Tony’s Corner

A favorite pic of Mom…

So today is Mom’s birthday, she would have been 82. I find it rather odd that I let myself schedule a sailing trip to start today of all days. Maybe I should have put today aside, but I didn’t. Maybe that’s part of the milestones becoming less off-putting than previous years. Or maybe there was another reason I don’t even know about yet.

It’s not due to forgetting her birthday or anything like that. I have been thinking about my mom quite a bit lately, and not just because of her upcoming birthday. It’s because I found myself feeling guilty. Guilty because I promised myself that I’d write a piece about a strange or funny experience that I shared with her on the anniversary of her death back in July. Much like what I did with Pop on his birthday. Though I had tons of material and memories to pick from, I found myself just not being inspired to write about any of them. Which I found both strange and frustrating.

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So after getting back to the hotel from the police station, we parted ways at the elevator. We make the plan for Pam and Bethany to wake me up at 7:00. We’ll have breakfast, get to the police station at 8 to get the passport back, and hopefully put an end to this ordeal. I stayed up and did the poker grind for a couple more hours before finally turning in.

Next morning, my room phone rings, and it’s Pam. She says that it’s about 7, and they were going to come down in a few after getting ready. I groggily acknowledge and hang up. In my half-dazed sleepy stupor, I caught a glance at my cel phone laying close to my head on the bed. I notice that it says that it’s only TEN AFTER SIX!!! What the??? I call Pam back and curtly tell her that it’s only about six, we still have an hour! She shamelessly responds to that saying that they didn’t have a clock, and she just assumed it was close to seven! They had been using Bethany’s Itouch as the alarm clock and it was obviously no longer in her possession. I grunt and hang up, thinking that I have some snooze time. (more…)

So Pam, an almost lifelong friend from school, and her daughter Bethany came down to Panama for a weeklong church project that was going on up in Veraguas in mid-August. The idea was to do the week there, and then come down to Andiamo for a few days, then do a few days in the city before heading back for Florida. The timing was good, because I had space on an upcoming trip for them, and I could use some good company going through my post-Karen blues. So there was going to be fun times in store, and maybe an adventure or two. (more…)

As much as I didn’t want it to happen, Karen and I had to part ways, and she had to leave Andiamo not long ago. There were just too many forces at play that kept her from staying aboard, and being with me. It’s been a rather sad time for me to deal with her not being around anymore. Especially after she’d become such an integral part of my life. Not to mention how important she’d become to keeping Andiamo’s stuff together.

While I’m dealing with the sadness, I also find myself feeling extremely fortunate for having had the time we did have together. Meeting her when I did was a breath of fresh air. She has brought me so much joy, love, happiness and laughter (and yeah, some drama, but interesting drama) over the past 18 months or so, that I can’t feel anything but fortunate. Her support for when things were not going so well with me, got me through the rough spots. She was always there for me. I hope my being with her gave her at least half as much.

Rather than lament any further, I figured I’d put up a cute little clip that I had been wanting to put up for some time now. I guess this is as appropriate a time as ever to show this.

Thanks Karen, for everything. I love you and will miss you more than you will ever know. Muchos Besos!