot getting out of the rented 2019 Nissan Altima (fancy).  When I walked past her window and she saw my Cedar Circle sweatshirt… she knew it was me!  My father… well, I just walked into his office while he was on the phone with a client… and then caused him to fumble over his words for a second!  I’m sure the client was like, “ummm… you ok?!”.  My mother… well… the look on her face when I walked into the house… it simply filled me happiness.

But now… I gots to go to sleep! (stories for another time!)

Thirty Days of Mo(u)rning

Day 25… woke up at 8:00.

Although, I am trying to go to bed earlier, for some reason I didn’t mind falling asleep on the couch and then crawling into bed at 4:45 in the morning. The bed felt REALLY comfortable.

I tried to figure out Dropbox. I figured it out a little bit. It should be fun to learn.

Drove up to Burlington to talk to Northcountry and thought I would take care of Community and try to get in touch with Paul, Rob, or Flatbread Chelsea.

a. On the way up I thought about how I think I’m still in shock. I feel numb and like I’m just floating through life. Not focusing on anything.
b. I also thought about the party. I would like there to be some sort of arts involved in the remembrance. Maybe a dance by Paul… some sort of thing going on while something else is going on?
c. Thought about how everything is just a stepping stone for something else… cliché, but that’s what I was thinking about. Since we are getting older, you can see how something just feeds something else… growth. Ice Cube and Dre had NWA, then Dre had Snoop, then Snoop had Warren G, then Nate Dog (could’ve been the same time, but this is how I am providing an example).

Northcountry

a. Launa helped me. It was straight forward and painless. Changed my password before writing this.
b. As I was leaving, I remembered Kateri in the ER (the second time, it was a Friday, Hastings helped her off the floor and back onto the toilet… I was in town talking to Kureisha and getting groceries n shit).

Community

a. Spoke with Erin. I can’t do anything about Kateri’s solo accounts without being her executor. I’ll just have to go to the court and see what they need me to do.
b. I remembered her from when I worked at Leunig’s and went there to deposit checks.

Ran by Flatbread to see if I could meet the GM… Chelsea. Spoke to a bleach blond bartender with some solid make-up on. Chelsea was in a Manager’s Meeting. Bartender took my name and said she would call me when she had a moment… she hasn’t called.

Went to Zero Gravity to see if Paul was there… he wasn’t. So, I went next door to The Great Northern to see if Jeff was around… he was.

a. He gave me another one of Rookie’s flavors. Something citrus and mapley
b. Talked with Jeff, other bartender guy, Marnie, Boo, and Frank… it was a good visit.

Drove to W. Leb and hung with some of the crew. Jeremey, Margot, Justin, Ian, Kelley, Jim, and Jim’s wife. It was a nice evening of playing pool.

Came home, watched the rest of the not so scary educated. (note-“not so scary educated”…? Yup, no idea what that means!)

a. On the drive home I thought about how a lot of people tell you, “You look good!’ after your wife dies from cancer.
b. An owl flew right in front of me as I was passing Heman’s place.
Went to bed at 1:25am.

Widower Notes n Thoughts:

• Sometimes, when you think it’s 3:35am… it’s really just 1:35am because your computer’s clock hasn’t changed from Eastern Time to Mountain Time.