General Musings - No Comments » - Posted on February, 10 at 11:34 pm
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Photo of my daughters, c. 2007 Susan L. Friesen
I’m working on paper pile-ups (AKA “clutter”) today. How does stuff accumulate so quickly? I see why many teachers languish under the paperwork load, even taking home piles of work to grade and file. I give my girls lots of interesting work to do in my private school; but of course, that gives me more work to do in organizing it.
Next Saturday, my girls will display their unit study on the Viking era at a homeschool history/ science fair. They’re excited about it, as they’ve worked hard on their studies. One daughter painstakingly painted runes on rocks, also put Viking designs on rocks with clay. We’re working on the tri-fold poster board showing Viking info this week. The girls also need to work on their oral presentation, which will be on the Viking source for the names of the days of the week, the Maine Coon cat as a true Viking cat, and Viking gods (especially Thor and Odin).
It’s St. Patrick’s Day today. I think back in history when Viking marauders plundered monasteries in the UK. But in time, the Vikings softened, became Christians (many, anyway), and built villages. Isn’t it interesting to learn about the history of human conquest?
I hope everyone is having a good weekend.
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General Musings, Homeschooling - No Comments » - Posted on January, 14 at 5:05 pm
Photo: Zebra waxwing, c. Susan L. Friesen 
I’m keeping busy, as always, teaching. We have a computer network station. The girls enjoy doing online lessons I design. This year the curriculum mostly centers on an American History unit. Each day I try and incorporate lesson in American history. Today the girls learned more about the colonial era. Here are some of the weblinks for that:
Do this: 375 years ago at 360 degrees, panoramic views about the colony—the nature, the village, the interiors
Go the Interactive History task bar and click-on these quizzes:
The girls also enjoyed seeing many interesting articles about extreme adventures. It’s amazing what people will do for thrills. Because two daughters have heart transplants, I thought they’d like to read about an adventurous lady, Kelly Perkins, who had a heart transplant, but doesn’t let it get her down. She is the first person to have climbed the Matterhorn, Mt. Fuji, and Mt. Kilimanjaro. The girls don’t have lofty aspirations to climb mountain peaks, but they do want to do well at the next transplant Olympics. The U.S. Transplant Games take place in Pittsburgh, PA in July 2008, then the World Transplant Games happen in August, 2009 near Brisbane, Australia. We must sell lots of See’s Candy (more than $600) in the next 6 months so the girls can be included in Team Southern California again. They won gold, silver, and bronze medals in various badminton, bowling, and swimming in the last transplant games. They want to participate in those sports again.
Things are going better with Ken and I, for the most part. We’re undergoing family counseling, which is grueling, but worthwhile.
Ken and I will travel to San Francisco for a weekend in February. Many counselors at Ken’s work will participate in a seminar to hear a founder of family therapy. I’m not sure what I’ll do when Ken hears the lectures. Perhaps I’ll get a Go San Francisco Card again and visit various museums and take tours. I’d like to see the Asian Art Museum, revisit the Conservatory of Flowers in Golden Gate Park, and bikeride across the Golden Gate Bridge again (it was great fun to ride downhill to Sausalito, then take the ferry back to San Francisco).
In March, we’ll go to Las Vegas for a week at a timeshare, celebrating Lindsea’s 11th birthday and Ken’s 62nd. I’m not sure what we’ll do there, probably enjoy the swimming pools, the activities at the casino near the timeshare (has a big movie complex, bowling alley, horse stables, beside the usual slot machines). I wouldn’t mind driving to Red Rock Canyon to take the kids to the visitor’s center there and see the mules, colors on canyon wall, hike some.
Ken will see a hand specialist again, as his right hand is not doing well. It’s the same hand he experienced the injury when the cordless drill torqued and caused a spiral break above one finger. Now the hand hurts in a different area further up the wrist. It may be carpal tunnel syndrome or a sprain, or? We’ll find out. It’s made it difficult for Ken to do much on our home renovation project because of the intense pain. He needs to wear a brace.
On Sunday afternoon, Ken and I enjoyed going to a satellite wagering facility at the fairgrounds in town. We got a voucher each for $30. I came away a winner at $58 and Ken was only down $2 for the day. We enjoyed picking the horses. We watched big screen t.v’s in a big room. Mostly thoroughbreds raced.
