SENTIMENTAL ME

“I am at peace with the process of death and grieving. I give myself time and space to go through this natural, normal process of life. I am gentle with myself. I allow myself to work through the grief. I am aware that I can never lose anyone and that I am never lost. In the twinkling of an eye, I will connect with the soul again.” 

As I have written about before, my son Craig made his transition last October. He had lived here with me the year before. When he moved into his own apartment he left behind all of his ties. He no longer dressed in white shirts and ties as he did in previous jobs. If he needed to wear one for some occasion he would just retrieve one from my closet. Many of them I had given to Craig as gifts. His favorites were by Jerry Garcia. I later gave them to my daughter Carajean to keep. Perhaps someone in the family could use them. Carajean surprised me with the small quilted piece above for Mother's Day. She had it professionally made from his ties. 

Craig had a cat named Floki that he was crazy about. The feeling was mutual. Floki has since been adopted by my granddaughter Audrey and her husband Erick. They have all been staying at Carajean's until they move into their new home. Carajean said that when she was working on a pattern for the above and spread the ties out on the floor, Floki immediately came and sat down in the middle of them. He did so again once the quilted piece was finished. He must have smelled his beloved master on them. (I have to admit that being near them on my sofa I feel a strong sense of Craig's presence as well.)

FLOKI

As you can see in the photo below, he is being well taken care of by granddaughter Audrey. To keep Floki safe from predators and traffic she takes him for walks in his very own carrier. 

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Carajean's son Tanner never wastes time. His pursuits are always out of the ordinary. (For instance, he has spent the last couple of years learning Mandarin Chinese. He plans to apply in the future for a year's study in China.) Besides a full load of courses at the University of Texas, he has been a member of the charitable organization Texas 4000 for Cancer for the past year. They have been training on their bicycles for a grueling 70-day trip that began last weekend. Each had to demonstrate they were able to ride 100 miles in 10-hours or less in order to participate in the current Sierra ride. To read about this wonderful organization and perhaps donate, check out their website: TEXAS 4000 Each rider has a personal, moving story about their reasons for raising money to combat cancer.

I got a big kick out of the photo below. This was taken of Tanner on Day 1 of their ride. Ballinger, Texas was where his grandfather and I went to school, met, and married. It's a small West Texas town on their route. The ride originally was to be all the way to Alaska, from which they would fly home. However, due to the pandemic Canada closed their border which instituted many changes in their route. They now are riding in the lower 48 states, returning home on their bicycles. I assume the route will be the same distance mileage-wise. There is a good map on the website.

I couldn't be prouder of this young man. Last year he and a good friend did a "standathon" to raise awareness and money for "Extinction Rebellion", an international nonviolent movement seeking real solutions to climate change. They not only remained standing for 24-hours, being watched online, but they raised over $2,000. Standing for Change

I know Branch Tanner Archer is going to go far in this life and contribute even more to make this grandmother proud!

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It has been difficult to endure the news during the past year and a half without spewing out obscenities on my blogs. Staying home due to the pandemic made it worse, as COVID-19 made it worse. I am now practicing changing my negative thoughts to positive ones before commenting on politics again. Events such as these I have experienced from family make life a lot easier.

Cheer up everyone. There really is light at the end of the tunnel.

Love and peace,

Marilyn