The Yellow Tree November 13, 2011
Posted by Paula in Body-Mind-Spirit, From the Heart, Memories.Tags: cancer, death, grief, life, Love, remembering
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This week marks the 10-year anniversay of a very sad day for me.
Things are good now, and I’m happily married to a terrific guy. But the span from about November 7th through the 16th is still a little tough each year, as the memories knock at my brain.
A few years ago, I wrote about it in a piece I called “The Yellow Tree Never Forgets.” It’s a “short story,” although longer than I’d usually post here. So I’ll post here only the first few of paragraphs and then give you the link to the full story. Or, just follow the link in the title below and get to the whole story.
The Yellow Tree Never Forgets
By Paula L. High, © 2005
November 2005
It’s a crisp November mid-morning. As I look out the window of my office, I see the tree out in front with its leaves turning that bright, flaming-yellow color that it does every year. Each time a breeze comes through, it causes masses of the golden leaves to rain down upon the street and the passing vehicles. It’s beautiful. It remembers to do this each year, without prompting from any of us. When the sun is at this angle, this time of day, the cheery, brilliant color reflects the outdoor light and casts a vivid yellow hue onto everything in my office. On a sunny day like today, it changes the way things in my office are lit this time of year. It’s like no other time of year – it makes for a unique couple of weeks. As pretty as it is, it reminds me of a week that changed my life a few years ago.
That was November of 2001. I will never ever forget the main events that transpired that week of my life . . . of his death. It was surreal. It’s not every day that such an important person in your life, a love of your life, goes into the hospital for one last time and dies at the tender age of thirty-three. (more…)
The Hardest Part of That Day November 8, 2011
Posted by Paula in Beginings, Family, Friends, From the Heart, Memories, Well-being.Tags: grief, loss, new beginnings
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Ok, I’ll tell you right now… this piece is a bit longer than I usually post. But I had requests to “finish that series you started… about you & Danny.” So I’ve worked on doing that. I thought about splitting this post into two, but that didn’t seem to work well. Bear with me as I present this last installment. Hopefully you’re enjoying the story. Want to catch it from the very first? See “A Surprising Turn of Events” then follow the links at the bottom of each post to the next installment.
Part VI
The Hardest Part of That Day
After having lunch with Danny and his mom and sister, I went home to rest a little and get ready to attend Cathy’s memorial service. As I stood in the closet, selecting what to wear to her service, my mind whirled back over the events of the past few months. How was it that I was standing there preparing to attend yet another funeral?
2009 had been a whirlwind summer and autumn was approaching. So much had happened that year. I had tried (more…)
A Tough Day to Get Through… October 18, 2011
Posted by Paula in Beginings, Friends, From the Heart, General Ramblings, Memories.Tags: grief, heart, loss, Love, new beginnings, soul
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Due to a few requests and as promised, the next segement in my series about how Danny and I got together. You can also catch it from the beginning with a “Suprising Turn of Events“ and then follow the links at the bottom of each to the next segment.
Part V
A Tough Day to Get Through
I woke up early the next day… well, early for me on a Sunday, about 7:00am. As if on cue, the phone rang. It was Danny on the other end wishing me a good morning. He asked if he could take me to breakfast. He said he really wanted to spend some time with me before things got crazy for the day. Of course, since he had already mentioned this possibility on the phone the night before, I was prepared and said, “Yes, I’d love to go out to breakfast with you.” I told him it would take me about forty-five minutes to get ready and ten or fifteen minutes to get over to where he was living. So I’d see him in about an hour.
Once I was ready, I drove over to his sister’s house. By then, his Mom had arrived and stayed the night. His youngest sister was also in town, but she was out with friends. I stopped my car in front of the house. Danny was waiting outside for me. He motioned for me to roll down my window, which I did. Danny invited me inside to meet his Mom. I parked my car in front of the house and went inside with him. (more…)
Let’s See How Things Go… October 13, 2011
Posted by Paula in Beginings, Family, Friends, From the Heart, General Ramblings, Memories.Tags: friends, grief, heart, loss, Love, new beginnings, soul
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It’s been a busy couple of weeks while I enjoyed the 40th Anniversary of the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta and tried to get back on track with my course work & my iodine supplements. This weekend is going to be a little busy too.