Last night we were jazzed to finally hear from our son, David, in Iraq. He received a promotion to Sergeant. He plans on marrying his fiancee during the time he’s off once he returns. They’re planning a Las Vegas wedding and may honeymoon at Caesar’s Palace. I hope to get the number for his fiancee’s mother so we can plan something nice.
Our second son,Glenn, turns 24 tomorrow. When he came here for my birthday, I gave him money for gas. He says he could always use a gift card for gas or groceries.
The girls enjoy creating their own graphics. They’re so talented in digital art. Some of their online buddies are also into creating art and videos. The girls uploaded their first YouTube videos recently, showing them lip syching to songs like “Boulevard of Broken Dreams,” “Lion King theme song,” “Under the Sea (Little Mermaid),” and Japanese anime songs.
Well, the school day is drawing to a close and it’s time to finish the mountains of laundry, vacuum, clear more emails from my voluminous inbox, make some phone calls, and then veg out in internet chat or something.
Ken will show me after work, I think, how to use the rototiller. He and the girls rototilled up the side of the front yard on Sunday while I shopped. Ken said he about smoked-out the neighborhood, as the machine smoked like crazy. It hadn’t been used for so long and was dirty. I want the rest of the front yard cleared of winds and smoothed, as it looks terrible with the hummocks, sand piles, and stuff.
We’d paid for all the supplies to build a side block wall. The neighbor is supposed to pay for someone to come in and build the wall, but nothing has happened for two years now. Hopefully, the neighbor will get the new wall up by spring or summer this year.
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General Musings - No Comments » - Posted on January, 13 at 11:06 pm
Photo: copyright Susan L. Friesen
White pigeons, Hawaii
I think most people are adverse to change, as it’s easier to sit in one’s comfort zone than move on. Our family is changing in different ways. My husband decided he wanted to go back to a church we attended for a few years about three years ago. We are going there as a family, but it’s posed a bit of a problem, as I’ve learned most at a church that basically only I like to attend. The church we attended as a family I also like attending, as we’ve been there a few years and I like the various ministries and people. For now, the compromise is we’ll attend the second service at the old church we’re now attending as a family, but I will go to the first service at one of the other churches I’ve attended through the years.
America prides itself as having freedom of religion. Often in a marriage, husband and wife come from different religious backgrounds. The dilemma is which church to attend when the two become one– both go together to his church, or hers? Both go to different churches? Where do the children go then?
When our oldest daughter had her heart transplant, we asked her where she wanted to go to church. She liked attending a Wednesday night group, but also liked the church we attended as a family. When we’d learned that her life was very fragile and could be short-lived, we wanted her to choose the church she felt most comfortable. She wanted to attend the church where she attended Wednesday night. So we changed as a family and went there.
My husband had become a member of the church we now attend. He felt most comfortable with the pastor’s preaching, the men’s ministry, and the general atmosphere, which is more laid-back. He has a sensitivity to loud noises and light, so this church is best for him. At the other church, the loud rock and roll sound, especially the drums, hurt his ears.
I still miss the preaching, especially, of a church I’ve attended on my own for quite a few years. The pastor takes yearly trips to Israel and the Middle East. It’s educational to hear about the missions trips, what he learns there, plus his interpretation of the Bible. This pastor preaches more in the expositional vein, which means he goes into great depth in word analysis, context, comparisons, history. I feel I learn so much more than the preaching that is more “canned,” predictable. It bothers me when a pastor just wants to get in more jokes and be cutesy than teaching and even being controversial.
Tonight my husband and I enjoyed attending a couples class put on by a church. It was a great time. This is the first time we’ve attended this kind of class. We’ll have homework each week, studying “Rocking the Roles, Building a Win-Win Marriage” by Robert Lewis and William Hendricks. It’s about the types of roles in marriage– traditional, equal, roleless, etc. Here’s the URL for the back cover and the table of contents. I’m looking forward to the class and growing closer to my husband through what we learn. We’ve been married 26 years, but have had some great ups and downs, especially recently. As many of you know, we were separated for 2 months, a difficult time. We’re now back together and I hope will learn from different teachings in the Bible and elsewhere, so going through this class together will be a good experience.
The couple who hosted the class tonight are so gracious to allow 10 or more couples to meet in their huge recreation room each week. They live in a swankier part of town, a housing tract which is on a ridge and overlooks the city. It was pretty driving to the complex, as we enjoyed seeing the lights of our town below. We talked about how our city will keep growing, that the land below the ridge, now an agricultural area will soon be built with new houses and development.
