IMAGES THAT MAKE ME SMILE
Feb
27
"Success is when you look back at your life and the memories make you smile."
"Success is when you look back at your life and the memories make you smile."
CELEBRATION OF SAM'S LIFE
Feb
21
Miss him a lot!
Sam and I decided it was our 10th anniversary and maybe we could take a trip to Japan? We only had a month to plan and needed our birth certificates in a hurry. I had mine but the next day, we went to the King County Vital Statistics Office on the 9th floor of the King County building to get Sam’s.
To our surprise: Sam was born at 3am on January 13, 1933 on a Friday the 13th, at 1303 Washington Street. He was the 3rd child, Mom was 23 and his Dad was 33. Their address was Route 3, Renton, WA. We left for our trip on 10/3.
On Sunday, New Year’s Eve 2017, all the family was gathered on Mercer Island, WA, as Sam had passed on that morning here at home. Irene, the youngest of Sam's five siblings, said, “Do you realize that today is December 31st? 31 is 13 backwards.”
We’ve chosen 3/10 @ 3:30, at the Mercer Island Community Center, to celebrate Sam’s life. It will also coincide with the printing of a special edition of the North American Post–scheduled from last summer to be released in March, with 16 pages of just Sam’s comic strips. He had drawn a weekly comic strip for the paper the last 5 years. The last one drawn was for 2018, the year of the dog.
GOING FOR THE "GOLD" IN MARRIAGE
Feb
17
Yellow was Sam's favorite color.
A plaque hangs on our kitchen wall: “Dee’s mission: To bring out the best in myself, my partner and others.”
I remember the first evening after Sam and I came back from our three-week honeymoon in January 1962. Sam had secured our one-bedroom apartment in Seattle before he left for our wedding in Eastern Oregon. Our apartment was – 411 Federal Avenue E – a couple blocks from Marketime on Broadway and Seattle’s Capitol Hill district.
“I’ll make dinner.” I said as we carried in the groceries from Safeway and put them away..
“Okay,” as Sam headed for the coat closet to take out the vacuum. He never said much, but was always busy fixing, organizing and doing. I thought vacuuming was the woman’s job so I was grateful that he was trying to help with the housework.
As I sat on the stool watching our stir-fry dinner cook, I could hear Sam banging all the walls and furniture as he was vacuuming. I was so tempted to call out something like, “You need to be more careful!”
I continued to sit on the stool and thought, “If I say something, he’ll probably never help with housework again?”
It had already become clear how sensitive Sam was that I had just completed a Public Health degree in Nursing and he just had two years at the College of Idaho. Part of the reason was that Sam had been drafted into the army expecting to finish later with the GI Bill and it was suspended in 1956 for a time.
I remember one time when I was invited to a party with my professional medical associates, Sam refused to go. I worked to cajole him into going, but decided to stay home with him. I knew he was feeling uncomfortable.
About seven years later, in 1969, Sam opened his own Dental Lab on the fourth floor of the Medical Dental Building, taking charge of his life and feeling confident. I silently gave myself credit for helping build his confidence and was proud of not being critical.
Years, later Sam and I had an open discussion about his positive self-assurance with our marriage and surprised me with: “I did my homework too!”
Sam is gone and I miss him a lot. We were a good team.
ENDINGS ARE SOME NEW BEGINNINGS
Feb
5
Somehow this symbol resonates well as an "X" for ending and an "O" for new opportunities with the warmth of what Sam and I had.
I see a quote pinned onto Sam’s work area bulletin board downstairs: “Strive for excellence, not perfection”. There is another quote taped to one of the cupboards in our kitchen: "Art is the illusion of spontaneity".
For me, to move forward with our writing projects, what I’ll miss the most are Sam's critiques I used to get before we published. I used to do the same for him. Nothing was more satisfying than to get totally absorbed for a couple days into publishing our HEAL THY SELF newsletters.
Most of the time Sam set a theme with a drawing. Next, I scanned it and typed the explanation. The hardest part was to decipher his handwriting. Next I wrote up more articles he had scribbled or from other newsletters with testimonials. Sam read what I wrote, made comments and added a complementary drawing.
Then, we couldn't get over how many times we had to reread and still make corrections for several days. I can still see Sam taking the pages upstairs for bedtime reading. In the morning, I read all the scribbles done in pencil and made the corrections on the computer. It was a lot of fun
It’s not going to be easy to find another writing partner, but that’s where I might find some new beginnings. Everything doesn’t have to be the same.
YEAR OF THE EARTH DOG
Feb
1
According to the Chinese Horoscope, 2018 is the year of the earth dog. Can we use the qualities of the dog to enhance our physical and mental health?
For sure, these good qualities in my relatives and friends have sustained me this past month as I have faced my new life alone after Sam passed on New Years Eve.
One of the most helpful books was given to me by cousin Sharon: HEALING GRIEF, FINDING PEACE, by Louis E LaGrande. I like the first quote in chapter one by Helen Keller, "When we do the best that we can, we never know what miracle is wrought in our life or the life of another."
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