I always have ideas for this blog floating around in my head. Some good (my opinion of course) and some, after re-reading them for the umpteen time never see the light of day. Some go through a series of gestations and for good, or bad, the story ends up completely different than when it started. Some are well meaning but so pretentious that when I start to edit them I almost throw up (that is probably why I have 33 drafts). My favorites are the ones that pretty much write themselves. An event or situation leaves such an impression the words just come. Below are the things that happened or evolved during the past 30-days and fell in the last category. These are in the order I recall them, which can also mean their importance too right?

Alex on the mend. It is difficult to see your child struggle regardless their age which is the case here. He is 37 and a successful entrepreneur that with his long-time friend and partner have built a multi-million dollar gaming business. The pressure of that combined with severe isolation because of the pandemic lockdown and his succumbing to the influences of a well-meaning new girl friend created a perfect and disastrous storm. By mid-year, he was having a mental meltdown that questioned every aspect of his life. Among his odd choices during this fragile time was to start a complete remodel of his small home. After realizing this was too much, he and his girlfriend decided to bail, and signed a lease on a new apartment downtown. At this point his psyche was drained and he was at wits end. Two critical things happened next. His brother took over the remodel and he got out of his lease and moved in with us. The full story is his to tell, but we have all gained much during his stay. He still has some healing to do but is stronger and has most of his old confidence back. He has also gained a new perspective on his mental wellbeing that he didn’t have before. All of us are better for our time together, and equally important, we all still get along.

No Parkinsons. I suffer with restless leg syndrome and have for 4-years. Trying a variety of remedies with no success, my family physician finally gave me a referral to a specialist. Incredibly it took 18 months to get an appointment with the department of neurology at the “U”. My greatest concern, for whatever reason was thinking it might be the beginning of Parkinson’s. I had nothing to base this on and wasn’t losing sleep over it but I had a nagging concern and wanted an answer. I had a good friend die because of it and to watch him deteriorate before my eyes was painful. The doctor answered it with a resounding “No”.

Spencer finishes Alex’s’ house. I can’t stress enough the hurdles and brain damage Spencer went through making this happen. This too is his story to tell, but you can only hope that in your time of absolute need someone like this has your back. Brotherly love at its finest.

Lisa achieves International Platinum Society status in real estate sales (again). The older you get, the fewer shots you get at a “do-over”. I’m not saying you should ever give up trying, but what I am saying is you only have so many chances to try before you literally run out of time. This can be for a variety of reasons; financial, health, or just not having the stamina you did at 30-40-50… Of course the bigger mistake is to never try for fear of failure. Lisa pushed through in 2017 at age 58 and got her real estate license. 2023 was difficult and a bit frightening for real estate but Lisa made things happen-again.

Too busy. We decided to keep our options open as the housing market cooled. I began by dipping my toes in the eBay pool. I started with stuff that in the past I would have given away or donated. My cost was free since I already owned it and had nothing to lose. After several anxious lessons reserved for rookie sellers, I started to find my way. This was a good segway to promote items Lisa was finding in estate sales. In fact, as I did eBay, she started working more hours with her friend that owns an estate sale company. Initially the thought was to purchase the company from her after mentoring under her tutelage for a yet to be determined amount of time. I started helping out too during bigger sales and found I enjoyed it too. It also helped knowing we were generating an income between home sales. It became clear fairly soon that it would be too much work for a pair of boomers trying to take over from someone that had been doing it successfully for 30+ years. Truthfully I didn’t want to physically work that hard, and realized my ability to lift and strongarm heavy items was decreasing with time. The exercise is good-to a point. It is frustrating feeling your strength diminish a little at a time. The split-second where you remember the times you easily hoisted 100lbs of something-and catch yourself before you try it and damage something more than just your ego. All this leads to trying to balance 3 different responsibilities-real estate, eBay and estate sales. Happy to be busy,

Elevator ahead of schedule. I kept dropping hints of my new exercise plan that I couldn’t escape and looked forward to bragging about the results. Today started the 5th week of walking the stairs. Drumroll…. not a pound. Seriously, nothing. Apparently my diet didn’t improve as much as I would like to think. That being said and since that is the case, it is great to hear that we should be able to haul freight on the elevator soon. After that all we need is the passenger permit and we are back in business. It also means I need another exercise plan…

Work in progress

Staph infection. As pleased as I was with my neurology appointment I was equalled dissatisfied with my appointment with the Infectious Disease Dept at the “U”. I only had to wait 2 months for this appointment so what should I expect right? The doctor looked at my thumb and listened to my story, after which she basically shrugged her shoulders and said “I dunno, maybe get a steroid shot again. at least it would stop it for a year or so like last time.” What?! No taking a sample to test for other possible solutions, just “Rinse and Repeat”? I ended up back at my family doctor getting another round of antibiotics, which has already failed. He suggested I go back to the “U” again. Unbelievable.

Gabapentin. This was the first attempt by the “U” to find a solution to my Restless Leg Syndrome. No cigar. Tried it for 3-weeks and was hopeful but it didn’t help. It also gave me weird dreams. More to follow after blood work.

Water leak. At midnight on December 2nd, we had two different water leaks that took out our bedroom ceiling. Since that night we relocated our bedroom to the living room. It looked pretty plush in pictures and was funny to host Christmas and New Years in our “Suite” but we grow tired of feeling like we are living in a hotel. We have not found the specific source yet and it has not leaked again since. It is winter and we have had above normal precipitation but no leaks-go figure. I am waiting for elevator service to resume before I attack the problem. I can’t wait.

50 year high school reunion pending. This is scary. For those of you that have already crossed this threshold I salute you! For reference, if you were “Celebrating” your 50th year reunion in 1973, it means you would have graduated high school in 1923! Shit! How did this happen?

Journaling. Speaking of high school, I disliked english class-actually failing it before a favorite teacher took pity and helped me get that credit in order to graduate. I realized later it wasn’t the topic I hated but rather the ineptitude of certain teachers. Writing and reading is crucial for a people and for a society. Please, read and write whenever possible or you will forget how which is the real shame.