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Category: Life goes on…

How Did We Get Here, Old Friend?

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I enjoy walking around our city. I think that at one time or another I’ve covered every street within our boarders and some of our neighboring burgs. I started doing this when I was still in high school. Back then, I’d walk at night. Alone with my thoughts and feelings swirling around my mind like Poe’s Maelstrom. In those days I had all of the tensions that come with being no longer child, not quite adult. It’s a wonder that our species has survived, let alone flourished, when such violence rages within the minds of so many of us. Yet, survive and flourish we have.
Now, in my so-called Golden Years I continue to walk the many miles of the city. I don’t go out in the evenings any more. Such has life chosen that those hours be spent trying to unwind and prepare for a long evening’s sleep. Even that can be difficult for those with gimpy prostates. But, that’s another story. When I walk today, especially in those old neighborhoods that I grew up in and around, my mind draws me backward into that age of restless energy. I recall the sights and smells of a much younger and less developed city. When fields and woods stretched out forever. Within those wild lands lay adventures and mystery. We explored them with the stealth that only a child may think is actually ‘stealthy.’ We built forts and brought sandwiches and apples so that we could truly live in those fortresses of cleared ground with ramparts of dead leaves. Such is the world of the very young. Temporary. Transient. A passing vapor.
When I got older I was an aspiring young freak. I played rock-n-roll and hung out with other rock-n-roll wannabes. We laughed. We got high. We made pretty good music. It was always hard for me to have friends. You see, I can be a pretty assy asshole. My assholery in those days was unmitigated by the erosion of age. Sharp-edged assholing can get pretty nasty sometimes. So, for me to have these band-buddies was a wonderful thing. Of course, being an asshole meant that I sometimes pushed the boundaries pretty hard. Fortunately, there was one guy who never put up with my assholing. He, of course, became my best friend and brother from another mother. Eventually, this age past as all do. One day we all found our paths diverging. I saw a light and followed it. My friends, my mates, my best friend chose to let me. And, I chose to leave them.
The reason I’m writing this is that recently, as I’ve walked the streets of the city, old and new, my mind has gone back to those days. The memories of growing warts on our feet in the middle of one street. Of climbing trees and the cliffs along the lake shore. Chasing butterflies and the elusive “Beatles chords” on the guitar. The thoughts flood back into my mind stirring up those old currents that once flowed with power and evidenced the change of life that always follows.
Perhaps this little melancholic trip down that good ol’ Memory Lane was inspired by a poem that a friend shared on social media a short while ago. The poem, “Our Nature,” by Rae Armantrout takes a hard look at the changes that we all wander through. The old photograph seen. The realization that all of that has changed. Disappointment is real. Where did we all go? While the poem doesn’t fit my own thoughts and reflections like my well-worn t-shirts, it does provoke the mind’s searchlight to scan the horizons, the peaks, the valleys trying to see any shadow or vestige of what once was.
All of that to say, I miss you guys. I miss you desperately. I don’t know where you are, save one. I don’t know whether you live still or have walked on, again, save one.
So, to Bruce, Craig, Ted, Dave, Greg, Jeff, and the other Jeff, I love you guys. You’ll always be jammin’ in my heart.

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Nothing Lasts Forever

I haven’t worn a watch in over 25 years. I guess, maybe, I’ll need to start. Or, not.

The past couple of years have been, well, let’s just say, challenging.
From antagonistic politics to the corona virus we have all had to make adjustments to our thinking. These are obstacles that we have had to navigate as a community. At least, most of us have tried to act like we are our sisters’ and brothers’ keepers.

Other changes have been more personal.

Two years ago I was looking forward to retirement. I spent nearly 50 years in the printing industry. The last 30 were at the same place. I had made the necessary arrangements with my financial advisor. My wife and I were preparing ourselves for the new stage of our relationship that was just 3 months away.

Then, in early February…cancer.

A routine colonoscopy revealed stage 1 cancer.
Immediately life changed. Instead of preparing for a happy transition into retirement turned into preparation for colon surgery. Those who have shared some of this journey with me know that the process did not go smoothly. What should have been a simple surgery turned into 4 surgeries and several months of unplanned-for shit. Literally.

Still, I had the end of my career to shine a bit of light on things. Even with an ostomy I could look forward to my last day of work. There was the pizza party with cake and cards and stuff that accompanied all retirements.

Then, enter Covid 19.

The last month of my time at work turned into isolation and working from home.
At that time I had not seen my coworkers for a bit over a month because of the surgeries. So, I spent the last week and half sitting in my home office monitoring things while the person who was taking my place got a baptism of fire.
April 1, yeah, April Fools’ Day, was my first day of retirement. March 31 should have been my final day at work with all the festivities of saying Good Bye and Good Luck. Instead, one day melded into the next. There was no mixed-feeling send off. I had no opportunity to really say good-bye to folks. Some of them I had worked beside for nearly 30 years. No pizza. No cake. No cards. No nothing.