The class was lots of fun. Tonight was a mixer where the hosts had the men and women write down their answers to questions like, “What cartoon character is your husband most like: Goofy, Mr. Incredible, Peter Pan, or Shrek?” Or: “Where did you meet your wife?” We answered about 5 different questions.
So, anyway, a new year is a good time to introduce change. I’ve determined to become more socially active this year and join some groups and meet new people. Because of necessity, I’ve been pretty homebound with raising the three girls, two with transplants. Now that the two girls are 4 years and 7 years post-transplant and are doing well with their medications and treatment, I can now take more time to invest in some of the things I’ve put off, like socializing more, investing in my interest areas like writing, photography, etc. Soon I’d like to join a camera club and writer’s group to learn how to better my photographic and writing skills, Toastmasters to improve public speaking, and would like to start a Scrabble Club as it’s my favorite game beside Boggle (love word games and trivia). I enjoy dining out, books, and movies, so joined a group that gets together for these activities. It would be fun to meet with others who enjoy a good book and like to discuss what they’ve learned. I’d enjoy writing poetry again and join others in open mic night. My goal is to walk more and swim laps for health.
Do you have any goals for this year and things you wish to change?
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General Musings - No Comments » - Posted on January, 2 at 3:28 pm
- RESOLUTIONS
photo: copyright Susan L. Friesen
I really enjoyed my 52nd birthday. Our 23 year old son, almost 24, came up from Long Beach to enjoy my birthday evening. Glenn is a gentleman, so nice to drive up from L.A. (gas is expensive nowadays, especially for struggling college student). He recently lost his fiancee, but has been dealing with that better than I would. He joined my husband, three daughters, and I to enjoy dinner out at McLintock’s, a steak restaurant, in Shell Beach, CA. Glenn, a musician (self-taught bass guitarist), cranked-up the electronica music in his car as he drove our daughters to the restaurant. I was a bit shocked at the booming sounds emitting from Glenn’s car as he came into the restaurant parking lot. Other patrons and I stared at the car like it was something alien. McLintock’s serves free onion rings for customers as they wait for the entree. I love their salsa with the onion rings, too. We all got pretty stuffed on the appetizer and drink before we even started the main course. I ended-up taking most of my steak and baby back ribs in a doggy bag, along with the home style potatoes and barbecue beans.
We enjoyed nice conversation. Glenn hopes to land a new job, as he’s tiring of his sales job. I think back to when I was his age in college, how I had many different jobs, too, including:typist clerk for the Department of Mental Health, secretarial work for the journalist department at the university I attended, warehouse worker at Sear’s, medical clerk for a trauma hospital, more. I was glad I held various jobs, as they were each interesting and taught me much. Glenn has held other jobs, too. The last one was finding expert witnesses for attorneys.Before dining out on my birthday, New Year’s eve, we planned a family game of Boggle. I love that word game, also enjoy Scrabble. I used to be in a Scrabble club, competitive fun with others, but the club closed and never restarted. I don’t have the time to organize it.I’m surprised how great our little girls play Boggle. One daughter is only 10 and she found some great words, like olive; another daughter found the word detoured, giving her 5 points (the max you can get for one word).
On New Year’s day, I slept about 5 or 6 hours, but got up at 3 a.m. I couldn’t sleep, so got up early and looked at email and chatted. I was shocked to see two of my girls in the computer room (it’s temporarily in our bathroom under construction, lol) sitting on their computers at that time of the morning! They said that Dad ok’d them to be there. I heard him say they could stay up until midnight, but not until 3 a.m. They like playing an interactive game and chatting with international friends there. But that is too much– staying up that late. They said they weren’t even tired!
I bought donuts at a shop I usually buy from on New Year’s day. It’s a tradition to buy donuts on Jan. 1st, but maybe I should halt that tradition, as it is unhealthy. We didn’t eat much all day but those donuts and belated birthday cake. I bought the birthday cake the day before at Costco, a warehouse store, but we all didn’t get around to having a piece until the day after my birthday. At McLintock’s, I’d blown a candle off a strawberry shortcake, made a wish then.
This year I have a resolution to lose more weight, a resolution many have. I started to do well on that goal the past couple months, lost more than 20 pounds, but I regained some of that back, unfortunately, during the holidays. We’d gone out to eat more, including fast food, more home cooking and snack items. Now I intend to eat healthier and exercise more.
