i just got a call from my friend Marlene.
Her beloved Miro died last (?) Fri.
She(they) have had such a difficult (?)6 years.
She still maintains her NYC apt, but partly moved in with him (?) 10 plus years ago (a few hours north of NYC).
Their house partly burned down around 6 years ago. They moved into a smaller one, and were slowly having people contracted out to work on it.
He was a stone worker & restoration person. He'd watch over the rebuilding when he could.
Because they didn't always have real extra money the rebuilding has taken longer than originally planned/ hoped for.
In the mean time their dog died (she's been really sad about that), she got cancer in her leg - completely taken out /no rad or chemo about 2 years back. Then she got lyme disease last year, and she feels it still hadn't been totally taken out. She thought it was acting up more again.
She 's been
hating the job she's had for (?)30 yrs or so more & more these past several years . With cut backs and stuff,
she keeps asking for more help- but they really haven't sent an extra person to work the phones at the time that she really needs them to.
She was
so hoping, and praying that she could retire on her pension this year or the next, and
concentrate solely on her artwork. She's a poet, and that hasn't been usually too much of a problem to continue pursuing ,
but drawing & painting is more physically intense.
If you're too tired/unfocused you
can't really work well for long, or at all except maybe rudimentary sketches to jot down for future working on. ANd she's usually been too tired to do any reall finished work, maybe not even sketching.
So now she has TWO houses to close down etc. I know he has a cousin, a daughter (i think from previous marriage), and friends up there who'll hopefully help her. She's still arranging the funeral. They never got married, but since they've been together a fairly long time.... I don't know if they have "common-law marriage" status so she can get whatever money from the sale of the houses, furniture etc. so at least she can set up a little nest egg, some financial cushioning if nothing else.
My fear for her is that she's going to get sick again though grief, AND the feeling that she's now trapped for x more years in that job.
I'll call her back tonight and see how I can help.
Problem is getting from a bus stop to the house. They would pick me up. She really doesn't know how drive, I don't think b/c she never owned a car.
What ever she might have started to learn out in the 'burbs, where her family moved to when she was pretty young hasn't been used b/c she moved into Manhattan to go to Art College when she was (?) 17.
So please keep her in your
prayers and good wishes/vibes.
Thank you in advance.
S
They're waiting for final tests results.
