RANDOM UNFOCUSED

An observation of life through the eyes of a senior citizen who may or may not be in the early stages of Alzheimer’s, but definitely has issues with memory, focus and crossing the thin line between reality and fiction. Said senior is also learning to speak her mind, no longer trying to please everyone, realizing her opinion counts too.

PART ONE

NICE TO MEET YOU

I’m not old, at least I don’t feel old. But I am technically, by my age, a senior citizen. And I do have issues with memory and focus. There is a history of Alzheimers and senior dementia in the family so it is entirely possible that I...Squirrel.

Welcome to my brain where no thought holds residence for long, where the off switch often goes missing, where I might drive you as crazy as I am. And sometimes one thought gets stuck and repeats over and over and over and...well maybe you get the point.

I want to share this journey with you, if you can handle the rapid change of topic. Perhaps I should tell you a little about myself. And later, when I remember what I was talking about, I’ll tell you a little more.

Single mom to three grown children, grandma to seven more grown and almost grown. And there’s either one or three great grandkids depending on if we are counting foster children who may or may not be related by blood.

Eleven years ago I retired from my job with the government and moved to what I thought would be my forever home on an island in the Puget Sound. My little one acre homestead soon had chickens, ducks, geese, turkeys, goats and horses as well as dogs. Some years I have a nice vegetable garden and other years I’m just feeding the deer and wild rabbits.

Like I said, this was to be my forever home. But it’s hard being a conservative in a community that leans so far to the left it tilts and just might flip right on over. It’s hard and getting harder, so last summer I made the decision to leave my island. The search for a new home was narrowed to Texas, West Virginia and Montana. For several reasons, mostly economics and climate, the search was narrowed again last week to Montana.

I spent 5 days on the road, or more accurately in the truck, with my daughter and granddaughter. We travelled close to 2000 miles from Washington state to Thompson Falls to St. Regis to St. Ignatius to Hamilton and back to Thompson Falls. The next day we drove through almost every little town from Hamilton to Polson. Our third day we visited Kalispell and liked it so much we headed back up there on the fourth day. Pretty sure we will be moving to that area.

*****

TEARS

My heart is broken.

Three weeks ago my granddaughter and her classmates gathered, laughed, shared memories, told stories and then walked across the stage to become high school graduates. Bright young adults with their whole futures ahead of them.

Tonight her class is gathering once again. There will be memories, tears, speeches, more tears. They will be saying goodbye to a classmate who passed away on Monday. An accident on the lake, a poor decision and he was gone. His bright future, gone.

I can’t imagine the pain his family is feeling. I only know the anguish I feel every time I think of him. And the guilt I feel each time I thank God my own babies are safe.

*****

GOSSIP

They say small towns are where everyone knows everyone else’s business. Actually, they are where everyone knows the gossip about everyone else, whether it is true or not.

My daughter recently made the decision to leave her employment because she did not agree with her boss’ ethics. Is it so wrong to say, ‘I don’t approve of your holding and using drugs in the workplace, inviting customers to share your drugs, to offer services which you are not licensed to offer, to allow your boyfriend to drink on the job and then become verbally abusive to your employees?’

Apparently it is. Why else would that boss and her boyfriend (who by the way threatened to destroy my daughter’s professional reputation) now be spreading lies about my daughter? Anyone know a good lawyer in the Seattle area? Somebody is about to find out, you don’t poke the bear.

Anyhow, back to Montana. While in that lovely state, we spent some time with my nephew. Upon hearing he was completing training to become a hunting guide, my granddaughter found a new hero. She is insisting he must teach her to hunt and safely handle guns. When I asked her how she intended to pay for this instruction, she said, “I don’t have any money, but I can offer him my love and affection.

“Or he can pet my dog.”

Such naivete. Or not. Upon introducing him to her new dog, she informed him that since he had petted her dog, he owed her some lessons.

*****

NON-INDEPENDENCE DAY

Fourth of July, Independence day. What a celebration when I was a kid, parades, family and friends gathering for BBQs, baseball and fireworks. Today, I did the dishes and watched TV. No parades, our little community is more focused on the upcoming fruit festival held here annually and the black lives matter movement they demand we all support. Thanks to Covid, no BBQs, baseball games or other public gatherings. Yes, they lifted the mask mandate and social distancing last week but the fear mongers here are still pushing them. And fireworks, well there are just so many vets with PTSD that we “can’t have all that noise triggering them.” Of course the actual vets with PTSD say they can cope, they want the fireworks and celebrations because it honors the sacrifices they made in fighting for our freedoms. But the far left here will have none of it, they pushed through a law banning them. It’s hard to celebrate your freedom when you see it being eroded daily.

Besides, we now have Juneteenth if we want to celebrate our independence.

