Muddle through somehow

Yesterday, I placed my mother’s glasses in their own antique glass casket that I bought at a local antique shop. The salesclerk was certain to tell me that the crystal had a crack in it and that it was discounted because of that. I had just had a car kick up a rock, strike and crack my windshield on my way home from helping my father so this seemed about right. 
For a dark and macabre treat, read this piece on the original lyrics. I admit that I rather like them. 

Dad always talks about “The Pajka luck,” but I find myself to be lucky and very fortunate. Life has a way of tossing lemons that I have made into lemonade slushies. Rocks are thrown. Glass breaks. Crystal breaks. This is all part of life. 

It's been a challenging year. I am so f*ck%&g tired of saying that. I’m tired of quietly asking for grace from others and myself. I’m tired of telling myself it’s going to be okay when what does that even mean. I use my words. I dissect my words. I want my words to matter and not hurt anyone including me. 

My mother called me many names. Stubborn was one of them. I’ve always tried to transform that into perseverance, a characteristic that I have always admired in others and myself. No matter the difficulty or delay in fruition, I have muddled through somehow. Just like the lyrics from one of my favorite Christmas songs—“Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.” 

Have yourself a merry little Christmas.
It may be your last.
Next year we may all be living in the past.
Have yourself a merry little Christmas.
Pop that champagne cork.
Next year we may all be living in New York.
No good times like the olden days.
Happy golden days of yore.
Faithful friends who were dear to us.
Will be near to us no more.
But at least we all will be together.
If the Lord allows.
From now on, we’ll have to muddle through somehow.
So have yourself a merry little Christmas now.

Life isn’t all stars and sunshine! Judy Garland knows.

Since April, I have been driving around with my mother’s glasses in my car. What do you do with something that had been so precious and necessary to her life? She read two hundred books while in memory care through these glasses. She looked at her family for the last time through these glasses. For the last few years, I have cleaned them for her several times and upon her passing, they ended up in my car where they have remained. I was unable to move them.

Now they rest surrounded on a bed of dried flowers including hydrangeas and various wildflowers. Not quite a #spelljart but still a manifestation sent into the universe.

Dad and I have kept going. Muddling through without a clear check-list that we each like to keep in our planners.

Sabbatical Wrap Up

Happy Halloween!

2024 Saturday Visiter Awards Winners: Adaptation Works

Yay! The Souls Close to Edgar Allan Poe won! Now go see some cemeteries! 

Last Year's Planner Pages

My poem “Last Year’s Planner Pages” was published in the Journal of Expressive Writing. 

...the best way to get rid of a body...

Saturday ‘Visiter’ Awards -- The Souls Close to Edgar Allan Poe: Graves of His Friends, Family, and Foes has advanced as an Official Nominee!

A Suitcase Full of Books: Visit All Four Edgar Allan Poe Houses & Interview with Author Sharon Pajka

I love following A Suitcase Full of Books and all her literary travels. Here's her visit to all four of Edgar Allan Poe Houses with a couple cemeteries added. I had such a nice time chatting with her about Poe and I adore supporting other content creators!  

Come with me to visit all four Edgar Allan Poe house museums on the Eastern Seaboard in Richmond, Virginia, Baltimore, Maryland, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and New York City, New York. Along the way we'll learn about Poe and his writing with help from Sharon Pajka, the author of The Souls Close to Edgar Allan Poe. Read the corresponding blog post at A Suitcase Full of Books about this experience: https://asuitcasefullofbooks.com/edga... Locations: Poe Statue, Boston, MA Poe Museum, Richmond, VA (https://poemuseum.org/) Poe in Baltimore, Baltimore, MD (https://www.poeinbaltimore.org/) Edgar Allan Poe National Historic Site, Philadelphia, PA (https://www.nps.gov/edal/index.htm) Poe Cottage, NYC, NY (http://bronxhistoricalsociety.org/poe...) CORRECTION: The Raven was NOT written at the Poe Cottage in NYC, it was written at the Brennan farm on the upper west side. Other links: Philadelphia Poe House photographs (Photo Gallery (U.S. National Park Service) (nps.gov)): https://www.nps.gov/media/photo/galle... BLOG: https://asuitcasefullofbooks.com

Look, Mom! "We made the cover!"

 

I wrote and submitted this piece to the Association for Gravestone Studies in December 2021. For various reasons, it was delayed until now.

Mom was admitted to Memory Care in fall 2022 but she still shared stories about this trip and would have been thrilled to see the story of our trip to see the grave of the Greenbrier Ghost in print. She passed this April.

She had worked at a newspaper and knew the importance of the printed word and storytelling. She would have yelled, “we made the cover!”