Simply, in memory...

AFTER THE LOSS OF A LOVED ONE...

After great pain, a formal feeling comes –

               BY EMILY DICKINSON

After great pain, a formal feeling comes –

The Nerves sit ceremonious, like Tombs –

The stiff Heart questions ‘was it He, that bore,’

And ‘Yesterday, or Centuries before’?

The Feet, mechanical, go round –

A Wooden way

Of Ground, or Air, or Ought –

Regardless grown,

A Quartz contentment, like a stone –

This is the Hour of Lead –

Remembered, if outlived,

As Freezing persons, recollect the Snow –

First – Chill – then Stupor – then the letting go –

“It hurts when they're gone. And it doesn't matter if it's slow or fast, whether it's a long drawn-out disease or an unexpected accident. When they're gone the world turns upside down and you're left holding on, trying not to fall off.” 

A LIFE OF CRAZY EIGHTS [AND ALL MINE!]

I was 8 years old when I first got my hands on a deck of 'Crazy Eights'; my sister Carole and I enjoyed playing it throughout the summer of 1965 (i.e., a year that, to us, seemed ostensibly innocent). It also appears that the number "8" has figured rather prominently no less than seven times in my past. Pausing to reflect on previous milestones has thus given rise to a personal trip down memory lane:

Though if I said I actually remembered the exact summer when my sister was born I'd be lying. However, there are a few pics of us in the falling apart album that I acquired after my mother's passing that indisputably make me wax nostalgically.

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Yet, I most definitely DO remember 1968 and would further opine that "it was a very good year". We were getting ready to move out of Detroit after the riots yet there was this magical, heady excitement in the air that insinuated "big changes were on the horizon"...and there definitely were!!! 

Since I got married in 1978, I was likewise super busy that year [i.e., I was also in my last year of pre-med and studied like mad to graduate 'numero uno' in my class]. As such, 70s pop culture sort of escaped me altogether.

Nothing like being "self-made"!!!

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Truly, 1988 was a year that changed my life. I spent the latter part of the summer in Washington D.C. during a dreadful heat wave. What I experienced that year shall remain with me 'till I leave this earth. It's very hard to explain, nonetheless, but has a lot to do with growing up extraordinarily sheltered and naive. My daughter was eight and this was a very fun year for her even though she had to start Montessori with me still away. That said, my stories about how much I loved our nation's capital likely influenced her to make her current  home in the D.C. area, as well. My parents were living on the Philadelphia mainline in 1988; life was beyond sweet ... Oh, how I miss those days!

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The year 1998 found me doing locum tenens and planning on building a new home somewhere warmer than Michigan... well, that was until the fateful night I was assaulted by Angel Maturino Reséndiz. The latter is burning in hell [I hope] and I am still alive. Having said that, such a horrible experience has left me looking over my shoulder forever more!

I also remember watching the very last Seinfeld episode after a very hectic day at the Imaging Center I was working at in 1998. "It's something unpredictable" was stuck in my head for days...

 

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I loved 2008! The world appeared promising and buoyant and I was also at the top of my 'A' game...

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Now, 10 years later, things are not so hopeful... and in large part because unwitting folks elected an a******  to the White House. I keep asking, "When will all this deception end?"

2018 will also be remembered for the "me too" movement...

I applaud brave women. I might add!!!

Sadly, DJT isn't the only a****** out there either.

But getting back to 1958...

June 18th is my middle sister's birthday; even though we're officially not 'counting' anymore, it's still [shhhhhhhhh! ] a major MILESTONE!

She simply needs to remember the above sentiment !!

Happy (upcoming) Birthday, C.P.

A HARBINGER MOST SACROSANCT

June days are harbingers most sacrosanct;

Humid whispers streaming  temperate bliss,

Balming  hurts through pomp and purpose ...

Call me crazy, but I could never tire

Of such beautiful composition deposited

right outside my doorstep...

Her sparkle is so effortless and refined;

And, of course, all the things

'SUMMER'

Tenders quite intrepidly...

Thus, toss me the keys

To month number-six

On our world calendar;

An uncontested beauty ...

One you'd fall for, over and over.

Shout praise, should such

ELEGANCE

Grace your knowing gaze;

( What a tragedy, I think,

If it should not). 

                                                                                                    poem written by L.P.-G. / 2018

A PROPOS THIS UNFILTERED FEMALE NAMED ROSEANNE:

                 **********
What do I think led to 

her malignant tweet?

I believe her brain circuitry went completely haywire...

Is it possible she's bipolar, as well, and her actions were a manifestation of aggressive mania?

I certainly can't rule that out at all.

None of the explanations mean that I condone such behavior. Of course, I don't. It's just that I can't shake my suspicion that something might be awry with Ms. Barr's synapses and neurotransmitters...

MSNBC's 'Everyday Racism in America': A racial reckoning must happen, leaders say

Keep the proper conversations going!

Great job, MSNBC!!

EPILOGUE: As is sometimes the case, I weigh in on subject matter [via blogging] without knowing that some facts have already been established. Ms. Barr, herself, had acknowledged several YEARS ago that she does, indeed, suffer from a host of mental issues. Among them: ADHD, bipolar disorder, OCD, and autism spectrum. In the past she has also remarked about multiple personality disorder. The latter is one of the hallmarks of dissociation. Hence, I am not at all sure that she is 100% in control of her actions even though I find her tweet otherwise indefensible and just very, very sad. This appears to be a lose-lose situation. On that note, silver lining, where are you! Show yourself in some manner!!