Another week

We have almost got used to Mitzi not being physically present. We feel her spirit very much and it is a happy one. Sometimes I catch a glimpse of a shadow and think it's her, and then realize it isn't. Or I am eating cheese (one of her favorites) and think she will be by my side at any moment. But she isn't. It isn't a "sad" thing though, just wistful. I saw a greeting card that said "We rarely realize that a moment will become a lingering memory." A lot in THAT sentence.

The day after Mitzi died, Richard suggested we book two cruises--one going out of Fort Lauderdale to England, one returning a week later. One on the Queen Mary 2, one on the Queen Elizabeth. We had been holding back a long time from traveling together, partly from the COVID pandemic (although of course I went away solo last Fall) but mostly because of Mitzi. She couldn't be left alone and, after my trip in the Fall, I realized she couldn't be left with Richard either. She was glued to me. So all of our conversations about travel--and we dearly love to travel--began with "after Mitzi passes."

All this is to say that although it seems a bit of a jump to be booking a month away the day after Mitzi died, it was something we had been thinking about for a long time. Everything has become extremely expensive though--flights, hotels--but cruises, because they have been hit so hard, haven't. We can cruise for 22 days (a 10-day and a 12-day cruise) and it was very reasonable, considering 3 meals (plus any other food we might want) a day, no driving, entertainment (hopefully, since COVID rates are rising, who knows what will happen about gatherings on board) but just lots of time to watch the ocean go by. And then a week in England, the Spring flowers, hopefully seeing a few of the relatives....

The major part, though, is that accommodates both R and myself in what we like to do. I like to go to lectures, to read, to meander, do exercises, to write, work on my photography. And he likes to sit and draw and paint, watch news shows (which he can do in the cabin while I am elsewhere.) We eat different food at different times but if we want to eat together we can do that too. It should be blissful although I am also realistic enough to know that COVID has changed our assumptions about how the world works. To say nothing of the dreadful war in Ukraine. I am very aware that peace is fragile, for some nonexistent, which makes me want to grab for what I can, when I can without, I hope, doing anyone any harm.

The other major event last week was going with my daughter and granddaughter for my granddaughter's graduation "make up and photo session." So exciting for us all, for different reasons. For me, I was so happy that they could have this precious experience of "coming of age" for Mercy. My daughter's high school graduation wasn't a big deal, in fact she mostly missed it because Ontario had a kind of "staggered" high school graduation and when the ceremony happened, she was actually already at college in the US. She didn't go to prom but she went to several lovely dances at her college. She had a different experience but she is so very excited for Mercy. And I am too. 

As I was reminiscing with my friend Jean last night, my high school graduation wasn't a big deal. My mother had died at the start of my senior year, my sister couldn't come from the US, my father brought his girlfriend whom I loathed (not the woman who ultimately became my stepmother I hasten to add), I didn't have a boyfriend.... But a good friend in Toronto came down by train and that was super special (thank you Susan!) and well, seeing Mercy now is like a pleasure delayed and all the sweeter.

The official photos from the photoshoot haven't arrived but here are three that I took. They are a bit distant; better photos from the professional photographer are on the way.

Mercy is very quiet and serious, a bit like me at her age although I didn't have a mother and grandmother to make a fuss out of me, to draw me out.

So that was the big event last week. Apart from that, I've been watching British TV series that stream on Acorn, listening to a podcast on meditation, continuing with the Irish cemetery project that I've participated in for, oh, about 9 years now. It's a massive project, all done by volunteers, all free on the Internet. I keep referring to it but, seriously, Irish record transcription is a huge part of my retirement life. Yes, subbing too but I have more peace in the transcription side of it.

Yesterday I decided to video my morning here in my house. I did a video several years ago when I lived in Ireland, a walk through the house we were renting back then. I can't find the video right now, got distracted by a post I made about Mitzi that I will insert instead:

https://valeriesbookofme.blogspot.com/2017/04/once-upon-time-there-was-dog-named.html

I wanted to upload the house video from yesterday but somehow it's too big and it's time I moved on to something else. Another project to figure out when I get time.