Who would have thought?

EZLiving66

I'm sitting here, listening to the "Best of the 60s" and thinking about my life. I was born in 1952, grew up in a small town, dirt poor, the oldest of five kids. We lived in a one-bedroom house and us kids slept upstairs in an unfinished attic. Our father beat us all along with our mother. I met my future husband when I was 16. I never dreamed of the life we would have. It's had its ups and downs but mostly ups. We had two girls and then when they were grown up, we adopted our son out of foster care. He was such a blessing - it was like we were able to relive our life over. Then we adopted our oldest granddaughter in an adult adoption. Right after that, I found out I had UPSC and had surgery and went through chemo hell. Almost three years ago, we sold our business of 30 years in Wisconsin and bought a house in Florida. We thought we were set.

Now here we sit in some kind of surreal world where toilet paper is worth more than gold and you're not allowed to walk on the beach. Wisconsin just sent out a message asking the snowbirds NOT to come back (at least for a while). We have two homes in Wisconsin - our home in Green Bay and our lake home in northern Wisconsin but we're not welcome in either. Our clubhouse is chained shut - yes, CHAINED! My husband has been going out early to find bread, toilet paper, dish soap.....what in the H*LL is going on?? We don't live in some third world country!!  Some of our friends here are sick but we're afraid to visit them, leaving food and supplies on their doorsteps and disinfecting ourselves when we come back home. My husband's friend here in our 55+ community, fell and broke his right arm in several places and can't even get in to see an orthopedic surgeon because they have no masks! To get his x-rays from the emergency room my husband had to go through two checkpoints and then they, dressed in hazmat suits, brought the x-rays to him in the parking lot. 

The world has gone crazy! I feel so sorry for anybody just starting this cancer journey. I keep telling myself I was never promised anything. I just hoped it wouldn't be this hard. But, I'm still alive and have survived cancer for almost five years beating the odds. I've seen so many good women not make it.....so many d*mn good women!! 

So, my friends, now that I've poured out my heart to you, just know how much all of you mean to me. Hopefully, this will all be over soon one way or another, and life will get back to my new normal, but if not, it's ok.

Love,

Eldri

 

CheeseQueen57

Good Summary!

We could have never imagined this!  Stay safe, dear ones. Until we get a vaccine. 

Unknown

Yes, theres no joy left

When so much was already going on daily in our lives, throwing this on top seems to be overwhelming at times. I'm lucky that I don't have to go out for medical purposes, but living alone has gotten to the point of finding myself pacing the floors.  The weather isn't nice enough to go for a walk, so I sit on the computer for hours, and now I can't find anything that is positive or that doesn't talk about the virus.  I got through my chemo by breaking it down in stages, when I reached 1/2 way through my treatment, I had an end to look forward to.  It was my hope that our state would lift our stringent lockdown and we could venture out again, but people keep traveling to other states, then bringing it back with them, so I don't know when we will ever be free.  Hugs

Donna Faye

Good things to do

The summer after my divorce, I was home alone as the kids were all working or on trips. I did not want to go out as I was still hurting and being the 3RD bird or eating or going to a movie alone was not for me. So, I decided to buy some scrapbooks and make one for each child as I had tons of saved stuff. It proved more fun than I imagined and i wrote short notes on every page to help them remember the event. Then when I was going through chemo 7 years later, I made scrapbooks for my grandson and to my grands yet unborn. It was so much fun 10 years  later reading and talking about them to my grandsons now born. I also journal and write short vignetts in emails. This time of isolation has been easier as I am living with 2 men who treat me so well - cooking great meals and watching Acorn TV, my favotite. You will also see that many theaters- not movie ones - are offering plays on things like FB. American Shakespeare in VA is offering A Midsummer's Night Dream at 1:45 today! My grandsons introduced me to Zoom last night and we had fun chatting that way. I also do coloring and many museums are offering free printable pages to color. And, the best of all, write letters again! I wrote all my grandsons and asked them to journal as this is a time in history their children will study in school.  I also wrote notes to friend who are alone offering a phone call when they need to hear a voice. I know at my age (80 in 3 weeks) this is easier. I love to read and I have a little dog who needs walking and cuddling. May we all soon see the end of this and remember this as a time we learned to be alone with and learned much about  ourselves.

