So, the aught-years draw to a close. What have these years of the 2econd Millennium CE brought me?
- 2001 - Aside from the obvious, my husband's second youngest son got killed in a car wreck near Nairobi, Kenya. Drunk driving was involved. For 2.5 years he was insane. Now his sanity has returned but he is not himself. Losing a child is the most difficult thing; I understand.
- 2002 - A hellish year. My time and energy was mostly spent in getting Simon to eat in between beers and getting together enough cash to be able to wash clothes and buy food and pay rent.
- 2003 - Another year in hell, very similar to the year before until Christmas. Simon suddenly, abruptly came to his senses. He is still grieving, but at least he isn't completely crazy. The rest of the decade is dominated by my health problems, I'm afraid. Early in the year, I fell down into the concrete parking lot carrying clothes to the laundry room. My left forarm was shattered and was rebuilt; I now have 2 (count'em, two) metal bars in my left arm, along with some noticeable scars; I wish I had a good story to go with them!
- 2004 - The year of the gallstones. Gallstones are painful. Very, very painful. I had my gallbladder removed, followed by a second procedure to remove a stone stuck in a duct. The surgery was easy, relatively painless. During the procedure to remove the stone, the doctor mmanaged to scrape my pancreas. OUCH!! I was on liquids only for a couple weeks, then I recovered fine.
- 2005 - On New Year's Day, we moved to where we are still living, a nice house complete with yard and garden in an equally nice residential neighbourhood. The first half of the year was uneventful. In August, I had a mild heart attack (caused by a blood clot, not my weight). On 11 September, Simon had liver failure and was told never to drink alcohol again, advice which he took for a couple years.
- 2006 - One of the landmark years of my life. In April, I had a major stroke and died two times. Twice. Quite reluctantly, I returned. But that is minor compared to what else happened. MY RETURN TO SIKHI. I came back, re-took Amrit and was reunited with my five surviving brothers and my dear Maman ji, Mani's mother. Much else happened, as well, but another important event happened. I came online. Most of the rest is in sometimes - 2, which I refer you to.
- 2007 - Most of my energy was spent on recovering from the stroke.
I need say little here. It's all in the other blog. - 2008 - Moving on, growing. I became a member of the EAB (Editorial Advisor Board at GLZ (Gurmat Learning Zone). Simon started drinking again. Or maybe that was in 2007, I'm not sure. Anyway, his drinking has transformed him from Simon into Shrek. The only thing that happened all year that he approved of was the election of Barack Obama.
- 2009 - This year. The year of the Recession. I became a moderator at GLZ (Gurmat Learning Zone.) Shrek's hours at work were cut and he discovered he could make almost as much money staying home and collecting unemployment, which gives him more time to lay around the house drinking. But all is not lost. This also the year that a dear cyberfriend gave me this wonderful computer. And then the Photoshop CS4 (Extended). I am learning to use that. Evidence: the picture at the top of this post. Should anyone be interested in seeing my artistic attempts, you are in vited to visit My Gallery.
- 2010 - Anything, everything is possible.
JANUARY 2010
The Litterers
Love, love, LOVEEEE the new header!!! Glad to see the finished product of "The Litterers". An absolute masterpiece. Now that I have found a lot more time on my hands, I plan to keep up with this new extension of Sometimes-2. :)
ReplyDeleteAs far as the rest of this post goes, I really have no idea what to say. You are very strong and I admire you for it.
Simon will always be Simon with a heavy side of Shrek, until he wakes up and realizes what's right in front of him, I'm afraid. I understand that losing a child is very, very painful - I've seen it personally happen to my aunt and uncle. But he is lucky, and I'm sure his son would not want him to live like this, and would want his Dad to be happy and remember the good times they shared, knowing they'll be together again someday; that this really isn't "goodbye". Someday, if he really wants to change, he has the strength to, and he has you to help him through whatever challenges he faces along the way.
Chardi kala!!! and Happy New Year!!
Thanks, Lin ji. Thems is some mighty big chicks, eh? Chicks on steroids.
ReplyDeleteAbout Simon/Shrek, you are 100% correct. And he doesn't want to change. As weird as it seems, he seems to revel in being miserable. I have tried to teach him chardi kala; he always agrees and them just reverts back.
Sometimes I do not understand the Hukam of Vaheguru, which is OK, I guess. The Almighty doesn't usually ask my advice on such things.
Chardi kala!
Oh, yeah, definitely!
ReplyDeleteWell, it's his choice, I'm afraid... Sometimes when people live a certain way for so long, it's hard to change. I didn't want to either. But I was convinced. Maybe someday soon your words of wisdom will finally sink in and Simon will want to change. I have hope.
Nor do I. Maybe it's better that way, in the end.
Chardi kala!
Do you realise that Shrek is more than 4 x your age? And at your age, he was already drinking. He might change but I not holding my breath.
ReplyDeleteAnd it is definitely better - in the beginning, the middle and the end - that the Eternal does not consult me.
Chardi kala!
Yes, I realize that. I'm not innocent. I've tried. It's not really for me; don't like it at all. But, I do know that at some point, there's an all-time low. I believe it's called "rock bottom". Since he's been drinking almost all of his life, I think it would take a serious wake up call to make him want to change.
ReplyDeleteA lot more to say, but I need to babysit in a few and that involves going out into the deep snow and sledding. Need to bundle up. I'm gonna miss this.
:) Have a good day.
Chardi kala!
Mai... I don't want to nag, but I thinnk Sometimes-3 needs a new post. There hasn't been one since the last day of December at 3:54 pm. :) I really miss reading your stories. That's why I've been rereading Sometimes-2 every now and then - when the Internet stays connected that is. Lmbo! Anyway, I just kinda wanted to say "hi". I miss talking.
ReplyDeleteTruthfully, I have been working 20 hour days since the Haiti earthquake. Only in the last couple days have I had time to hear myself think. I haven't thought of anything new and interesting to write.
ReplyDeleteAlso, there's some very heavy shite coming down in the Sikh world. It's all terribly complicatesd.