This and That

Sometimes I think I should wind down, relax more, chill. But the truth is, I'm not happy if I don't have ideas piled up on my desk, waiting for me to pay attention to them. Last year, I redid the ALS Worldwide website. Not because I actually wanted to, but because it was ten years old and the original designer told me it could crash which forced me to review everything in order to create a sleek, easy to navigate website. Now that it's finished, I love its ease and beauty.

Then I consolidated all of the information that was crowded onto dozens of website pages into a book, Pathways Through the ALS Storm. It contains everything Steve and I learned about ALS in a wire bound book that's easy for patients to maneuver. I've shipped quite of few copies, but not enough to satisfy me. If our donation drive this year is fruitful, I'll be shipping copies to many neurologists so they can keep copies in their waiting rooms.

Now, I'm writing a novel - an historical fiction novel very loosely based on the Jewish immigration from Ukraine to the United States in order to escape the pogroms, something my own grandmother knew a great deal about. It gives me something to think about while I'm exercising in the pool, having my morning coffee, watching the sailboats on Lake Michigan.  

Steve and I were supposed to take a river cruise on the Danube in 2020, but then covid hit and the trip was cancelled. When we finally could take the trip, his knees were so bad and his memory failing that we agreed it would be too hard for him. Months ago, I was lamenting to Sarah, our daughter, that I never went on that river cruise and had no one to travel with. She piped up, "I'll go!" We leave on Thursday evening for the Danube. 

Sometimes, when I'm in the aqua aerobics class, I look around and wonder how I came to be the age I am. Can I really be this old? Later, when I'm showering and getting dressed, I look in the mirror and see a face I hardly recognize and realize, yes, this is where I belong. But inside, I'm still a young, vibrant woman with great plans and ideas simmering just below the surface.