Working Away

Today is the last day I'll be working in New York City. For a month. Thanks to technology and a very understanding boss, I'm packing up a bazillion files - well, just my work laptop, really - and moving my office to Atlanta. The reason for my temporary relocation is so that I can lend a couple of hands with GrandBoy as we prepare to welcome his new baby sister, due within the next couple of weeks.

Besides phoning in to all the usual meetings, I am tasked with a handful of exciting social media/multimedia projects. Research and creative brainstorming are high on the list. The day-in/day-out busy-ness of my real-life office doesn't allow a lot of time to slow down and poke around with crazy, fun, interesting ways to engage folks in new ways. I'm being given permission and time to do just that.

Admittedly, I'm the type of girl who needs some kind of structure. That's why I don't mind schlepping into an office everyday with some sort of to-do list waiting for me. While there'll be no office-schlepping in Atlanta, I will be bringing an extensive to-do list with me, complete with work timelines and target dates. That should keep me on-task amidst the not-so-structured GrandMary duties. Fortunately, most of the work can be done at any hour of the day or night.

And after my work-month in Atlanta, I'll have a few days of vacation with girlfriends - a little trip to Savannah - before returning to New York mid-June. I'm sure strolling through the city's historic squares and lolling on the beach at Tybee Island will be much needed at that point.

One more thing: lest potential thieves get any ideas, my landlord lives in the apartment next to mine and will be keeping an eye on it while I'm gone. So fuggitabahtit.

Thank you, Boss Anne, and thank you to everyone who had a hand in inventing the technology for allowing me to telecommute at this wonderfully happy time in our family. I'm fortunate to have a job that gives me time to do some creative dreaming that might become reality.

New ideas, new ways of working, a new baby, new family memories. I'm packing lots of vitamins.

Tales From The Porch

It was a weekend of memories and making memories. Raucous laughter and earnest conversation. Sweet snacks, salty snacks, a thousand dips and two thousand dippables. Renewal and relaxation. For the second year in a row, friends who’d known each other since toddlerhood or since the first, fifth, or seventh grades gathered atop Lookout Mountain, Georgia, in affirmation that there is something special in maintaining childhood friendships.

Two Susans, a Susie, a Sharon, a Ginger, a Joy, a Debbi, a Margie, a Linda, a Maureen, a Janie, a Chris, and a Mary came bearing bags of fruits and veggies, special artichoke and spinach dips, cheese and cookies, water and yogurt and coffee to the lovely, hospitable Cottages in the Clouds for our Second Annual Barger Elementary/Brainerd Junior High School Girlfriends Weekend. We used Dogwood Cottage as home base for cooking, eating, socializing on the front porch, and as sleeping quarters for half of us and Chestnut Oak Cottage for bedding down the other half.

Most of us had attended last year's reunion (and Debbie and Rhonda were sorely missed this year). We welcomed three newbies - Janie, Chris, and Susan W. - who caught us up on what they'd been up to over the last *mumble-mumble* years.

Of course, I can't tell you everything we talked about (or I'd have to kill ya'), but my highlights include:

• Joy's artichoke dip and Maureen's cheesy beef dip. Excellent, women! You're signed up to bring those to the 2015 gathering. (Put it on your calendars.)
• A warm, sunny Friday afternoon, just the thing for sitting on the front porch, talking and snacking.
• Watching everyone greet each other. Usually involved hugs and laughter. 
• Relaxing, hard rains and rumbly thunderstorms that moved in early Saturday morning, God's way of saying "Y'all slow down, and enjoy this time together."
• Staying up till almost 1am with Debbi and Margie, talking family and faith and other big, big things. Yeah, out on that front porch. (Can you tell how much I love front porches?)
  
• The decibel level of four or five conversations going on simultaneously. Funny thing, we were all able to keep up with every one of those conversations. We've had years of practice. 
• Seeing Janie, Chris, and Susan W. for the first time in *mumble-mumble* years. Such fabulous lives we've all led!

We decided to gather on the mountain again in 2015, when there'll be more stories, more food, and guaranteed more laughter.  Here's hoping more of the Barger/BJHS girlfriends will join us on the porch. We're tired of making up stories about the ones who don't show up.

Till then, fall in line, Brainerd Bombers!

Or Am I Losing My Mind?

When you get to be my age, a lot of little worries start creeping in that you've never had time to think about before, what with child-rearing and career-doing and life-living. A lot of internet and print and broadcast space is given over to impending financial doom of retiring (ha! if ever!) Baby Boomers, but that's not what creepy-crawls under my skin in the deep, dark hours of night. What scares me about the future is the very real boogie man: dementia.

Both my mother and her mother had dementia. Daddy used to call my grandmother the Goddess of Confusion, which was correct on several fronts, I reckon. When Mother disappeared into the disease, I used to jokingly tell my daughter "Hey, this will be me in a few years. Get used to it." Not for years and years, though, right? A cure for all that by then, I'm sure. Right?

But I'm not so sure lately, especially after reading Alice LaPlante's Turn of Mind . The book is about Jennifer White, a former surgeon who's sliding into dementia. Since White's the one telling the story, it's sometimes lucid, but mostly it's all confusion and misunderstanding. The focus of the story is the murder and mutilation of her best friend (did she do it? how can we trust what she tells us?), but for me the real impact is trying to follow the woman's line of thinking (or lack thereof) about her career, her family, the murder.

As close as I was to dementia with Mother, LaPlante's book let me see how easily things can get turned around in the mind of someone who is losing rational thought. I completely understood where White was coming from. It's like a house of mirrors in the head, with lots of disjointed pieces and reflections that are only partly true.

