ANOTHER FRIEND

Good morning!

*Please forgive the grammatical errors.

As I wrote in my last blog A FRIEND   I never had a chance to say goodbye to Sheldon properly after he died in 2023. Things had gotten tense between us for no reason, well no, that's not true, there was a reason, and I call her Miss Money because all she cared about was Sheldon's money. After Sheldon died, she got it. A lot of it and then no one ever saw or heard from her again. She got what she wanted and took off to Atlanta. I guess that's how they raise girls out in Georgia. Miss Money can smell vulnerable men, stick her talons into them and wait for them to die like a vulture. After a recent chat with Sheldon's niece, she encouraged me to call Andy, a neighbor and dear friend of Sheldon's and a friend of mine until Sheldon and I parted ways. After much internet searching, I found Andy and gave him a call. We had a wonderful hour-long chat. Just wonderful. He told me how immediately after Sheldon's funeral, on the same day, Miss Money hired a moving truck and looted Sheldon's house including ripping out a brand new 80-inch TV from the wall mount. She packed up all she could into a moving truck and hustled back to Atlanta before anyone could say a thing. What a piece of work, eh? I'm not sure how Miss Money received her inheritance. Probably by check to her 1-bedroom apartment in Atlanta. She had finally moved out of her parents' house at the ripe young age of 50 thanks to the money Sheldon gave her. I also learned what killed Sheldon.

Back in the day Sheldon and I put back a lot of wine. An obscene amount of wine every night. Not just wine, margaritas and martinis too. So much vodka. I drank vodka straight out the bottle since I was a teenager. Room temp or cold. Right out the bottle. Every night Sheldon and I wrecked our livers. I slowed way down to an almost stop when I got married in 2003, but Sheldon kept on going even after he had a pacemaker put in around 2013. He just kept on drinking. In May 2023 I (now) learned Sheldon went into the hospital for sorosis of the liver. "Chronic alcohol abuse" they called it. Sheldon was admitted into the hospital severely bloated and in need of a new liver. He was later released from the hospital and told to just wait it out. Later in the month Sheldon was re-admitted into the hospital but with good news they had found a new liver for him thanks to an organ doner but unfortunately Sheldon would suddenly die in the hospital before doctors could put the new liver in him. Crazy! I learned all this just today talking with Andy. I wonder who got Sheldon's liver. Maybe God knew the liver would go to someone else who wouldn't abuse it with more alcohol. Who knows. Meanwhile, it was either during Sheldon's first or second visit in the hospital Miss Money talked Sheldon into changing his Will. She managed to convince Sheldon to only leave money in the Will for people who had visited him within the past few weeks. That was literally Miss Money and two of Sheldon's older relatives who he called when he went into the hospital the first time. No one else knew he was in the hospital. Miss Money didn't tell anyone. Nope, not even his closest friends. Wow. Just wow. When Sheldon had his peacemaker put in, I called everyone! If I knew their names and had their phone numbers, I called them. Sheldon took his niece out of the Will and all his friends and remaining family. Then Sheldon died and immediately after the funeral Miss Money looted Sheldon's house on the same day. Got a U-Haul and took furniture, TV, artwork, crystal, silverware, everything she could throw into the U-Haul and took off. Never to be seen or heard from again. Miss Money only told people about Sheldon's condition after he died. She was packing up his stuff when he was admitted into the hospital the second time anticipating he was hours away from death and she would get her wish. I thought villains like her only existed in old Bond movies and comic books. I feel sorry for her next victim because she's older and will want to spend that money ASAP. No waiting 20 years for him to die like she waited with Sheldon. She will no doubt help it along next time.

Talking with Andy again was like no time had passed between us. We were always friends but not close until the day he knocked on the door and said he had a terrible headache for like two days and couldn't take the pain anymore. We went to the ER and turns out he was having an aneurism. He was smart and wanted to go to the hospital unlike me who just assumed I was having migraine when really I was having a stroke, ignored it, then seven days later started having a massive stroke and finally had to call 911. Andy was smart. Me not so much. We almost lost him. Sweetest man in the world. God has a plan. It just wasn't Andy's time to go, or mine for some reason. Not yet anyway. 

Andy and I have chatted on the phone a few times now. Sweetest man ever.

