Just Another Day

I have been forced to conclude that I am by far the weakest link in the group when it comes to Escape Rooms. It's taken about 5 or 6 times, but finally I am here to acknowledge publicly that I don't have what it takes to complete these things.  My daughter and husband? On it. They stride about the room, proclaiming insightful observations about the various objects in the room and how they might be interconnected. They often have flashes of brilliance that lead to exciting breakthroughs and the next clue.  Me? I am definitely TRYING to be insightful, but I tend to just sort of point out 1 or 2 slightly useful things, and that's about it. I think my biggest accomplishment on the last room was discovering that a picture frame could be opened up. Invaluable contribution, I'm sure.  Sigh... Not to mention I am absolutely terrible at combination locks. I have no idea why, but if my life depended on my skills to accurately and quickly line up 5+ lines of a combination lock, I ...

 Well, the Celebration of Life went off with nary a hitch. My sister pushed back on the flowers, so I figured if she was that invested in not doing formal arrangements, so be it. I wasn't thrilled with how the flowers looked, but overall they were fine. My standards are probably too high for my own good. I was super lucky in choosing a really great caterer, and they did a beautiful set up, as well as the food being pretty delicious! My mother loved a high tea, so we went with a lot of things from a high tea menu, along with some of her favorite desserts. More than one person told me that the menu reminded them of times they spent with my mother and that was really very meaningful to me.  It is exactly why I went in that direction and I think it really paid off.  Also, I know that the event really provided a sense of closure for my Dad.  I think this type of tribute to my Mom was something he had been wanting to do, and I am glad we were able to finally execute it....

Well, my whisper campaign worked? We will be hosting a Celebration of Life for my mother in October. Not quite at the year mark, but close enough, I guess.  One interesting thing is that apparently my sister and Dad discussed it without me and then my sister just sort of informed me it was happening and on what date. And then I was expected to plan the majority of it.  Which. Is fine. I am currently not employed and my former job had me planning galas for 500, so this is definitely in my wheelhouse.  However, I just felt like old patterns were being repeated and not in a good way when I was not even involved in the discussions about the event and then just told about it. I mean, maybe I had made plans for that day! Maybe I had bought tickets to a concert or something! They would never have known because they didn't ask!  Many of my friends were outraged on my behalf, and I don't blame them. My sister may perhaps have, ahem, control issues. I think part of it may come...

I have determined that my family is...unusual. Well, I have always known this. The one year anniversary of my mother's passing is coming at the end of September.  We did not hold any kind of memorial service for my mother. For a number of reasons, I think. She was cremated, her death was so unexpected and fast, and it came right around a bunch of family birthdays and holidays. I think it felt at the time like we would be scheduling a memorial around a birthday or Thanksgiving and that just seemed like a huge bummer and we didn't want to do that to people. From August to January the majority of our family has their birthdays and of course all the major holidays.  But I do know my mother, and the Leo in her would want some kind of acknowledgment of her passing.  She would love to have a fancy room with beautiful flowers and people dressed up and speaking about her in glowing terms. I KNOW this IN MY BONES. She would be kind of insulted to just have nobody do anything at all...

I attended a Catholic elementary school here in SoCal back in the 70's. My parents were quite economically challenged at the time, and we literally lived in a rental home behind two businesses and next to a bar and a liquor store.  I didn't grow up with any kids or families around me, just adults parking in our "yard" to go to one of the businesses and me scheming constantly to locate spare coins so I could furtively purchase Abba Zabbas and Funyuns from the liquor store.  Because of the rich tapestry that is Southern California, the Catholic school I attended at the time was transitioning from what I assume was mostly white (based on the priests and nuns) to what the Catholic Church is today in California, majority Hispanic, with the majority being of Mexican heritage. I never thought about it growing up, really.  I didn't realize it until much later that the majority of my class was Hispanic. I am not going to use Latinx because I have heard from so many of the ...

 Ahhhh, this writing thing, it feels good! I had forgotten how much. When I say the last 12 or so years have been a blur, I really mean it. I think once I went back to work, it was on. Even though it was part time, having two kids, one of them neuro-divergent, just put me into a mental and physical overdrive that I am only now starting to come down off of. I didn't really realize how much until I just kind of stopped.  Did I mention I had to leave my job? It happened just back in March.  I won't get into the particulars of it, but let's just say I was given an interesting choice by my former boss.  A choice that pretty much any worker would find impossible to make, and I said, screw it, I'm out. It was only twenty hours a week anyway and it had kind of turned into the job from hell.  I had left my cushy government job to strike out into the non profit world where I was told I could work from home! Have more flexibility! Use my years of expertise to get out and w...