What I learned today

This is our Wii set up. We also use this for TV, streaming services, DVDs and VHS tapes. We can roll it to wherever Casey is hanging out.  

Positioning can be awkward but it works!

Of course he is on his device (T) too. 

From Writers Group 10/08/2024  (unedited)

Writing prompt: What did you learn today?

Today was a just do the basics day. Eat, drink, feed and water Casey, make his food, do ONE load of laundry (leaving it for the nurse and Casey to fold tonight as it’s their thing they like to do when she works the overnight) No cleaning, organizing, making phone calls or writing emails or returning calls or emails.

It was a me and Casey day. Casey and I spend a lot of time together but I also spend part of my time with him doing the things I mentioned already so it’s kind of haphazard time. I’m up and down from the chair or couch and in and out of the room. Always trying to be productive.

But today I decided I would put all that other stuff aside and just have fun with Casey. I gave him a choice of art, Legos or Wii. He chose Wii very excitedly. We went super old school and picked a Wii game vs. a WiiU game (Wii U was a much anticipated upgrade from the regular Wii). He’s been into Halloween so he picked Ispy Haunted House. I was glad he picked something that is relatively simple and easy because some of the games we’ve played over the years a truly really hard—hard to figure out and hard to manipulate.

So from about 10AM until 3 PM we played. We played and played. He still had his device on and was doing his Googling but we also chatted while I physically played the game. I talked out loud and asked his advice and we were happily frustrated at times and also happily happy when we figured something out.

What I learned today is that I needed that. I needed to just have a little fun and be with my kid. No pressure to work on the To Do list. No nagging Gene to do things (well, except for helping me figure out what to have for lunch), no thinking about tomorrow. And guess what, I didn’t even take a nap! Usually I get that napping feeling after lunch and I go for it when I can.

I’m looking around me and seeing Casey’s room is a mess, wii games strewn about, bed unmade, medical equipment needing to be cleaned and put away, mail to go through, etc. But it will be there when Writers Group is done and it will get taken care of before bedtime. Because, I enjoyed the fun down time, but life goes on and routines need to be continued. But I will remember next time I’m feeling a little burnt out or feeling a little tightly wound that having some quality time with Casey and doing something mindless will bring me back to center and I can be a better me.

Alex’s visit to VT!

 

Best birthday gift--again

 I just got the best birthday gift!  It's not my birthday and it technically is a card, and not a gift per se.  But it was more exciting today than it was on my actual birthday back in 1984--yes, 1984.  

One of our nurses son has a radio show, well, several, shows, and one of them is called Vinyl in Your Pocket where he and his cohost play a vinyl record album and talk about the artist, songs and history.  He was running out of albums to play so I offered up some of our collection.  Gene and I haven't had a turn table in years but we have kept a bunch of records.  I gave Alek a handful of albums and he's played a couple so far (my favorite Zebra album being one of them).  

This morning, Nurse Staci came and handed me an album that Alek had played.  

Wow. I don’t even remember owning this album. But I know it is mine. I know it's mine one, because Gene never would have owned a Duran Duran album, and two, because I peeked into the sleeve and saw a jagged piece of red paper. I pulled it out and my heartrate immediately started picking up as I realized what it was.  I knew that hand writing.  

I know it’s not the best pic but can you see the writing?  That’s my best friend from childhood, Laura’s handwriting. Laura passed away from breast cancer in December of 2017.  In our later adult years, we hadn't been as close as we had in junior high and high school but we always knew that each other was out there for each other.  Laura ended up living in the Pacific Northwest far away from our childhood in Long Island, NY.  I had skipped up to Vermont after high school and have remained planted here.  She was one of the smartest people I knew.  Her dad was a chiropractor and Laura ended up becoming a chiropractor and became a naturopathic doctor.  She was pretty crunchy :)  We may have drifted apart...she getting into the things she loved and I got married and Gene and I had two kids both with a neuromuscular disease called spinal muscular atrophy, type 1.  So both Laura and I were enmeshed in our current lives but we always had our childhood and teenage memories.  Boys, friends, our twin Schwinn bikes, the park, the sleepovers, the parties, the vacations, the music.  And we were there for each other.  

I was still half asleep as I had been nurse Mom to Casey overnight and hadn't even finished brewing my French Press yet.  But I couldn't wait.  I pulled the card from the envelope and my heart skipped a couple of beats.  I had no memory of this card but I obviously had read it since it was ripped open.  

So funny!

I laughed when I pulled the card out. NOT a typical card choice for Laura to have made. 

Here is what she wrote:

7/28/84

Dear Sue-

I always get you a mushy card, the same kind all the time.  For the big 21 I decided to be different. And since this is the year to drink...

HAVE ONE (hundred) ON ME! 

Well, 

HAPPY 

BIRTHDAY!!

Love Always,

Laura

Moooch!!

......................

Oh, my heart!  Swamped with memories and feelings. 