I think I still have my mind. I write and work and do crosswords and sudokus and read and walk and take vitamins and eat a lot of fish. But if I'm predisposed to dementia, will any of that help? My only hope is that I take after Daddy and not Mother. Of course, while Daddy didn't have dementia, his body failed him miserably, thanks to diabetes. So. Sheesh. Is it better to have dementia and be physically healthy, or have all your marbles and physical deterioration and pain? I don't see a "None of the Above" offered.

The real burden of dementia is on those left behind, the much-loved folks the person no longer remembers. Financially and emotionally it can be devastating for family members, and while I still have a bit of a brain, that's what troubles me most. Sources tell us that it's the cost of dementia that will over-burden the health care system in the next 30-40 years. No shit. If I'm predisposed to this thing, how do I make preparations now to alleviate as much of that emotional/financial burden as possible? Oy. No answers.

Sorry. Now I've foisted my old-lady fears on you, when I started out just to recommend Turn of Mind. It's a great story; I mean, who did kill Amanda? The writing is superb. So superb that it gave me a window into what dementia must be like. The only upside I see is that this blog will get progressively interesting as my mind flecks away in the future. Pure entertainment value. Hang on!

Waiting

Something I hate to do. Wait. But it's a waiting kind of day, and as long as I have a good book, I can cool my heels anywhere. Unless there's someplace I have to be or standing in line at the post office. No book's that good.

The Pianos are Back!

Hooray! Thanks to a generous corporate sponsor, the outdoor pianos are back in New York City.

It was a beautiful Saturday, in the 50's (practically summertime), so everyone was out and about stretching their legs and spirits. Hard to make it any better, unless you add a musician at a baby grand piano in Washington Square playing Debussy and Rachmaninoff to a crowd of all ages. The setting was lovely, even with huge springtime crowds, and I had an park bench to enjoy the music. A perfect, free, beautiful after-lunch concert.

I finally pushed myself off my bench and headed toward Union Square to pick up a few yummies from the Saturday farmer's market there. Low and behold! there was a guy at an upright piano entertaining the crowd with his playing and singing. Little children were running around, dancing and flailing their arms around, while the rest of us kept the beat however we could.

Now that I know the pianos are in place for the summer, I'll make it a point to seek them out in Central Park, Time Square, and other spots around town. There's never a lack of willing musicians ready to show their stuff. The piano music adds even more life to this city.

Thank you, Chobani, for underwriting this marvelous in-the-streets musical extravaganza . I eat your yogurt all the time (particularly fond of the pomegranate).

All right, all you pianists, do your thang!

Dark

Boredom

It's a kingdom I rarely visit. There are too many books to read and naps to take to travel very far into the land of Boredom. Just because I'm doodling or gazing out the window during this meeting does not mean I'm hanging in Boreville. Still, the sooner you wrap this up, the sooner I can get back to work. Or books and naps.

Backward

It's the way I don't want to go. Or the way to wear my pantyhose. But when I can't sort something out by looking at it straight on, it helps to flip it the opposite way, look at it backward, get some distance, put a little neon around it. Just remember, this does NOT work with pantyhose.

Journey

Is it well-planned or spur of the moment? Do I need a map, do I know the way, or will someone else get me there? How will the journey change me? Hey, maybe I'll change the journey. I think I'll let that sink in. Just be forewarned that the M42 is the slowest bus in Manhattan. Now, move along. (And apologies to those of you who thought this post would be about the rock band. Don't stop believin', y'all.)

Frustration

 

Too much to do. The pieces don't fit together. The words don't flow. Brick walls everywhere I turn. Silly mistakes. Supreme frustration. Breathe deep, take a hot bath, eat chocolate, and maybe little problems will sort themselves out. Now, where'd I put my glasses? 

Bittersweet

Happy tinged with sad. Bad with a good edge. The cloud with the silver lining/the silver lining with the cloud. Bitter/sweet. Triumphant with impending doom. Palms/crosses. No wonder I'm suspicious of accolades.

Danger

I'm probably most in danger when I think I'm completely safe. But I don't want to live in constant fear or always on my guard, so I'll accept the unexpected, out-of-left field, false sense of security trouble around the next corner in exchange for everyday joy. Losing trust and peace would be the real danger. (Watch out for that bus!)

Temptation

Intensity of desire plus the chance of guilt. Give in or walk on by? Depends on whether or not I can live with the guilt. On the other hand, maybe I should just hold out for the temptation of chocolate.

Crowded

Often, I learn more about myself in the middle of a lot of people than I do alone in wide open spaces. Tolerance of noise and smells, the amount of personal space I need, how many times my first impressions are wrong. Crowded can be uncomfortable. In a good way.

Hope

 

Just when you think it will never bloom again, there it is - a little red bud. It starts small. With a little water and sunshine it grows into what it's meant to be. Hope certainly sneaks up on me like that every single day. Keep the faith.

Prepared

I do my best to be ready for anything. I plan and research and line things up, thinking I'm prepared for any eventuality. Which can't be done, really. Life is too unpredictable. Still, I must remember to check the weather forecast before leaving home.

Surprise

The unexpected. Sometimes good, sometimes not so good. Surprises keep life interesting by putting a twist on the expected. Spring will come. But for now, snow. Surprise!

Search

 

Sometimes I know what I'm looking for and sometimes I don't, but I usually learn interesting things about myself in the search process. To find is another matter entirely, however.

Anticipation

Waiting for the unknown to be made known. Is the wait better than the reality? Sometimes. But so often more surprises lie ahead. Anticipation doesn't have to end after the present is opened.

Downsize

What matters? Of all the junk you accumulate over the course of a lifetime, what do you keep locked away in bins until you get time to use it, remember with it, listen to it. When you downsize so many times, at the end, what's left?