Some people have asked me how I can remember everything I did in a day when I write about it a week afterward. The short answer is I don't wait a week. I usually write down what happened in a day on that day or at most a day later. I mention this because as I am writing this now, it is late on Saturday. I will have to reconstruct the day. I'm sure I won't remember most of it.
I got a late start today and had trouble finding a spot in the yoga class. There were 24 people in that small room today. Yvette was in class. She hadn't saved me a place; when she saw my car still in the driveway, she thought I had decided not to go.
When I got home, I changed into clothes already ruined by age and Clorox. I headed out to spray the growth on the two-foot path I am maintaining between my plumbago and my neighbor's fence so the flowering shrub doesn't take over the fence and invade their property.
After my shower, I called my friend Carol from Ohio. I met her in my first year of teaching in Columbus. She asked me to help with one of her ELL students. We had a student tutor work with the material I had created. The tutor told me at one point how much the work helped her understand the material better. Meanwhile, Carol and I developed a lifelong friendship.
I did some napping after I did some reading. It wasn't one of the best naps, but it did the job.
When I got up, I went to the library to do some more work on the books. I must have alphabetized four or five more shelves and netted zero books on the list of nineteen remaining. Oh, Michael, Michael, Michael.
Did I mention that when I opened the bottom drawer of his dresser recently, I found twenty (20) more polo shirts? I finally got hold of Jean and said that John could handle four more. He was running out of drawer space. She spoke about these shirts lasting the rest of his life. I told her not to talk that way. In his early 80s now, John is pushing it, but he could still last twenty more years. If so, those shirts would have gone the way of all shirts over twenty years.
I'm sensitive to that expression because Mike used to say we had a 'life-time supply' of this or that, mostly making fun of my storing up against future disasters. Interestingly, he observed my hoarding tendency, but I never noticed his. He never looked insecure. However, he did confess to me shortly before he died that he was never as sure of being on the right side as he appeared. He played his hand much closer to his chest than I did or do. With me, what you see is what you get. And even then, there are various interpretations floating around out there that I have been unfortunate enough to be made aware of.
I got a phone message from the carpet installer. He wanted to know how the project went. I said it all looked good, but it hadn't solved the problem. It may be that the subflooring will have to be worked on. I asked him if the freshly installed carpet could be lifted, rolled off the subflooring so more work could be done on it. He said yes if the installer hadn't glued down the sound-insulating material. He suggested that I install sound insulation in the ceiling of the ohana below. I had already thought of that. We will have to investigate all the possibilities. I hope we can find the actual cause of the sharp noise and eliminate it.
After spending several hours in the library, I took Elsa for a walk. For dinner, I ate a baked potato and a small piece of the roast that Judy brought over from Christmas dinner. I will get enough food for three meals out of the potato and meat she provided. As for the desserts, if I'm lucky, they will last me for several weeks. If I'm unlucky, I will scarf them all down in one or two days and gain several unwanted pounds.
I read the bulletin I got from the Women's Health Initiative before I went to sleep. I have been a participant since 1993 when the program was launched. I fill out the questionnaire every year and participate in some of the off-shoot projects. On the back of the bulletin was a question about a change in the proxy. In case I become incapacitated, they hope that someone will fill out the questionnaires for me. Mike had been my proxy. I will have to send them Yvette's information. I also have to remember to inform Yvette to be on the lookout for these questionnaires. She would probably just throw them away.
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Musings:
I think a lot about tribalism. I believe it is like water: too much, and we all drown; too little, and we perish from the lack of it. I think we're in an era where we are at the extreme ends of the spectrum, both ends. That creates its own tribes, and we are at war.
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