Thoughts

I slept. I woke. I slept again. I woke again. 

When I slept, I dreamed. When I woke, I thought many thoughts.

I thought about Sissy, a woman I didn't know but had seen and talked with using WhatsApp. She was a friend of a friend. She was 91 years old but still independent. She drove wherever she wanted or needed to go. Two weeks ago she drove to a Chinese restaurant to buy a takeout lunch. She paid for it and turned to go, but something went wrong. She tripped and fell. She broke her hip. She went to a hospital and surgeons operated on her. Afterward, she was in discomfort and her health fluctuated. Her oxygen level went up and down so she had to stay in the bed. She couldn't be moved to a rehab center. After a week she said she'd had enough and requested to be put on hospice care. Another week passed and she died. According to what I've heard about her, she was a good-hearted woman who cared about others. We all will pass through a gate one day. We don't know what's on the other side. We have ideas, but we don't know. I hope Sissy gets a warm welcome home from family and friends who passed before her.

I slept again.

I woke. I thought about the recent shooting in Miami. Two dead and twenty one injured. Some of the injured may die. What will happen to those shooters when it's their time to pass through that gate? Will they be welcomed by a friendly spirit or will they be greeted by something that produces fear and terror? This life is real. And the hereafter is real. But suppose you say you're not sure the hereafter is real. It might be, and it might not be, so you could say there is a fifty-fifty chance of Payback. Of Karma. Of Reward and Punishment. Then my advice is: behave wisely. One day everything you give others may be returned to you, in spades.

I slept again.

I woke. I had missed breakfast. I had missed lunch. But it was okay. I decided to get up and practice Spanish. Hours passed. My friend in Costa Rica joined me on Skype. My browser was on Duolingo and I shared my screen with her so she could see and hear the same things that I saw and heard. She helps me learn her language. More hours passed. My friend signed off. Now it's after 9PM and I still haven't eaten anything today. I'm not hungry, but I'm going to eat something anyway—probably a factory meal from the freezer. It's either that or a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Buen apetito to me.

I hope you have a good week.