Monday, February 6, 2023

Two Dreadful Shocks

 Saturday was, as planned, a day of rest. I felt myself to be fully functional; I felt fully recovered and full of oxygen again. And this morning, I feel even better. My technician said that I’d need a few days for my heart muscle to recover from the two weeks of constant electrical stimulation from my pacemaker.

It felt very good to have a second day with nothing to do. I cherish those days when my only duty is to walk Her Highness. And today is another day of rest. We went on the big community dog walk together and then I came home to read and to do a little clinic work that is overdue, but I also plan to go through my monologue aloud for the first time. I’m getting very close to having it ready to send to Holdar and Tony.

In the morning, I got an email from my Gilbert. I’d written to him because our connection has suffered as a result of my move to Gabriola. I hadn’t been in touch for quite a while. Gil was a student when I was a teacher and we became friends because he was the leader of the school’s outdoor club, and I became the club sponsor. He’s a terrific guy! Well his email shocked me. 

He’s a geologist, so he is often out in camps doing exploration for mining sites. And in late 2021, he was attacked by a bear. It pinned him to the ground with a firm grip on his left thigh. His camp colleagues tried to help him, and the bear turned on them so they fled, and then the bear went back to Gil. Finally, Gil’s chums shot the bear.

Poor Gil has had a lot of care and physiotherapy since. He is still in recovery. I was just so, so shocked to read of his plight, and then late yesterday afternoon, I got a call from Bruce. He called to tell me that our friend, Mo, had died.

Mo (Maureen) was part of my theatre posse: Sue, Susan, Ruth, Bruce, Suzie, Bob, Edd, Stevie and I have been meeting on Zoom regularly for ages. We once got together physically regularly, but in these later years, with me over here, Bob in Toronto and Ruth in White Rock, we switched to Zoom. We are long-standing theatre friends. 

About 10 days ago, Mo fell down the stairs in her house. This was an accident we all saw coming, because Mo had MS and was overweight, but she did not want to move. She loved her condo and her neighbours. The fall fractured several vertebrae, so she faced a long and painful recovery, we knew, but we expected her to recover, so today’s news was totally unexpected. I am, we all are, depressed as Hell.

It's a cliché, but it seems unreal that she is gone. I’m so sad, and so shocked. Rest forever is peace, my dear Mo.

In the evening, I turned on the TV and it didn’t work. So, most reluctantly, I got the TV that was in my studio and never, ever used, and swapped it out. Of course, it wasn’t easy. It took me ages to figure out how to get the sound to work, but after an hour of jiggery pokery, I got it working in time to take in All Creatures and Vienna Blood.

I couldn’t really pay attention. I. kept thinking about poor Mo. I so sad for so many, many friends. None of us expected this. We’re all in shock.















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