So many writer friends share their lives with their many fans, either on Facebook or through blogs. I never saw much reason for that. For one, because I don’t think I have many readers who really want to know about my life. For two, I don’t blame them since my life is not the thing of excitement. I’m pretty much the ‘before’ in all the tales of great things happening. You know, The Shire while Frodo was growing up.

this sort of snow
But recently a friend asked me something about how I was dealing with living alone, with the death of my husband (in 2012 but you never really get over it do you?) I hadn’t thought before how much my experiences might help someone else ‘of a certain age’ in the same circumstances. Maybe not only ‘of an age’ but feeling a bit out of touch with the world around us. I’ve learned recently that many of us are dealing with what life throws in our paths. Like a you’ve got to be kidding snow storm…The Town of Edgewood had 39.75″ of snow. What to do?
You just do. Before the storm you make sure you’ll have enough food for people and pets, enough water (I haul my own) snow shovels at every entrance. My neighbor plows the road past my house, and I shovel out enough to keep my back porch clear plus help create paths for the dogs, plus clean up from the car to the lane. You stay in touch with neighbors and friends so you have a safety net.
It’s high plains, a combination of wind and cold and not enough moisture. So we take a deep breath and deal, because we need however much water we can have gifted to us.
Then the very talented Zoe York shared the following on her Facebook page :
“Nobody talks about how ugly taking care of yourself can be.
Yes, sometimes it’s taking a warm bath and texting memes to friends and keeping an aesthetically pretty journal.
Sometimes it’s crying silently on your couch at 3am, hugging yourself and reminding yourself that you’re a good person.
Self care is not always ‘aesthetic’ and cute… and that’s ok. Don’t be embarrassed, just do what you need to do.” —pocketbucky #ThingsToNeverForget: I found the source here

Sometimes I let the world around me help
Oops it’s past our bedtime, the wind is wicked out there and we’re either going to have slight rain showers tomorrow or another short round of WEATHER.
Hi, my friend. I’m with you living with-god bless my daughter and my grandest grandaughter-age ten., I write, do the best with what I have. Somehow I have found a way to care for all the cats and dogs and chicken’s before I scrunch into my personal life. At age 64, my sweetheart died suddenly. Yes, it sucks to have lost him but I go on the way and have made a good life. Thinking of you as the snow flies here in this charming town not far from the big city.
Charmaine Gordon
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I didn’t realize how much I’d rely on Facebook (which didn’t exist when I moved to Roswell) to keep in touch with people, but boy, I do now! Writing is such a lonely occupation, it’s the only way I get to communicate with most of my friends. And I’ve made lots of new friends on FB, too. Don’t Tweet or Instagram or anything, but I appreciate FB a whole lot. Roswell’s kinda out of the way, you know? Hope I can keep driving and caring for myself for several years, but who the heck knows what life has in store?
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totally sucks but we keep going. Snow flurries have become snow showers so we hunker down again. I’m not religious but I do believe we are all part of a grand scheme and our role is not yet finished
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life is what you make it. Mona, you and I have a touch of life since our husbands moved on to another world. I think of my guy often, sometimes he is still close to me and my children talk about him, his humor and the cuteness part of him. Thinking of you, my friend. I write books, therapy dogs and humor.
Best always from Charmaine Gordon
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