After Divorce: A Fall Saturday

I thought I would write about my "typical" Saturday as a 65 year old single woman, gray haired and a bushy tailed grandma of 3!

I slept in till 7:30, a real treat as most days I am up at 6 AM.

My bank had dropped my daughter's name off my checking account so spent time chasing them on the phone to see if I could correct it. They promised me they would "get right on it." I tell you changing my name on accounts is really taking a lot of extra time. Nothing is done easily.

I must give Social Security credit, that bureaucracy knows how to move! I have both my new social security Catherine Borkowski-Zatsick and my medicare card! Arrived today. I love my name but don't sign it, too long for most of the little boxes. So I am signing it Catherine Zatsick-the first shall be last and the last first! So they got them to me in less than 3 weeks! Great jobs all you SS'ers.

The mail came in and included a letter from LU-C setting up a COBRA account if I want it for $400 a month. Can't afford and so glad I am on Medicare with AARP supplemental for Part B and D (drugs.)

The squirrels got into my potted plants on the porch again! This time 4 pots! I mistakenly did an act of kindness and put out peanuts for them. So the little devils went digging to plant them. The thing is I have not found peanuts in the pots so... Never again until the frost takes my annuals! So repot, clean up, rewater for an hour.

I ate a leisurely breakfast of Kashi sweetened cereal and bottled Starbucks Mocha Frappucino, my only addiction-one a day all year round.

Then on to work. Because of the divorce I had not made any visits for my part, part time chaplain position with a woman who is trying to start her own hospice. I have spent hours on the phone this week "for telephone visits" but I needed to be out and about. I hadn't visited all the month of September. I feel a lot of Catholic guilt about my patients.

So I headed to a nursing home 20 miles away to visit with 3 folks with dementia. Two are non-verbal, but one woman is what we call in hospice, "Pleasantly confused." She was waiting for her brother, her daughter. She was a dear this morning but her attention lasts about 2 minutes and any movement distracts her. As people with dementia regress in learning through the decades I thought, "Ms E. you have the attention span of a two year old." She is still able to feed herself but is confined to a wheel chair. We had a very pleasant "in the moment" visit. Ms E was "thankful for the visit" and wants me to return. Tomorrow I will visit some patients in another nursing home.

Then on to the fitness connection in the armory nearby. I spent an hour and 1/2 on the elliptical walker and weight machines. I really enjoy this fitness connection as it is small and I usually have the place to myself. Today however, being Saturday there where about 5 rowdy young teens, cute as the dickens but really giving the machines and themselves a workout. They couldn't stay on the machine long but would do the max, then move to another. I really enjoyed watching and listening to them but it was definitely not a "quiet time to read my magazine" as I am want to do when I work out.

I returned home to return a call to my sister Connie who is recovering beautifully from her right hip replacement. She talked of how she enjoyed the beautiful day at the market in Ann Arbor as it was filled with all of the bounty of the Fall harvest. Connie said, "It is truly wonderful to walk without pain." The miracle of modern medicine. Way to go Docs! Connie met a friend from church who is going off with her boyfriend to Northern Michigan to start organic farming. Connie has one week left of her sick leave (w/o pay) and then must return to work.

Connie and I both would love to be involved in such an endeavor. In fact I was thinking about a possible move to KY to be near a woman peace maker-friend. With global warming becoming ever more serious. and the economy collapsing, I have been thinking that working in a community garden with help for growing local food would be a nice way to retire. Then I could go to jail regularly to resist war and injustice and come home to eat wonderful food. Both Connie and I talk about the wonderful food we had as children. We lived on an acre and my parents farmed 1/2 of it. Tomatoes, cukes, corn, beans, squash, pears, apples, grapes, cherries. Oh my, oh my what healthy good tasting food.

We talked of the debate last night. She felt McCain is a forceful speaker on foreign policy but Obama was no slouch! I saw the very last part of it as I had attended a movie called "The Power of Forgiveness." See it if you can. The stories of forgiveness will knock your socks off. And you will learn what power love is. We showed it as part of our Pax Christi monthly evening of the Conscientious Projector Friday night.

Connie and I talked about 40 minutes sharing how beautiful our Midwestern fall is. I don't know if it is or it is beautiful because the divorce is finalized and I feel protected from Dow's dominance and abuse. Life is awesome.

I preside at a small Roman Catholic Faith community-usually about 12 folks. As I have written I am part of a Roman Catholic Women Priests-not that I am ordained, I think about it ever so often. One of the candidates to ordination must practice preaching so asked me if she could join us. I said, "Sure!" Alta has attended our service before so I know she knows she may be interrupted by people from the streets. But anyway I had to go out to make copies of the program and readings for the day. So off to Kinko's I went.

Then back home to make the bread for the service. There is an "authorized" bread that members make. Small loaves so it can be frozen. However, I like my own "real bread" that tastes like bread! I make cottage cheese dinner rolls. It makes 24 rolls, so I take half to give away and half I freeze. We use two of the rolls for the service.

I had planned to clean the kitchen but by 8:30 I was pooped so I thought I would take the time to record my "Fall Saturday" I will read a fun murder mystery before bed-the hero is a cookie baker that runs a shop called the "Cookie jar" and finds bodies around town; then lay my head on a pillow for sleep. Must get up early to gather things and pick up donuts for after the liturgy and Alta on the way. We arrive about 1/2 hour early so we can help set up.

Hope your Saturday was as beautiful as mine and as filled with blessings of hope and joy and sunshine wherever you call home!

The divorced life is a blessing for me.