Love in the Time of Stress

My Love and I put some thousand miles on the car over the holiday weekend. His father is quite ill, and naturally his mother is greatly distressed. There is little enough we are able to do - except to show up when we can manage it and be as supportive as possible from a distance.

The great sorrow here is not just that his father is ill, but that he is changed by his illness, the drugs, the pain. A warm, gentle man known for his willingness to help any neighbor in need has been cruelly transformed in the twilight of his life, so that those who love him are already deprived of his company - even though he is physically still of this world. He lashes out in confusion and anger at those who love him best - and loving him is all we can do.

Will this be us in twenty years? Life is unfair. Certainly this good man does not deserve this end. All that is left to us is continuing to live so that whatever befalls us, we will - at least - not deserve such an end either.

It canNOT be almost the end of the month...

... and I have not posted since the 2nd! Yikes!

Well, there WAS a whole week at the beach in there. I find I have little motivation to pay attention to gadgets when I can be sitting on the sand with a cold drink at hand, silly nieces running around, a good book to read when not otherwise distracted, and, well - you get the idea. The interlude did The L.o.M.L. (Love of My Life) and me no end of good - even if we did get a little bit singed despite precautions!

I *will* improve at this! Promise!

Everyday Life Sharing

Morning reading/slurping caffeine/getting the day going time - The Love of My Life in his office, I in mine, but easy speaking distance apart: How lovely to ease into the day, each of us pursuing our own topics, but calling out details of items we find of interest to the other. It is as pleasurable to find a tidbit we know will delight the other as it is to find one of our own items - simply for the joy of sharing. Best of all are the ones of shared interest.

"Grief can take care of itself; but to get the full value of a joy you must have somebody to divide it with." Mark Twain

Sleepy Saturday

There is nothing much better in life than waking slowly on a Saturday morning - with few chores ahead of you - to the sound of a (much needed) soft rain. It IS improved, however, when your Love rolls over, wraps an arm over you and gives you a warm, cuddly spoon. Snuggle Bear!

Insane world made sane..

It is Monday morning. Bleah. Time to work. Bleah. The news is all Iraq and Al Quaida and depressing stuff (at least Paris Hilton is no longer the Hot Topic du Jour! - for now!). More personal concerns about families and finances dance in my head. Then, The Love of My Life comes in and give me a long, warm hug (and kisses, don't forget the kisses!), and somehow The World seems possible to handle again.

Real life and updating

How much can anyone really have to say on a given topic? I haven't had much time this week to work on this. Not that it much matters as I don't believe anyone in the wider world has stumbled on this effort as yet - but all my prior efforts at keeping a journal or diary have started off with a bang because I had something that HAD to be shared and then quickly collapsed as I ran out of things to say on a day to day basis. With this, I am going to focus on once a week - well, that's the goal!

I suppose the ideal thing to do would be to collect at least one new hypocorism each week and talk about that, but that will have to start next week, because, well, I just don't have one this week!

A beginning

Greetings and thank you for visiting.

When my (now) husband and I were doing most of our communication online - much of it via instant message - we took particular delight in greeting each other every time with a different pet name. He is exceptionally creative with words, but I went seeking help on the internet - hoping for a list from which to draw inspiration (or to simply lift a term on a particularly dullwitted day!). I did not find one, so I started my own.

I would love to add to the list - please tell me about your favorite pet names and stories of love. This is a place to be positive. Nastiness will be removed.

This project is still in the early stages, so you may find many changes if you re-visit sooner rather than later.