Welcoming Victor

Below is a repost from January of last year followed by an update. RIP Vic, we will miss you.

An excerpt from my journal entry: April 28, 2015 

Vic arrived yesterday at around three o'clock.  He made a memorable entrance as he laid on the horn to announce his arrival.  I was not impressed.  And so, another chapter of my life begins.  

~~~~~~

We had opened our home based hearing aid business, All About Hearing, four years before Gary's Uncle Vic's arrival.  GP (my husband) and I did not work well together, so (to save our marriage) he voluntarily retired three years after opening, leaving me to solely run the business, and I LOVED EVERY MINUTE!  

Shortly before Vic's arrival, construction began.  I would need a bathroom for clients who were primarily elderly and often required to visit the restroom.  So, a hole was cut into the wall of the reception area to the garage since the apartment bathroom would belong to Vic, and a small half-bath was put on the far end of my garage to accommodate my customer's needs.  

The week of Vic's arrival was chaotic, with thick dust covering my office and reception area. Dust was visible everywhere and inhaled dangerously, halting business for a time.  

I was against this.  Let me count the reasons why.

1. So much storage space was gone now, and I had nowhere to go with everything.  

2. This lifelong commitment would end with this 82-year-old man needing much more than a place to stay.  

3. The business.  What would running a reputable business look like with life being lived on the other side of the door? I needed quiet to give hearing tests.  

4. The dust from the construction made me very sick for several months. 

5. Privacy would now be limited.  

6. Responsibility would be huge for GP now and more so 'down the road,' and since GP lived with so many anger issues and so much negativity already, I was not sure he could handle the gigantic commitment he was making. 

Lord, give me strength.

Ten years later, let's look at my list of concerns and how life unfolded:

1. There was so much clutter with nowhere to go with it that every day became a day of organizing for me.

2. The 82-year-old man is now a 92-year-old man with failing health.

3. Vic enjoyed his TV loud!  Really, really, really LOUD.  So when I would be in the middle of a test, and my customers could not hear the 'beeps' for Vic's choice movie's cursing and screaming beyond the door of my testing office,  I would tap on Vic's door - and ask him to please turn the volume down.  He would turn it down a notch or two, but not where it needed to be.  I lost sales.  I started scheduling fewer appointments and at times when I thought he would still be in bed sleeping.  GP tried frantically to help the situation by putting up thick curtains to cut down on the loud sounds coming into my office, but it did nothing.  I could not speak of my concerns to GP because an angry rant would ensue.

4. Eventually, I could breathe again, my good health returned, and everything was fine.  I worked around my less-than-good working surroundings.

5. There was never total privacy again.

6. RESPONSIBILITY for GP was almost more than he could bear.  Graphic and insulting details are withheld here...   but let's just say it's been rough.  Vic's last fall, a little over a week ago, was a wake-up call for all.  Vic needed more care than GP was able to give him.   

I waited outside Vic's room with GP, and I could hear Vic inside asking the nursing home worker if they were finished with him now.  They were.  When the door opened, we were greeted with a big smile.  I noted his frail image lying in the bed, and a feeling of peace swept over me.  "They're pretty good to me in here," Vic said.  "Yeah, it's not bad..."   We talked and laughed and shared some conversations with his roommate and family.  

When I go outside to take my dog to potty at night, I feel empty as I walk past his window.  There used to be life living inside that window.  A man I did not want to share my home with, but now it felt foreign to me to have him gone.  From the first day of his irritating entrance into my life, as he lay on that horn up until now, I grew to love the man who would change my world.  

God reminds me, no matter what --- be kind.  And God will do the rest.  And God has never let me down.

 UPDATE:

After a little over a year in the nursing home, Victor passed early Monday morning. The world does not seem the same. 

2007

2026

Spider Talk

I've changed. Let me explain.

Whether it be born in me or a thing that was learned from my mom who feared spiders greatly, the first thing I used to do when I'd see a spider is find a shoe. ~~ Squishy~~ Squishy ~ uh oh, bye-bye!

That was then. 

