morrowlife

Here are Andy, Me, Mark, Shannon, Sandy, and my mom at Ardastra Gardens and Zoo in Nassau, Bahamas. Along with a couple of friends. To be perfectly honest, we didn’t think that was the best zoo in the world, but we had fun that day anyway. Great Art courtesy of my old Minolta camera, taken by a cooperative zoo employee during shore leave from our 2005 Disney cruise, and part of my famous Shannon, Cruise, Bird, and Vacation series.

No post yesterday. I forgot. I still think that’s a good enough excuse, don’t you? Fortunately, nothing happened yesterday.

Today, Mark and I went to see a counselor. I think we both had a good experience. Fortunately for me, he told me he thinks I’m doing pretty much as well as can be expected at this point after Shannon’s passing. I still need to let the grieving run its course – I’m sure it will never end, but I’m also sure I’ll be a bit more able to concentrate after a while. The important part, he said, is to keep living my life as I work through the grief. I can do that. I think I’m doing it already, in fact.

Didn’t do much else today. Yesterday, I forgot to plan any dinner, so I ended up making a frozen skillet dinner and a tossed salad. I was a bit frustrated that I let it go until after 7:00 in the evening before I even remembered that I needed to cook dinner. Tonight, I planned ahead. I made bacon-wrapped scallops for an appetizer, grilled filet mignon and twice-baked potatoes for dinner, and caramel apple tarts for dessert. Many thanks to Chris for the Omaha Steaks Christmas present, which provided everything but the appetizers. We bought the scallops at Trader Joe’s. They were supposed to be for New Year’s Eve, but we never got to them. So Mark and I had half of them tonight. It was a good dinner.

I noticed a puddle yesterday at the front edge of my yard, right by the driveway. It had gotten worse by today, so I called the HOA, thinking it might have been an irrigation problem. They decided it wasn’t, so they suggested I call the local water district, which I did. They came out shortly to have a look and determined I had a leak in my main water supply pipe, somewhere between the water meter and the house. He also told me I was losing about half a gallon a minute. So I called the builder and asked if they could send somebody out right away. They put me in touch with the plumber who worked on building the house. Since it was leaking, they came out right away. The guy spent a few hours working on the line and got it fixed – or so I thought.

However, Mark soon discovered that the water pressure was dramatically reduced, so I called the plumber back. They guy is coming back early tomorrow morning to remove whatever is partially plugging the line. Then it will be fixed. And under warranty!

I spent a bunch of time this evening labeling old family pictures. I found a bunch of photos with Shannon in them, which was nice. I also found a couple of very brief video clips, some of which featured Shannon. I’ll have to do something with them soon. Here’s the earliest example I found: the haircut

Truly a video masterpiece! Such amazing production values.

And that’s about it for today. I’ll leave my Loyal Readers with this exciting Morrowlife Employment Agency job opportunity: bear-pregnancy-detecting beagle!

See you tomorrow.

Here’s Shannon with her creation, appropriately named The Duck Statue. When we went to visit this river at Worlds End State Park, we discovered that people were piling up stones and making cool little statues. Some examples:

Shannon thought that was pretty cool, so she decided to make one too. We all agreed hers looked like a duck. Great Art courtesy of my old Minolta camera, taken at Worlds End State Park in Pennsylvania, and part of my famous Shannon, Statue, Hiking, Camping, and Vacation series.

She was such a creative, gentle, beautiful person. Oh, how I miss her.

Got a few things done today. I went to the bank to have all our accounts transferred solely into my name. Unpleasant, but necessary, I’m led to believe. I also went to the post office and mailed a box to Sandy. It contains a few items of Shannon’s clothes that Sandy and Julie plan to turn into a quilt for me. I’m really touched they would do that. No hurry, Sandy and Julie! But I’m really excited to have it.

