Well, deep, sweet, and cute.
Someone is happy things are undogged. We keep telling him we hope to have a dog someday. And it’ll be okay.
Tag Archive: family
Relentless: My Story of the Latino Spirit That Is Transforming America by Luis A. Miranda Jr.
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Lin-Manuel Miranda was the one I thought of when I put this on hold on Libby. I want to get better acquainted with Hamilton and the music. I admire that composer; I’m not yet in love with the musical like everyone else. Still, the picture on the front of the book should have given me a clue. This guy has to be older than the Lin-Manuel I saw on a talk show. No. Luis A. Miranda Jr. is Lin-Manuel’s father.
There is a lot to learn from this man and his son. Their passions lead their lives. Music, acting, movies, and stage plays inspired the father. And they were transferred to the rest of the family. This is the part of the memoir I loved the most.
Learning about Puerto Rico and the differences in types of Hispanics cleared many questions I had over the years. And I learned a lot about different types of activism to help others. But here is where I started disconnecting. Was it me or the hours at night I was listening? Before long, I was lost in a sea of politics. Still, I found the enthusiasm Mr. Miranda Jr. displayed during these parts at least made me pay attention. Whether or not I agree didn’t matter. It was inspiring to feel his spirit.
Chill out! Just because we had a tiny bit of snow on Halloween,
Doesn’t mean it’s Winter.
But we can’t lie around like that person. Sigh! I miss summer. Okay, not the extreme drought, or constant fires, but the beaches, time to swim. Time with friends. Friends still with us, and those chillin’ on the other side.
For the Halloween, All Saints Day, Dia de Los Muertos, Samhain celebration/tradition, I just consider it a remembering, I wrote letters to friends, family, God. It helped my deep depression to bring my spirit to a level of energy. Their spirits seem near enough even if I can’t hear what they are saying to me.
When I felt the need to listen, I pulled out the new Yarn Tarot Cards a friend gave me last year. Just like the pictures above help me communicate, pictures, archetypes, (look up the psychiatrist, Jung) help unlock our brains to communicate with ourselves and others.
I had hoped the Yarn Tarot would have patterns to knit or crochet–they missed a good chance! Rather, these are pictures similar to Rider -Waite cards that can spark my imagination. Other people need more elaborate pictures.
We all need that help, prompts. I had a teacher in grade-school who had a box of pictures to help out creative writing. In college, I learned you can pick up any book. Randomly, open close your eyes, pick a spot. The sentence or scripture you land on is something to ponder or write about. Most of the time it guides you. But as my dad would say. Watch out for being too literal. After all, Scripture says, “Judas hung himself.” “Go, ye and do likewise.”
But my stream is meandering as it often does.
The wisdom I gleaned remind me to be calm. To not jump to conclusions
In other words:
CHILL
The fork in the road is one we revisit often. Should I have said or done this? And, of course, with the benefit of hindsight, we know what we would have said or done. I guess that is why we aren’t given that knowledge when it would have been helpful.
I should have told her, when she complained of being so tired, to call the doctor immediately. But all I knew then was that she just needed to rest. Not that my COVID-addled brain knew more than coughing and needing to sleep. I was finally over the fever but my friends and I check in on each other often. And of the three musketeers who had known each other for a couple decades we knew age, pain, and strengths of each other.
You know the Bible verse about entertaining angels unawares? I have and sometimes got the breeze from the wings. Michele was one of those
One of the forks in my life. My adult children all moved north. It made no sense to stay. So my husband and I moved north. Before the move, I looked up NaNoWriMo, writing groups, BookCrossing groups.
I found the writers and readers of the new community and found myself at home. Even if my adult children were busy with their jobs and lives, I found my people.
That Writers’ Group set up a lot of friendships for me. I think you have to be quite vulnerable to write inner thought while in a group. This group was open and welcoming. That was due to the one on the left and the one on the right.
Anyway (this stream is so hard to write!),the Sunday night after I finally was fever-free, one of my friends went in for emergency surgery. The very next day the other friend had a heart attack. It was touch and go for both. I’m 6 hours away from them. I couldn’t do anything for either of them. Sadly, Michele passed, or as her daughter said, she gained her wings. I always believed she had wings.
