A Roll in the Universe

I irritated myself the other day. It started with running into my old boss, the man who initially hired me 22 years ago at the company I'm still at. I was happy to see him, with mores lines in his face but still himself, and still blonde, not gray. He gave me a big hug and I got caught up on what his life was like now: Retired, doing consulting work 4 days a week, and apparantly (still) pleased with life. Then he asked me about myself: Was I married? Was I still living in the same place? I answered no and yes, and added "only boring to report". And that's when I irritated myself. My life is not boring! Experiencing no change in marital status or home address over the course of two decades is not the same as boring. It's stable, it's peaceful . I moved house so many times when I was a kid. I can remember three homes before the age of 6, and due to other moves and circumstances, I also have never attended any one school for more than 2 years. I am so happy to ...

Grandma has been transferred from the temporary department of the nursing home to the permanent residency one, and she needs a chest of drawers. So I said I'd clean out one of hers at home and bring it over. Grandma is far more organized in regards to personal possessions than I am, though age brings out the bad habits and short-comings. The two chest of drawers that are in her bedroom are neatly filled; whatever is of value to her actually gets put away. I pulled out all the drawers on both. One had mostly clothes, the other mostly papers so I decided to empty the one with clothes. Papers take too much time to go through. So began my task of going through Grandma's things (I can't stand the thought of someone else doing the same with my stuff, which is one reason why I want to declutter my home - but I digress). The top drawer and top of dresser was full of old cosmetics and skin care products. 99% was trashed. I found a letter from my mother to Grandma, about a painfu...