MAbound

Donna Faye said:

Good things to do

The summer after my divorce, I was home alone as the kids were all working or on trips. I did not want to go out as I was still hurting and being the 3RD bird or eating or going to a movie alone was not for me. So, I decided to buy some scrapbooks and make one for each child as I had tons of saved stuff. It proved more fun than I imagined and i wrote short notes on every page to help them remember the event. Then when I was going through chemo 7 years later, I made scrapbooks for my grandson and to my grands yet unborn. It was so much fun 10 years  later reading and talking about them to my grandsons now born. I also journal and write short vignetts in emails. This time of isolation has been easier as I am living with 2 men who treat me so well - cooking great meals and watching Acorn TV, my favotite. You will also see that many theaters- not movie ones - are offering plays on things like FB. American Shakespeare in VA is offering A Midsummer's Night Dream at 1:45 today! My grandsons introduced me to Zoom last night and we had fun chatting that way. I also do coloring and many museums are offering free printable pages to color. And, the best of all, write letters again! I wrote all my grandsons and asked them to journal as this is a time in history their children will study in school.  I also wrote notes to friend who are alone offering a phone call when they need to hear a voice. I know at my age (80 in 3 weeks) this is easier. I love to read and I have a little dog who needs walking and cuddling. May we all soon see the end of this and remember this as a time we learned to be alone with and learned much about  ourselves.

Excellent!!

My genealogy hobby is a welcome escape from coronavirus when I need it and your scrapbooking will indeed be a treasure for future generations, especially if you label everything with names, dates, and with what the pictures are all about. Be sure to include complete names instead of just "Bill and Maud" or "Uncle Joe".  I had a great Aunt who did that (except for the complete names!) and her scrapbook has been very helpful, especially as regards a trip she took to Europe to re-connect with family that did not emigrate to America. It's been a puzzle to untangle who's a relative from those who are friends, but it keeps me busy trying to figure it all out. What you have created is treasure for your family to cherish for a long time to come. 

I, too, have been busy calling some of my elderly relatives that are in nursing homes. Some have memory issues, but the issues are more with short-term memories. They are quite able and delighted to share stories with me from before I was born or when I was too young to pay attention to family relationships with people who are now gone. We are both helping each other to keep our minds off of the virus and having some kind of social interaction safely with each other. It's fun!

This is a tough time to be an otherwise outgoing person active with a large social circle, especially if you are living alone. This is going to go on for more than a week or two, so it's important to find things that give you purpose, enjoyment, or a sense of accomplishment. It just isn't going to be healthy to dwell too much on the news about the economy or virus, so DF's suggestions are a good place to start for each of us to figure out what we can do to cope.

CheeseQueen57

The boy has come home!

I'm just glad that my boy and his fiancé are finally back home. I'm safely about 200 miles away but I'll sleep better tonight knowing they're out of NYC. 

MAbound

Sweet Dreams!

I'm both happy for and jealous of you! 

zsazsa1

It will get better!  I

It will get better!  I promise, it will!  There are workarounds for a lot of items, even no TP.  You can use a damp washcloth after peeing, and step into the shower to wash off after pooping, if no TP on hand.  It's going to get worse before it gets better, but it WILL get better, probably in about 3 months.  Meanwhile, I am glad to be alive, glad to have food, and a home, and loved ones with me.

EZ, you have come so far from where you started out.  What an amazing life story.  I admire you so much.

Unknown

zsazsa1 said:

It will get better!  I

It will get better!  I promise, it will!  There are workarounds for a lot of items, even no TP.  You can use a damp washcloth after peeing, and step into the shower to wash off after pooping, if no TP on hand.  It's going to get worse before it gets better, but it WILL get better, probably in about 3 months.  Meanwhile, I am glad to be alive, glad to have food, and a home, and loved ones with me.

EZ, you have come so far from where you started out.  What an amazing life story.  I admire you so much.

And there's always the home made portable bidet!

Small plastic bottle (hint smallest size kitchen detergent), fill with warm water, lean forward and squirt away.  Don't laugh, it does work.  Hugs