The 2018 World Cup made dealing with my mother’s passing tolerable. This one’s pathetic and tainted by political shit. I can’t help but compare and contrast. Here goes.
Finding those small things that we can focus on during an incredibly painful ordeal has saved me more than once. An old friend of mine taught me how to focus on what I was doing that second, and repeat it to myself out loud. (I'm getting out of bed, I'm getting out of bed, I'm getting out of bed.) Then, I'd move onto the next thing and repeat that. (I'm putting on my slippers. I'm putting on my slippers.) He told me to do that all day long. I thought he was nuts at the time, but that was almost 30 years ago, and I've used that technique as recently as last year.
This story broke my heart in two - oh, that last photo. This piece not only memorializes your Ship, but is a tribute to your love and dedication as her son. My mother died while I was 400 miles away and I still feel guilty for not being there, even though her death was sudden. One thing I wanted you to correct, Charlie, is that I think you mean to use the word AGONIZE in this sentence: As much as I had antagonized over it, both when it was a mere hypothetical and during the recent days it had loomed over everything, it wasn’t much of a decision. Thank you for sharing this with us.
This is so good, and I can't cover the entirety of why in a comment but I want to say how much I love the familiarity of this; the rituals of doing things like going outside and sitting next to a frog made me laugh and also brought me right back to the 3 weeks I lived in the ICU with my step-father. I love your humor - I laughed out loud a number of times. And I'm with you on feeling demoralized about this World Cup. It should be very different. I'm so sorry about your mom. Thank you for writing this.
Thanks Charlie for this amazing piece! I still gasp and tear up by the end even after so many reads.
And thank you Beatrice for always being the first to like these highly likable stories!!!
Finding those small things that we can focus on during an incredibly painful ordeal has saved me more than once. An old friend of mine taught me how to focus on what I was doing that second, and repeat it to myself out loud. (I'm getting out of bed, I'm getting out of bed, I'm getting out of bed.) Then, I'd move onto the next thing and repeat that. (I'm putting on my slippers. I'm putting on my slippers.) He told me to do that all day long. I thought he was nuts at the time, but that was almost 30 years ago, and I've used that technique as recently as last year.
Small things matter. A lot.
This story broke my heart in two - oh, that last photo. This piece not only memorializes your Ship, but is a tribute to your love and dedication as her son. My mother died while I was 400 miles away and I still feel guilty for not being there, even though her death was sudden. One thing I wanted you to correct, Charlie, is that I think you mean to use the word AGONIZE in this sentence: As much as I had antagonized over it, both when it was a mere hypothetical and during the recent days it had loomed over everything, it wasn’t much of a decision. Thank you for sharing this with us.
Ugh! Spellcheck got me and I didn’t notice. Thank you!
Just leave it to ol' Eagle Eyed Alter!
No joke! I had read it so many times too. Thank you! And sorry to Charlie as your editor!
This is so good, and I can't cover the entirety of why in a comment but I want to say how much I love the familiarity of this; the rituals of doing things like going outside and sitting next to a frog made me laugh and also brought me right back to the 3 weeks I lived in the ICU with my step-father. I love your humor - I laughed out loud a number of times. And I'm with you on feeling demoralized about this World Cup. It should be very different. I'm so sorry about your mom. Thank you for writing this.