So I decided to address some recent requests to finish-up the series I started a couple years ago about how Danny & I came to be together. You can refresh your memory (or read for the 1st time) the posts that came before this — here – Starting with “Surprising Turn of Events“. Then at the bottom of each segment, there should be a link to the next one in the series, up to this one. Enjoy!
Since we are fast approaching our second anniversary, I figured, it’s appropriate. So here you go… “the REST of the story…”
Part IV
Let’s See How Things Go
Since Danny had said he would need time and we should take things slow, I figured I wouldn’t see him for a week or two, except perhaps I would probably see him briefly at the memorial service that next weekend. But I didn’t expect to see him for dinner or anything like that for a couple of weeks. I figured he would call whenever he needed to talk, but I was prepared to give him ooddles of whatever “space” he might need. I was in no hurry.
The next morning, I was a little surprised when (more…)
Don’t Mess with What Works! October 9, 2011
Posted by Paula in Body-Mind-Spirit, General Ramblings, Health, Lessons Learned, Productivity, Well-being.Tags: energy, Health, overwhelmed, thyroid, tired
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Wow! It’s been a busy few weeks. So I’ll post just a short bit for today, and more in a day or two. The 40th Anniversary of Balloon Fiesta was great… but like I said, more in a couple of days.
I got a little overwhelmed with events of the last two weeks. I had been going along all hunky-dory, as they say. Then I took the last two tablets of my iodine supplement. “Ok,” I thought, “No real biggie. I don’t think they were helping all that much anyway. I’ll see how it goes without them for a week or so.” I had thought that the recent burst in energy was a only a combination of the new thyroid medication I was on & the nutrition shakes I was taking. I’m sure that was part of it, but I soon learned that one should not mess with a synergistic success!
Within about 3 or 4 days without my iodine supplement, I began to feel (more…)
It’s Not What You Think! September 26, 2011
Posted by Paula in General Ramblings, Health, Lessons Learned, Well-being.Tags: life coach, overwhelmed, time, time management
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Last week was so strange. On the one hand, I was beginning to think Friday would never arrive. But on the other hand, I was so busy most of the time, that I was having difficulty getting everything done, so it seemed to fly by. Some of the things I finally did get done were late, by my account. But I suppose when you are trying to reorganize things in your life and learn new helpful habits, it can be a bit daunting at first. Ironically, that is exactly why I’m trying to learn, implementing helpful new habits!
I look around me and I see some people are doing an amazing number of things. And they are seeming to pull it off without any snags and with such grace! I see that and feel so inadequate! I think, “What’s wrong with me that I can’t seem to get those kinds of things done?” But wait! Maybe it’s not what you think! (more…)
Julia Remembers 9/11/2001 in New York City September 19, 2011
Posted by Paula in Friends, Guest Blogger, Memories, Strange Happenings.Tags: 9-11, 9/11, New York, NYC, World Trade Center, WTC
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Last week, I shared my memories of the events of September 11th, 2001, from my perspective 2000 miles away, here in Albuquerque, NM. My perspective was all from seeing events unfold on the television news casts. Still, it was an unnerving day. For weeks following that day, the television was filled with the stories of people who were IN New York or IN Washington DC, right in the middle of the nightmare. They even found someone who saw the plane go down in Pennsylvania, and they certainly found loved ones who talked to those passengers before the crash.
Not until very recently did I personally know someone who lived through it. Last week, I told you I would ask her permission to post her story here, as my guest blogger. Julia Miller has graciously agreed to allow me to share her story with you so that we might understand how hard it was to see those things “up close and personal” as they say. I want to thank and welcome her. And present to you, Julia Miller, my friend and co-worker, in her own words.
Julia’s Story
I lived in Brooklyn at the time, and it was my habit to walk to work over the Brooklyn Bridge, about a four mile trek that I could do in an hour. It was great exercise. So, that’s where I was the morning of 9/11, walking to work over the Brooklyn Bridge.
At that time I worked for Merrill Lynch, which was located (and still is) in the World Financial Center. The WFC was literally across the street from and connected to the World Trade Center, our office windows on the 25th floor of our building looked out on the north tower of the Trade Center. (The north tower was the first one to get hit.) You had to go through the Trade Center to get to the WFC, there was a pedestrian walkway over West Street that connected the two buildings. I knew the Trade Center very well; I went through it twice a day at least.