One of the hard parts of writing this is the heart-heavy stuff I want to say I can’t as deeply as I’d like because I don’t want to bring personal names here, to protect both friends.
Michele was raised in a abusive family and then had a few relationships that were equally horrid. But she decided early on to not raise her children in that kind of environment. She found a religion that served her heart, and she dedicated herself to love, God, family, and friends. She was one of those people that didn’t preach. Her love was in how she took care of everyone. Always patient. Always feeling empathy for others. Helping as much as she could, in any way she could. See, she already had the wings. I am going to miss her so much and yet, I feel she will be watching over her family and friends as much as ever, except now, I pray, she is painfree.
My other friend is still in medical care. She had that surgery and hasn’t been able to eat food or even move around for the stitches up and down her abdomen. I wish I could be with her and help her through this nightmare that is both physical and emotional, having lost our mutual friend.
I feel awful that I couldn’t say goodbye to Michele. We did chat on Instant Messenger so at least I know our last conversation was loving and hopeful towards our friend who had the surgery. We had decided we didn’t want to worry the one in the hospital surgery department. But of course with Facebook we can all see what is happening by a peek on our phones.
And my friend in the hospital still had a fever yesterday, and all I can hope is that she has had visitors and rest as I don’t want to call and wake her. Please pray for my friends and their friends and family. I don’t mind a few coming my way. I’m trying not to revisit forks in the road, traveled or not.
Love
Forever and always.
Piglet: The Unexpected Story of a Deaf, Blind, Pink Puppy and His Family by Melissa Shapiro
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Oh, my goodness! This book was fun from the very beginning. My eyes have difficulties tracking to read; even since cataract surgery fixed a lot of my issues, tracking remains nearly impossible. I have been an avid reader since I was little. Reading was slow going, but I got through the ten books allotted by the library every three weeks. The heft of the books was unwieldy, but I didn’t ask for help.
So, I began reading this book on my old phone using the Kindle app. It took me quite a while to get through even half the book. Finally, I caught up with the Libby audiobooks I had checked out, and Piglet became my bedtime book. Now, I could use text-to-speech and speed up the reading quite a bit. And give my eyes a rest.
Another reason I got into this book is my own dog, Kali, passed last spring after being nearly blind and having doggy dementia and bad hearing. It was so hard at the end of her life, but we had such a hard time from the beginning trying to learn from each other that the bond for her was strong in the end. I miss her so much and feel the need to help another dog as soon as I can. Meanwhile, Piglet helped me. Now I feel even stronger about getting another dog. I know there is one out there that needs me as much as I need him or her.
I think this book has a couple of other inspirational stories within. Melissa Shapiro is a veterinarian who tells her story of how she and her husband got together. Then, she shares her children’s aspirations with music. She tells of their college experiences.
By the way, one of her daughters and her husband have honest and raving reviews on the Piglet GoodReads page. I was delighted to read these as I felt I knew them from the book.
This book is full of the good feels a person needs these days. I look forward to looking all over the internet to find videos and follow the dogs, Melissa, and her family, and all the good they are doing for disabled people and animals.
When I feel I am floundering, I need to remember the floundering Ms. Shapiro and her husband went through with that one-pound blind, deaf puppy screaming his needs to them. Floundering is how one finds one’s balance. That is what February gives me. Meanwhile, today my turtles got a little more colorful.
Per Linda:
This post is part of Just Jot it January, and today’s prompt comes to us courtesy of my friend, Kim. Check out her blog here!
Family is the most important thing to me. If I had my choice I would live with everyone in a cave, my adult offspring most important, my husband is too. But masses of cousins all over the place and I miss all of them! We all used to live in one area. My grandparents were two doors from each other so we got to see all the relatives on Sundays.
What I only recently figured out was my cousins’ other grandparents were not where mine were.
I thought everyone had it like me. And most of my relatives went to the same church. My dad’s dad helped built the church. His wife and he were known in the church as Mom and Pop. So I was related to everyone. All the kids had my grandma as their primary teacher. We all learned to read The 23rd Psalm and the Lord’s Prayer from her.
