Saturday, January 14, 2023

 Saturday, January 14, 2023

   I woke up very early this morning, around three am. I started my in-bed exercises and did some meditation. I must have dozed because I finally got up at 7.

   While my right foot was swollen yesterday, today, it felt great. Whatever the problem had been, it is resolving itself.

   I met with Mama K’s crew, but only the girls. Fourth-grade K was with his dad. Mom said she had to take her older daughter to a volleyball game at ten. After that, she would meet up with Dad and K. She would have him for the rest of the day. They would be at the beach, and he could do a session with me via phone. I was in touch with K’s teacher. She asked me to work with him on verbal expression. She said he had the ideas but couldn’t put them into words. Mama K never got in touch with me. Very frustrating. I do their sessions for free. It does seem I am more concerned than their mom is. Or has she just given up on her kids?

   The Special ed teacher says she sees a difference in the girls. Twin A was moving ahead quickly. I decided to work with a lower-grade material so she could identify more words.  

   I got a call from Patrick, Darby’s husband. She had a stomach bug. She had been at someone’s house when it hit. She wasn’t up to driving home. Patrick went to pick her up. They left her car there. Would I drive him there to help pick up the car? I was hesitant. I was scheduled to visit relatives in Honolulu the weekend of the 20th. I didn’t want to get sick; I didn’t want to pass it on to them. We agreed we would wear masks and keep the windows open. I said, “That was a given.” Nonetheless, Patrick might be carrying the bug and pass it to me.

   I called Jean. She was working on taxes with a friend of John’s daughter.

  For the second time today, I couldn’t find Elsa. The first was in the early afternoon. I frantically looked around the house. I finally remembered I had taken her to Petco to be groomed. I’ve never been good about coordinating events in my mind. However bad my temporal disorientation was when I was younger, it is considerably worse now.

   The second search for Elsa occurred as I prepared to get in the car to pick her up from Petco. When I got the call to pick her up, I started searching for her to take her with me when I drove to town to pick her up. I’m having as much trouble thinking of her as gone as I did/ do with Mike.

   I did some shrub trimming, some work on the updates/blog, continued cleaning Elsa’s poop spots on the lanai rug and posted my videos on Facebook again. I’m into doing that once a week. I get one or two new viewers each time I post them.

   Other than that, it was a nothing day. I couldn’t even nap.  

   I have been listening to more YouTube videos by Stephen Batchelor and Robert Wright on the non-metaphysical aspects of Buddhism. Buddha pointed out that we suffer needlessly because of dukkha, having unpleasant things happen. Those things are usually listed as old age and death. S.N. Goenka taught a more inclusive definition of dukkha, not getting what we want and getting what we don’t want. It is now being defined as disappointment. They talk about some forms of Buddhist meditation, particularly Vipassana, as antidotes to that form of suffering. I believe another antidote is gratitude, focusing on what we like versus what we don’t like.