I woke up early but waited until 6 before I got up. I worked on my breathing. I had been making a change, sucking my abdomen up to inhale. It had been awkward, but I kept trying. This morning, I felt my ribs close to my armpits expand. Ah, if I focus on expanding my ribs when I breathe rather than my abdomen, the contraction of the abdominal muscles when I inhale follows as day the night. I followed my morning routine and went to Bikram.
The classes are a good size, even now, in the summer, when they usually shrink. When it's hot enough outside, people tend to avoid greater heat and higher humidity. Well, except me, maybe. I keep doing my 6 days a week, and I have good company.
I drove home immediately after class. The gardener was here already trimming a large hedge. I told him my primary concern was the weeds, on yes, the weeds. This is what Mike was getting worked up about.
I walked down to the bottom of the property to check on the limes. There are some left, but it looks like the end of the season. I will have to buy lemons from Costco soon.
I didn't shower first thing because I wanted to do some gardening first. I sat down to have my breakfast soup, called Social Security with some questions, did some work on the blog, and played FreeCell. I had to wait for 40 minutes before I got someone to talk to. My question was why my widow's benefit was so much smaller, only a little more than ½ of the total amount I was entitled to. The Ohio public school system didn't pay into the SS system. The argument was that their retirement benefits were so good, we didn't need SS also. Not! On both counts. Also, it said something about me not getting benefits for March. I told the guy that Mike was alive in March. Ah, the March check was for February. To get the full March benefits, he had to live till the end of the month. If he had died, three days earlier, he may not have been entitled to the February check. What a system!
The funeral benefits – get this- are $250. That's it. Fortunately, the only expenses I had for the whole funeral was the single flower display and the booklets we had printed up. Everything else, including food for 300 people, was provided by the church. The box that served as his urn was made by the father of one of the deacon candidates' wives. It is an absolutely gorgeous koa wood box in the tradition of Hawaiian burial rituals. The funeral was wonderful! Too bad Mike wasn't there to enjoy it. Well, I prefer to think that he was.
I am as full of energy today as I was tired the other day. It seems that I need a few days of complete rest and then can have one great vigor. My tutoring student arrived at 2. We worked exclusively on math. She catches on quickly; it is surprising what she doesn't know for being in 5th grade. For example, she had no idea how to do two-digit multiplication, rounding to any place, subtraction with regrouping. These are the things we are starting with. I have copies of the standards and am going through them one at a time. I will review what we have covered so far on Wednesday and cover expanded notation.
Judy called, and we yakked and yakked. I told her about my response to David Brook's "The Second Mountain." How disappointed I was. Her response was the same as mine: why can't you be committed to both self and others? Why does it have to be an absolute choice?
I walked Elsa. I was going to stop over at Alexandra's, a high school student, and a neighbor to see if she would enter the books into the CollectionZ program that weren't in already. I would do it, but it will be such a strain on my eyes, combing the page for the information.
I ate dinner tonight at 6:30pm. This is early for me. I had my usual large salad, two slices of buttered multi-grain baguette, and limeade. Then I finished off the pasta alfredo light with broccoli that Shivani had made. For the third night, I ate on the lanai instead of watching TV. That way, I can read as I eat. Reading this book is tough. I want to react to things he says but don't have my computer in front of me to let loose. So I put the book down, afraid I will lose the page.
I walked Elsa before going to bed. When we got home, I washed my face, brushed my teeth, and went to bed. Good night, Elsa, Goodnight, Mike.
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