morrowlife

Here’s Joanne, my newest Loyal Reader! Loyal Reader Number Thirty-Eight, to be specific. I took this Great Art at the Palazzo a few weeks ago when we attended Joanne’s friend’s birthday party. Had a great time at the party and we also had a great time together. Welcome, new Loyal Reader! Great Art courtesy of the exclusive iPhone-cam, taken on May 9, 2014 at the Palazzo Hotel and Casino, and part of my famous Architecture, Event, Joanne, and Las Vegas series.

Had a pleasant day again. I got no work done, but I had a pleasant day anyway. Or maybe because. Who knows?

Well, I actually did get a bit of work done; just not paying work. I got some grocery shopping done, got my haircut, put gas in the Taurus, and exchanged a large pile of change for about $17 of groceries. Doesn’t look like much now that it’s written down. Hmm.

No post yesterday, so I’ll fill in a bit of info. The golf game with Bob and Diane was lots of fun. The fourth person was a guy named Larry, who is also a lot of fun. I want to golf with those guys again. Also, Bob and Larry have quadcopters they like to fly. I happen to have a quadcopter too and they’ve invited me to go to the park and play with them soon. Fun! I love having friends. I really do.

Joanne and I went to the meatball place for dinner and the Zombie Burlesque show afterwards last night. The meatballs were passable, but I don’t think I’d go there again. It was essentially a fast-food place that served average meatballs with sauce in a cup, along with lukewarm slices of pizza that they tried to class up by calling it flatbread. Too harsh of a review, Loyal Readers? The show was cute and fun and certainly didn’t take itself seriously. It may have been a bit juvenile, but that’s okay. Definitely not for the young or faint of heart, though. We’re going back to Planet Hollywood tomorrow night to go to the Spice Market Buffet. Hopes are high.

Mark got home last night! It’s great to see him again. He appears to have had a great time, but he says he was definitely ready to come home. I’m glad he got to take the trip. Feel free to travel when you want, Mark!

And that’s it for tonight. I’ll leave my Loyal Readers with this exciting Morrowlife Employment Agency job opportunity: flatulent, fire-starting German cows!

See you tomorrow.

Here’s a friendly-looking statue on display at the Bellagio conservatory during their Chinese New Year celebration this past February. Great Art courtesy of the exclusive iPhone-cam, taken at the Bellagio hotel/casino conservatory in February 2014 during a visit with my Mom, and part of my famous Event, Garden, Las Vegas and Statue series.

Yeah, I know you can’t see much garden there, but it was there. Trust me. I know what I’m doing.

No post yesterday. I was in Tucson helping Chris and Jack get stuff packed and sent to Florida. Chris didn’t want to move enough stuff to hire a moving company or even rent a truck, so he packed up 12 boxes and shipped it all to himself. He’s loading up his car with a bunch of other things and driving it to Florida on Thursday, as I recall. It was nice being there to help. I hadn’t seen Jack in quite a while. He’s certainly a pleasant young man. Very impressive.

I’m sorry I didn’t get to post yesterday because it was a very important day. Shannon died four months ago yesterday. So much has happened since she’s been gone. For the first while, I pretty much just stopped living. Or at least I stopped living in the present. I spent my time immersing myself in my wonderful memories of the past. It was such a recent past that I think it did a pretty good job of masquerading itself as the present. It was so comforting to spend entire days looking at pictures of Shannon with our family, with me, or just by herself. I found old voice messages she had sent me and played them over and over again. I’m so grateful to have those; they help me remember her beautiful voice. In one of them, she told me she loved me. It was just a casual “I love you” thrown in at the end of a mundane message, but it’s priceless. I slept with the pillow she had used in the hospital to keep her knees from hurting in bed as she got thinner and thinner. I even put some of her perfume on the pillow and kind of felt like I could smell her at night. I talked to her at various times, hoping maybe she could hear me. I don’t know if she could, but it comforted me to at least keep up half of the kind of conversations we had so unthinkingly for so many years. I’m not ashamed to admit any of that.

But things have already started to change. I still treasure my memories of Shannon, the influence she had for good in my life, the wonderful children she gave me, the way she dedicated her entire life to my happiness, the beautiful home she made for me, the way she taught me how to be self-sufficient without either of us knowing she was doing it, and so much more. My life was so intertwined with hers that I don’t know how to separate them.

But they have been separated and I’m moving forward. I know it’s healthy. I have to do it. The past is distancing itself. I’ve started working a little. It’s still hard to concentrate on that, but it’s getting better. My relationship with Joanne has been a great way to help me focus on the present – not just going places and doing things with her, which has been great fun and very emotionally fulfilling, but also being introduced into a new circle of friends with interests that are new to me. Put it all together and I have a life again, for which I’m deeply grateful.

But even though the past has started to become the past, my love for Shannon continues undimmed. Even though Joanne has become so dear to me. Even though I no longer spend large portions of every day reminiscing. Even though I sometimes go for days without crying. Please don’t think, Loyal Readers, that I’ve forgotten my dear, wonderful wife. Her soul is still entwined with mine and always will be. I think I’ve mentioned this before, but just as I discovered that my love for Katie was undiminished when Paul came along and captured my heart, and then the whole thing repeated again for Andy and Mark, so too have I learned that there’s room in my heart for Joanne without making Shannon’s place there even the least bit smaller. That’s the miracle of love.

How I miss Shannon! How I love her!

And how I now love Joanne too!