I also intend to try and publish more of my writing. I’d like to work with the girls in creating a family homeschool newsletter. The TOPS (Take off Pounds Sensibly) organization I belong to could use a historian, so I may put together a newsletter for that group. Hopefully, this year, our marriage will get better. It was very hard being separated for two months.
Hopefully, everyone is doing well so far this new year? I hope to hear from many of you throughout 2008 and beyond.
Susan
http://www.susanfriesen.com
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General Musings - No Comments » - Posted on December, 31 at 1:40 pm
NEW YEAR’S EVE BIRTHDAY Dec. 31, 2007
Today is my 52nd birthday. I already felt a big hurrah at turning 50, as I became an official member of AARP! When I turn 55, I’ll get even more senior benefits–and, um, senior moments?
For my 50th, my husband and daughters took me to the Grand Canyon and Zion National Park. That was a special birthday time. Usually we go to a steak restaurant. My favorite is McClintock’s in Shell Beach, California. My husband reserves “The Garden Room” in the back, a less noisy place than the ocean view tables in front. The saloon is near there, too, and the drinkers get a bit rowdy on New Year’s eve.
Today, Ken will surprise me, says we’re not going to the usual places, McClintock’s or Swiss Chalet. It’s nice to be surprised.
I just got a phone call from my mom and stepfather from Italy. Mom said she couldn’t talk long as the call cost $2 a minute. She just wanted to wish me a happy birthday. She said they’d been on a train ride to hell, a disconcerting ride from Germany to Italy that took 13 hours. I’ve never been to Europe, but hope to someday. For years I’ve wanted to tour UK, as I have a degree in English literature and would like to see literary places like Keats, Shakespeare, Wordsworth, and Austen sites, etc.
My 10 year old was sweet. She found a small cockatiel feather and put it in my hair as a birthday decoration, so she said. I told the family I’d prefer a cheesecake to regular cake. Lately the family hasn’t gotten me a birthday cake and I must still be a kid at heart, as it doesn’t feel like a birthday unless I blow out the candles and make a wish.
I hope that my oldest son, a Marine in Iraq, gives me a birthday call. Since he’s been on this latest tour, he hasn’t called much. If so, the call gets cut-off.
Glenn, our second son, is on his way up to visit from Long Beach. He’s a college student at my alma mater, California State University- Long Beach. He’s majoring in International Business, says he’ll get two bachelor’s degrees. His birthday is in a couple weeks. I’d like to get him some early presents, if I can pull myself from the computer.
Well, I’ve been thinking of New Year’s resolutions and will write them down now. One is to try and publish more writing. The old standby, lose weight, figures up there, too.
Happy 2008….. Susan http://www.susanfriesen.com
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General Musings - No Comments » - Posted on October, 24 at 3:53 pm
- CALIFORNIA BURNING, PART 2 by Susan Friesen, October 24, 2007
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Well, I’m sure most of you have seen the news, as the California fires have topped the international news lately. The loss of life is minimal, thank God, two people dead, one a man who refused to evacuate his property. The dollar count of the losses stretch more than a billion and counting.
My mother told me that her stepdaughter’s home was lost. She only had time to retrieve the family pets and children before the fire raced over a ravine and burned her home to rubble. She stayed overnight at my stepfather’s home, but is now living in a hotel with her family. My stepfather is a strange guy—won’t let people stay in his home even in crisis. I just can’t understand it. It’s not my mom’s decision, as he owns the house.
But my stepsister is a lucky one, as she can afford to stay in a hotel. Her husband is an executive with Hewlett Packard software company. I would think that they will eventually have their home rebuilt nicer and prettier than before. However, losing one’s memorabilia and prized possessions is sure devastating.
I understand that my uncle may have to evacuate from his mobile home in a seaside community, Encinitas. He cares for his common law wife, a very brittle lady suffering from multiple sclerosis.
People are asking if we live anywhere near the fires. We live in Santa Barbara County, about a 4 hour drive north of Los Angeles. We’ve had our goodly share of wildfires in mountains near us these past four fire seasons. Last summer The Zaca fire burned through 240,000 acres of Santa Barbara ranchland. . In fact, fire crews lived in one of our city parks when dealing with a huge fire in Los Padres National Forest a few years ago. Presently a smaller fire is burning north of here. We see the fire planes overhead now and again heading to who knows where.
