Yesterday, I found out that two people I love will be leaving earlier than I wish. I’m resolving to spend as much time as possible with them whenever we can.
I often think of this line from Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods:
Sometimes people leave you halfway through the wood
because that’s inevitable, isn’t it? Here are other lines from that song:
Let’s spend time with the photos I took yesterday.
Krystle Campbell left us too soon. Again, I resolve to spend time with people I love.
As always, I appreciate spending time with people I love on WordPress. Thanks to all who helped me create this post and to you — of course! — for visiting, here and now.
When people get into therapy, they often say, “I haven’t been the same since …” and they name some life-changing event.
Personally, I haven’t been the same since …
my first heart surgery at age 10,
I got my first cat,
I got my first car,
I rode a bicycle for the first time,
my heart valve replacement surgery last September,
my son was born,
my son went away to school in Scotland,
my son returned home for Christmas,
my son went back to school yesterday,
I took my first disco dance lesson,
I met my husband,
my divorce,
my cardiac pacemaker was recalled in 1975,
my cardiac pacemaker/defibrillator was recalled two weeks after my valve replacement surgery in September,
President John F. Kennedy was killed,
Bobby Kennedy was killed,
Martin Luther King was killed,
John Lennon was killed,
I went away to college,
I was attacked by a rapist outside my apartment in Cambridge, Massachusetts,
I first got into therapy,
I went to film school,
I became a therapist,
Barack Obama was elected President of the United States,
Donald Trump was elected President of the United States,
I met my boyfriend Michael,
I first saw Gene Kelly dance,
I heard my first pun,
I made my first pun,
I attended Berklee School of Music for a summer program when I was in high school,
I worked on the recruitment tape for Berklee College of Music in the 1990s,
I did stand-up comedy at an Open Mic,
my son performed stand-up comedy at an Open Mic,
I had my first cup of cocoa with marshmallows,
my father died,
my mother-in-law died,
my mother died,
my father-in-law died on Friday,
I encountered Mexican food for the first time,
I had my first black raspberry ice cream cone,
I saw my first palm tree,
I started blogging,
I got my first comment on this blog,
I bought my first personal computer during the 1980s,
I wrote computer manuals in the 1970s,
I slept out under the stars in Monument Valley,
I went cross country by bus,
I attended the Edinburgh Festival Fringe,
I heard Pat Metheny play guitar,
I sang in front of people,
I met every person who is important to me,
I saw my first Stephen Sondheim musical,
I first heard the band Steely Dan over the sound system at a Cambridge store, playing this song …
and countless other events.
I haven’t been the same since all those things happened and yet I’m still the same person.
I haven’t been the same since I took all these photos:
Give the happiness of a comment and I will end up happy.
I haven’t been the same since I first learned to express gratitude, so many thanks to all who helped me create today’s post and to you — of course! — for being changed and yet the same, every moment.
What you need to know first about this post is that it was inspired by this patient publication from the Mayo Clinic, which I was reading yesterday:
What you need to know about me, right now, is:
I’m having open heart surgery at the Mayo Clinic later this month.
My only son is leaving for a five-year program at Edinburgh University in 10 days, and he wants to watch certain movies with me and my boyfriend Michael before he leaves.
I am a group therapist who recently facilitated two groups where the members chose to focus on the topics “nature” and “appreciation.”
I saw my cardiologist, Dr. Deeb Salem, yesterday, and he was very encouraging about my future health.
I am not particularly looking forward to open heart surgery, especially because it will definitely incapacitate me from blogging daily, as I have every day since January 2013.
I don’t like being incapacitated.
A person I greatly respect used the words “delightful,” “brilliant,” and “resilient” to describe me yesterday.
I’m very glad to know that I’m resilient, since that implies I will recover relatively quickly from open heart surgery.
I like cats.
I have to watch what I eat and avoid too much salt.
I have handwriting that can be difficult to read.
I took lots of other photos yesterday, if you need to know:
What you need to know is that I always try to make a grreat choice for music in my blog posts.
What you need to know is that when I first understood, four months ago, that I needed to have heart valve replacement surgery performed at the Mayo Clinic, I created this YouTube video about that and shared it in a previous blog post:
You need to know that I’m more reconciled to heart valve replacement surgery today than I was when I first sang that song on May 31.
Anything you need to know or to express, here and now?
What you need to know is that I appreciate every one who helped me create today’s post and you — of course! — no matter what you need to know, today.
