All posts by Dona

In the struggle there is joy

Life, Things

At Andrew and Alex’s engagement party a few years ago they handed out small pieces of paper that had sayings on them — sort of like fortune cookie fortunes. We chose one without seeing the words. Mine was perfect and I suspect that it was written with me in mind. Alex seemed very happy that I received it.

It says:

“I know it’s nagging you, but you should finish that project you started. In the struggle there is joy.”

If you know me it won’t come as a surprise that the project mentioned in the fortune is still a work in progress — I’m still struggling to sort through all the bits and pieces of my mom’s life that I brought back to Bethesda.

I’m getting there — I mostly only have photos left, but there are a few other things I need to decide what to do with.

I’m not sure the struggle is joyful, but when I finish small parts of the project I do feel a bit of joy.

And while this small piece of paper is not part of my mom’s things, it is adjacent to it and I’ve been meaning to blog about it for three-and-a-half years.

1990 Pee Wee Herman Calendar

Humor, Things, , , ,

We went through some boxes while Clare was here and one contained my 1990 Pee Wee Herman Calendar. I remember getting it — my mom gave it to me for Christmas. That might have been the same year she gave me my talking Pee Wee Herman doll and his pal, Chairy.

Of course I kept it.

Here’s January’s image with Pee Wee sitting on Chairy next to Miss Yvonne while Pterri perches on the back of Chairy. Also pictured are Randy, Globey, and Clocky.

Here’s January’s dates page.

Today, January 7th, we are instructed to think about Grandma’s nose.

Hmm. I really don’t remember my grandmas noses.

Grandma Patrick
Grandma Green

They both had pretty typical noses…

I’ll keep this around and post each month’s image if I remember. And maybe reflect on the message for that day.

Rest in Peace, Scoop

Death
Some of the DC area contingent of an online group I belong to.

I learned today that my longtime friend, Scott Butki died in late December.

I “met” him when I joined an online group, but met him in person on October 2, 1999. He’s in the center of the group in back — L to R: Adam (who hosted the event at his Falls Church home), Brad (who passed away in 2018) Scott, Me, George (who died almost ten years ago). Seated in front, is Glen.

Scott and I met up several times over the years, when he was still in the area. We saw Dan Bern perform together once; Scott joined us for Easter dinner about 20 years ago; he house-and-cat-sat for us when we were in Ireland. He was a kind person, a good soul. He was an activist. He loved his cats.

Last February he and I had a long messenger talk — he’d just discovered some things about himself and was glad he could now understand why he was like he was.

Half of the people in this photo are gone, all of them before their time. All of them were good people and should still be around.

Rest in peace, Scott. I hope you are in a better place, or at least free of your pain.