The big fires stretch from the Mexican border to mountains in the L.A. area—15 fires burning more than 400,000 acres.Wild animals have no place to go and authorities warn people to keep an eye on their pets. re than 1,000 homes are leveled and more than a half million evacuees. It’s the largest evacuation of American citizens since the Civil War.
Well, folks, I am going to write my stepsister and uncle a note, so must go for now.
Be thankful for all the many blessings in your life—shelter, food, safety.
Susan
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General Musings - No Comments » - Posted on October, 23 at 5:27 pm
- CALIFORNIA BURNING by Susan L. Friesen, Oct. 23, 2007
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California fires….. 
Look at this amazing photo of a wildfire
Each year, California experiences many fires– some set naturally by lightning, others intentionally or unintentionally set by Man through throwing lit cigarettes out the car window, arsonists igniting a blaze that damages property and kills life both of Man and wildlife.
This year, the news reports tens of thousands of people are forced to flee their homes. Even celebrities like Mel Gibson or Olivia Newton John aren’t exempt from evacuation. I’d imagine they’d have the money, though, to stay in nicer digs than the Del Mar Racetrack or Qualcomm Stadium. At least all the homeless people are allowed to bring their pets to the horse track, including any with pet horses. It must be a real zoo at that stadium and track, though.
I know that it’s Nature’s way to clear the undergrowth by fire. Fire is cleansing and makes room for new growth. It’s terrible, though, when people set fires, knowing lives are at stake. Or people, out of stupidity and carelessness, leave campfires going without putting them out.
It’s been awhile since I’ve traveled to the Southern Sequoias to a former logging camp we co-own with 2,000+ other shareholders. But it’s an unsettling experience when I’ve gone, because much of the once pristine forest not far from R-Ranch is now reduced to many blackened trees or others down completely. The 2002 McNally Fire was horrific:
USDA Forest Service:
The 150,700-acre McNally Fire is the largest wildfire in the history of the 1.2 million acre Sequoia National Forest. The wildland fire started Sunday, July 21, 2002, and was 100 percent contained Thursday, August 28, 2002, six weeks after burning on both the Sequoia and Inyo National Forests. The fire also burned 16,800 acres within the Giant Sequoia National Monument and threatened three Giant Sequoia groves: Packsaddle, Long Meadow, and Freeman Creek. The current cost to manage the fire suppression and rehabilitation efforts is in excess of $59 million.
2002 was a terrible loss for California forests and one of the most expensive fire seasons in the past half century, burned across 7.2 million acres and cost over $1 billion to battle. The McNally Fire raged on across 7.2 million acres. Sadly, the longtime owners of “Road’s End Resort,” lost it all–their business and home, all because some woman didn’t think to put out her campfire.
I used to giggle about the name “Road’s End,” as it wasn’t the end of the road at all, but more a rest stop in-between Kernville and Johnsondale, CA. The people that ran the businesses there had this property in their family for years—and poof! all gone due to some woman’s wanton carelessness in being too lazy to put her fire out. I don’t remember what happened to her, but believe she just got some light jail sentence and fine.
Read what happened to Road’s End Resort:
.. At one time, Road’s End was the end of the road up river from Kernville.This was once a nice resort with lots of green trees overhanging the road. It was usually very cool here because of the trees. When you pass through it, you can see all the destruction. The chimney off to the left is all that is left of the old restaurant. This restaurant, at one time was known for excellent prime rib dinners—slow cooked prime with with excellent side dishes, and super desserts. The restaurant, bar and store stood on the left side of the road: they are all gone. There were some cabins and beautiful trees on the right: they are all gone. But, like in all disasters, three of the cabins on the left were untouched. Strange, isn’t it?
It’s sad more than a half million people are evacuees from fires burning in many areas from the Mexican border to Los Angeles County. I hope that soldiers and their families don’t have to evacuate Camp Pendleton Marine Base. Those patriots are going through enough with many of their loved ones either just sent to Iraq or newly returned from that war; now they must battle another war, fire.
Now for a reprieve here’s a nice song, “Wildfire.” It’s a classic.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uwDGp2crSbw
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17EwYBT0nQ4
What do you think about the California fire situation?
