Loss and the Unknown

    Today I have found myself checking in on an Instagram account more than once, hoping the account owner would update the status of her rescue rabbit. The rabbit had been sick and was taking medication in the last post a week ago. Also, one of my friends on another social media site has just lost her dog. 

    Social media has a way of making you feel awful and experiencing someone else's loss through a social media post is an insidious way of keeping people hooked on this aspect of the Internet.  Speaking of insidious, the social media site itself is insidious, the way it convinces you that you need to use it and use it frequently. I don't want to call it an addiction. What it does is replace what you would otherwise have to leave your house for. Interpersonal communication as easy and as quick as a few keystrokes. 

    Tonight one of the social media sites is experiencing some pretty massive glitches. Some people who use it a lot because it's replaced other forms of communication are frustrated. Some are speculating this is the beginning of the end of the website. More loss. And people will feel this loss with an impact akin to losing a friend or a loved one. Communities have been built on this site and those community members will feel a huge loss as they are scattered across the Internet, each migrating to other social media sites. 

    I could write volumes about the broken site and its owner but I'm trying to keep this space peaceful. I will say this: we will all experience a great sense of loss if the site does permanently fail. It will pain us, aggravate us, and we will lose some long-term friends as we scatter. But we also need to take a moment to think about those families, physical in-person friends, and things that used to be hobbies and interests that have taken a back seat in our lives and ask ourselves why we don't feel their loss as much as we will the loss of the bits of data that make up that website.

Deep Freeze Feelings

    It's been super cold since Friday thanks to Elliott, aka the bomb cyclone of arctic air that spread across most of the country. Super cold means I have been huddled in my little office chair trying to stay warm. Yesterday I couldn't get the indoor temps above 60 degrees with my furnace and two space heaters. Today, the wind has died down, the outdoor temp has gone up by about 12 degrees and that means it's getting pretty warm inside. 

    I'm so glad I took this coming week off from work. I haven't felt like I've done anything or enjoyed much of anything these last three days. I'm looking forward to enjoying the next few days.

    Yesterday we had our family Christmas dinner.  Dad thought we were having dinner today so he didn't put the turkey in the oven yesterday until I got to his house and asked, "Where's the turkey?" So, yesterday's dinner was turkeyless but today I picked up quite a bit of the turkey dad cooked yesterday so there's plenty for leftovers and for Winnie, Bailey, and Dora to enjoy Christmas too.

    I have been very fortunate during this cold snap. I didn't lose electric and my water pipes didn't freeze (knock wood). I only got a dusting of snow so I could get in and out.  Let's hope this is a once in a lifetime weather event. 

A Family Christmas

    This Christmas I'm making a special effort for some precious members of the family -- my pets. There were a couple years many years ago when I had stockings for my dogs. But for many years, the pets only participated in the holiday when they received some of the humans' dinner.

    This year, Winnie, PJ, Bailey, Dora, Cookie, Parker, Max, and Barney are getting ceramic ornaments with their pictures on them. PJ and Max are no longer with us, but they must be included. I don't know why I'm all Christmasy this year. Maybe it's because I'm getting closer to early retirement and I'm wanting to start thoroughly enjoying every bit of time off I have from my job. Maybe I'm just feeling all grateful for what I have which includes the love, devotion, or in the case of the cats, the expectation of servitude that I'm receiving from my pets.

    The bottom line is we don't have a lot of time on this Earth and each day that goes by means one less day to make the most of life and love the most we can. So, hug your pets just a little tighter today. Hug your family just a little tighter. 

A Defining Moment

    When I was a kid I was a professional wrestling fan. Every Saturday I would watch Jim Crockett Promotions and wrestlers like Dusty Rhodes, the Rock and Roll Express, The Four Horsemen, the Russians, the Midnight Express, and beginning in 1987, Barry Windham, my all-time favorite wrestler. He was the big blonde Adonis with movie star looks, natural athletic ability, grit, and heart. At that time, he was a good guy, also known in wrestling vernacular as a babyface. He fought alongside and for the underdog, backed up the other babyfaces in their feuds, and took on the top bad guy, or heel, in the promotion, Ric Flair, wrestling him to a time limit draw in a 60 minute match on Saturday TV. I was a devoted Barry Windham fan.

    Then in April 1988, Barry Windham broke my heart. He turned on his partner in a tag team match, giving their tag team titles to the Four Horsemen and becoming one of the villainous Horsemen himself. I couldn't believe it. Like many fans I wondered why he would do it when he'd been so close to catching and beating the promotion's top guy. Dusty Rhodes also wondered why and for that summer he was me and every other Barry Windham fan. Dusty confronted BW and the pain in his voice echoes in my heart to this day. 

    Barry Windham continued in the world of pro wrestling for several years. He finally got the World Title that he'd been chasing back in '87. He became World Tag Champions with his brother. And in 2012 he was inducted into the WWE Hall of Fame.

    Barry Windham is on my mind a lot this week because he suffered a massive cardiac event last weekend and almost died. As of yesterday he was recovering and I hope he has a full recovery.  He's still my all-time favorite wrestler and will always be so. To feel that 1988 heartbreak today, 34 years later tells me just how great a performer he is. Who else could have that effect on someone for over three decades? 

    Barry Windham has no medical insurance and will need some help with his medical bills. The least I can do to thank him for everything he gave to us fans all these years is to donate to help and I did. During this holiday season, if you find yourself with a few extra dollars, maybe you can consider donating to help this phenomenal icon with his medical expenses. https://www.gofundme.com/f/wwe-hall-of-famer-barry-windham-in-icu

Daddy's Girl

    I admit it.  I'm a Daddy's girl. 

    Dad comes from farming and he farmed pretty much my whole life until heart issues forced him to give it up. I had to help him with a lot of the work for many years. As a result, Dad and I seem to do projects together. It isn't like we have a large pool of acquaintances an family to draw on for help when we need it.

    For a few years, I had a couple of goats. I recruited Dad to help me build the fence, bring the goats home, and get my hay every year. I had some chickens and wanted them to have a building instead of the tiny store-bought hutch so Dad built me the Taj Mahal of chicken coops. I helped when I could. It's now a storage building.

    In the last couple of years, Dad has retired to more of a fetcher. He gets me the supplies I need from the store and delivers them (I give him the money). Then I do the work. I finished my metal roof this year. I patched part of my driveway this year. Today, he helped me transport my new solar powered generator and extra battery from his house, where they were delivered, to my house. 

    When I think about who I am, someone who doesn't need the newest of everything, who can make do with less, who is thinking practically every day about funding my retirement, I know much of me is my Dad. And I'm grateful I'm a Daddy's Girl.

On Christmas Songs

    When your work commute is approximately an hour one way you have plenty of time to listen to Christmas songs and analyze them. For example....

    Frosty the Snowman.  This is a horror movie in song form. Those children knew snow melts but they kept Frosty out there in the sun to "play" until Frosty died. They killed Frosty. Tim Burton needs to do a movie.

    Mary's Boy Child.  The lyric says "Mary's boy child Jesus Christ was born on Christmas Day."  Actually he was born on a regular old day. "Christmas" didn't come along until year 336 thanks to Emperor Constantine.

    All I Want for Christmas is My Two Front Teeth.  He wants to say "Sister Susie sitting on a thistle."  Who says that? Was that a popular saying back in olden times? Why not "Susie sells seashells by the seashore"?

    I'm sure there are plenty of other songs out there that don't make sense. I might be back with another post later.