Just gone.

So, why cry about that now?

Last month the owner of the company I worked for passed. He was a large person and a larger personality. Those of us who had the pleasure of working for him gathered for a final goodbye. I was happy to see so many of my old work friends. Some I hadn’t really seen since before my surgery.
Something was off, though. I felt myself firmly on the outside. I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised. After all, the only thing that we really had in common was work. And, I was no longer working. It could have been all my imagination, too. Whatever, there was definitely a schism. And, I felt it.

It seems that while we share time and experiences with others there is a very real community. Our common goals cement us into a family-like organism. We consider one another sisters, brothers, mothers, and fathers. All of those dynamics keep us coming back day after day. Then, one day, everything is changed. The family still exists. However, the one who leaves is no longer a member.
Oh, I know that some will disagree with this.
For those I can only way, “Wait. You’ll see.”

Just before Christmas I received that watch shown at the top of this post.
It’s the one I should have gotten on my last day. But, of course, that wasn’t possible. We were isolated, remember? So, apparently it sat, wrapped, in the desk of the HR manager. That is until we saw each other at a funeral and she remembered and decided to ship it to me.
(Still no pizza or cake)

So, now I guess it’s official.
I’m retired.

Gee. Wow. Yippee. Whatever.

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But, The Greatest of These…

For most of us, this moment in time is a bit, well, unsettled. There is more uncertainty swirling around in the world than there usually is.
Coronavirus;
Politics;
Economy;
Find Waldo, er, Kim Jung Un.

You get the point.

We are frustrated and, if we’re honest, a bit afraid.
Not necessarily afraid of Covid-19.
We’re afraid of the uncertainty.

This is completely understandable.
Especially, in a society that prides itself on being in control and self-sufficient.
A culture where the idea of the Individual is elevated to near god-like stature.
It is disconcerting to feel alone and, perhaps more importantly, not in control.
So, yeah, I get it.

People need to vent their frustrations.
We see this in the protests over stay at home orders.
We see it in people ignoring those orders to open businesses and churches.
There is a wave of ‘righteous indignation’ flowing over us.

None of us can see the ramifications of these actions.

That’s the problem, though, isn’t it?
None of us can see…….

We can, however, see how all of this is affecting us.
I look around at the way that business and industry have stepped up to provide necessary equipment for those who put themselves in harms way to care for the rest of us.
I see the food pantries and volunteers doing whatever they must in order to help those who have suddenly found themselves in dire need of basic necessities.
Those of us who are daily putting our own needs and desires aside and staying home and practicing Personal Distancing so that those who are on the ‘front lines’ may have a chance to do their jobs, well, “Good Job!”

There are people who say that there is little to no hope for our species. Or, the world, for that matter. They say that unless drastic measures are taken immediately we will go the way of the Dodo…soon.

There are others among us who say that this is just the beginning of judgement. Soon God will appear and the whole Cosmos will roll up like a scroll and burn.

I want to take issue with both of these outcomes and any others that would follow this kind of Doomsday script.

We all have choices.

We can choose to be Human.
We can choose to let Empathy, rather than selfishness and fear, rule in our hearts and minds.
There is Hope.
If we can have Faith.
And, more importantly, if we can extend Love.

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Even In Trying Times, We Are Never Alone

God, as I have written before, has promised to never leave us. No matter what storms may rage around us.

Who will separate us from the love of Christ? Will hardship, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.

Romans 8:35, 37-39 NRSV
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Thursday Musing

First, I gotta tell you that yesterday was pretty rough.
I shared a bit about how beginning this new phase of life was, well, a tad anticlimactic.
So, I pretty much slept all day.
I do that sometimes when the melancholia shows up to play.

But, here we are!
Another day to try again.
While I’m still not feeling great, (I’m sure that the fact that my body is still pretty weak isn’t helping), I am up and actually accomplishing things.
So, that’s a good thing. Right?

There have been so many thoughts and ideas coursing through my brain over the last month that I have not been able to keep track of them.
So, let me just get some of them out there for your consideration.

Many of my thoughts have drifted toward God and what God may desire for me personally. But, also for us as a species in a rather chaotic period.
I spoke with one friend yesterday who said that he didn’t know what God was up to. But, God must be up to something Big!
I don’t know. I really don’t think so.
I wrote in another place that things like illness and disease are simply the product of evolution. They “Happen” because that’s what goes on in our natural world.
I’m all for giving God credit when it’s due. But, stating that God is using such things to get our attention or judge sin or whatever cult-du-jour idea you want to use is not only not helpful, but borders on blasphemy.
God has always, and ONLY, promised to be Present with us in these times. To that I can bear witness. God has walked with me, mourned with me, felt my pain and anxiety, and held my hand during this time of distress.
God will surely continue to do that as we slog our way through the days of coronavirus.

