What a gorgeous Kentucky day! Hard to believe that there are so many people willing to put the fight for bargains ahead of enjoying the sun glistening through the heroic gem-like leaves still clinging to branches. After the annual visit to our dermatologist last week to pay for my youthful goal of getting my freckles to run together in a tan (Bad De! Bad De!), I will observe this day through tinted glass!
Sorry for the lag in posting. This has been a season of emotional contrasts. While Greg and I were able to take two (Happy!) vacations in October, we came to the difficult decision to shelf Spool for a time (Sad!). Greg has not fully recovered from his horrific tangle with a dunk driver one year ago and may never. While I love the interaction with readers and writers and designers and dear Jennifer, he is not loving dealing with advertising, the post office, and the mechanics of running this business.
I’m tinkering with the idea to go e-zine, but after having Greg’s elderly parents visit for a week, reality has taken up residence in this artist’s brain. We have three parents with declining mental and physical health in three different states, both personal and geographical, and not one of them thinks assisted living is a good option. I realized this week that the imaginary people my live-in mother thinks are in her bedroom come from the large-print romance books she reads. Since fiction is all about conflict (as is non-fiction!), I must find a balance between her reading and the thinking time it affords me.
On top of all that–and I’m telling you this not to make you sad, but to make a point–we had to have Mocha, Good Kitty, put down last week. He got an e-coli infection that was extremely painful for him and treatment would have been iffy. I had lunch with my cousins that day and didn’t mention it. I love my gal pals, so why did I not share? Because after the horrible 4 years we’ve had, I’m sick and tired of seeing in peoples’ eyes the thought, “What ELSE can happen to these people?!”
Well, I’ll tell you what else: we had a terrific dinner last night with our kids plus one (Zach’s friend, Will) and I am so blessed. Mom made no outrageous remarks and turned in early. I slipped off to bed, and Carey came in to say goodnight, which led to a loooonnnnng and good conversation. Then her husband, Griffin, tapped on the door and crawled in to join the talk while Greg, Will, and Zach watched back-to-back episodes of Raising Hope. The only element missing was Zach’s girlfriend and her little dog. Belle (dog) would have loved being in the midst of the duvets and pillows.
I miss Mocha. And I’ll miss you, Spoolsters. But as they say, ‘watch this space’.
