Slideshow

 Besides having a lot of pictures to organize and go thru - there are a number of carousels of old school slides from my dad's house. My thought/hope was that if we were in good enough position at my dad's before the closing that we could watch them as a family.  However that thought ended quickly when I tried to use the slide projector a few weeks ago and it soon got stuck.  After trying to fix it myself and researching getting it fixed etc. I just moved all the slides and the projector to deal with in the future.  

I did send an email to friends, maybe one of their parents had a projector?  I found two friends with family members who had projectors.  Both family members live a few hours away, so once again, at some point in the future I'll do it...  

Then a 3rd friend wrote, "Did you find a projector?  My dad has one you could maybe borrow."  At first I told her thanks and maybe I'd get back to that at some point.  Then I realized her dad lives locally and the house is almost done...  Long story short, she already dropped off projector and it seems to work!

I am about to go over to my dad's house and hopefully reduce the number of slides to a manageable number for a viewing.  I told all this to my partner in the City of Minneapolis voting.  We are working together for a few works to help tabulate the mail in ballots.  And this stranger, who I just met last week, when I told her about the broken slide projector said, "I have a slide projector you can use."  So now I even have a back up slide projector!  And it makes me so happy to think we could do a meaningful activity at my dad's house as we say good-bye.  

Also we are way ahead in vote tabulation, so the city of Minneapolis at least is on top of things.  We started today an hour later because of this which made it easier to get up and do yoga beforehand.

And I wasn't going to be able to type gratitudes today as there is no longer internet at my dad's.  However, I accidently left the house with our garage door opener.  Michael could still get in the garage using the opener in the car, but I was worried they might be searching for the opener in the house and get frustrated and I was not coming back til tomorrow.  Then I thought, "Maybe there is a reason I need to stop by at home."  I haven't really found that reason, unless you consider it writing this.  So let's say I'm grateful to keep to my gratitude schedule because of the opener.

I Hope This is A Nice Journey

 #1 - I had multiple calls to make for bills for my dad's house - ending service.  Some said nothing, some said, "I'm sorry for your loss."  One woman said, "I hope this is a nice journey for you."  And it was so sweet because it wasn't something she felt she was "supposed" to say, it was an authentic response to my situation.

#2 - I'm simply grateful once again to be working with Habitat for Humanity on my dad's house. I feel comfortable emailing them with my questions like, "Do you want me to put the air conditioning cover on outside that my dad made?"

#3 - I had some items to drop off at the Salvation Army thrift store, so I decided to jog from there, just having a slightly different route made it go so much faster.

#4 - I signed up for an online writing class Root Chakra Writing and Yoga that will be for a few weeks next month for a local teacher I enjoy.

#5 - A couple friends have access to slide projectors, one at her parents, one at her sister's.  They are both out of town, but maybe at some point I could borrow them and sort thru my dad's slides.

My Plant's New Home

 Because I left the car at my dad's place, I biked to soccer.  It was a gorgeous day for a bike ride and soccer was only 3 miles away so I'm glad I was without a driving option.  

A month or so I started playing soccer again, while it's still outdoors.  It's been tough physically to keep up, and I miss my old team who are on a Covid hiatus, but today the bike ride and the run were a welcome addition to my day.

I rented a Uhaul to move a few larger items from my dad's house.  The check engine light turned on pretty early in our journey.  We called them and they said, "We already know about that."  So I'm glad we didn't have a long drive and made it back to the location alright.

  I didn't really have enough to move to justify the rental myself, but a friend of mine took the dining room table and chairs, the rocking chair and a few other things.  It is so nice to have those things at his place, with the stipulation that if he doesn't want them anymore to ask me before getting rid of them.  It's difficult to get rid of so much of my father at once, so this helps a bit.  We also helped him move a few of his things from the garage to the 2nd floor where he just moved.  It was good to get the exercise and support my friend as he had a heart attack a few years ago.

One of the things we moved here was my giant plant.  I brought it home from school when it was small back in 2nd or 3rd grade.  At first I was really happy to have it here, a big burst of green in our dining room, something I didn't know if would make the journey, especially without renting a truck.  A little later though looking at it made me sad.  That plant has always been in my father's house.  I thought it was too big to ever leave my father's house, but that plant being here means my father's house is no more, or at least soon to be no more my father's house.

P.S. I already posted this, but couldn't believe I forgot such an important gratitude.  At dinner Michael asked his youngest a question, she didn't really answer (which can set him off).  Then he said, "I am noticing myself getting frustrated so let me be clear about my expectations" and then he explained what he needed from her.  Way to go!

The Secrets We Keep

 Michael and I joined a monthly couples group last fall, loosely originating from a Zen meditation center.  We both really enjoyed it.  Things got wacky, as did everything this spring.  The group was supposed to take a break over the summer regardless, and today all 7 couples were back on Zoom to do it again this year.  I'm so grateful we were able to meet in person multiple times to establish a foundation for the group, and that everyone else seems to value it as much as we do.  Though it's not ideal, everyone is willing to do it online.

 Our discussion questions for today were

• What have you noticed (and maybe changed) about yourself during the pandemic?
• Have there been any changes for you as a couple regarding any aspect of your relationship?
• If you have had any issues with stress/anxiety/depression how have you managed to keep grounded. i.e, in other words what has kept you going?

I mostly talked about my father as his death, going thru his house etc and the pandemic are one to me.  In a way it felt like skirting the question, but that is the biggest shift in my personal world, so it is also my truth.

As people were open with their sharings, and even Michael shared something I haven't heard him say before, I was reminded of the adage, "We are only as sick as the secrets we keep," which I just looked up and apparently comes from AA.

After that Michael's eldest picked an outdoor activity for a family activity this month - picking pumpkins at a small farm.  I let her drive on some streets with higher speed limits then I have before, since we were outside the city, and she did great.