890.

Hello folks.

I hope you are all somewhere safe, have everything you need...

Looks like it's been over three months since I was here last. So much has happened. Some of it heart-wrenching.

Thankfully I'm still in therapy.

Since November:

• As part of his treatment, William had the surgery to remove part of a limb. He is now in physical therapy as well as continuing the original treatments needed to save his life. For the most part he is doing well and we are thankful. 💓
• A friend, my classmate from second grade until high school graduation, who recently lived near me briefly as he worked for a large corporation in the Big City, lost his wife. I was devastated when he told me her illness had recurred and later that it was terminal.💔 I loved them as a couple, both doing things in the community to help African-Americans, make us proud, and help us become (more) self-sufficient. I wasn't able to attend her services (Valentine's Day and the day after) because there was much going on here...
• Grandma and I spent Valentine's Day together. We had lunch then went shopping. It was a good day. 💓
• My neighbor, who has become family in the years I've lived in the neighborhood, lost her dad. He was in hospital for a scheduled procedure the night before Valentine's Day when he had a stroke. He was put on a ventilator and deteriorated rapidly. That Saturday morning, everyone (who wasn't already there) was called to the hospital to say our goodbyes. Her dad was well-known and loved in our area and both family waiting areas were overflowing with people coming and going to and from his room, from the time I arrived until I left the hospital at 7 p.m. ❤ In the wee hours of Sunday morning I received a text saying he was gone. When I got up Sunday morning, I went over to my neighbor's and again every day until the following Sunday (the day after the funeral). The days in between were a lesson for me in the ways of southern funeral traditions. People began coming on Sunday and the flow was constant until it trickled the following Sunday. ❤ Either Sunday or Monday, the funeral home came to my neighbor's and dropped of chairs for visitors, the lighted podium with the guest book and pen, put signs at either end of the street that said, "Slow. Funeral", and a "funeral" flower arrangement beside the front door. I had never seen anything like this but apparently it's what's done. (Here's an article I found that mentions the custom: Signs now signify a death in the family) ❤ The food and drinks began coming on Monday. As more family arrived, food was cooked at the house. Everyone who dropped by signed the book, gave words of condolence and hugs, and were offered food and drink. ❤ The funeral was held at the biggest church in our small town because so many were expected. It was a service befitting what I knew of his life. Lots of people: family, friends, former co-workers, the mayor of our town, members of the general community... ❤ By the Sunday following his service, I was exhausted. On Monday I had a mini-breakdown in the parking lot of the supermarket, a release of all the grief and other emotions I had absorbed from everyone else. Since then I've been taking time to nurture and pamper myself.
• As last year ended, we were devastated at the loss of a younger family member under suspicious circumstances. Co-workers noticed he'd been absent for a couple of days without calling, an oddity. He was found at home a few days later, deceased. The "suspicious" part relates to an ongoing investigation regarding a co-worker of our family member. 💔

There has been a lot more of course but that's enough. 

It's a new month and I have lots to do today.

My heartfelt "thank you" for the continued prayers, healing thoughts, and positive energy you all continue to send our way. 💓

More later...