So Grounded in Everyday Ramblings

Could this gorgeous young woman in the ever so short dress be Miss E.?

Yes, and I apologize for the blur. There were three other girls over getting ready with her for their annual Winter Ball. They were all just lovely but Miss E. was glowing and they were very much all in her thrall.

Us adults did everything in our power to make this a very special time for her, which involved a lot of being scarce and only being apparent when needed. We cleaned the bathroom, provided last minute transportation and logistics and moleskin for the inevitable blisters from new high heeled shoes.

Miss E. was quite traumatized by her grandmother’s actual physical illness, it was not pretty for a few days leading up to her hospitalization and Miss E. is very popular and, umm, fourteen…

There has been acting out. She is really a very good tenderhearted kid but this has been rough and she is much much more interested in her social life than in anything else. It is how the teenage brain works. The rest is all flat out annoying.

Anyway, she lied to her mother about going to an expensive workshop at the Seattle Repertory Theater yesterday and as we left Seattle she was about to be ever so grounded. This actually might not be a bad thing. She needs to spend time alone with her mother adjusting to the changes that are unfolding for them.

Her mother has ambitions for her that she does not currently share and they need to work this out. The whole rest of the family is trying very hard not to visibly fret, though of course we are. They need to make their own way in the world.

Driving home from Seattle yesterday during the Super Bowl was a brilliant idea. We had some fairly heavy rain near Tacoma but there wasn’t a lot of water on the road as it had just started and then it was damp the rest of the way with very little traffic! Sweet.

Both Kes and I did pretty much total immersion into my oldest sister’s life while there. I actually slept in her bed for three nights. We are both so happy to be home and grounded back into our own lives.

Carlo and Diego did great while I was gone! I am so proud of them. My cat sitter couldn’t resist feeding them more dry food than I normally do and I understand why. They even left me a very funny note saying that they hoped I would continue to feed them lots and lots of food now that I was home. My cat sitter is a jewel. Truly.

We really got a lot done. Other than my sister’s taxes, which I will do when I do my own and ongoing emotional and physical support for Miss T. and Miss E. (particularly around their move into much more modest quarters) we are done with what needs to be addressed.

Miss T. just can’t and doesn’t want to cope with a memorial service so it looks like Historic Seattle is going to put something together. My sister touched so many lives over the years in so many ways. She was such a vital effective agent of change in many arenas in her community, from housing, transportation, day care, historic preservation, green space and gardens… the list goes on and on over her life there.

She was humble about it all and very passionate. She wasn’t angry, she was determined and a force to be reckoned with. She made things happen. It is fascinating, as the tributes come in to get the perspective that folks outside the family had of her. I am honored in my own way to have been her baby sister.

I am working for a week and then taking a week off. It is just the way the workflow is. I am needed now, but not so much next week.

I am tired. No surprise there. Even with that I am looking forward to teaching tonight and tomorrow night. We lost one of the kids up on the unit last week and it was really hard on the parents who have children about the same age with the same diagnosis. They were all bonded in the struggle.

I was happy to be able to offer them a much-needed respite. Being useful in this way helped me manage my own sense of not being able to control the inevitable.

Boy this being embodied thing sure can get complicated…

Last updated February 02, 2015