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Whoa! Lookie-here who popped back into the world-o-blogging for a moment! Moi!
I am embarrassed to say that my last blog post was over a year ago. Where did that year go?!? Much has happened which led to the sad detriment (maybe demise is a better word) of this humble blog, as well as any writing whatsoever on my part.
The short story is . . . My folks passed away at the end of last year a mere six weeks apart and I am the trustee of their estate, our daughter in the Army deployed to Afghanistan in September (she comes stateside in 10 days!), my husband was the president of his business association last year and we logged over 16,000 miles of travel up and down California. We invested in a craft brewery. We purchased a home in Boise. We tried to keep our heads screwed on. All of that made for zippo writing time. Oh, not to mention the paralyzing avoidance of writing a query letter for my (finished!) manuscript.
For those of you who followed this blog 2+ years ago, you may remember that my husband and I vacationed in Belize, which I chronicled HERE, HERE, and HERE. It was wonderful those 2+ years ago, so what the hell, so we went again last week.
We stayed on an atoll 25 miles off the coast of Belize and the only thing on the island besides the resort is a dirt airstrip and a marine research institute. That, and crocodiles in the lagoon. Gilligan might have been in a coconut tree, but I never spotted him. No Internet, phones, or television means you can read, drink margaritas poolside, and snorkel/scuba dive your heart out . . . which we did with great abandon.

Cocktail, anyone?
However, the strangest thing happened . . .
During my 4th or 5th excursion snorkeling, I started composing a blog post in my head. Yes, in the middle of my snorkel! Never mind the nurse shark near my knee or the puffer fish portside, I was writing in my head!
While not brilliant, it went something like this:
If Dr. Seuss had gone scuba diving or snorkeling in Belize before writing One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, the title might have been:
One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish, Half Orange and Half Purple Fish, Silver Fish with a Yellow Tail and Racing Stripe, Black Fish with Neon Blue Polka-dots, Fish Dressed a Referee . . .
Dr. Seuss would have said, โOh heck. Letโs just call the darn book One Fish, Two Fish, Red Fish, Blue Fish and be done with it.
Mother Nature had way too many rum punches before she designed the fish and coral of Belize. She must have whipped out her box of 64 Crayola crayons (remember those?) and went crazy. There is every size, shape, and color of fish you can imagine and I am sure Mother Nature woke up with one heck of a hangover the next day. But the result of her drinking binge is magnificent.
Writing a blog post whilst (how British of me) snorkeling is probably inadvisable given that fire coral, stingrays, sharks, lionfish and any number of other poisonous critters are close at hand.
But . . . a lovely thing happened to me while putting my life and several limbs at risk and inadvertently drinking gallons of the pristine waters of Belize . . . I started writing again.
Ahhh . . . thank you Belize.
Welcome back into this madhouse!.
Sorry to hear about your parents. Life does seem to drain the writing energy out of us (I’ve been the same over the last couple of years). I hope you’re able to find the balance and then blog about it so the rest of us can copy ๐
And I, for one, am truly glad to have you back.
Scott
How nice of you to say! It feels rather good to be back.
Glad you’re back in theโah, pink. Or whatever assortment of rainbow colors you choose. That was quite a year you had! It sounds like the trip to Belize was needed. Looking forward to reading your cheery voice again in the blogosphere!
What a nice thing for you to say, Jilanne! It like that you think I sound cheery! And yes, it was quite a year.
Good to hear from you. Sad about your parents, glad your daughter is coming back Stateside. Ah, Belize.
Hiya T. W.!!! How fun to see you here!
I was so delightedly surprised when I saw your name in my blogging e-mail pop-up, and then doubly delighted to read your blog. Because….well, because your VOICE is in there, and we all missed your blogging voice. It’s real, honest, humorous yet full of the realities of our lives. Please, please continue!
I’m so sorry to hear about your parents. I have a friend whose parents died within 8 months of each other. There is some kind of truth/need/lesson in there, but I’m not going to touch it. I remember you writing before about your mom’s dementia. My mom is slowly losing herself to that disease, and it’s a painful, heartrending process to watch. All we can do is love them and hope they feel that love as they slowly fade away.
Can’t wait to read more of your blogs (because you ARE going to continue blogging now, right?) and reading about your daughter and her return.
Good for you, regaining your perspective and writing voice from Belize!! We all benefit. ๐
What a lovely, lovely thing for you to say! It was fun to find my “voice” again. I hadn’t heard it in a long time.
I’m so sorry to hear about your mom’s dementia. It is cruel. Watching and living through the slow process is hard. We watch their soul exit this world while their body remains.
One nice thing (if you can call it that) about my folks passing within weeks of each other is that we held one funeral service for them. It was rather romantic that they went off on one last trip together. They would have wanted it that way.
I do hope to be around in the blogosphere much more! Thanks for stopping by.
Yes, re dementia. My daughter tells my brother (her uncle) and me that we should have a memorial service for her grandmother; even though my mom is still ‘here,’ she’s gone in so many other ways. Thanks for your comment, and please, do stick around!
She has a good point. I did the real mourning of the loss of my mom when she stopped acting like the person who was my mom. The person who died was not my mom, if you know what I mean. She was a shell of her former self. Good luck and strength to you and your family.
” the result of her drinking binge is magnificent.” Ah. lovely to have you writing again – whilst wit would be so missed if you abandoned the place for the fantasy island of Belize.
It’s always a blow when both parents are gone – no matter how perpared you are, it’s still hard to adjust to being an orphan. Dealing with estates, exhausting. And buying a home? Sometimes I think life gets chaotic just to keep you going without giving you time to think about what might drag you down.
