Estimated reading time: 6 minutes

A New Week Is Coming My Direction, What Will It Bring?

“I have lived with you and loved you, and now you are gone. Gone where I cannot follow, until I have finished all of my days.” – Victoria Hanley

Sue came into my life in 1973 while working at Rockwell. We never talked, but I would look at her and observe her from a distance. She was married, and I was married, it was not to be. But a dozen years later, we were put together by the grace of God, and my life changed. She loved my family, loved my Mom and my aunts and uncles. She thought to have friends was a good thing!

Her family and mine connected at the hip.  It was what I always wanted, a genuinely loving family.  I can still see Georgia and Rita sitting on the floor, smoking their cigarettes talking about any subject under the sun!

To this day, I am blessed with Diane (Sue’s sister) to lean on, and I have my kids, Robin, Michele, Joe, and Colleen, who I depend on for support.  The friend’s Sue and I acquired along our journey together make life worth living.  I miss her so much it hurts.

This was going to be the day we would bury her at sea and do the Celebration of Life but the pandemic superseded our arrangements and we will do the services at a later date. Thanks to family and friends, the day was better than I expected!

On our wedding day, we dined with the wedding party (all seven) before departing for a weeklong cruise on the Sovereign of the Seas, the first of over 40 voyages over the next twenty years.

I was up at 6:00 AM and made a call to Robin and Colleen asking them to try “The Jesus Christ Show” on KFI 640 AM.   While listening to the show, I did the paperwork and cleaned up my desk.  Being by oneself means you don’t have anyone chiding you along, it’s all up to me! One eye on the office and one eye looking out the window looking at the rain clouds passing by, I finished by 6:55 AM.

At 7:00 AM, after a cup of coffee, I headed to Home Depot to get two security lights!   By the time I got to Home Deport, it was raining cats and dogs.  Returning home, only a scant four miles away, it was dry as a bone. The old lamps we had on the living room exterior wall where well past their prime.  I did not want to spend 20 hours on each fixture, attempting to clean them up.  Besides, it is nice to have the motion-sensitive lights in the front yard, even with the walled/gated yard!

Bluetooth connected to my phone! I have to love electronics.

Now I have seven lights in the front yard/patio and three cameras covering the area. If anything moves, the lights come on, and I have them captured on camera.

Each of the two lamps puts out the equivalent of 250 watts meaning the patio will light up light a Christmas tree if anyone comes in the courtyard!

After installing the first lamp and figuring out how to program the light from my iPhone, I took my life in my hands!  I went for my “spicy” chili for lunch knowing full well I would need sour cream to make it through lunch.  Damn, table-spoons and tea-spoons will never get mixed up again!  The chili was excellent, albeit hotter than expected!.

OMG, my tongue just went on strike!

While in the house, I fixed a problem I have had for years.  There is a bar in the master bathroom that was used to hang clothes that were in transit or needed a temporary home.  It was low enough so Sue could reach it, but I would walk right into the darned hangars twice a day (or more).  I got out my handy-dandy tool kit and raised the rod eight inches.  No more problems!

Back outside, I finished off the electrical wiring and got onto the iPhone and programed the security lights for their new home.  I will have to fine-tune them later on when the sun goes down.

The iPhone is becoming a vital part of my life!

Time to rest, but there is no rest for the weary.  My goal of getting all the dance friends onto the Internet is still in need of work.  So, today I got Vicky/Del and Ed onto the system.  We chattered for 1:28:15 (one hour, twenty-eight minutes, and fifteen seconds).  Bob and Donna are “old hats” at this nonsense. Fun for all!

We told stories and shared memories and had a good old time!

My son, Joe, has a new family member.  The black lab’s name is Apollo, named after Joe’s grandfather and me from our work on the Apollo Program at North American Aviation.  Thank you, Joe, Charlie, and I approve!

The poor baby never met so many people in his young life! He is a cutie-pie!

We finally got off the system at about 7:00 PM, which is the bewitching hour for me. I made a pass around the house as it is supposed to rain tonight, and I wanted to make sure everything was covered!

I listen to music all day courtesy of Alexa.  Generally, I will listen to smooth jazz or 1950s music.  Thanks to Amazon’s music options, I have access to 4,000,000+ songs so I can get to anything!

“American Pie” was played, and I stopped and danced to the tune, hoping that no one was looking in the window.  Serendipity suddenly struck as one of my friends sent me a YouTube link with the following video.

Ti the living room to watch TV.  I decided to watch a new movie which was R-rated due to language.  Frankly, I almost turned it off because “enough is enough”.  I suffered through it, but never again will I attempt to watch stuff like that.  The storyline was OK, but when every other word is “nasty”, the film soon loses its appeal!

11:15 PM and this weak old body is ready to hit the sack.

Tomorrow will be indoors working as I have two accent walls to paint and some closet reorganization to do, plus I plan to make flautas for lunch! A taquito, tacos dorados, rolled taco, or flauta is a Mexican food dish that typically consists of a small rolled-up tortilla that contains filling, including beef, cheese, or chicken. The filled tortilla is then crisp-fried or deep-fried. The dish is often topped with condiments such as sour cream and guacamole.

It’s going to be gunny-whumper tomorrow!

About Paul

Just an old retired guy trying to finish out my last years on this planet. I lost my best friend and wife in early 2020. I was blessed again by reconnecting with Dr. Mary Côté, a long-time friend. Mary and I got married July 28th, 2021, and are enjoying life together and plan to spend the rest of our lives being a blessing to our friends and family.
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