I have joined a Facebook group that identifies spiders and their purposes. Many being harmless, some - not so much. One thing is for sure though, these are spider lovers on this group and you best not comment that you used a shoe on one of the precious insects they study and love.

I have become particularly curious and enamored by the jumping spider, one I had been terrified of before now, and probably still would be if it were to jump on me! But listen - do an online search and see for yourself how cute they are. I mean...  some people have them for pets, make mini houses for them along with mini furnishings and everything. Not me. I'm not there yet. Probably never will be. 

However...

I am happy to announce that I now accept that I share space in this world with spiders but I will not accept that I share a house with them. That is why I purchased a catch and release device on TikTok shop that easily traps said bug and then releases it unharmed into its rightful habitat - OUTSIDE!

This guy an 'orb weaver' according to Chat GPT,
made his home on the side of our pool each
night after dark. I'd shine the light on him when
I'd take Bubbles out for her final potty - and 
there he was. The prettiest new web and like he was 
posing for me. I love the shadow showing behind
him. (or her). 

 

Bubbles says: Keep your eye on the ball!

 

~FIRST DAY~

Bubbles fell asleep watching me last night. That in itself is not a surprise. She usually does fall asleep watching me. For some reason, Bubbles thinks she cannot survive without knowing where I am at all times. If I get up and leave the room, she follows. It does not matter that she is in a deep sleep. She 'feels' my every move. 

Last night was different. She was spent from a day of doing her favorite thing. Well, one of her favorite things if not her favorite. 

It was the first day of swimming this season! So when I left the room for a minute, one eye cracked open for just a moment, then it was shut. I guess she figured her exhaustion trumped her need to track my every move.

 

Cemetery

There is something about Memorial Day that takes me back to a simpler time. It might be that the cemetery where we have our service that day is right across the road from where I grew up. I remember the cars lining the road on Memorial Day, and hearing the band playing Star Spangled Banner from my place on the limb of the big oak tree in our back yard where I'd sit and think.

Our Memorial Day service always gives me pause to think more about the sacrifice of all those who gave their life so that we could be free. It is emotional and you can't help but have a heart of gratitude. It is thoughtful and beautiful.

A day or so before I will first visit our local flower shop that the parents of an old high school friend owns, and I will buy flowers for my mom, dad, and grandparents. Then it's off to the cemetery to place them. I can look down over the hill and there's where I used to play tag, hopscotch, horseshoes, and other games with my siblings. 

Generally I forget to take the tags off of the flowers. How rude! Do you think Mom and Dad would care? I don't think so either. But I did remember to take them off this time. Just in case. 

Bubbles, Thoughts?

Yea. Can I take this cone of shame off yet?

 

SNEEZES

My cold feels a lot better today. Not 100% but definitely better. I was miserable this past week. On Friday I think I broke every record I ever had of total sneezes in one day. I do not exaggerate when I say I sneezed BIG SNEEZES at least 50 times that day. My head was running all over the place and I did not feel like doing anything. 

Bubbles, still in her cone of shame, was tolerating mediocre life well. She is used to heavy play throughout the day and she sure hasn't been getting it. Between husband and me both being sick at different times and her own very limited activity due to the cone... well... life has been dull for her.

GP (husband).  I like the initials. I think it adds mystery to his existence ;-) Anyway - GP woke up sick again today after being up all night. Oh no! Not again! My heart is heavy for him because he works so hard and he does so much. The pool is open and ready, thanks to his dedicated efforts to keep life flowing as smoothly as possible. Bubbles will be overjoyed to be jumping in that pool after a year of not understanding why no pool all of a sudden.

The last couple of days I've been giving Bubbles a break with the cone. All day without it, but then at night I put it on her. She is such a good girl. She jumps right up and offers her head for me to slip it over. She was truly heaven sent.

Bubbles, thoughts?

Gracie told me she has a lot of furrriends on here and that I should embrace the love and ... sorry guys... but she said I need to be a bit sassy to carry on in her absence. No can do, Gracie. I'm a lover not a fighter.

See Gracie's memory table in back?

I sleep now

I'm Hideous!

 So how is everybody doing with this new world of AI generated stuff? It's hard to get away from, right? 