I am a die hard separation of church and state person. While I realize that individuals will carry their worldviews with them wherever they go, including the public square, it is dead wrong for any one person or group to impose their particular beliefs on anyone else.
Period. End of discussion.
That’s why it really, REALLY, pisses me off when I read and hear about religious organizations that think that quarantine and stay at home orders are for everyone except them. These misguided idiots think that their particular religious group is somehow “Essential” in the same way that grocery stores and pharmacies are.
Hey, Numb Nuts!
You’re not!
They endanger not only those who attend their open services, but all of the other people those folks will come in contact with.
If they truly want to embody their so-called love, they will shut their doors until this is all over.

Finally, I want to again thank all of those people who have shared their concern over my health. I really appreciate every one of you.
I do hope that I never need to return the sentiment. But, if I do; I will.

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Well, We Made It

“Today is the first day of the rest of your life.”

So goes that old saying.
Today is supposed to be different. At least, so I’ve been told.
I officially enter the ranks of the Retired.

I don’t know.
I feel kind of ambivalent about the whole thing.
Maybe cuz of everything else that’s going on.
Cancer; surgeries; coronavirus; stay at home orders.
This is certainly not how I imagined this day would be.

But, time moves on in spite of what may be happening around us.
And, here we are.
We made it.

I’m sure that eventually I’ll settle in to a new way of living without a time clock.
Maybe I’ll even celebrate! When the restaurants open and we’re once again allowed to gather together.

I don’t know.

Maybe.

Until then, I appreciate the well-wishes from all of you.
I hope that we can remain in touch as time moves on.

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Perhaps, Back Again!

I know that I said a couple of week ago that I was back after surgery.
At that time I was beginning to feel pretty good again.
I thought that the worst was behind and that, soon, I would be back in fine stride working toward full restoration.

That was before a perforation in my bowel knocked me back down.

On Thursday, March 12, I was suddenly assaulted by an acute pain in my lower gut. I thought that I had eaten something that didn’t agree with me. So, I took some pain meds and went to bed.
Friday I awoke feeling somewhat better. At least as far as the pain was concerned. But, I was pretty weak and listless. By Friday evening I was spiking a fever. We called my surgeon about it. He sent me to get a CT scan of the area.
The scan did show some abnormality. They ordered an ambulance to take me back to Fairview Hospital where the surgical team was waiting for me.
So, at about 2 A.M. on Saturday the 14th, I had emergency surgery to repair the perforation.
I awoke from that surgery with an ostomy bag hanging from my belly.

I gotta tell ya, two major surgeries in less than two weeks tends to sap the life out of a person. I don’t recall feeling so weak and frail as I have these past couple of weeks. I’m 20 pounds lighter than my pre-surgery weight. I have little strength left. They told me not to lift anything over 10 pounds. Hell, I can barely lift that much!

The next step will, hopefully, be near the end of May when the ostomy is to be reversed and I’ll be put back together.

I appreciate all of the concern that has been expressed to my through social media and the phone. You are all good people.

Thank you!

As far as moving forward, well, next Wednesday, April 1, will be my first full day of retirement. I am looking forward to it. Who knows, maybe my life will be able to develop some form of ‘normalcy.’ (Although for me, what really IS normal?)

I hope to get back to some form of creating content here as well as some other projects that I have swimming around in the back of my brain.
It will be an interesting time, to be sure.

So, thank you again to all of you who have stuck with me on this strange journey.
I look forward to walking with you further on down this road.

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It’s Been an Interesting Trip

I’m Back!
Well, kinda.
It would be understating things just a tad if I said that my body hadn’t just taken a pretty big hit. I guess that you can’t have your belly cut open and 12″ of colon removed then get back to business as usual.
Hell, it’s taken over a week and a half just to get one semi-formed turd!
(Ok, I get it…TMI.)
But, you get the idea.
I am still quite a way off from being anywhere close to physically well.

The week I spent in hospital was rough. I tried to share some of what was going on with friends on Facebook.
I had a lot of fluids going in, but not much coming out.
This caused the staff to get concerned.
Then, I began to get sick. Nausea. Not good with a belly wound.
They stuck an NG tube up my nose and into my stomach to help relieve the distress.
There is nothing fun about that. Not at all.
Eventually, after about a day and a half, it appeared that things had settled down. They pulled the tube and I began to take clear liquids again.
I had finally turned a corner and was on my way forward toward recovery again.

But, it’s slow. I’ve had to purposely keep from doing too much.
That has included writing here and spending much time on social media.

