Departures; Overworking

Sunday was a zinger of a day. Lydia, David, Gene, Sidney, and I went to Drumbeg for a long and leisurely morning walk. Then we went to The Surf for lunch, and we sat at a table on the lawn in the sun and had lunch overlooking the ocean and we saw whales blowing out their holes far out to see. On the way home, we went to Malaspina Galleries, a natural rock formation on our island that is a popular tourist site, and then came home.

It's remarkable to be with Gene, age 28. I babysat him countless times, often for all day, and he was easily the greatest love of my life, ever in my life, from soon after he was born. I have long felt that it was from him that I first learned to love. I didn’t love Steve, my ex, until many years later. So having all day with Gene yesterday was heaven.

At one point, I got a call from a friend, Anna-Mae, whom I haven’t seen since the late 1970s. She is a hoot, and somehow, she found me and called me after decades apart; we met through our work in professional theatre. She is on Gabe for two days, so I will get together with her this afternoon.

The departure of the Roseberrys was extremely sad for me. These people, Steve’s sister, her husband, son, and daughter-in-law, mean a great, great deal to me. I’m really feeling the love for all my true friends intensely because I always become fearful of losing friends when my speech is bad. 

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All Hell has broken loose. I’m feeling overwhelmed. I’ve been asked to do some writing for the current president, to work with others to write fundraising policies, and to work with our doctors to develop articles for our newsletter that will run under their names. This is on top of re-writing the website, developing our first newsletter, and writing ads for some twenty-plus publications.

All this work is putting me on par with Chuck, the president, Dyan the incoming president and all-round mega-mind, and Nancy, my fellow hunter of doctors. They are all incredibly hard workers. 

I’m glad Anna-Mae is coming this afternoon. It will force me to take a break on a gorgeous day and leave, at least for a while, the clinic work that binds me to my chair and computer.