This is something I discovered today with my Canva app: It will soften 'me' photos. Ha! 

Today's camera's be it phone or computer ---- have taken the liberty of making our mugshots way too crisp --- don't you agree? I mean, I can see age spots beneath my skin that I do not detect in a mirror. Now for those younger kiddos with the soft, beautiful skin that is flawless - sure - a sharp image is captivating. 

However.

For old people like myself, I am cringing at every single selfie. Maybe it's time to put the selfie stick away OR maybe AI can be an acquaintance, 'one' I call on for a little facial time and time again.

I'm hideous

That's better

Bubble's Thoughts:

You don't have a problem taking an embarrassing photo of me in this stupid lampshade, yet you'll go to extreme lengths to fix your own flaws. Gracie was right. We'll discuss this later. 

Laughing at Myself

I'm pretty sure I have husband's cold. Though he thought it was a side effect of the drug he was taking for cholesterol - and I thought so too - but now that I have 'it' I'm thinking maybe it's just a bug of some kind. Ugh.

What got me back into blogging? You ask.

Okay, you didn't ask. But I'm going to tell you anyway :-)  

Years ago I decided to have my blogs printed into volumes and books. 

Yes, I did. 

It was at a time when I was still working and had a little extra money to throw around. I barely looked at the books after they were made, but my daughter pulls them out and studies them often when she is here. 

Stay with me.

So after Gracie died I seldom blogged. She was my inspiration and the personality behind the entire blog. I felt like I had lost my identity and purpose. My heart. 

A few days ago, still looking for that peaceful place I once had when blogging, I pulled out one of the volumes and started reading. Several things clicked.

1. I enjoy my own writing. I found myself laughing at myself and boy, did I need that!

2. Gracie returned. Sassy and cute and larger than life.

3. Memories. They were all there. 

4. You. I missed you and your pets and your kindness and how you could make me laugh by sharing simple shenanigans of your pets. I missed knowing about your life. Watching you navigate life and often learning ways to better navigate my own life. 

5. And finally, there were those who had befriended me on blogger whom I grew to care for them deeply... who are gone. But their comments, those heartfelt, warming, and sometimes funny comments live on between the pages of each one of those book volumes GRACIE OWNS ME and GROWING OLD WITH GRACIE. 

Be still my heart.

I have found blogging to be getting to know a person from the inside out, and that's the best way! All other avenues of social media have been more the opposite. Does that make sense to you?  

Well. It does to me.

And that is why I am back.  Thank you for welcoming me back. 

My old computer crashed last week and I had to get a new one. So here's to hoping this one allows me to continue blogging and get back on track. 

Bubbles is Here

 On May 26 I had to take Bubbles in for a surgical removal of a lump/wart that had grown pretty big on her back. That same morning I awoke to a bloody faced dog. Yes, you heard that right. Bubbles had scratched her head so invaisively the night before while we were sleeping that she had a pretty bad spot on her head that needed attending to.

So. When I left her there at 8AM for surgery later that day, I was told by the tech that her head would be looked at as well.

I got a call from the vet an hour or so after noon and she said all went well with the surgery. Only one stitch and it would need to come out in two weeks. Addressing her head injury she prescribed an antibiotic and the cone of shame for at least 2 weeks or until her head heals. 

Bubbles is a real trooper when it comes to the cone, but those meds! 

On May 26, four years earlier, around the same time I picked Bubbles up from her surgery, I was walking into the same vet hospital with a dog whom I had spent the better part of eighteen years loving, to say goodbye. I was so broken.

But walking out of that hospital the same time, four years later, with Bubbles... I was reminded of God's love and how He gives us good gifts. 

Life goes on.

Gracie will be in my heart forever. And Bubbles is here now. For a while, hopefully a long while. 

HELLO FRIENDS. I'M BACK.

I keep coming back, checking on friends, looking at my old posts, and longing for those days again. I miss Gracie. I miss my blogging friends, some of who are no longer with us. And boy do I miss being younger! So I am going to try and start blogging again because it made me happy. Gracie is gone. But Bubbles is here. Let's see how this goes.