What all of this down time has allowed is time to reflect.
Now, for those of you who know me, that can be a dangerous thing.
Giving me time to spend inside of my own head, well, weird stuff can happen.
So, I hope to spend time discussing some of these thoughts here over the next little while.
I don’t know that I’ll be able to write every day. That’s going to entirely depend on how I feel. Right now I have to listen to my body. And, if it says, “Whoa! Not today!” Then, so be it.
But, as the name of this blog states, I am here to push boundaries. I want to offer alternatives to accepted norms. I ask questions and don’t necessarily expect answers.
And, I want to spend more time working to speak Truth to Power.
People have for too long been marginalized and held down because of religion and other human-created constraints. There are a lot of other people, like me, who have seen enough crap and are compelled to speak up.
So, that’s kinda where I hope to head in the next little while with a particular focus on critique from within concerning the Christian Church.
It needs it.

Badly.

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I Think That I Need A Sherpa Guide To Navigate These Mountains

Ok!
I said that I was going to chronicle my journey with cancer. I found out a little over two weeks ago that I have a mass in my colon. Biopsy showed it is cancer.
Now, for a normal person that would mean a CT scan to see if there was any spread.
Once done, surgery would be scheduled and the cancer removed.

Everyone, and I mean EVERYONE who knows me knows that there’s nothing normal about me. So, of course this has turned into one major cluster-f@#k.
First, the CT scan showed a couple spots on my liver. They are too small to determine xactly what they are. So, the surgeon ordered an MRI. Of course, that requires
pre-certification from my insurance company.
Add 10 days to the wait for surgery.

In the mean-time, I had to involve my cardiologist because I had a heart attack in 2011. They put 2 stents in the LAD artery, the so-called “Widow Maker.”
My cardiologist ordered a nuclear stress test to determine how well the blood flows through my coronary arteries.
Even though I studied hard, I apparently failed that test.
I saw my cardiologist yesterday. He explained that there are two parts of my heart that showed poor blood flow.
He ordered a cardiac cath so that he can go in and see exactly what the issues are.

So, what does all of this mean?

Here’s the down low.

  1. MRI
    If the spots on my liver are normal cysts or something else that isn’t a problem, I would be cleared for colon surgery on Monday.
    If, however, the spots are possibly cancer, the surgery is off and I get to start chemo.
    fun.
  2. Heart cath
    If the cath shows no major problem, then I go home and am clear for surgery on monday.
    If the doc finds something serious and needs to put in a stent or other intervention, then I stay in hospital and the surgery is postponed.

As you’re reading this, I’m prepping for the MRI.
And, I still don’t know a thing about anything.

I won’t know if surgery is a go until, perhaps tomorrow.

So, for a normal person the surgery would have been done almost 2 weeks ago and that person would be sitting at home healing.

For me?

Well, shit!
Normal’s no fun!!!

I will try to keep you all updated as this somewhat rocky journey continues.

Oh, does anyone have a compass?

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When It Rains, It Pours…Then, Tsunami

I think that we have the makings of a pretty amazing comedy!
We can call it, “The Life and Times of An Average Guy.”
It will tell the story of a person who led the most average kind of life you could imagine.
Married; Kids; Soccer; Work…you know, Average.

Then, after nearly 50 years in the Average work force, earning average wages after average daily commutes, this average guy decides it’s time to take his average retirement.

No biggie.

Average.

With a capital “A.”

Then, two months before said retirement he goes for an Average, Routine health exam and all of that Average stuff that he had been accumulating over the Average years of his Average life was suddenly thrown into the spin cycle of the Cosmic Washing Machine.

Shit.

Here’s the latest update.
I wrote yesterday that I had met with the surgeon who is going to perform the necessary surgery to remove the cancer in my colon.
He told me that he is going to put a few holes in my abdomen and remove about 12″ of my colon.
Of course, this is still contingent on the MRI that I mentioned yesterday.
I should be in hospital 3-5 days, or until the newly routed plumbing begins to function.
Then, I was told that I could return to work in 5 weeks.
FIVE WEEKS!!!!
I told them that I just sit in front of a computer all day.
They said, “Oh. Ok, 4 weeks.”

Taken by itself that doesn’t sound too bad. After all, I will be recovering from a major surgery. And, when they put holes in your belly, that can be real painful for a long time.
I get it.

But….

That time restriction takes me right up to my retirement date.
So, what that means is that the 7 weeks that I had planned for is suddenly 2 1/2.
It means that the time I have to train my replacement is cut.
Ok, we can deal with that.
It also means that I won’t have a paycheck coming in for that entire month.
That is more difficult to deal with.

Fortunately, the powers-that-be at the company I work for are going to work with me to see what options are available.

Do you want to know how I feel right now?
No, I didn’t think so.
I’m not even sure how I feel.
I’m being swept forward by a tsunami of Not Average Events that are really screwing up my Very Average Life.

Oh, we’ll get through it.
But, it’s gonna take an Above Average Effort.

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