Wednesday, April 6, 2016

life gets in the way

How can I catch up on all the posts I should have made January, February, March and now April?
It goes back to November 2014 when my husband suddenly went blind and everything that had to be done had to be done by me. Blogging was not top of the list.
Top of the list was learning how to cope with his blindness. This wasn't new to me, because in 2005 my son went blind and lived with us until he died that November. But then, I had lots of help. My husband could, of course, drive and run errands, and others also came to my aid while I was our son's primary caregiver.
Now it's different. My husband's sight has improved somewhat, but he still can't use the computer, or read, and he will never be able to drive again. Also, his spinal stenosis has progressed beyond all further surgeries, and he has difficulties climbing the stairs to get in and out of our house.
So, the house (our home for the past 44 years) has been sold and I'm up to my eyebrows and beyond with sorting and packing. Even with professional help (thank God for Lambert's Moving) it's still stressful and difficult.
That really takes care of what I've been doing since December--when we were forced to face the fact that we could not stay in this house.
As far as writing goes--I'd promised Laura Bradford I'd send her 100 pages and synopsis of my young adult mystery. I got up to about page 85, and I have the synopsis, but that's been on hold for several weeks now. When we get to our new home, in the small town of Penticton, BC, I'll try to get on with this job.
My UBC course had to be cancelled--even though I never did get around to doing that officially. I just couldn't get to classes, and so that just died.
I even had to quit my favourite volunteer job with the best elementary school teacher ever. I'd been with her since about 2002 or 2003.
So--blog followers, if you're still there--you aren't alone in the "neglected" category.
This time next week, our plane will have landed in Penticton, and we should be arriving at our new apartment. I'll have dozens of boxes to unpack over the next several weeks, but I'll try not to abandon my writing or my blogging altogether.
Thank you for your patience!