Out With The Old

It's been quite a year.

Goodbye, 2020. You will be forever memorable, no doubt.

We hope for health, and peace, and perhaps even a little bit of joy in the upcoming year. 

Van Morrison

 This is the saddest song I have ever heard: Reminds Me of You (Van Morrison). 

Not a song to listen to while Pandemic-social-distancing. Especially the "I can't stand it" at 4:41.

If you are feeling sad and need an outlet, though, this is the ticket.

Still Not Right

 Oh, GOOD GRAVY, Facebook. The ads are still not right. 

 This ad reminds me of the time, some zillion years ago or so during my college days, when a well-meaning relative who disliked the person I was dating at the time, sent me a book titled, Smart Women, Foolish Choices. Oh, dear.  So much NO. (Though at least Facebook is algorithm-driven rather than motivated by passive-aggression.) 

Trust me, Facebook (and well-meaning relatives): just stop. If I want advice, I'll ask for it. Furthermore, for a middle-aged woman, being left alone is a priority. Send us ads for comfortable clothing and accoutrements for our hobbies, and absolutely no interpersonal advice in any form. 

Post-Holiday Exhaustion

 

Home for the Holidays

 The holidays are, expectedly, a bit strange this Pandemic year.

In lieu of the annual family get-together, we drove around on Christmas eve and dropped things off for people, chatting only briefly, masked, outside on the porches. It was mostly fine, and fairly brief, and it was a welcome break from social gatherings.

The hard parts:

1. Knowing it was not safe to hug my daughter, because she is in her own household and regularly encounters the imported medical personnel who are here in our city to help with the Pandemic. That realization was an unexpectedly difficult pang, and I still ache. Stay safe and well, Offspring the First. My heart is with you, from six feet away.

2. My lovely mother-in-law sending a text to me, to ask whether Cherished Friend would be coming "Home" to this desert land for Christmas. She is so kind, keeping him in her prayers and considering him a member of the family. I'm grateful. Alas, no, I told her, he would not be here for the holidays since it is not safe to travel between Here and There because Pandemic. 

I didn't have the heart to tell her that I suspect that the times he will be out in this desert land will be few and far between henceforth. (It might still be too hard for me to admit it to anyone except myself.)

Paths have diverged. Cherished Friend is Oceanside, and it is the right place for him. It may, eventually, become Home for him, unlike this desert land which never was truly Home. 

I hope for the best for him, Always. 

Home isn't where you're from, it's where you find light when all grows dark. ― Pierce Brown, Golden Son

Copyright 2020, Mediocria Firma.

All rights reserved. Used with gratitude.

Hummingbird Gift

 A lovely gift from my lovely mother-in-law.

Merry Happy