20 Things

And this is what Gwendomama sent and if you knew her, you could no more hate or shoot her than you could shoot or hate the woman in the moon. Ergo, here are 20 things...from a year ago. But first, what Miz Gmama said.

"i don't know it this is called tagging...i have never done that and as you know am hardly technolingosavvy.....but if it is, then howabout a post on the same (not before i blogged, but a year ago - 20 things -- today ?)

of course y'all have probably done that 10 times before i ever set sight on a blog. if so, so sorry.
don't hate me. i am so full of love.

of course if you think this is in any way bordering on chainletter ilk, not only should you delete this, but shoot me."

And so...here are 20 things from a year ago.

1. Colin, my son, was in NY doing freelance copywriting work and looking for a challenging job with health insurance. (mission accomplished, woo hoo)

2. My daughter, Jane, was four months away from delivering the fabulous Baby Sophie.

3. The spectacular Charlotte was just days away from being a four-year old and plans were busily in place for the birthday party (at our place).

4. Matt (son-in-law) and Jane were getting ready to move into a cute little 1920s Spanish bungalow in West Hollywood.

5. Husband Roger and I were doing last minute prep so we could safely leave our house for a few weeks and head to the UK and then onto Italy.

6. Definitely getting excited because Colin was headed L.A. way for a week.

7. Still reeling from Hurricane Katrina.

8. Geeks for Hire organized a new underwear drive for Katrina victims. That resonated with me.

9. Katrina made it hard to think straight during that September.

10. Took a bunch of pictures of my house so I could put them in a safe deposit box so if our house burned down while we were gone, our insurance gestapo folks wouldn't argue with us about what was or wasn't here.

11. Deleted the pictures I took because I hadn't tidied up enough and the place could look better.

12. Didn't take more pictures before we left.

13. Katrina and 9/11 were warring in my head. Hard to understand how we could be so pissed off at other countries and not pissed off at our own for not protecting these people.

14. Honestly thought about moving out of this country.

15. Thought about it some more and spent hours doing some hard thinking about where to go and how that still wouldn't change one thing.

16. Lost myself repeatedly in the joy of being a grandmother and a mother.

17. Did a lot of packing and unpacking.

18. Worried ad nauseum about fires in the Canyon that could happen while we were gone.

19. Couldn't get Katrina and 9/11 out of my head.

20. Looked at my husband, daily, and knew that in spite of our frequent frustration with one another, that I had been beyond lucky in spending my life with such a terrific person.

And here are 20 things from today.

1. I'm in England, not America, but will fly home on Monday.

2. I'm trying to ignore the fact that Monday is 9/11.

3. I met GrannyP (a terrific writer) in Lewes, East Sussex for lunch today. She trained it down from London and I drove in from Eastbourne. This was our first real-life, non-ether meeting and I'm hoping there will be many to follow.

4. I had fewer hot flashes today than I did a year ago...something to celebrate.

5. I hardly have any neuropathy left in my feet. Another fact to celebrate.

6. Today I'm five years and four months away from that pesky cancer thing.

7. Last year on this date I was driving on the right hand side of the road and not the left.

8. Monday I will be driving on the right, if I can find where Roger is leaving the car for me. (he flies to Vancouver on Sunday and will leave the car at a parking lot at LAX). Ever been to LAX?

9. Today the temperature is about 35 degrees cooler than it was in Topanga on this day last year.

10. This morning I had breakfast with my 82-year old Mother.

11. My step-father made chicken curry for dinner tonight...Jamaican style. It was good.

12. I watched The Weakest Link with my Mum tonight...repeating all the questions for her in my loud voice and missing almost every answer since I was screaming the question. She has a little hearing problem.

13. I hung clothes outside on my mother's clothesline in Eastbourne. The wind dried them in under two hours.

14. I'm getting used to my mother ironing everything I own.

15. I'm getting used to my mother doing my washing for me.

16. I'm getting used to my mother telling me to go where I want, do what I want and to take as long as I want to do it. "You're on holiday," she keeps saying. She is one of those rare mothers who doesn't make you feel guilty about stuff.

17. I'm still finding it hard to believe that she's in her 80s.

18. I miss my husband, I miss my kids, I miss my grandchildren.

19. I miss dry air.

20. It's time to go home.