Laura's moniker was Cow.  Actually, we didn't really call her that but MOOO was her byword, her expression, her way of saying hello and goodbye,  When I write on her Legacy Facebook page I always end with MOOOO!  

She ended this card with Moooch, which was one of the ways we'd say Love you/Smooch, etc.   

I don't know what made me peek into the album cover this morning, but I'm glad I did.  

‘Babysitting’

 

How to tell you had a 7-year-old hanging out for 3 hours. 

Lollipop wrap and stick randomly on the counter. 

Cow bell and silly glasses (eye brows and mustache wiggle). 

Red solo cup with Minecraft twisty straw with lots of ice and some water. 

And, lots of playing with Molly and also some Wii gaming!  He picked up the ‘old school’ controllers pretty well.  

He asked to be locked in with Molly!

OG Will: Scooby Doo and the Spooky Swamp

We can’t forget the old favorite, snake in the jelly bean jar. 

I know Molly will sleep well tonight!  And I imagine Conor will, too, after his fist week back to school and romping with Molly!

Desert Island Game

 ***not proofed, or edited or finished!***

My sister-in-law is one of my best friends. We have a lot in common but also we are very different. One thing we have in common is our love of lists/task/things to do, etc. We share ideas on our Notes app and comment back and forth.

Recently, Peggy proposed the Desert Island Game. We were to pick 10 things, sentimental things, that we could bring with us if we were to lived on a deserted island. There was a lot of back and forth about the rules, haha. Like does a group of similar things count as one or do you have to count each item. We finally decided that if the items were in the same category, they would count as one as long as the group of items didn’t exceed 10 items.

These are things that are precious to me for different reasons. Now that I’m looking at them, I see that they are mostly items associated with a family member that has since passed.

Here are mine:

The first item that would go in my desert island bag would be the Swiss Army knives that my dad gave me. Every since I was younger, maybe a teen, he would gift me one of the small, swiss army knives. They had the little scissors, knife, nail file, tweezer and pick. I guess I had been fascinated with Dad’s so he gave in and got me one of my own. Several have been lost over the years. I have the last two that he gave me. One is the traditional red one and one is has a cool blue and white pattern on it. I have one downstairs in my desk and one in the little teak wooden dish (also my dad’s) that I keep on my nightstand which also holds my chapstick. I use the knives for all sorts of things from cutting off tags on new clothing to filing my hang nail and even cutting my nails.

The next items I would bring with me are the 4 ceramic crocks that were in mom’s kitchen going back as far as I can remember. Each summer growing up we would go to Maine for a couple of weeks. We had certain places that we would stop at along the way. One of them was a pottery place. The man and woman were both clay artists and Mom loved their work. Each time we went Mom picked out another crock in the same blue color. Each one was a little bit different but you knew they belonged together. One was somewhat spherical in shape with a teak lid with a knob. One was a size down and was more straight up and down but had the same style lid. The next one down was the similar in shape to the second one but had a flat teak lid. The last one had was narrower towards the top and had a flat lid. They were all done in a very pretty blue. I’ll have to figure out how to describe the color. When I inherited the canisters a couple of years ago I was eager to have them in my kitchen. I cleaned the bodies up really well and cleaned and oiled the tops. Sugar, flour, rice and tea bags were added. Just like my mom had. I also had the metal scoop that she used in the sugar one and the sea shell that she used to scoop out the rice. Weird, I know, but it was what we did!

My next pick was Gulliver and Skipper. They are the epitome of my childhood. When I was in grade school, my dad took a sabbatical and we did some traveling. We went to England, Ireland, a brief visit to Scotland and then we spent two months on St. Thomas in a house of one of his colleagues. When we were in England, I picked out two small ceramic dogs from a gift shop. They are very similar to the ones that used to come in Red Rose tea (maybe they still do that?). But these have more defined and delicate features than the Red Rose ones. Gulliver is a puppy, a mutt, I guess, and he is sitting on his haunches and looking very sweet. Skipper is a retriever of some kind. He is standing up on all fours and he’s standing on a patch of grass. I played with these two for hours and hours. I had many other ceramic animals and plastic ones of all sizes, but Gulliver and Skipper were always the favorites and were always the head of the household. I had two story doll house that my dad and brother built for me that all my animals lived in. Gulliver was always in charge and was the oldest, and Skipper was second in charge. So many fun scenarios were created in this doll house where animals lived!

And then there is my comforter. It’s an alternative down comforter, light blue, twin size, that my mom bought me in my senior year of high school in preparation for college. I still have it and use it nightly. I even use it when it’s hot and muggy out, if just to hug or snuggle. It is kind of lumpy but I wash it and shake it out and try to get the lumps to even out. I actually just threw it in the wash today. These days I use a comforter cover so I can wash that more frequently and try to get the comforter to limp a long a little longer. I have been toying with the idea of asking Santa for a new one for Christmas but I don’t know if this is the year yet or not. What would I do with it if I get a new one? Throwing it in the trash seems inhumane. I know most people would think it’s gross using a 43 year old comforter but I’m very attached to it and it truly is a comforting comforter.