Mark comes home from San Francisco tomorrow. He’s been at Katie’s house for a couple days. I’m excited for his return. Joanne and I will be at Planet Hollywood for dinner and a late show, so I might not actually see him until he next day. But I’m still excited! Drive safely, Mark!

And it’s time for bed. I’ll leave my Loyal Readers with this rare toilet news: toilet seat lid assault!

See you tomorrow.

Here are a couple of characters in the gardens at the Bellagio hotel/casino this past February. My mom and I went over there to check out their conservatory, which was decorated for Chinese New Year. I’m not sure, but that guy in the foreground appears to be about to pick the nose of his fellow statue. Scarcely appropriate behavior for a statue. Great Art courtesy of the exclusive iPhone-cam, taken on February 18, 2014 at the Bellagio hotel here in Las Vegas, and part of my famous Garden, Las Vegas, and Statue series.

I’ve missed a couple posts! My evenings have gotten busy and I’ve been leaving my Loyal Readers in the lurch. So let’s go back in time and see what’s been going on, shall we?

Since my last post, Joanne and I have been to dinner at a nearby cooking school where the chefs made numerous dishes featuring bourbon (also a lot of bacon, since they had recently had an event featuring bacon and they apparently had a lot left over), attended a Jazz in the Park concert featuring The Sax Pack (at which we enjoyed a delicious Pei Wei takeout dinner), attended a birthday party for one of Joanne’s friends featuring way more karaoke than either of us really needed to hear but which was fun nonetheless, had Memorial Day breakfast together at a fun little place in Boulder City, and made a delicious dinner at my house featuring chicken picatta and a very tasty green salad. Tonight we’re going to a place called Grape Expectations where Joanne and several friends made some wine some time ago. Tonight is bottling night. I’ve never seen how wine is made, so I expect to enjoy that. Lots of other activities scheduled later in the week; I’ll mention them here as they come up.

Had one of those grief-filled moments again today. They’re getting less frequent and shorter, but they’re still there. How I miss Shannon still! Even though I once again have a sweet woman in my life and even though I’m busy and enjoying life, I’m still deeply, deeply in love with my wife. I don’t want that to change. I’m so grateful for those occasional feelings. In the grief, I can feel just a hint of the happiness we had together. So it’s worth it.

Mark has been enjoying himself in the Bay Area. We’ve only spoken a time or two, but he says things are great and it’s fun being at his friend’s house. I’m sure he’s enjoying it because he called a day or two ago to tell me he has extended his trip by a few days. Have fun, Mark!

And that’s about it for today. I’ll leave my Loyal Readers with this shocking food violence news: hog stomach-related stabbing!

See you tomorrow.

Here’s Mark just before he headed for San Jose, California early this afternoon. He got there safely at about 8:30 this evening. I miss him already. It’s strange that even though I don’t see him much because he spends most of his time in his room, the house still feels empty without him. Great Art courtesy of the exclusive iPhone-cam, taken in front of our house this afternoon, and part of my famous Las Vegas, Machinery, and Vacation series.

Pretty good day. I finally figured out my problem with hash generation in my Common Core Classroom app. The good news is that I know how to fix it. The bad news is that there is no way to make hash generation compatible with the old version. So I’m going to have to put in a one-time-only routine that will check for an existing password, delete it, and ask the user to enter a new one. That’s not too bad of a solution, but I wish I could have figured out a way to use the old one. It just wasn’t to be. We’ll see how much progress I can make on the fix tomorrow.

Joanne took me out to dinner at a nice restaurant called Mundo (a Latin chic restaurant) and then to the Smith Center to see Once. Dinner was outstanding (and very chic, of course). I had excellent mahi mahi and Joanne had pork medallions that were even better. The play was just a sweet story and was beautifully performed. Very touching. Joanne looked lovely in a beautiful black dress and we had an excellent time. The tickets were given to her by her boss and we were seated next to Dave, one of Joanne’s coworkers, and his wife. Because of the nature of the play, we didn’t get to speak to them other than to say hello. They arrived just before the show began and left immediately upon its completion, so pleasantries were necessarily at a minimum. Still, they seemed like nice people.

Not a lot else is new today, so I’m going to end here and go downstairs for a Snickers ice cream bar before bed. I’ll leave my Loyal Readers with this exciting Morrowlife Employment Agency job opportunity: lamppost-dwelling attack porcupine!

See you tomorrow.

Here’s Mark at the other end of the Abby’s Million Dollar Dream banner. We had a great time! The only problems were the cold, wind, and rain. But the event was great and the cause was worthwhile. Please donate, Loyal Readers! Great Art courtesy of the exclusive iPhone-cam, taken during the 2014 Henderson Heritage Day parade, and part of my famous Event, Las Vegas, Medical, and Shannon series.

Nice day today. Joanne and I went to a very fancy Italian restaurant called Gaetano’s Ristorante. The food was excellent and the service was superb. The prices were a bit high, but we had a groupon! So we have that going for us, which is nice. It was a lovely evening out with a lovely lady. She had on a very pretty black and white sweater and looked like a million bucks. I had the prettiest date in the room.

Didn’t get too much work done today, but I did catch up on some communications. Still no registrations for the PhotoDoc seminar in October. I don’t think the invitations have gone out yet. At least I hope not – it would be kind of discouraging to invite 50 people and get no responses.

Carmen, our housekeeper, will be here tomorrow, so I think I’ll end here and go to bed. She gets here at 8:00 and I need to be up and ready to go before then. I’ll leave my Loyal Readers with this exciting Morrowlife Employment Agency job opportunity: bad-driver dog!

See you tomorrow.