CHANGES ARE BLOWING IN THE WIND

Whoever said change is good in your life and should be welcomed is a big fat liar. Now getting through the night with leg cramps and needing to pee half a million times is no fun. I used to jump out of bed in the morning. I no longer jump any- where. Needing a cane to walk, especially on grass and sidewalks and streets, is downright dangerous, especially if it involves stairs or curbs. I now need to borrow a “wing” or an arm to accomplish what used to be so easy. Spending hours on the phone arguing with Comcast, U.I., T-Mobile and Capitol One about billing is less than delightful and occurs much too often. And what can be said about robo calls from annoying telemarketers. I do no want solar panels on my roof, thank you very much. Not being able to drive at night is a big stab at my independence. Having to take a dozen medications and over the counter remedies every day is a necessary nuisance. Getting older is not for sissies, that’s for sure. Having the love and support of family and friends is surely a godsend every day. This week has been especially hard as my editor at the Middletown Press has a new boss but has cancelled theater reviews being printed. For thirty- five years writing reviews has been my Technicolor world and literally saved my life after my husband Allen died. His fourteen-year illness has taken a great toll on our family and this is also the anniversary of his death, today, July 6. Life is not all gloom and doom. Our family had a reunion in Massachusetts in May celebrating a one- year- old, 53 year old 76 year old and 80th half birthday, with t-shirts I designed with a heart of butterflies surrounding Allen’s favorite saying “Don’t postpone joy.” Sadly Stacy collapsed the next day and was hospitalized for almost 3 weeks in ICU at Yale. My unexpected three-month IRS audit was finally resolved this week so that is one giant financial problem over. I didn’t win the Hallmark Movies and Mysteries Contest for #1 Fan I entered but it was fun trying. I am even getting used to Christmas in July nightly events. Recently the CT Critics Circle Awards for best in local theater were wonderful, I saw Richard Thomas as Atticus Finch, I met a pop culture collage artist Michael Albert and made my own poster, and went to the Ivoryton Playhouse that was alive with “The Sound of Music.” Watching fireworks for the 4th at Connie’s beach house was a treat as is sitting with our terrier Zoe on my lap watching Jeopardy!, even though Zoe rarely remembers to frame her answers in the form of a question. My nightly fix of an ice cream cone doesn’t hurt either, except around the waist. At day’s end I take a few minutes to write notes of gratitude for the good things that happened that day. I am saving them in a jar to read at the end of the year, when I will empty the jar and hopefully start again for 2024.