Time to close this curtain.

There are places to sit, and contemplate, if a chair is needed. There is always time to change and view life from a different angle. Today, is one of those days. Here, in my new- easy-to-cultivate garden, something my parents who grew food for a living would never have imagined, here I say my goodbyes to sixtyfivewhatnow. 

Looking from this vantage point spoils us.
Making ourselves suffer less weakens our resolve in some ways.
We expect that life will forever get easier, for everyone.

I've counted over six hundred posts since January 2008, and over 800 followers. By tonight, I will have voted for two presidential elections, and my posts have been vocal about my leanings.

We have seen a financial collapse, the beginning and ending of two wars, half a decade of changes that included hurricanes, tsunami, drought, floods, oil spills,  record heat waves, a sweeping change in the Arab World, financial and social changes in Europe, and  melting of the ice caps.

Here at home, we have  battled many issues,  including the most painful of all, losing our son Brian in 2011. We are not over that tsunami event. 

After five years of chronicling life after retirement, I'm ready to do something else.  I have a couple of other blogs that will allow me the opportunity to continue to communicate with the blogging world, a world that has opened up many friendships, a world beyond my town and my country.

I want to thank you all, for your kindness, your generosity, your friendship. Do drop me an email if you'd like to remain in touch. If you like, join me on Facebook. Better yet, if you plan on travelling to this part of the world, know that there is room for you under this roof, and always a warm meal to share.

May your days be bright.
May your dreams be within your reach.

Rosaria

I think I'm still sane.

Remember Catch 22? The Book and the Movie?
The premise was a complex conundrum: if you know you are crazy, you are then not that crazy!

Does the same apply to sanity? If you think you are always sane, you might not be?

When you go through a major trauma, you question your own ability to cope with all that's demanded of you, all that you demand of yourself. Keeping on top of these demands, coping with all that you must do to carry on will tire you; will deflate you' will make you wonder if you can make it through;  it will ask you to think short term the entire time, knowing that if you think long term, you will break down.

The people affected by Sandy have experienced the unthinkable!
Every second, they are experiencing additional doses of trauma, pain -discomfort -fear.  They tell each other that they are still coping; they manage to find positives to talk about. Yet, hunger, cold, dirt, and the devastation in front of them numb all other sensations.

We cannot picture this if we have not experienced it ourselves.

This is hell.

It took us decades for my husband, Brian and I to recover from the Northridge Earthquake where we lost our house, its contents, our savings, our child's college fund, our investments. Thank God for FEMA, for SMall Business Administration, the National Guard, Churches, employers who extended their hands and helped us cope, and even mortgage holders who modified our payments until we could begin to collect insurance.

Do you think your bills will stop coming because you no longer have a home?

It took us years to recover, and we had insurance and savings. It took us decades to find our way back financially, emotionally, socially, and even career-wise.


Tomorrow, Sandy and its aftermath will not be in the news. Yet, the harm, the sheer destruction will take years and decades to be repaired. People's nerves and finances will take just as long.
If you know anyone in these straits, know that they need to talk; they need to know you are there for them; they need to explain to you the details of their discomfort; and you need to be a giving soul, attend to them as long as they need; as long as they are hurting. Banks and many institutions will need to be charitable and kind, assisting in many ways, offering options that have never been on the table for these people who have lost everything.