*****

OMG, OMG, OMG.

I can’t believe this. Just learned that a classmate of another one of my granddaughters has died. Details are sketchy, but it seems it may have been suicide. Two bright young lives, two promising futures gone in under a week.

I want to throw up.

*****

WHO’S NEXT?

Four words, four simple words, “Can I help you?” or even “Are you being served?” can be the difference between a sale and a disgruntled customer. For instance, I was at the store with my daughter, we were both standing in line to purchase different items. The sales clerk began helping her while the second clerk was with a different customer.

While we waited, a fourth customer walked up. He didn’t get in line, just stood to the side and as the clerk was finishing up he stepped up to the counter and she waited on him. To be fair, he was picking up his order so maybe the custom there is to let them go to the head of the line. I was upset but didn’t say anything. When their transaction was done, the clerk headed to the other end of the counter and helped a customer who had just walked up.

I was livid, but before I could say anything, my daughter said, “They probably think we are together and that my order is for both of us.”

True, one could make that assumption, but one would be wrong. Especially as I had moved away from my daughter and stepped up to the counter to indicate I was waiting my turn.

So for the lack of a simple courtesy, for being too busy to ask if I had been helped, the store lost a sale.

I try to support my local stores but if I can’t get waited on, well there is always online shopping with free delivery.

*****

NO MORE TEARS

Again, it has happened again. Another member of the class of 2021 has died. A young man, loved by all who knew him, described as having a smile that lit up the room and a personality to go along with it. A man who was the hero his little brother looked up to. A stupid car vs motorcycle accident and another family is devastated.

I want to cry, but can’t, just feel numb but at the same time sick to my stomach.

In less than a month our community has lost 3 promising young men to poor decisions and stupid mistakes. All between the ages of 17 and 23, young men whose brains were not even fully developed.

But hey, let’s give the vote to 16 year olds.

*****

OCT 18, 2021

They said it would never happen.

In pre-War Europe, many Jews were forced to wear yellow stars to show their status and religion. The Allies won the war and put an end to that barbaric practice. They said we would never again allow such violations of basic human rights.

In New York, the governor, a man who murdered thousands of senior citizens during the first round of the lockdowns and who it has now been determined committed crimes of a sexual nature against his employees and others, is demanding citizens carry a vaccine passport or be denied the right to participate in many of life’s activities.

Yesterday, the governor of Washington ordered that effective Oct 18 all healthcare workers are required to be vaccinated against COVID using vaccines that have not been approved by the FDA and which have caused many deaths and serious side effects.

We will continue to work on our move to a state that still recognizes the Constitution and our God given rights. We had thought we might postpone it for a year, but this latest mandate forces my daughter out of business. She has spent 10 years building her business, ten years of hard work and financial investment. Because of HIPAA regulations she cannot disclose her client list, thus she cannot sell her business to recoup any of her investment. It is simply being wiped away with a communist’s signature.

So we will simply redouble our efforts to escape.

*****

ANOTHER KICK IN THE WALLET

“Due to vessel crewing challenges…”

I live on an island, the only way to get on or off is by air or sea, as in boat, swim, kayak, paddleboard, airplane or helicopter. There is no bridge to drive across, so most of us are resigned to relying on the state run ferry system.

For that last year there have been late and cancelled sailings, boats breaking down and COVID (although I am not sure what a virus has to do with sailing a ship, it is a convenient means of shifting blame from the responsible parties, so it gets used a lot.)

Most recently, we have experienced a number of scheduled trips being cancelled due to the above mentioned crewing challenges. People are left sitting on the dock with no boat coming for hours or even the rest of the day. People are missing work, those few who still have jobs to go to. Others are sleeping in their cars at night hoping there will be a boat to take them home the next day.

When a boat does show up, it is usually late and often leaves again without loading all the waiting cars. There is no rhyme or reason that we can see. But it is the government running the show and I guess we can all see what a mistake it is to let them be in charge.

Seems to me, if you have so many employees who just don’t come to work that you can’t even run your business, maybe it is time to get some new employees.

Now to add insult to injury, we just received notice they are raising the rates for those lucky few who can even get onto the boats anymore.

But that’s not all folks! The state’s insurance commissioner decided insurance companies can no longer use a person’s credit rating to determine their rates. Huge backfire. Our insurance company has decided to raise all rates for all customers as retaliation for this ruling.

“As a result of the Insurance Commissioner’s Emergency Rule,

your renewal premium will increase.”

And to make sure we know who to blame, (not the insurance company of course) they included a hyperlink to state representatives and encouraged us to contact them to complain.

When did life get so complicated? Maybe when we abdicated personal responsibility to the feds.

*****

Watch for further ramblings of an unfocused mind; coming soon to this space.