CHAIRS

October 28, 2020

     I'm trying not to think about politics and going for more introspective stuff.  Basically my biggest issue right now is trying to take care of my body and not overdue it.  It takes more discipline for me to stop what I'm doing and rest than to do something like exercise or clean my kitchen.  If I had my way, I would work out for a few hours and then chill a little, but lately my 64 year old body has cried "uncle".  So I can only do something for about 10 minutes and then I have to rest.  Yesterday, once again I asked for help and it is still one of the hardest things I have to do in this life.  I needed a very old beat up chair taken out of my apartment, and a very heavy love seat moved.  I asked two friends, Laura and Linda for their help and they did things very quickly.  I have been told to get rid of this chair for about 15 years.  Once my brother came over and asked when I was getting rid of it because the stuffing was coming out of the arm rests.  He then started pulling out the stuffing.  Then my cousin came to see my new place in Chagrin Falls and was so impressed with everything.  The house, the furniture that wasn't all mine, even my landlord/housemate.  He had fixed the upstairs and made it into a suite for his son and his family.  They moved out and he rented it to me.  We shared the downstairs which was amazing.  She commented on how my mother would have loved the place.  Then she stopped short when she saw this chair.  Her whole demeanor changed and she said, "Chrissy."  She said it like I had taken a dump on the floor.  So after that embarrassing moment, I kept a quilt on it.  Then I had to move and didn't have a couch anymore, so I took the chair with me and kept it covered.  My friend Amy was really concerned about this chair. Her and her husband gave me a beautiful leather love seat that they no longer used right before Covid.  They even delivered it from their home which was an hour away with a very kind friend of theirs.  I have a small place and this looks good and is very comfortable.  I thanked them via text and Amy texted, "Now we need to talk about that chair."  So after the chair was gone yesterday,  I sent Amy the picture of the apartment without the chair.  The weird Naugahyde chair that you fall into because the seat was so worn down.  The chair that my parents bought with a love seat over 40 years ago.  The one I can see from my window in the trash.  The one I actually fell out of trying to get up from.  And then, tripped over a cord, landed on my face causing my crutch to fall on my pinky and breaking it this past March.  The one that my 4 year old nephew said 21 years ago, "Aunt Chris, this is the most comfortable chair I have ever sat in."  Kids!!

ZOOM

October 6, 2020

I was blessed to have a beautiful birthday weekend with beautiful people and it seems to still go on.  I have gotten lovely messages on Facebook and emails and texts along with birthday cards.  I didn't realize how empty my life was without friends, until last week my high school besties and I had a ZOOM meeting.  Kathy, Pam and Danna.  These are people that seem to have stuck by me no matter how much of a goof I have been. We lost touch with Kathy and I finally found her.  I met these women in junior high in band and they are still as kind as I remember.  One of the things that's apparent with these three women is that they are all in the business of service.  All I wanted growing up was to be an actor.  Danna is an R.N., Pam was a social worker and now a retired teacher and Kathy was a social worker and now a teacher. Had I been paying more attention, I would have seen how giving these women have been to others.  We talked a great deal about my friend Kathy's parents who both had Alzheimer's or dementia before they passed.  I kept thinking of her parents and the kindness they showed me.  I couldn't imagine them getting old.  All three seemed to have such a stable upbringing.  After talking with them, I felt happier and that I was home, if that makes any sense.  Basically, when things were tough in school or wherever, I knew I could count on them and they had my back, so to speak.  And I still feel like they do.  I have written about my friend Danna who was an R.N. at the hospital I was taken to after I broke my back.  But Kathy came two times from Cleveland to Columbus to see me and might have even taken off work to do so.  Then she sent me a card every day and I was in the hospital for 10 weeks.  Pam came with Kathy once and since it was fall, they brought a pumpkin and decorated it for me.  I got out the day before Danna's wedding and was able to enjoy the festivities. I moved back in with my parents and Kathy and Pam made sure I got out and socialized.  We are sort of scattered around the country now, but I still feel honored to know these women and that we are still friends.  I can't explain the feeling, but again, it felt like I was HOME.