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General Musings - No Comments » - Posted on October, 22 at 5:27 pm
- BUMPING INTO PEOPLE FROM MY PAST bySusan Friesen, Oct. 22, 2007
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Tonight I bumped into two people I haven’t seen for a very long time. At a local store, I’d lingered at the book area, browsing through some of the inspirational book selections. All of a sudden I heard my name. Andrea, a lady I’d become friends with a decade and more before, gave me a big hug. I was surprised to see one of her daughters who was now around 5. The last time I saw her she was a baby. Andrea told me she’d had another daughter since then. It was nice to connect with her once more, chat about old times, and fill-in what we’ve done through the years.
Before our oldest daughter had a heart transplant, Andrea helped arrange a picnic. Her priest and members of her Catholic church came to pray for Shivan. The priest applied oil on her and prayed for her healing. Andrea gave my daughter a special cross that her mother had given her.
While checking out my groceries, the bagger said, “I know you.” I then saw his name tag, Gabe. He was good friends with my sons when they were in elementary school. I’d always felt bad for Gabe as he was more abused than his brothers. His parents often couldn’t keep a job and often lived in cheap motels with the kids. They’d spend some of their welfare money or wages on gambling. Gabe was yelled at a lot by his father.
It was good to see that he’s now grown into a quite polite, respectful and successful young man. He told me about his two children. He shared he’d had nice memories coming to our house for birthday parties. I told him how I liked seeing one photo in my album of he and his brothers at the beach with my sons. The five guys held their arms up and all the kids connected hands. The ocean was behind them. I love that photo.
Well.. I thought it was great to bump into two people I really liked in my past. It also made me feel old, though, to see Gabe now a young adult. The last time I saw him he was about 10.
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General Musings, Medical - No Comments » - Posted on October, 21 at 4:31 pm
- DEPRESSION
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Being around a continually depressed person can be so depressing for the loved one. The one who’s depressed lives in hopelessness and helplessness, feeling like they’re just going through the motions, often unable to cope with everyday life, focused on thoughts of death. Such depressed people are told to seek help from a medical doctor to receive antidepressants, see a counselor for “talk therapy,” exercise, and eat right.
What do you do if your loved one refuses such advice—is mostly a couch potato, insulates instead of talks to loved ones, escapes instead of deals with “reality”?
From what I’ve read, 6 percent of adults, or 14 million people, suffer from depression. This is a good Symptom Checker to see if you’re suffering from depression: http://symptoms.webmd.com/default.htm
See this quiz: Could it be depression? http://www.webmd.com/depression/
I am close to someone who often voices suicidal ideology. This loved one almost daily talks about dying, has a “perfect plan” that even astounds the psychologist. When I’ve shared that suicide is self-murder, this person will clam up and give a wry smile, and often voice again what a great plan the suicide threat is.
When one is down or blue, the world looks bleak and dark. For instance, I was with this person when a flock of birds lit on some lilies. Seeing the birds chirp to one another and nibble on the blossoms was an incredibly beautiful sight and sound. The depressed one literally walked backward from the scene, insisted we leave to move on to the next event, and didn’t notice the beauty.
A depressed person usually is self-absorbed, lost in thought, unable to effectively communicate with those s/he loves. S/he feels tired, worthless as a human being, has lost interest in activities, can’t concentrate well, and more.
When I’m with the depressed one, it’s a lonely experience. We could be in the car and this person won’t have anything much to say, but stare blankly out the window. I feel so frustrated because the lack of regular, normal human interaction is missing. I have to start conversations, otherwise, for the most part, there’d be silence. I’ll ask this person to start a conversation and the reply? “What do you have to say?”
If the person speaks, it’s random and even bizarre, like focusing on freeway rubble. If I express sadness over the lack of affection and communication, this person literally starts screaming and cursing while the car is in motion. I’ve had to pull over to the side of the road and the loved one is reaching for the door handle, threatening to walk into the forest or onto a freeway offramp—and has done the latter! My loved one bolts from the car, walks to who-knows-where and I have to try and find the person.
The scariest episode was when s/he got out of the car and briskly walked to Santa Fe Dam in Southern California, scaling the dam, heading down the other side, trying to escape. The police were able to find my loved one and s/he made light of the situation, getting the police to laugh right along. But the police did insist I drive, not the other.
I’m at an impasse to know what exactly to do. To just leave this person and go my separate way might bring this one “over the brink” to suicide. To just say nothing doesn’t help but is excruciatingly lonely, as s/he will sit in silence or only talk about the things in this person’s life. If I again express any dissatisfaction with this kind of life, I’m threatened (no need to go into all of it here).