My grandparents and parents are no longer with us, but we cousins are still here.
My biggest problem is a phone phobia that keeps me from calling. I know I’ll answer in a minute if they call me but deciding I’m calling now seems impossible.
So among other things I’m working on family is my primary goal.
I love my family, even the non-blood related ones, chosen extended family.
Honey, Baby, Mine: A Mother and Daughter Talk Life, Death, Love by Laura Dern
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This was a fun read. Maybe a little too loud. Okay, they weren’t too loud. I giggled too loud on occasion. Laura Dern and her mother, Diane Ladd, share their relationship with us. That includes love and joy and a squabble once in a while. I think that made this memoir special. And to feel like Diane was trying to get healthy and Laura was trying to save her mother’s life. In the meanwhile, we, the listener/reader, get brought into this beautiful relationship. They share their struggles of the past while dealing with the health issues of the moment. I think mothers and daughters everywhere can relate and learn from these two and their walks.
Pineapple Street by Jenny Jackson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I’m not sure where I heard about this book. Maybe GMA? As a writer, it was fun to watch the character development. But as a reader, that was about the extent of it. Yet the writing style was fun. I loved some of the authors’ idioms in descriptions or dialogue.
This was a Libby library audiobook. Marin Ireland (Narrator) kept it fun. Her voice sounded like Kelly McCreary, Maggie Pierce, of Grey’s Anatomy. The same kind of energy that was fun.
Sadly there wasn’t a lot of growth for these children of wealth, but there is some. Mostly it was a fun little read if you don’t want depth. A good beach read, if you know what I mean.
Rootless by Krystle Zara Appiah
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
This was a difficult read. I didn’t initially relate to any of the characters, except for not fitting in. I think everyone has had the occasion where they find themselves in a group they don’t feel is for them. Efe finds herself there most of her life.
At one point, I did find myself paying closer attention. I think it was when the couple found themselves expecting a baby. Yes, I was raised during the 50s and 60s. Women were to be barefoot, pregnant, and happy about it. Well, throwing up and being tired all the time didn’t fit with how I was supposed to feel. Cultural expectations and my own clashed as women’s lib was showing that we had choices. Too late for me. I was already entirely indoctrinated.
Still, after the babies were born, I found they taught me all I needed. They knew how to do the baby parts, and I learned the mama parts. I know for a fact that I was fortunate. Being a mom isn’t built into our genes. No more than being a dad comes with the part he played in the baby-making. And they have had their share of expectations. Now smush those ideas and realities into play, and every marriage and parenting situation brings challenges no one expected.
Efe and Sam come into parenting the same way, full of expectations and realities that don’t fit the stories they were supposed to believe. I can see how poor Efe and other pregnant women can feel the way they do. There can be no normal with mental and emotional issues in the mix. Each person has to learn their way. Here is an excellent story to show how understanding your partner, even when you don’t show what love is. Efe does her best out of love. Sam does his best out of love. Yet, the story doesn’t go according to expectations. I feel like I want to give everyone a hug and move on. No amount of talking can help the emotional issues at hand.
By the way, as indifferent as I felt at the beginning of the book, I suggest having the Kleenex handy. I was in shock and had difficulty sleeping after the story ended.
Late Bloomers by Deepa Varadarajan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Thank you, Netgalley, for letting me read this book.
Sadly, I nearly quit reading at the first chapter. Nothing against the writer, but I had assumed the book was about women. Fair warning: it is about a family, including the father and son. Each member gets their chapters. I must admit that listening to text-to-speech, it was hard to tell who the chapter was about. I think that if an author sets up a book this way, they should include the words Chapter 1 or another number and then the name of the point of view. That would clear confusion right up front.
Once I figured out who the chapters were about and the book’s aim, I could see the novel through.
On the other hand, though this book was about an Indian-American family, it was universal in many ways. People not listening to each other. People not expressing their authentic truth. People jump to their own conclusions. Gossip. Betrayal. The reader wonders if they will ever find their way to healthy relationships. It was hard to live through all of this.
It is worth the read to learn how new Americans of other origins might see how this melting-pot culture gets in their own ways, too.
Darswords 
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