Clocking Back In
This is sort of a new beginning, I guess. A lot has gone on since I left Open Diary a decade or so ago, not just with me, but with the world as a whole. Due to a rejuvenation of sorts and a renewed desire to return to writing, I have returned and paid all necessary costs in the process, both monetarily and with continued life experience. I am hoping that with these experiences, I will have more than enough material to author more meaningful and thought-provoking entries as time progresses. I figure that I’m paying for it now with real money, so now would be the time to strike and to continue to strike as the days, weeks, and months go by.
In the grand scheme of things, a decade is 10 years long, but a lot of can happen in that kind of time frame. So, what has happened with or to the Visionary since my last entry, dated 05/18/13*? Well, let me see.
*I wrote two entries on 03/12/22 and pretty much wasted my trial return to Open Diary, because I stopped writing not long after I thought I had returned. Now that it costs money, I’ll be writing a lot more frequently.
–My mother died in October 2018 at the age of 67. Tragic, for sure. Sudden, yes. But in the end, it is still a loss just the same, even if we saw it coming just days before it happened. She took a turn for the worst on a Monday. She died early the following Thursday morning. I, as I’m sure the rest of the family had also believed, figured that she had been hospitalized before with some kind of condition and that once again, it was only a matter of time before she would be released from the medical facility and back home where she belonged. I think it was the same mentality that 2Pac fans had in September 1996 when he was shot, for what would be for the final time. We all thought that he would pull out of it yet again and that it would just be a few weeks before he’s back in the studio doing his thing behind the mic. He obviously didn’t make it. In reverting to my mother, little did we know that in August 2018, my mother would be removed from her and my father’s home via ambulance and medical team, never to return, at least not in the physical form that we had always known. My siblings and I decided to have her cremated and that’s how it went. My father did not attempt to challenge our decision and he was also in agreement. Today, my mother sits on the mantle in dust form inside of a cube-shaped urn, adorned in pink and magenta, as well as a brilliant rose along one of its front corners. In October 2023, it will be five years since I have had to walk this earth without my mother. There haven’t been many challenges in that time, I suppose, but that’s still one of those loses that always resonates.
–COVID-19 was introduced into the world in 2020, although I believe that it was actually here the year before in 2019. I don’t care when or from where it had originated, because regardless of when or where it had come, it left a lot of damage in its wake. As far as I know, I never had it and for that, I am fortunate. It didn’t kill me, that’s for sure, and it didn’t kill anyone close to me. I know that not everyone can say that and for that, I am truly sorry because COVID-19 took a lot of lives and did a lot of damage. My thought is that if my mother had been alive, COVID-19 might have and likely, would have, killed her. She was elderly and otherwise in one of those high-risk populations. Being an introvert, I loved the lockdowns and seeing the streets virtually empty, while I still continued to work and had to go out into the world. It made me feel like for once, I could move around the world in peace and without a crowd. It truly was a refreshing feeling and I thoroughly enjoyed it. It looks like the world has since returned to some state of normalcy, at least as far COVID-19’s daily and weekly outbreaks.
–My father, or as I refer to him now, my only remaining parent, retired from the United States Postal Service in late 2017 after 24 years of service as a mail carrier. He loved the job, obviously to have stayed there for over two decades, but sometimes you just know when your time is up. He was tired, ready to walk away from it, and did so without any fanfare. My father didn’t need a big production to announce or even celebrate that he was calling it a career and as far as I am aware, one wasn’t made for him and that’s the way he wanted it. He walked into the proverbial sunset without horns blaring, confetti littering the immediate atmosphere, or cake. In early 2018, my father briefly took a full-time job at a local WalMart before he walked away from that job this past June. As of this writing, he has not sought any further employment, be it full-time or part-time. I want to say that he is done with this whole working thing. My father is finally enjoying retirement, as someone in their 70’s should, and I’m happy for him. It’s been a long, long time coming.
–My youngest sister gave birth to my father’s first and thus far, only biological grandchild in April 2021. My brother, when he got married in 2013 or 2014 (or whenever it was, I don’t actually remember), legally adopted his stepson, but I guess according to my youngest sister, that doesn’t count. She’s always been someone who always has to be the center of attention, regardless of situation or scenario. She wanted to make a big deal about her baby being born and I opted to ignore all of it. I’ve never been the type to feed into someone’s need for attention, especially when they don’t let it happen organically. Because she fished for the attention, I didn’t pay it any mind. Here we are, now over two years later and I still don’t care. I suppose it helps that she, her husband, and the baby all live in Texas. If I can keep them at a distance, the better off I will be. This is not to say that I won’t be around for my niece at some point. I’m just not now.
This is merely the tip of the iceberg, but for now, this will suffice as a good and solid beginning or rather, reintroduction, to Open Diary. I can’t say that all of these things will be fodder for separate entries, because I don’t want to get anyone’s hopes up either.
It felt good to get loose on this keyboard again, after so many years. I think I’m ready to get back into this.