As always: many of us get too many emails already, even before this pandemic.
So, if you would like these to stop, please feel free to say so. (You won’t be the first to do so.)
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First, apologies to my readers. The edition #17 that I sent out on August 17 was my mistake. My trigger index finger on the mouse hit “Send” instead of “Save”.
And thanks to those who pointed out some arithmetic issues, which I hope are corrected below.
My last email of this series was in the middle of June. After that, I seemed to run out of energy and inspiration, and so just stopped.
Now I am back. Can’t guarantee for how long. But here goes.
In late June, Nadine and I decided to move. When we first discussed the possibility, I was very negative: “Do you know how HARD that will be?”
“Yes” she said, “it will be hard, but we’ll get thru it and it will be over”.
It was MUCH harder than either of us thought it would be. The last time we moved, in 2012, I was 76. Now I am 84, and found out I am not the same man as eight years ago.
Later, I was informed, by my LCSW wife and others, that “moving" ranks right up there with other major causes of trauma, including death of family member, divorce, physical pain, natural disasters (think pandemic), and parental abandonment. I can’t say our move ranked up with any of these, but it was difficult. But it’s over and we are back to our “normal” COVID life.
So, you might be asking, why did you guys do it?
Because of the slowdown in the economy, apartment rental rates in this part of LA have declined significantly. But to get a lower rate, we had to opt out of our old lease, and move to another apartment in Park La Brea.
We are now enjoying a lower rent, and a much quieter environment, especially at night after dinner time, when it’s TV or bedtime for us. Also, a different view; our old place was on the 3rd floor, at tree-top level. Our new location is on the 12th floor, looking southwest.
But the move essentially wiped out about six weeks of any other activity in our lives.
With no garage, by the day we moved, you could hardly find a space to sit down or walk around in our apartment, it was so full of packed boxes with most of our belongings.
Another feature of moving is that it forces you to go thru all your “stuff” and decide what to take with you, and what to get rid of. This is both physically and psychologically taxing. And many trips to the Goodwill donation center, after we found one in Hollywood that was open. At least someone may benefit from our no-longer-wanted items.
One of the things on my chest of drawers is a round box where I put my loose change at the end of each day. I had put all of the contents into a bag to take to the coin counter machine at CVS. I estimate from prior experience that it was worth perhaps $30. I put this bag into the trunk of my car, waiting for the day I would go to CVS for something else also. But, I think it ended up going with one of the donation piles to Goodwill, so hopefully someone in need got a nice bonus when they opened the bag. Change is definitely in short supply; went to GroundWorks this AM for coffees, and the 75 cents of change was all in dimes and nickels.
Stay safe, wear your mask, keep your distance….and your sanity (which may be harder to hold onto).
Coleman
Typically, Nadine will buy a bunch of flowers each week for our dining room table. We noticed that last week’s bouquet lasted quite well, and is sucking up water like crazy. The word “bouquet" triggered this old song in my old mind (Eddy Arnold, 1948). Hope you like it:
Isn’t it funny how these old melodies and words are still back in there somewhere, just waiting for the right trigger to pop up.
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