Your splashy trip sounds so refreshing. Can’t wait to see watch ends up in your net next. Great to see you again
Hi Phil! I bet you were shocked when my name popped up in your email or reader.
Yes, dealing with the estate has been a lot of work and about 4.56 million phone calls and equally that amount of time on hold listening to the WORST hold music. I am just about finished with it now tho and will be closing the trust soon. That will clear my plate for some more writing! At least I hope!
Oh, I forgot about all that hold music. UGH
Glad to hear daughter is coming home. Happy times ahead!
One of the companies I had to call a million times has screechy violin music. It gave me a huge headache!
Yes, we can’t wait for her to come home. She gets a two week leave and she plans on spending all of it around the pool.
so glad you are back!
I feels pretty darn good!
Now, is this the beginning of a new regular posting schedule, or are you going to disappear for another year and break my heart again?
I like to think I am getting back to regular posting. I was stumped for blog topics for a long time but lately I have been running across things and have thought, “Wow, that would make for a good blog post!”
How the heck are you (minus the broken heart thing)?
I am very well, my FPBFF! Some news I can’t yet mention online, but do feel free to send me an email.
Nice to see you again Robin. I hope life settles down now after such a big year. Your holiday sounded divine.
Last year and the beginning of this year about did me in. I see calm waters ahead and hopefully productive writing time!
I hope so!
Hija, Robin. Good to see you.Sorry to hear about your loss.<3 โค โค
I would love to visit Belize, but I am sure I'd be overwhelmed by all that (magnificent) color.
Hi Tess! Hope you are well. Gosh, I’ve missed the old gang. My old, I mean dear blogging friends! Belize is a lovely place. You can’t make ocean any more shades of blue! I’m waterlogged, but would go back in a heartbeat!
TripleYay…
Belize looks and sounds beautiful — and a much needed rest and relaxing break for you.
Glad to see you back, my dear friend
And it is good to be back. I’ve been away so long . . . I worried it would be like fitting a square Robin into a round hole. Bad analogy. It is nice to see familiar faces around this dusty blog. Fun to reconnect!
Wait, who are you again? I’m just kiddin’. How exciting to “see” you again, though I’m disheartened to hear about your loss. I can understand why all of those changes, both tragic, sad and some happy, plus hectic busyness kept you from writing. I’m so glad you got away to Belize for a time. You deserve that respite.
A lot has happened for me as well. My husband had a serious accident and healed, but as a result, needed to change jobs. We lost one parent, my father-in-law. We moved 1,200 miles back to our hometown for my husband’s new job and it brought us near my family again. My mom is ill and needs my help.
That’s all of it in a nutshell. A link to the start of all this is here if there is any time in your life.
https://loreezlane.wordpress.com/2015/01/27/a-tale-about-feet/
Do you think you’ll be blogging more often? Take care of yourself and enjoy your daughter’s return.
Oh. My. God. That was the most harrowing story ever. I cringed with your every word. How in the world did he fall off the mezzanine? I feel so bad for both of you. I trust he is doing better now? What a painful ordeal.
How great that you found a job near your family. I learned just how important family is when helping aging parents. My sisters are saints for the loving care they gave my folks their last two years (my parents moved to Portland where my sisters live).
I hope to get back in the blogging grove. It was fun to do it again, but a little scary. Would I be accepted back into the fold? Would I be laughed out of town? Would my writing make sense?
How wonderful to hear from you Lori, even with such a terrible story!
Wow, thank you so much for reading all of that. I didn’t expect it, so it was nice of you to check it out. I wrote the story for my blog 9 months after it happened, so I had some distance from it. I couldn’t write in the midst of it all.
My husband’s fall was the fault of his employer. They put a covering over a duct that made it look like part of the mezzanine floor. Well, a duct can’t hold up a 165 pound man.Since their workman’s comp insurance took care of his injury, we had no grounds to sue. Can you believe he told me he’d sprained his ankle?
I hope you are doing okay since your losses. It hasn’t been that long. I’m glad your sisters were there to help out your parents. My brother was near my mom, but did very little. He has three (grade school) kids and his life is a whirlwind.
Of course you’ll be welcomed back. I’ve had several of my blogging buddies return in the last few weeks. I’m so happy to see you all again. It’s like reigniting an old friendship. Hope you plan to stick around. Your posts always gave me a chuckle.
How could I not read your series of posts about your husband’s accident? It was riveting in I guess a bad way. I couldn’t wait to hear the outcome. He must have been in shock when he said he sprained his ankle.
You know . . . my mom’s dementia took her away from me/us years ago, so when she finally passed, I had already mourned her. The person who died was not my mom. She was a shell that used to hold my mom’s soul. With Dad, it was harder. He was completely with it up to the very end. but since we all (including him) saw it coming, we were braced for it. It was lovely that we could have a joint funeral for them. Rather romantic, in a way.
Summer is a crummy time to reenter the blogging world. We will see how it goes. I’ve have an number of times lately where I thought, “that would make a great blog post!”
I know what you mean about mourning your mom already. My friend went through that same thing. It is kind of romantic that your parents went together. I posted a little something about grief today. It’s certainly not about losing a parent, but it has a good meaning about eternity.
https://loreezlane.wordpress.com/2016/06/09/faith-in-things-unseen/
Great to have you back Robin! I am also sorry to hear about your parents – I am sure it must have been a difficult time for you.
You sound as if you have been very busy this past year… Looking forward to reading more ๐
Last year was trying to say the least. The first six months of this year was spent getting my feet back under me.
So great to hear from you!
Yay! ๐
Yay back!
Welcome back! When you put last year in a nutshell like that, you make ME feel exhausted!
And I listed just the big stuff! It felt great to put fingers to keyboard again.