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Showing posts with the label friends

My State of Mind

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Each morning my goal is to have a beautiful day.  I remind myself that I am the one that makes my day a good one.  Most of the time I am successful.  This past month my ‘having a beautiful day’ system had a stress test.  A good friend died and in supporting his wife (also a good friend) a lot of memories surfaced from 14 years ago when my husband, my best friend, died and I worked through the grief.    A few years later I met Peter who became my ‘significant other’ (surely there is a better term!).  We’ve been together for 11 years.  I was surprised when I started feeling depressed following my friend’s death.  I expected to be sad – not depressed.   Staying positive, happy and focused on the good around me became difficult.  It took a few days for me to understand why I felt the way I did.   I needed to remind myself of a piece I wrote 5 years after my husband died.  It is still true for me. ...

Needle Ice and Good Friends

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Pam and Linda photo by Ken Barr It was a cold sunny Prescott day and good friends were in town.  A day to share stories and memories and to explore new places.  We decided to explore the trail in the Granite Dells across from the Phippen Museum here in Prescott. It was an easy trail and with 3 Nikon cameras and a cell phone we knew there would be lots of picture taking! A piece of the plane at the crash site Each of us noticed the same and different aspects on the walk.   We looked at the site of the U.S. Constellation crash that  occurred  several years ago  while we took a few pictures.   We took the left fork for a short distance before deciding we should have taken the path on the right.   There were a lot more giant patterned boulders along the other path!     Before we turned back we found patches of ice.   And we found needle ice formations.   Of course, we did not know they were called ‘Needle Ice’ until we...

Memories Box - Grief

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My good friend’s husband passed away after 11 years of fighting lymphoma and leukemia.   This past year was terrible for both of them as they struggled to be positive and useful and loving.   I visited with her one afternoon and I listened as she told me how she will miss his presence, his humor, his wit and his nightly, “Good Night, Beautiful”.   She is, of course, glad he is no longer in pain and she has removed the reminders of that pain from the house.   We both know the reminders live within her and will fade with time as the good memories take over.   A doctor once told me that losing a loved one leaves a hole inside.   That hole can be likened to the hole in a doughnut.   The hole is there with healing around it.    I opened my memory box to share some of the pain and some of the humor I remember so well from my husband’s dying.    My friend was concerned about getting the ashes to another state.   I shared the st...

Butterflies and Thank You's

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Thanks for all the healing butterflies we received!   Keep them coming!   So many people have severe health issues.   Those of us who have a network of friends and family that offer both emotional and physical support are indeed the lucky ones.   It’s how we get through the bad times.   So I am taking this opportunity to once again thank our friends and family for their continued love.   The phone calls, emails and hugs mean so much.   Being reminded that each story is unique and not a repeat; being reminded that all I have to do is pick up the phone to hear a caring voice; and being reminded that there is always someone to listen have pulled me back from a previous story and grounded me in reality.   So we will go to Tucson and have more testing done on Peter.   We will see his doctor and build a game plan and go forward.   Whatever the results, they are treatable. We will continue to love, live and hang onto our ...

In This Season of Thanksgiving

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       I Share My Gratitude and thankfulness for:                 A loving family – All my life I have been loved and have loved My Two Brothers and Me Peter, who loves me, accepts me and allows me space to be me. High standards and high expectations Knowing if I did not meet those standards, I would still be loved. Learning that ‘good enough’ sometimes is ‘good enough’                  The understanding that I am responsible for my own happiness.                  Amazing friends who are fun, loving, compassionate and expect the same from me.                 The ability to explore my creativity.             ...