So I’m walking to work about a block and a half away from the WTC when there was this enormous, HUGE boom sound. Everyone on the street looks up all together, and we see the north face of the north tower has a huge burning hole in it. My very first thought was – (more…)
I’ll ALWAYS Remember… September 12, 2011
Posted by Paula in From the Heart, Memories, Strange Happenings.Tags: 9-11, attacks, memories, terror, Twin Towers
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With the tenth anniversary of the September 11th having just passed, many people are recounting their recollection of that awful day. Even the office where I work during the day, gave employees a chance to write something and submit it. I didn’t submit anything, but I’ve read all that were posted on the company intranet. One in particular, from a friend and co-worker who was in Manhattan at the time, was very moving and I will ask her permission to repost here later, as my guest blogger. In the meantime, I’ll give you my “lite” version; my recollection of that day.
In early September 2001, I had been back in my hometown of Albuquerque for about a year. I was navigating around packing boxes in my living room as I prepared to move to a yet another apartment. I had just lost my 18 year old cat Meg to a tumor, only a month prior. I still had my other cat, but it was painfully weird to not have Meg around. And I was worried about my boyfriend, Gil Benavidez, who was fighting cancer. I knew he had a chemo session that morning. He would then go home to rest the remainder of the day. Other than that, the morning of September 11th was initially like most other recent weekday mornings.
The day started with the buzz of my alarm clock at 06:15 (Mountain Daylight Time). I pried myself out of bed, made it to the kitchen and started the coffee. I grabbed the TV remote, turned on the local news and got into the shower. After my shower, I put on my robe, got a cup of coffee and a a bowl of cereal.
At about 06:30, I sat down in my living room to have breakfast and watch the local morning news. Same ol’ stuff. I finished breakfast, rinsed my dishes, placed them in the dishwasher. I began my process of “getting ready.” I turned up the TV volume so I could continue to hear it in the bathroom vanity area.
At about 06:45, I brushed my teeth, then dried my hair. I had just turned off the hairdryer when I heard them say something about breaking news: a small plane had just hit the World Trade Center in New York. The local news was going to switch, early, over to Good Morning America right then, at 06:52 (MDT) to follow the story.
“Wow,” I thought, “This is really big!” I came out of the bathroom, with hair brush in hand and sat on the couch. I watched as we joined Charlie Gibson & Diane Sawyer. They were telling us about a huge fire near the top of the World Trade Center in Manhattan, but they didn’t have all the info yet. (more…)
The Challenge is On! August 31, 2011
Posted by Paula in Beginings, Body-Mind-Spirit, Health.Tags: Body by Vi, Challenge, energy, Fabulous shakes, feeling better, Getting in shape, Gluten-free, Health, weight-loss
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What a wonderful way to start a new week! This past Monday, my shipment arrived and I began my Body by Vi 90-Day Challenge! I uploaded my “before” information, and started the clock. I expect I will have terrific results by Thanksgiving! I’ve seen for myself the terrific results of several other people. And the shakes are wonderful! I cannot believe that I get to have two of these shakes each day, along with 2 snacks, an energy-drink and a sensible dinner everyday!
When I was initially checking out the 90-Day Challenge and tasting the shakes, they made several different little flavored samples. One was Snickerdoodle, others were Mint Chocolate Chip, and Chocolate-Strawberry. I asked how many flavors can you make the shake, expecting to hear 3 or 4 flavors. Five differnt people said (in unison), “Thousands!” I thought they were kidding, but they weren’t! I wondered how that could be possible. The way it works so well is that it (more…)
Cause and Effect… August 25, 2011
Posted by Paula in Body-Mind-Spirit, General Ramblings, Health, Lessons Learned.Tags: energy, soy, thyroid, weight
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I’ve spent the last year or so trying to overcome hypothyroidism. Truth be told, I’ve probably had a slow thyroid for years. But the 2 or 3 times it was tested before, the results showed “within normal range.” Only recently did I discover those were very narrow tests that did not test enough to give an accurate picture!
In early 2010, after experiencing a disturbing drop in my energy level, my Mom encouraged me to get my thyroid tested again. So I had my trusty chiropractor order the tests, extensive tests. Sure enough, I had hypothyroidism that would have probably shown as “within normal range” with those less extensive tests. At least now I could understand why the low energy level, but still I wondered why the seemingly sudden drop. It seemed to have occurred over about a 4 or 5 month timeframe.
I looked back over September 2009 through January 2010 and tried to figure out what all had changed. It was a challenge, as many things had changed during (more…)
