Vik-Thor's Journal

Without You

My first thought is the song "With or Without you" by U2
but going with what seems to be a theme of my (all TWO entries) so far, I gotta pull family or genealogy in somwhow...


Unfortunately, I'm an only child, and was never all that close with my parents. My main "Without You" is my Mom. She died in April 2021, actually just a short time after she had been moved up to St. Louis Metro, to be closer to me. She had Parkinson's Disease, and had moved into an assisted living facility down in Marion, IL, after having lived on her own after her divorce from Dad when I was still in High School. Her Parkinson's had advanced enough that they called me, saying that she needed to be in the next level up (which they did not have) a full nursing home. At this point, I talked to her, and she agreed, and we decided that moving her up here, closer to me, was a good idea. So, I made the arrangements.

About a week before she was scheduled to move up here, she fell and broke her hip. So her move was in an ambulance from the Marion Hospital (when she was discharged) to the nursing home I had chosen for her. It was actually within walking distance from where Seph and I were living at the time, which was a plus. But it was during COVID lockdowns, which was a minus. My main interaction with her for a bit when she was in new place, was through the window of her room... 
She never really recovered from the stress of the broken hip and the move.

She had preplanned and prepaid for what she wanted done when she died. She wanted to be cremated, and her ashes scattered in specific locations. Half have been scattered (mostly) where she wanted. She had specified one cemetery where much of her family is. I I scattered some at another cemetery where many of the Lowery / Moore ancestors are. (and even some at the location of her childhood home.) 

The other half of her ashes, she wanted scattered in Myrtle Beach SC. That I have not accomplished yet. Part of it is, I can't do the final good-bye, and be fully without her...
 

I can at least understand most of the rules of baseball. They are fairly straightforward and make sense in context. It is the game that I enjoyed the most when forced to play it in high school PE classes, even though I usually got stuck in the outfield. (Or did I choose to play the outfield because the ball rarely go hit out there?) At my job, we usually get a set of season tickets to the local sports teams, in trade for advertising, and I usually try to go see the Cards at least once a season.

American Football on the other hand… I get the basic rules, but some of the details will forever elude me. Of course, I don't really care to learn the detailed rules, because I find it a fairly boring game. Again, probably influenced by being forced to play it in PE classes, and always getting picked last.

One game that has stuck with me is bowling. Our school had hollow rubber bowling balls, which would lead to some hilarity when someone would always loft it and bounce it down the gym floor. After high school, I would bowl occasionally in college, but the first time I joined a league was when I lived in Kansas City in the 90s. Sure Happy It's Thursday league, which is still going strong. Somehow, I never got around to joining a league while living in Phoenix. Or maybe not so surprising, as I never really felt like I was at home in Phoenix. I've been in a league here in Saint Louis for the past 4 years, and even gotten my husband to join for the past two.