This year has been a whirlwind.  On my birthday, last week, my dear friend passed away at the same time and day that I was born.  So ironic.  It has been a very crazy past few months, as he was given only 2 weeks to live.  My daughter and I were the second call he made to break the news.  God gave him about two months.  He seemed to be doing well, other that being tired at the end of the day and having shortness of breath at times. He would video chat or call us daily and always wanted to check in on my daughter to see how her day went with her private teacher.  He ordered THREE of my cookbooks and I was heartbroken when I learned that they arrived the day before he passed and that he never got to read the inscription.  He did, however, receive ebook copies of both of my books and made a few of the recipes over the past several weeks.  I just wanted him to hold the copy I mailed to him.

On Wednesday night late, he seemed to be agitated and very confused.  The next afternoon, nothing seemed to have changed so he was taken to the hospice hospital for observation.  He was nothing like he was before, which was alert, and normal.  Sadly , at 10:25 am Sunday, he died.  He was not ready to depart Earth.  He cried like a baby when he learned that the cancer he had that had been responsive to treatment for years and was possibly about to be over had now taken a turn and ravaged his entire body.  He thought maybe it was covid.  He was in the hospital a few days in April and when the tests came back, the cancer was everywhere, even in his face and on his brain.  I was stunned.  He had been under an inordinate amount of stress and also going through a divorce from a contract marriage, more or less.  He had lost a friend who had been like a brother to him for years, as the friend turned out to be a complete ass.  The hurt in his voice was piercing.   As time marched forward, I convinced him to let that go and look at it as it was… the enemy testing him and trying to make him bitter and angry.  What had happened had and it was time to press towards the future and forgive and never forget.  He made peace with the situation and decided to live each day he had left by doing only what brought him joy.  We were humbled and grateful that we were a part of that.  He was so excited to see my daughters development daily.  Over the past two weeks, she has started to read and becoming a phonics whiz.  She is only 3 so that is amazing !  By the end of summer, she will be reading my mail.  LOL.

While covid-19 has been the most terrible thing, in a lot of ways, it has benefited me greatly.  I had saved more money than ever before, paid off all of my bills, and I have had nothing but time on my hands so I have been spending time with my child and my mom and having zoom visits with the rest of the family.   I completed both my cookbooks and am now working on some other lucrative projects.  I just wish 2020 were not bringing so much loss.  The people who are most deserving of death are still up walking around tormenting people and being evil.  That bothers me.  I hate seeing the number of people that have passed.  Hearing their families talk about how wonderful the person was and how productive they were in society is so heartbreaking.

I will be glad when things return to some semblance of normalcy so that we can travel !  After learning covid can be contracted more than once, we are staying in as much as possible.  After being sick for nearly 6 weeks, I never want that mess again.  Plus, there is no guarantee that you will only have mild symptoms.  I am soooo ready to move, but we are stuck here until it is safe to move.  We are no longer considering Florida as a place to buy a home.  We are now looking in other places for a hobby farm or a waterfront home. I am tired of being cramped up but it could be worse !  We are at the beach, and not in midtown Manhattan, which is definitely a no right now.

I pray that everyone is well and that you are able to do productive things during this down time.