Roxie the therapy dog

Roxie at  Sandy Hook beach

Roxie was a rock star in my world. She died yesterday, November 29th at 1:10PM. She was happy and loving from the day that we brought her home until she died in the vet's office yesterday. We brought her home as a 10 week old  ll bean look alike golden retriever puppy.  She came into our home shortly after 9/11/01 and shortly before our oldest daughter, Meredith left for College. She changed our lives!  She had so much energy that it was hard to get used to her in the beginning.  She loved everything as if it were the first time that she was experiencing life. She especially loved a squeaky toy that she would chew on incessantly while I was on the phone. When I told  her to stop, she would put it down and start chasing her tail. When she was done with that, she would pick up the toy again. That was Roxie.

Uncle Harry, Healing While Dying, Part #3

mountain light

Uncle Harry lived a life that was very stable, responsible and loyal to his family and friends. My brother spoke with him every Sunday for 51 years. My sister and I kept in touch with him regularly.  He always wanted to talk about politics and if we had heard from each other recently. What have you heard from your sister? Is she okay?  As our father died when we were very young, Uncle Harry had promised our Dad that he would take care of us. He kept his promise. He made sure that we went to college, attended our weddings and  heard  the news about his nephews and nieces. He never really understood why people needed to go to  psychotherapy? He would often ask me what was the point of talking about our problems? It was hard to explain.....

Uncle Harry, Part 2 healing while dying

purple turtle

Part 2 begins on November 5th when we received the call that Uncle Harry was being taken to the emergency room for a fall and bleeding. This was the day after we finally had power restored after Hurricane Sandy. We had just finished restocking the refrigerator with food for both ourselves and our two dogs. We were at the emergency room not knowing what would happen in the next couple of weeks. At the age of 94, he had never had any surgeries and he looked younger than his age. However, his body had been failing him for quite some time. He was very keenly aware of what was going on around him but had pretty much lost his ability to communicate verbally. He also had no faith in spirit or in love. He felt that he had been hurt too many times.

Uncle Harry's Death and Healing part 1

gratitude for our lives

My 94 year old Uncle Harry died on November 18th, 2012. He had moved into the Martin and Edith Stein Assisted Living Residence  about 8 months ago. When he moved in, my siblings and I were not at all sure that it would be a good fit. He was a loner, very proud  and had lived in the same house for over 85 years. That is correct and it is longer than many people are actually alive. He simply stayed put. He grew up, served in the army, got married and lived for 65 years with his wife Muriel in the house in Brooklyn. There were also deaths in the house and we thought that he might die there as well. However, he did not. He chose to live 8 more months in NJ.

You Will Never Walk Alone

Fall in Lake Derwentwater, England

I have been very remiss is writing for the past month or so.  During that time, I  travelled over to Northern England to visit my daughter who now lives in Leeds. It is Wuthering heights country in Yorkshire and really very beautiful. We were lucky that the weather was quite nice most of the time and we were able to go walking around without umbrellas. This is a photo of  Lake  Derwentwater in the Lake district near the town of Keswick.

I returned to NJ the day before hurricane Sandy visited NJ and was so glad to be back before the storm hit. Ever since then, it feels as if there has
been one drama after another. We got our power back on Sunday, November 4th, my 94 year old uncle entered the hospital on Monday, President Obama was elected as the 44nd President and today we have a Nor'Easter.

I  woke up on Election day hearing the song You Will Never Walk Alone by Mahalia Jackson  in 1961. Enjoy the walk with Miss Jackson.