music, therapy, and me

I am spending this week with my mother and her best friend. They have known each other since they were 3, and since they are in their early 80's now, they have decades upon decades of friendship to go through. Aunt Mary has not lived near my mother since they were 18, but it takes no time at all for them to fall back into old routines, Girl Scout songs, "remember this?" discussions, and inside jokes. We came on this trip so Mom and Aunt Mary could see each other again. Mom is in the season of life where her friends are disappearing into their mortality or into memory care facilities. She is losing them and does not know how to get back into touch with many of her friends from high school and college. Aunt Mary is not one of those friends, but her husband passed away this year. It was important for us to see her rather than just relying on emails.  So, Mom and I arrived early on Monday morning and have been spending the days with Aunt Mary. I leave after dinner and head to...

Good morning, all, from a quiet-ish hotel room where I spent the night away from my mother and her best friend. We flew to the East coast on Sunday, drove to her friend's house yesterday, and will be going to the lake house to visit one of her stepkids today. Tomorrow will be some shopping and then we will go to a church service at her community facility. After we finish the trip, we will head out to visit my aunt and uncle before heading back to the West coast. I will stay for another week and then start the journey back to my home to figure out what I am going to do about money. In the midst of all of these plans, I have been offered a job interview for a position out west, so there are lots of things happening out here... Right now, I need to take a shower, go down and eat breakfast, and then prepare myself for yet another trip performance. It is interesting how much energy it takes to travel, but I do enjoy it. Seeing "Aunt Mary" has been good for Mom and for me. She ...

On the Road Again - as performed by Willie Nelson - is on my mind this morning. Mom and I are jetting off to the East coast for a visit with my Mom's best friend and to see my Aunt and Uncle. I have checked us in for our flights, arranged for the car pick-up, and found our hotels. Now all we have left to do is go. The cat has been coming to sleep on my plastic folder that is full of notebook paper and thoughts. He doesn't usually come to share this space because it used to be my brother's room, and my brother did not like his cat coming into the room. I love having the cat come visit, so we are healing some kitty trauma by encouraging him to sleep here. We are going to be on the road for a bit, and the song just keeps going in my mind. So, what do you think I am going to do? Well, I am going to make this into a therapeutic music experience, of course! On the Road Again was written and performed by Willie Nelson. The song was released in 1980 (I thought it was earlier than t...

That's right, folks. Today's post is coming to you from a brand new laptop since my Chromebook got a disturbing bulge under the case and started to get very hot. It also reset all of my saved passwords and refused to connect to the internet. I do not have the time or patience to fix it right now, so I used some of my business money to purchase a new way to compute. To be honest, I prefer laptops to Chromebooks, so this was a good step up. I now have a reliable device to use for my various projects while I am here. This will be a business device for later, so I can write off a bit of the cost when it comes to tax time. That will be helpful. The thinking and brainstorming continues, and I have stated my intentions to move back here and start a business in Rancho Cucamonga to my mother. The next step is to get my sister going because she is a doer not just a dreamer. She will probably have me signed up with several realtors before I finish the sentence (she reads the blog occasion...

It is early on this Friday morning, and I am watching Cafe Minandang on my tablet while blogging. I have already rambled on this site for quite a while, but I also deleted all of that and am starting anew. Today should be pretty quiet, at least until my sister arrives to shake things up. We spent all day yesterday moving across town to try to get something done for my mother. The state screwed up something and is not wanting to admit that they were wrong. That meant trips back and forth from the bank to the DMV and back again several times... It was a busy day, and I fell asleep around 7:30 local time. I am now up and researching small business grants and loan guarantees to see if there are any financial incentives available for me in this state. I am working on a simple business plan to help guide me to what I want to do here. My sister is asking all sorts of institutions if they offer home loans for me. She cracks me up when she goes into information gathering mode. I am hoping that ...

It is horribly hot in the room where I am staying right now, but that's pretty much the way things go at the moment. There is no place that is cool in this region, so I am just sitting in front of a fan while doing my morning routine. I bet my mother will not emerge for another four hours, so this is my alone time. It is quiet at the moment. I enjoy my quiet time in this house. I spend most of my time trying to figure out how to entertain myself when I am visiting this place. I am going to be moving around to different places in the next week, so this is good practice for being a pleasant house guest. Meanwhile, I am sitting here in the midst of my mother's paper crafting supplies and tools. I come by my hoarding tendencies due to nature and nurture. My grandmother (Mom's Mom) was also a collector of art materials and teaching stuff, so both my Mom and I have been shaped into the packrats we are. I am going to play with paper while I am here - Mom will never miss the stuff ...

I am currently about 900 miles away from home, sitting in a hotel room, and waiting for enough time to pass so I can get the complementary breakfast that is offered. Why? You may ask? Well, my mother wants to see her best friend, my sister wants me to visit, and I have little to no time constraints at the moment. So, I am hurtling towards my family at speeds of up to 85 mph in order to get there, get on a plane, fly back across the country, and visit someone that has been my mother's best friend since kindergarten. That's why, This is definitely a nostalgia break, for sure. My mother's friend is impressed at how I put together our itinerary. (For gracious' sake, Aunt M, I am 56 and have done this a time or two before!) We are going to fly across the country (over my house) and visit. After that, I have about a week before my friend arrives at where I will be staying. I am trying to set up some music therapy meetings to ask questions and see what my future might hold for...