It's Friday - We Have a Pope

Good morning one and all. It's quite a day in the life of Catholics world-wide - they have a new Pope, and he's a Naturalized American, originally from Peru. He's actually slightly younger than I am, which makes me feel a bit old this morning - LOL. But I'm quite sure the job will weigh him down and age him prematurely. It seems to do that for everyone in the office. 

So, we have a new Pope - Pope Leo XIV. He's 
originally from Peru, and is a naturalized 
American citizen who is fluent in Spanish, 
English and Italian. That should serve him 
very well. My only hesitation with him is that 
he was from the Chicago diocese, and they had 
a massive sex scandal there within the church. 

Today will be a day of this and that. I need to take an inventory of available food, and I might have to pull a few things out of my refrigerator and find room for them in my little portion of the freezer. Sunday is Mother's Day as well as my birthday, and DH wanted to know if I wanted anything specific for dinner - something that could cook while we're at the gardening center in the early morning and planting the garden for the afternoon. I decided on ribs, so he went out to find some and found two lovely racks. Ribs are such an easy choice. Pull out the slow cooker, put each person's ribs in their own section along with their own BBQ sauces, put on the cover and set it to cook for 6 hours on high. The meat will fall off the bones. So good! 

I actually have two different shirts coming to me, 
one of which is this one. I suspect this will be the one 
I will choose to wear. It's totally classic Jim 
Morrison. 

My oldest niece has requested that we all (as much as possible) wear vintage Rock and Roll t-shirts to the Ceremony of Life that we'll attend towards the end of the month. My nephew loved music, rock and roll in particular. His obituary (which won't be published until Sunday, but my niece put it out for the family to read a bit early) states ... "Mike was ... an avid lover of heavy metal music, agates and coin collecting, also his love for his reptiles, hockey and fantasy football". There's also a Go Fund Me campaign to help his family with expenses. I'll have to point that out to DH later this morning over breakfast. I'm sure he'll want to contribute. But ... since Michael enjoyed heavy metal music so much, Catie has requested those attending the Celebration of Life later this month, to wear rock music t-shits. Jim has quite a few, but the only one I want to wear is the group I loved when I was growing up - The Doors. So, I found a vintage concert t-shirt in my size at a reasonable price on-line, and it's being shipped to me via Priority Mail. Whoot! 

I haven't had a new passport in a LONG 
time. When I went to England with Sharon 
in the 80's, I was still using the old passport 
I had from High School days. That's long 
expired. 

Today will be a catch-up day. I need to pay some bills, check my bank balances, download and start filling out the paperwork for my official name change (again ... I've done this before, but shredded it when DH hit the roof). I double-checked my name with Social Security yesterday morning and it's exactly as I thought it should be. Now to get everything else in order so that I can get an enhanced driver's license and a passport. I'm herding my ducks, and they're starting to get in order. *Hugs* to all of you and I'll be back on Saturday to wrap up the week. Slava Ukraini. 

Death Is Always Hard to Digest

Yesterday, at 7:30 am, my oldest nephew died. I could use a lot of other words - passed, eased, etc. But the fact is that his body finally decided the constant pain of his cancer simply wasn't worth the battle any more. He never regained consciousness, so that was a blessing. The family will gather together for a Celebration of Life towards the end of the month. I'm fairly sure Michael will be cremated, although I can't say for sure about that. I do know that this has hit my nieces and nephews very hard. Hell ... it's hit all of us very hard. 

A photo of Michael in better days. I haven't seen him 
since Christmas 2023, but he was in a lot of pain then, 
and had already aged a decade or more (seemingly) 
since this photo was taken. But this photo was actually 
within the past five years. What a change over time! 

Michael, as the oldest of the kids, was the one that everyone looked to for answers and guidance. Catie, his younger sister, is also the one that the others look to, and now she's the oldest. So much to think of, and so much to do. I'm in the middle of my own whirlwind, and I need to make sure it dovetails with any others in the family that it may impact. 

So much to do, and yet I can't really do anything to 
help Catie and the other kids. I'm a voice at the end of 
the phone if needed, but I'm in that older generation 
that they don't belong to. 

Today DH and I start out with a quick visit to our lawyer. It's a meeting that's been on the schedule for several weeks, so not an "off the cuff" meeting. As I recall, it's dealing with our investments and property to get things like wills, etc, ironed out and written down. Again - something necessary. This afternoon I have an appointment with my orthodontist for some minor work, and I was supposed to get my treadmill fixed today, but the time they had suggested will intersect with the orthodontic appointment, so the treadmill fix has been pushed off yet again. 

In the end we are all leaves caught in the 
whirlwind of life - destined to fly high 
and eventually, come back to the ground, 
our Mother. 

And, of course, I need to make a quick inventory of my food supplies in the refrigerator. I actually think I'm set for the remainder of the week, which would be wonderful and would mean a minimal trip to the grocery store today. Life doesn't stop, even when it seems as if it should. I'm off to the pool. Have a wonderful Wednesday. I'll be back tomorrow. Slava Ukraini.