03-18-23 Orthodox Service
Last night after I finished blogging I saw there was a voicemail on my phone and it turned out that the call from a person I didn’t know just as the game was starting was from the woman in the bed next to me telling me my Mom needed me to call. As it was now well after midnight, I called the nursing station and they brought her the cordless phone. She said she had had an anxiety attack and needed to talk to me and could I come in the morning. I reminded her that I had the funeral of my friend Peter in the morning and would come afterwards and that she needed to call from her phone so I would know to answer. I talked it out with a friend who was still up and finally managed to get to sleep around 2 am. The alarm was not my friend when it went off to start the day. I texted Donna and she got herself ready and hurried there to visit. Mom was very glad to see her. I went to the service which is in the temporary location of the Martial Arts building as the church is under renovation. I was not at all prepared for the length and liturgy of an Orthodox service and was stunned to walk in to see the open casket. I was just early enough to find a spot to sit and looked over to see Elias, Peter’s son sitting alone. He turns 5 next week and my Nana vibes kicked in. He found everything too loud and emotional, the incense was overpowering in the small space and he was hungry. I tended to him over the next two hours, taking him for walks a couple times and having good little conversations. He seemed relatively uninterested that his Dad is gone, said he was a little mean and that he was mostly upset as his mom is angry and cries. I am sure in the end Peter struggled to be kind as the Cancer took it’s toll. Poor little guy. Fortunately his little brother Zeus slept through most of it. I found the service to be overwhelming and mostly just wanted to escape. When I went through the receiving line dear Rasel, the young grieving widow held on to our hug like she didn’t know how to let go. How sad for her to be so far away from her family (I think in the Philippines) and alone with two wee sons.
From there I went to see Mom for a couple hours and then did some shopping to pick up things I needed. I noticed people looking at me sadly and realized I was moving like a zombie through my tasks. Mom is definitely struggling mentally and as this is day 9 I am beginning to as well. She refused Medicine for her Thyroid in the night because she hadn’t heard of it before. I talked with her about accepting all the meds and help to get her on the road to recovery and then we went through her phone messages and had her call a few people to catch them up. I had to keep assisting her to get the details right. Still no MRI, so still not walking.
I came home to make food and found that one of the meals I had received was Greek-Style shrimp. That seemed perfect to remember the man who ran the Greek restaurant here and was a good client and friend to me the last 5 or 6 years.
Another sad part of the day was finding that Matthew the Magnificent is dead. I am convinced it is due to Missy drinking out of the fish bowl, a bad recent habit that I have not been able to solve. For now I will not replace him.
I have been resting on the couch between chores and ordered a desk on sale from Wayfair which will allow me to set up a proper workspace so I can work from home when needed.
I am exhausted. Tomorrow I have booked absolutely nothing and told Mom she can call me but that I may not be up. Rae-Anne has offered to go see her and I think that would be best.
triumphgal 