Finality

of it all. I am here in Las Vegas having attended a funeral of a co-worker that I worked with many years ago during my early years. He passed away from a heart attack and left a wife and adult children. Many nice things were said about him and every one of them true. The collage made by his family showed his life and loves. His true age did not show being only 71 years young. As I watched him being lowered into the cement ground vault brought me back to my own father's burial almost nine years ago in the same place of interment, the Veteran's Cemetery located in Boulder City. It was eerie and sad. My own sadness and loss of a parent is hard. It is still nine years later and I foster that void in a part of my heart, a missing link. The final closing of the cement lid and the empty sound that it makes in the breeze of the wind. The harshness of this dessert region combined with the living and the dead is a reality check of how fragile my life is. How life is given and how life is taken, in the blink of an eye, the sighing of a last breath and the light that leads you from now to forever. Surely, If I were to be taken now, I would have so much unfinished business that I don't want to leave my family members without resolving much of it. I would so miss life, the breaths, the joy and my friends and family. What will they think when I can't say goodbye? If I love them with all of my heart and show them, then there is no need to say goodbye

My birthday month

Here it is, the month of March. Sometimes I feel like such an old lady slowly creeping into my fabulous 50's. I'm almost 4 years away from that number. I've been super busy with my personal life as I have vacation for the next two weeks. I was in Hawaii for my birthday with my good friend Darrell from work. We had a wonderful time doing tourist things, sightseeing, partying and eating. Events that we were not looking for were presented to us on a silver spoon without fail and we went with the flow of things. It's great that we are both like that and make for awesome travel partners. Besides my Lynn, Darrell is the next best thing to a travel companion. We rented a cute little convertible Sebring for two days and toured the rugged country side of Waianae and Makaha. It's desolate beaches and pristine sand made the long journey worth wild. We explored a roadside cave, picnicked alongside the beautiful blue ocean and enjoyed the warmth of the sun with the car top down and my long "ruffly" hair flowing in the wind. We managed to sneak in a parade, saw a Tahitian competition, watched the "girly boys" show off at Queen's beach in Waikiki and had the Royal Hawaiian Pineapple drink at the beautiful "pink palace". Leaving Hawaii is always hard for me because of my roots here. But then again, leaving Hawaii is hard for everyone.

First

full day off from work and I'm revelling in the peace and quiet. I'm sitting here at the laundromat drying my clothes and piggybacking off of a restaurant wireless Internet which I can always count on. I'm slowing down on my postings due to my work schedule and I'm just too tired to stay up and write. By the time I come home, I'm totally exhausted and fall right away to sleep. Lynn is at her chorus rehearsal and will be calling me soon. We have a party to attend, a 50th, birthday of a lesbian couple that we met last year during the summer at a women's music festival this Saturday. Her partner is throwing this shindig at a Moroccan restaurant complete with belly dancers, champagne and appetizers. It should be a lot of fun. Lynn and I will also be overnighting somewhere close because after drinking a few glasses of wine, we don't want to drive too far and plus we get to spend some much needed time together before I fly off to Hawaii for my birthday. Yes, I will be going without her and will be attending this trip with my good friend Darrell. Time, money and her daughter keeps her from going. Lynn and I will be going to Las Vegas at the end of this month to celebrate a birthday bash at my hotel that always gives me comp rooms. They are throwing a party for all of the March babies. That should be wildly fun too. My last day at work officially will be March 12th and I'll be off from work for the next three weeks. I will most definitely be picking up overtime, if they'll let me. Because of the Easter holiday coming up, we will be swamped and with the amount of sick calls, I would be a good candidate to pick some of that up. My laundry is done and I'm going to the grocery store to pick up some items for home. This is the best time to run errands, when no one is in the store.