I’ve tried to email this person’s psychologist about the situation, but because of privacy laws, he cannot share if he’s even talked to his client about anything. I don’t know if medications are being taken, but do know appointments aren’t made with a regular physician unless the pain is unbearable. I cannot make an appointment for my loved one, as there’s no assurance s/he will go.
Have you ever lived with a chronically depressed person? Do you have any suggestions what can be done?
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General Musings, Homeschooling, Travel - No Comments » - Posted on October, 19 at 6:19 pm
- QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS by Susan Friesen, Oct. 19, 2007
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I write to quite a few pen pals, as well as e-pals. I thought I’d share some questions winging my way. You’ll get to know me better this way, too. Would you please feel free to ask more questions and I’ll try and respond to you, my great blog friends?
Q: How many people attended the Maui Writers Conference?
A. I believe close to 500 people. The ballroom was full of attendees. You did look at the websites, right, to see the name authors, more about the retreat and conference? www.mauiwriters.com
Q: How did I like kayaking in the ocean?
A. It was fantastic. I’d tried ocean kayaking in the Bahamas during Shivan’s Make A Wish trip. My oldest son, David, and I tried the double kayak in an estuary leading to the ocean. This time, I decided to learn to solo kayak. My instructor was a new immigrant from Israel. He took on about a half dozen new kayakers like myself. If we had troubles, like I did on the way back when the wind whipped-up ocean waves, he’d just tie some of us onto his own kayak and we’d all kayak along in a line. I would love to get my own ocean kayak now!
Q: Do I prefer writing nonfiction?
A. Yes, I’ve gravitated more to nonfiction the past decade. I also prefer reading nonfiction to fiction nowadays, enjoying biographies, memoirs, and essays. I still like fiction, too, but my time reading long novels is quite curtailed, as I’m my daughters’ full-time teacher, busy with home projects, and writing blogs, etc.
Q: Have I ever been on a sailboat?
A. My brother-in-law owned a very expensive sailboat and we went out in it one afternoon. I’ve only sailed a small sabot as a teen. The last sailboat I went on was America II in Maui, a tour. It was the ship involved in the famous America’s Cup yacht races.
Q: Did I take the Reefdancer tour?
A. Yikes! I wish you hadn’t asked that, as I REALLY wanted to see the fish through the glass-bottom boat. Parking in Lahaina, Maui was horrible and I missed the tour by 10 minutes. I’d literally ran across a park to get to the ticket counter, only to hear the lady say, “Sorry!” Fortunately, she didn’t keep the charge on my credit card because I handed her my coupon. Otherwise, my ticket price would’ve been unrefunded.
The last time I’d been on a glass-bottom boat was as a child when our family saw fish, seaweed, and the underwater world off Catalina Island in Southern California.
Q: Do I dive?
A. I wish! I’ve wanted to be a scuba diver ever since I joined the Skin and Scuba Diving Club in high school. I snorkeled a lot, but never could afford scuba. Now that I’m over 50, I still greatly want to scuba, but now I don’t know whom I can learn with.
I may just purchase a sea kayak one of these days and join a local group. Perhaps I’ll make some new friends who’d be willing to be my scuba partner. Another thing I’d like to try is “snuba.” Swimmers don’t wear air tanks strapped to their banks, but depend on air pumped to them from a raft floating on the surface. When taking a snorkeling tour to Molokini crater off Maui, Hawaii recently, I saw some people trying snuba and it looked like fun.
Q: Have I started the girls’ homeschooling yet?
A. Yes, I actually put them to work in early August. Then we had a hiatus (they stayed with a friend and did some light schoolwork for that week when we traveled to TN, then we enjoyed 2 weeks in FL). They’re now working full-speed ahead, enjoying their lessons. We’re concentrating on an American History unit this year. So far, they’ve learned about women soldiers during the Revolutionary War, more about the colonists, Paul Revere and fellow militia with the Sons of Liberty, the Boston Tea Party, and more. We’ll cover early American history up to the Civil War era this school year.
The plan is for me to drive across the USA next summer, then along the east coast. Our two girls with heart transplants will again compete in the U.S. Transplant Games. They and one other girl are the only children competitors on Team USA- Southern California. From what I understand, they’re the only younger competitors in the entire state of California.
They earned gold, silver, and bronze medals in swimming and bowling during the last games held in Louisville, KY in 2006. They also attended the World Transplant Games in London, Ontario, Canada in 2005 and also earned medals in swimming, bowling, and badminton.
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