I to my fortune...

"And me they left with those of Epidamnum.
What then became of them, I cannot tell;
I to this fortune you see me in."

According to my bog it's been eight months since I last wrote. Wow eight months, a lot has happened and yet very little has changed. Adam and Goli's townhouse is done and they will be moving in any day now, Margo and Rick have been to Italy, and are heading to Spain this weekend and had another visit to Paris not that long ago. Craig, is no longer in Miami but starting his third week here in the Valley although a bit under the weather he is getting along.

I had surgery in February after years of not taking care of a seriously deteriorating condition we finally made the trip to Houston and I spent a week in the hospital. The tests I took were exhaustive and exhausting, but the results showed I have a strong healthy heart and no other red flags. When the surgery was done we headed home for a long and slow recovery, it was all worth it.

This health care debate is very near and dear to my heart. When I was divorced I lost health-care and frankly what I could get was ridiculously expensive and had so many existing condition clauses it was full of Swiss cheese. I finally had to let it go all together and pay out of pocket for a D&C and two lumpectomies that nearly wiped me out financially. Now that I am on Barry's plan I am making up for a decade of neglect and even had my first Dental checkup in nearly seven years. It is a sham and a crying shame that I and others like me had to suffer for untold years for lack of health coverage. Craig is now in that boat and still they say we are moving too fast, I'll tell you what let's take away all your bennies and see how fast you have to move with a sick child or spouse. Five months later and the bills are still rolling in and even with good coverage we are about the 3-4 thousand mark out of pocket for my surgery. Boy I do need my soapbox from time to time eh?

I also discovered through a very persistent friend a near cure to my IBS. I have been suffering for over thirty years with a progressively debilitating form of Irritable Bowel Syndrome. Well VSL#3 from the Mayo clinic has turned that around and I can say I am 97-100% cured. It is in a word a miracle. It works for IBS, Colitis, and Pouchitis. I sing it's praises and now take it every other day. Believe me I tried everything and anything spent thousands of dollars and this works.

Just after mother's day as a gift from Adam and Goli, I spent time with them at Sholeh's and enjoyed the break from Brownsville. We had a great time and I should have stayed longer but then poor Barry just doesn't know when to come home, and eat when I am gone. I do love the D.C. area, but didn't get out and see my other friends so next time I will do some dancing and visiting. Hey it is such a SMALL world. Jean-Marie graduated Temple U. Law school and Goli and I drove up to surprise them. Sitting in the Theatre I see a face so familiar right in front of me and boom I realise it is one of my dance friends from D.C. Her daughter became an over night dance sensation in the Hustle world, and it was Erika's graduation from Law School. Again Congratulations are due to a very pregnant Jean-Marie, lot's of luck to the upcoming licence boards. Goli and I enjoyed the dinner and connecting with the Dunn/Kane family.

While up in the wilds of the gorgeous North we went back to a favorite stomping ground of mine, Longwood Gardens. Talk about sensory over load! Lush lush lush. We met my former husband and his new, new wife of a few weeks Leeanna. This is Ira's third and I hope a happy marriage. It was awkward to say the least after the second wife debacle and her treatment of my kids. It was a wonderful warm sunny Sunday, and I think we all enjoyed the gardens. My life tends toward the dramatic without any direct drama from me. It does keep it interesting though. Hilarious often...

The wind is howling today the temps are about 97 degrees without the heat index so it's about 100+, and not a spot of rain or moisture. Wild fires have been burning in some of the surrounding counties and it doesn't look like any rain for the next two and a half weeks at least. I lost the French lavender and the new Jade plants. Nothing can thrive here but cactus in this drought. I guess I could zero scape but gosh I do need the green around me. When I was up in D.C./VA it was so lush so overly abundant with flowers blooming and so many shades of green. I couldn't get enough it was as if my heart was filling up with all that I have been missing in the last few years. I wouldn't be adverse to becoming a part timer up North again, but not in the winter uh uh, no.

When we first moved down I was going ape s---, cause I was bored. I went into a little beading shop and they didn't speak any English, yet I knew I wanted to learn, so a few months ago I dragged Rossana into another shop she remembered downtown. We took a lesson (translated for me) made a necklace and earrings and I have been at it ever since. It has been my intention to find SOMETHING I could do to make money and work from home. I am not technologically savvy so it had to be either with my head or hands, BINGO! I am delighted and a bit taken aback that I am now creating and making really beautiful high end costume jewelry. My sister Pam was always the crafty one, with her ability to sew, knit, crochet, really super beautiful stuff. I did do quilts many years ago and was quiet good but didn't keep up with it. Now zoom I am in love and obsessed. It is a very expensive obsession, so I need to start selling soon. I have very high hopes I can finally realize a source of financial stability for myself that doesn't rely on the great physical strength that has served me so well most of my life. I am limited to some of that physicality now yet I am healthier and stronger than I have been in a number of years, since the surgery. I am draging Rossana into the buisness so she can help me make my creations the name RoMi seems a good fit.

So many things to say about life (here) so many observations that I should have doccumented and that are gone now, I need to do this on a more regular basis if not for you than just for me. More stories to tell about the past and the players who are no longer on stage with us, before they are not even memories.

"I hope I shall have leisure to make good,
If this not be a dream I see and hear." Shakespeare's The Comedy of Erros