Saturday, June 12, 2021

Saturday, June 12, 2021

 

            I did some deep cleaning today. I got up on a step ladder and cleaned the ceiling fans, including hard-to-reach spots that hadn't been touched since we moved in. I also moved furniture to do a thorough vacuuming.  

Tommy instructed me to write a blurb for the various videos I would be posting on YouTube. I thought the one I had written for the audio file with the phonemic breakdown was too long. I sent it to Dorothy to edit. I didn't tell her; I thought it was too wordy. She sent one back of a similar length but more straightforward. I sent it to Tommy. He said, "Good."  I'm too scared or unsure of myself to have any opinion on what would be best. I went with what I had.

            I was supposed to have a make-up session with I, but she had several other engagements today. I started on the library again, looking for books requested by seminary librarians.

            Mike left me with 3,700 books and 1,000 CDs. His instructions were to give the whole lot, as a package, to his old seminary. In his last moments, I told him I was in contact with the seminary's rector, arranging for them to take his books. Ha! They didn't want one, not one of them. I suspect Mike had made every effort to assure that their library was fully stocked when he was there. As a result, they didn't want anymore- unless I was prepared to build the Ross wing to their library. I did the best I could to fulfill his dreams. I offered the books to seminaries around the country. Sandor, who was in Mike's deacon training class and assigned to St. Michael's in Kona as Mike was, took many of the classic books. 

Notre Dame in New Orleans was the first seminary to request books. After I sent them all the books I had on the list and those on the St. Patrick's seminary list, I still had at least 2,000 books. The St. Patrick's librarian said he thought he requested every book that was on religion or philosophy. Not even close. I downloaded the request list from Notre Dame. I found parts of the list I hadn't seen before. 

            I asked the Notre Dame seminary librarian to send me a list of all the books I had sent him. It took until last week before I received that list, a good six months. I started looking for the books that hadn't been checked off as received. I found ten books already, and I've just looked in four library bays out of the twenty-five bays. 

            Judy called several times to see if I was all right. I am going through a tough time. I don't know how much is from the loss of Mike, from difficulties with other relationships, and how much is old grief that I can recall from before my sister's birthday when I was four and a half.

As I checked my calendar for tomorrow's appointments, I saw Dorothy's 10th birthday in the box for tomorrow. I was puzzled. Dorothy's birthday was in June. Why was it posted here? It took me several seconds to put it together correctly. Ah, tomorrow is June 13, her birth date. I don't know how much of this confusion is age-related, Covid-related, or how much is seasonal confusion. Living in Hawaii, I have none of the environmental cues I was raised with. It's summer here all the time. It's a good thing my calendar let me know. I'll call her tomorrow and treat her to the Ross version of the birthday song – with her permission. Dorothy is a wonderful singer; she may not be able to tolerate my caterwauling.