Another update; luckily my memory allowed me to do it this time! :-D ~TGF

Hello everyone! Wanted to give you an update so those of you who know me know i'm all right! and to see what's going on with you all.

I'm glad my memory allowed me to remember to do this, at a time I wasn't busy! So that I could just get on here and get this done before I forgot again! LOL

ADHD sucks. :-D

I don't think anything has really changed much since my last update. I'm still at the same place of work, my car Ive had for 3 years has luckily continued to hold up, although it does have some issues, but it's doing pretty good for a car thats 23 years old and has 230,000 miles on it! or thereabouts. :) Still living in the same apartment, which I honestly don't plan on moving from unless life forces me to for some reason.

(Note: this next paragraph is a bit rough; if you are an emotional type, it's probably best you don't read it unless you're alone; you might need a Kleenex!)

Probably the only big thing that has happened since my last update is my friend of 30 years died last June, from a series of strokes. She'd been in poor health for many years, being diabetic and having super high BP and not really taking care of either. She'd been having small strokes over a period of time, and it was affecting her cognitive abilities. She ended up having to use a walker to get around after her big(ger) one, and was in the process of getting into a rehab facility (which added to all the stress and higher BP), when she had a series of strokes during a surgery that killed her brain. Far as I can tell, before she went under for the surgery was the last time she was ever normal and cognizant. Finally a few days before she went, a mutual friend we have told me that it would be only a few days until my friend's brother switched off her life support, and I had until so-and-so day to go in and say goodbye. It was the most painful thing I've ever experienced. Even though I'd dealt with death like my cat dying in 2010 (who I loved dearly) and my male friend in 2019, and my coworker 2 years ago, none of them had been in my life as long as her and had shared the experiences with me that she had. To see her like that, with the breathing tube in and gagging every so often, was horrible. I wept bitterly. Even now writing about it, I'm getting a little teary (for the first time since it happened). It was just she and I; I shut the door to the ICU room and pulled the curtain so that I had total privacy. I said everything to her I needed to say that I could never have said while she was alive because she never would have taken it; she would have gotten furious and defensive. So I told her how she hurt me (which she did many times in 30 years) and how I felt about her behavior much of the time, as she was very outspoken, rude, brash, and uncaring most of the time about others feelings (to a certain extent). Anyway, I spent about an hour and a half there, and when I felt i'd said what I needed to say, I left, knowing I'd never see her again. It was hard to walk out of the room. But I knew I needed to and that chapter of her life and mine was closed. Her life was over; mine had to continue. It's been rough on occasion since then, there's been many times I think of how there's things we talked about doing that we never got round to doing, and the things she and I liked to do together, i dont know if I'll ever do again because she was the only person I knew that liked those things!

It's just the biggest bummer any way you cut it. Anyway, moving on....

Fortunately, MY health is still good, and believe you me I do NOT take that for granted! i'm grateful for it constantly! I know enough people in HORRIBLE health (that seemed to draw a short stick in the lottery for luck in health) to know what a blessing and amazing thing good health is! I can only pray that it stays that way for many more years to come.

Been really busy at work lately; we always are like that during our summer season. I've been there 5 years! hard to believe! longest job I've ever had!

Also realized this month is my 18th anniversary at USM! :-D I don't even want to think about that because the time has FLOWN by! Crazy! o_o

Another milestone in my life is this year, I turned 50! :) and right before then I signed up for AARP! Ha! No lie!

Not sure what else to say so I think I'm going to close this! Thank you so much for reading and hugs to everyone I know on here!

Signing off, Tallgodfather

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