More random thoughts at the end of the year...

It's that time of year when we examine the year-gone-by. It would be easy to talk about the obvious changes and accomplishments of the year, but I need to talk about grief; that comes with both loss of loved ones and with change.

We lost a lot of family this year. My sister, who was strong and active and the ultimate caregiver, had given so much of herself that there was nothing left of her. Over the last few years, she had slowly starved herself to the point of physical breakdown, and not enough of us had realized how lost she was. Her birthday is coming up on Christmas day, and I really don't know how to celebrate her life at this moment. Our relationship was complicated, what with 15 years between us. We had become very close during the years our mom needed assistance, but when Phyl herself was in trouble, she pushed me away. She died February 16th, in hospice, at home.

More random thinking...

Change is hard. I'm missing some familiar faces and places. I found a manicurist; so far, so good - and yet, she's not Kim, who took care of me for 25 years. I watched her children grow up and have their own children. I made life-long friends of her other clients. Every other Saturday morning for over 20 years. It's a long time.

I miss the Mistress of Pain, Pilates instructor Debbie, who pushed me to physical strengths that I never imagined.

I miss my Wineaux - Shawn, Xochitl, Rico, Debra, Michelle, Barbara, Marya. It's strange to not just run out to meet Shawn for dinner.

I miss my Friday morning meetings at WW; hope Sandy and Sally find a good person to take my seat. Group therapy once a week in a safe, non-judgmental place is a good thing. Great leaders, too - Christy, Casey, Donna, et al.

Grateful for social media and email. And telephones.

Random thoughts and some wining from the Central Coast...

First try at the living room

It's still kind of odd to be here in Los Osos. Not odd in a bad way. Just odd. After 26 years of living in our "starter" house in Burbank, we uprooted ourselves just in time to miss a hellacious heat wave, for which we are hugely grateful. We're still dealing with the death of John's dad the day after our arrival, but with the love and support of our cousins here in town, and the knowledge that Jim made his own decisions right up to the end, we're moving forward. We're still unpacking, and that will continue for a while, as we still need to have our POD delivered. We miss our books and art! And the other 80% of our belongings.

Wining during the first days in Los Osos...

It's been a heckuva month! The Goddess of Wine and JD have successfully moved to the Central Coast! For those of you who have been following the hashtag #movingtotheCentralCoastsoon, it's been quite a ride.

We packed and packed and packed, with help from dear friends Xochitl and Mari, who packed up my kitchen and linen cabinet, respectively, as well as taking "treasures" to a local veterans' charity. And Mari, thanks again for the lovely bubbly and pizza break in the middle of the day. It helped. Big time. In fact, I think I'll never pack sober again.

The cake

Because we wanted to make sure to see all the folks who decided they needed to see us off, we threw a going-away party 2 days before the move, with the caveat that "If you want to eat, bring something to share, if you want to drink, bring something to share". We have the BEST friends! Everyone brought great stuff to share. Lots of lovely wines and snacks. Around 50 folks showed up and partied. Thanks again to Joe and Delia for the table and chairs, and to Shawn and Debra for staying late and helping to clean up. What a great send off!

Wining during the last days in Burbank...

The old house in Burbank

Yikes. The Goddess of Wine just realized it's August 1st, and we haven't written anything other than Facebook posts and Tweets since June. It's been an interesting, odd, and tremendously stressful couple of months, with at least another month to go. So here's what's happening with the Goddess and JD:

We're moving! It's really happening. This whole year has been leading up to the move. As previously reported, we started #decluttering in February, even hiring an expert to help us remove the accumulated detritus from our lives. So much stuff gone - so much still to go. But we are traveling MUCH lighter than we have been.

Dispatches from the road - Days 5, 6 and 7...

Wow, I'm way behind on my notes...

After a wonderful visit in SF with Wil and Joe, we packed our bags and hit the road south.  It was a beautiful morning, alternately rainy and bright; travel was moving well, and we were in Gilroy before we realized it.  Needed to stop and get some food, so we exited the freeway and found the Black Bear Diner, a fun, kitschy place with pretty good burgers (with flags!), and lots of strong coffee.

There was unintentional entertainment - a woman straight from a Del Shores play was in the next booth, reading a lengthy email about a spiritual intervention for some needy soul.  That set the tone - Texas accent and all - for the day.

Back on the road, refreshed and ready for wine, we were on our way to Cambria.