After the sad loss of the one baby eagle chick up in Big Bear the remaining two are thankfully thriving getting big and strong and starting to have character. I watch mama Jackie and papa Shadow feed the chicks and, in my head, I hear, "Stop throwing food on your sister!" and then I literally saw one chick stand up and put its wings on its hips and I imagined it said, "Coot again?! Ugh can't we have McDonalds!" I love these bald eagles. The more criminal and crazier the current president gets the more I watch these bald eagles to heal my soul. Every woman with a child/children can relate to mama Jackie. She feeds her chicks every two hours; she's been pooped on by her chicks and shook it off. She's the primary caregiver even during the freezing cold nighttime winter storms buried her in snow, and she was the one who left the nest with her dead chick. Poor mama. So sad. I have so much respect for good mamas of all species especially since I did not have one. Maybe I would have a happy blissful house full of grandbabies now if I had. Maybe.

After talking with Andy and Sheldon's niece I feel really good. I haven't felt good in a while. Too much toxic. It's so nice talking with people who are down to earth and normal. A rarity in Los Angeles. Healthy communication is so important for your well-being. Surround yourself with good down to earth people. I really missed Andy. He's such a good guy. I can't wait to see him again.

I'm currently in my morning routine drinking my first cup of hot tea for the day, writing and watching mama Jackie bald eagle feeding her chicks. They got big so fast. It looks like Jackie and Shadow did some housekeeping and cleaned the nest a bit from the growing pile of "meal clutter" i.e. fish and duck/coot carcasses use to feed the babies. The carcass pile was getting pretty high. Glad to see some of the clutter gone. Sunrises and sunsets over the bald eagle nest are just glorious. Beautiful. God's work. Thank you Friends Of Big Bear Valley for allowing us to watch these majestic eagles, our nation's bird. Seems like Americans should know more about bald eagles being as how they're on our money, courtrooms, president's flag, and military insignias. 

Moving on.

I really want to try deachang. I know what it is which is also what has prevented me from eating things like "trotters" and chicken feet, but I've tried liver and onions, and I knew what the function of a liver is before I ate it. Didn't like it. It tasted like how I thought a liver would taste. Blah. There's a young gal on Youtube who has reels of her eating what I thought were bull testicles but turns out it was the brains of some animal. I appreciate and respect when cultures eat the entire animal. I know there are dishes made of pigs heads and deachang is cow intestine but I'm so German Midwest American in my eating habits the most exotic thing I've eaten is probably snake and alligator jambalaya, and for a gal who grew up on meat and potatoes jambalaya is pretty darn exotic. Korean restaurants in America seem to keep deachang off the menu. Probably because only Korean-Koreans would eat it but I want to try it.

I'm in a weird phase of life. Being a 56-year-old woman is the time between menopause and retirement. Not having a period is worth celebrating on its own yay! But I'm not quite at retirement age and finding work has been a real challenge. Even my 61-year-old brother is now working at Target a company that actually turned me down for employment. Seems the men folk being able to lift 50 pounds is an asset. I wouldn't mind a job at the Post Office sorting mail like Charles Bukowski did. I received an email from the Jewish Center in Las Vegas this morning asking if I was still interested doing work for them. I am but only for the position I applied for which they said I wasn't a candidate for because I don't drive. The position was to assist seniors so they can stay in their own homes and continue living independently but the position requires you to drive. I'm going to be an official senior in six years who won't be driving. Why am I not allowed to teach seniors how to use senior alert systems, rideshare and the metro? That's what I'll be using. Why can't I teach that to them. What happens of the car breaks down and they have an important doctor's appointment? I mean, it's about independence, right? I take the train, metro, subway, rideshares. California is good for public transit. Why not educate seniors how to use them? I see old gals like me on the metro all the time. 

I'm chatting with a lady I've known since 1993'ish. We were young Turks (like the Rod Stewart song) and now we're old ladies. Life is good when you have nice people to chat with. A real blessing.

I predict next week will mark a new chapter. A new journey. God bless you.

Pray with me a small Lutheran prayer of ascension.

Behold we die one by one and we pass away like a shadow. But we are prone to take it lightly; each one walks in his own way, as it seems right to him. 

Amen.