I needed to make some professional changes for a reason I'll mention next. I tried working as a BIA (now BISHA? Behavior Intervention Assistant) for the local school district in three different schools in both the 2023-2024 and 2024-2025 school years, but some "promises" made by the school district were either not realized or denied, and I had too many other goals in my life to stay put. Yes, we needed the income. But I love to write, anything about writing, and discovered something that has changed me, my opportunities, and my life. I am now certified as a freelance
General Proofreader! I already have people who want me to proofread their manuscripts, and I think it will be delightful to serve others while doing something I really enjoy.
General Proofreader! I already have people who want me to proofread their manuscripts, and I think it will be delightful to serve others while doing something I really enjoy.
My father was elderly when we came to live with him, but he did well because of my wonderful, nutritious cooking (LOL), and my twenty-five years of experience with nursing. He had several serious health problems, most caused by the thing he hated the most: smoking. (Please don't smoke. It ruined a good part of his life.) He died in October 2022 of emphasyma/COPD and heart disease, likely caused by the tobacco. At least he believed it destroyed his health. I won't bore or stress anyone with the details, but his passing was both unexpected (on the day it happened) and expected (he was 95 and in poor health). I will state that virtually every organ he had was troubled by something. Age does that to some people who live a long time.
Dad and mom were insistent that the home remain mine--enough that my name was on the deed before I even knew about it and before my husband and I moved in to take care of Dad. The home was purchased cash outright, so other than property taxes, we owe nothing on it. What a rare and beautiful privilege. We love our redwoods and our Pacific Ocean coastline, and it's helped us so much with the strains of financial uncertainty in difficult times.
My Dad, my hubsand, and I got COVID around the same time in 2022, and I am fairly convinced that Dad suffered from the long COVID. He never did get back his breathing, despite the fact that he wasn't that ill. I was a lot sicker. Still, his oxygen levels kept dropping, his breathing more anxious, and his satisfaction with life depressed. He could hardly walk anywhere without getting dizzy, couldn't drive, and couldn't do much of what he had always loved to do. I had to take him to his doctor appointments, and he had many before the end. I miss him every day. He was a stern man, a professional who didn't put up with anything less than top notch effort, but he was so very, very good to me and my husband and quite a character.
It took a year to settle everything as best we could, including having to make some necessary, costly repairs on the home. My hubby would love to retire, but Social Security is never enough (remember that if you're still working and can save/invest!), and we lost our investments in the 2008 crash--never recovered them. So that means we work until we follow in Dad's footsteps, or at least for as long as we can.
That said, there is a famous quote from Marc Athony that says, "If you do what you love, you'll never work a day in your life." I plan to write until I drop over, so I guess I will work without working. Sounds great to me.
Leave any comments and questions, and enjoy your day!
My dad, carrying his younger brother on his back. Weren't they both handsome guys?
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| Dragons' Inferno, Book 2 in the Dragon Unchained Trilogy |
