2007-01-12

This was a good work day! In spite of having a very active IC day which entailed much dashing to the bathroom, I got the work Ian needed done on the Book of Days after Morning Offering. I believe that the text for that entire book is now finished! Ian needs to attend to some details which remain, like the book’s covers. We have a beautiful image from Michele M but are not sure it will work. And the back cover has no reviews. I gave a copy of the manuscript to Fr. Joe to read before Christmas. I need to remind him that it would be handy to have his words about now!

After lunch with Mick and stretching together with him, I worked again on Chapter Three of The Choice. I switched out the first quotation after a lengthy search for a good substitute, as I did not feel the previous choice really hit the mark. This is better!

I believe I am happy with the chapter as it is but will take one more solid look at the text before finalizing it. I am a bit jittery about the chapter because I read it to Mick after our bath and he fell asleep halfway through! He assured me that he was very weary and was falling asleep before I started but somehow it shook my confidence! I don’t want my readers dozing off because of dull prose. Of course the topic of mind and consciousness is not precisely a hot subject for most people!

I took some time to work on my desk clutter again today. I think doing about an hour a day is good there. There is much to do, including Christmas thank yous and responses to many friends’ Christmas notes. Today I sorted through all the Christmas cards to cut out images that I can use in making cards for Dana R. she is in for a siege with the cancer and I would like to generate a series of little cards to make her smile.

I can create home-made cards cheaply and easily by cutting images out of cards I have received, the newspaper and magazines. I have done this sending of cards for other friends going through the last stages of cancer and they have really appreciated that sense of being kept in mind. I even have a name for my cards: Kick Ass Cards. I say, do not go gently into that good night – go out laughing and saying Halleluiah!

It is interesting to note that these friends, now gone on, have all shared with me their feeling of being abandoned by their friends. Many people do not want to deal with their friends after they get cancer. It is almost as though they are afraid it is catching. At any rate, when hospice is involved with a friend, I know it’s time to make some cards for her or him.

Jim, Gary and I enjoyed a quiet party in the evening, celebrating the work week’s end, before Gary went to Valerie’s for a late date. Jim and I always find other work to do on the weekend, but reserve the right to do alternative chores and move the energy around on the weekend. And I believe that for Jim, there is still some football to behold. It is good to lift up from The Schedule and work in some leisure time.

We offered the Gaia Meditation, had a late supper and found our beds around midnight.