Then I went to lunch with my friends Jim and Kathy McClure. They live in Manteca and were in town for a meeting and to go to tonight’s Donny and Marie show at the Flamingo. It was nice of them to think of me. We spent a couple hours talking and enjoyed it. Afterwards, I worked for pretty much the rest of the day on paying bills and providing a bunch of medical information to the life insurance people. Since Shannon died less than two years after our insurance went into effect, they want us to prove we didn’t know she was sick before the policy went into effect. I think we have a very strong case for that. She had her annual checkup in December 2012 and an insurance physical in January 2013. Nothing out of the ordinary was discovered in either of those visits and she felt just fine until just a couple weeks before she went into the hospital. It was coincidental that she got sick right after we moved and we certainly didn’t defraud those people. I hope they give me no additional hassles over it.

Not a lot more to tell about today. I stayed busy and when I’m busy, I’m happy. I need to work some tomorrow and then there are my taxes. Lots to do.

And I’ll leave my Loyal Readers with this combination food violence and exciting Morrowlife Employment Agency job opportunity: Egg salad sandwich, cat and dog caused monkey attack!

Here are Shannon and Mark at one of the many scenic spots in Worlds End State Park in Pennsylvania. That was a really memorable camping trip. The park was nothing short of spectacular, from its endless forests to its huge rock formations. Highly recommended. Great Art courtesy of my old Minolta camera and part of my famous Shannon, Vacation, and Camping series.

Well, the cruise is over. I really had a nice time and met some very pleasant folks. Let’s see if I can remember what happened on Friday. First, it cooled off quite a bit. I wasn’t able to spend time either on the promenade deck or on my balcony. It was cold and the water got just a bit rough. The ship rolled a bit – still nothing like the worst we saw on previous cruises, fortunately – and the wind was pretty strong. So I stayed indoors. I happened to pass the gay ladies I went to the beach with at Cabo and they invited me to sit with them and a couple other friends and play some of the trivia games. Passed an enjoyable hour or so with them. When we were going our separate ways, they made me promise to come to a cocktail party they were having a couple hours before dinner. I said I’d be delighted to attend. It turns out the party was for a couple of guys who got married at the beginning of the cruise. Juanita, one of the ladies, is the travel agent who made all the arrangements for the wedding and other events on the cruise. I felt just a little out of place at the party, since I didn’t know any of the family members there – just their travel agent – but they were very kind to me and I had a nice time meeting them and spending an hour together.

Retired to my cabin pretty much immediately after dinner to pack and relax, which I did. The ship rolled possibly a little more overnight than it had during the day, but my gift of sleep served me well and I had a very good night’s sleep indeed.

I awoke early on Saturday and watched through my window as the ship came into port and docked by the Queen Mary. Then I got up, got cleaned up and dressed, and went to breakfast, never to return to my lovely cabin. I found a comfortable sofa to read and wait for my turn to get off the ship. My turn came after a while and I disembarked, made my way through the Customs line, got in my beloved pickup, and drove home. Uneventful and easy, just like I like it.

Mark and I spent the weekend quietly at home and enjoyed being together again. The house was in excellent shape when I got home and everything that needed to be done had been done. No worries, no troubles.

Mark’s looking into starting back up in college in the fall. He’s leaning towards UNLV and has started the application process. I’m really excited for him and am sure it will be a worthwhile endeavor. He’s not sure whether to major in Computer Science or IT. I don’t think he can go wrong with either.

The health insurance people from Lockheed Martin had called me while I was gone, so I returned their call today. They told me I can change insurance plans and who is covered, so I did that. I went to the higher-deductible plan and dropped coverage for Mark and Andy. Andy’s covered by his new employer and it was so expensive to keep Mark on that we’re going to try to get him enrolled in an Obamacare plan. We have until the end of this month to make that happen. It’ll save a lot of money and hopefully be good insurance as well.

With the adjustment to my retirement pay due to Shannon’s death and the change in my health insurance, I’ve gotten a large increase in my take-home pay. In fact, it’s pretty much doubled. That’s good. I can use more money. Money is good.

Feeling lonesome today.  There are lots of reminders of my old life and I’m still tending to indulge myself in them. It’s so comforting, but it also makes me feel such a loss. Things are getting better, though. Slowly but surely.

And I’ll leave my Loyal Readers with this exciting Morrowlife Employment Agency job opportunity: traffic-jam-creating beaver!

See you tomorrow.

Here are Shannon, Andy, and Mark with Mark’s 12th birthday cake. He requested and received a cake featuring a short-lived internet comic character named Tako. He was an octopus who lived in a bucket and showed people how to cook. I guess you had to be there. In any case, the cake was a work of art. Great Art courtesy of my old Minolta camera, taken in the breakfast nook of our house in Pennsylvania, and part of my famous Shannon and Event series.

Today was a quiet day at sea. I spent a lot of time on my balcony. I went out for meals, walking around the promenade deck a couple times, and taking a couple other walks around the ship. The morning started out with extremely smooth seas, extremely warm air, and extremely light winds. By the afternoon, it was windy and kind of cold outside and the seas were beginning to get a little rougher. The ship is still barely pitching and rolling, so it’s all good. I guess we may be heading into a bit of weather. The stupid internet service on this ship is so bad that it takes too much time to look up the weather, so whatever happens on Saturday for the trip home will be a surprise.

I’m really enjoying the balcony cabin. It’s a great place to sit and read and just be alone with my thoughts. Oh, today I saw a couple of whales a few hundred yards from the ship. The one I saw the most of was probably 30 feet long or so. He came up for air several times. Pretty cool! Then during lunch by one of the back windows, one of the folks at my table pointed out a school of about 20 dolphins that was jumping right behind the ship. Fun! So I saw some marine life on this trip.

I think today was the first day since Shannon’s death when I didn’t have a period of serious grief. I still spent time thinking of her while I walked outside, but it wasn’t grief-filled. It was more of a pleasant remembrance, mixed with love and some pangs of separation. I think it was an improvement and I’m grateful. I’m sure there will be many more ups and downs.

I may not be able to post tomorrow. I’m just about out of internet minutes. If I have to miss my Friday post, I’ll catch it up on Saturday after I get home.

And I’ll leave my Loyal Readers with this shocking food violence news: hot dog injury lawsuit!

See you tomorrow.

Here is perhaps my favorite picture of Shannon and Mark. It’s fuzzy and very poorly lit, but I think it captures the special love that existed between the two of them. Mark just adored her and she him. She adored all of our kids, in fact, and I know the feeling was mutual. Great Art courtesy of my old Minolta camera, taken during the 2005 McCulloch family reunion somewhere in Utah, and part of my famous Shannon and Vacation series.

I had a really nice day today in Puerto Vallarta. The “beach hideaway” excursion was really beautiful. It took about an hour on the tour company’s boat to get over there. The first thing we did was have an unlimited amount of an excellent Mexican lunch buffet and unlimited drinks. Then we were free to wander around their property; which included a “nature” area with a monkey, a parrot, a hawk, and something else I can’t remember; and a very nice little beach with kayaking, tubing, snorkeling, and surfboard paddling. They also had numerous extremely comfortable places to sit and relax, which is what I did all day. I also went swimming briefly. It was beautiful and very relaxing. I went with two people from my dinner table, so it was nice to be there with people I know. Their names are John and Jessica and they’re both really nice.

After we got back to the ship, Jessica and I walked over to the local Walmart and the shopping mall that Shannon and I had visited on our last Mexican cruise. They’re walking distance from the dock. Didn’t see anything I wanted to buy, but it was nice to be there again.

And that’s pretty much my day. Dinner was filet mignon, but it tasted more like a lesser cut of steak. Enjoyed it just fine anyway. My nightly walk around the deck was probably only about ten minutes long. I’m simply exhausted tonight, so I came up to my cabin and sat on the balcony for quite a while instead. It’s also a good place to think, although I think I prefer walking and thinking to sitting and thinking. So I’ll plan to walk again tomorrow night. At any rate, I got to talk to Shannon and report the events of the day. I felt the usual separation sadness, but that was okay. I also felt the usual closeness, which was wonderful. I never want to lose that feeling.

Two more days at sea, and then we’re back to Long Beach on Saturday morning. We’re done with Mexico for this trip.

And I’m so tired I can’t keep my eyes open. So I’ll leave my Loyal Readers with this exciting Morrowlife Employment Agency job opportunity: canine arsonist!

See you tomorrow.