Hi coffee peeps! When I CAN get online, I go to the thread Kat did in Announcements cuz i never know how long I can be here. I am surprised I have been able to get online tonight since its a saturday night and all of Paradise and Magalia are here and the wifi is probably burning up with usage as is the internet connection.
We are doing ok for now, thanks to the folks at USMB. If not for them, we would be freezing in our car cuz its COLD in the wee hours. Winter is around the corner so sleeping in a van will not be a pleasant experience. We did it before on the central coast, but that cold is not numbing cold like here in Northern Cali. So we are safe in the motel, scummy though it is. Lots of drunks that are not handling the homelessness very well. Most have insurance. The others are like us, though....dependent on people assisting keeping warmth over their heads.
Not in a funny ha ha way, I have been assisting most, the only way I can. Info. I know what its like to lose it all. So I tell them what to do, where to go, who to call, etc. And I also pet sit for those here who saved all their animals. It keeps my mind occupied. MrG already has had 3 panic attacks, plus his knees are worse than usual probably due to stress, and he chipped a tooth yesterday. Or was it today? I forget because although I have not fallen apart yet...it doesn't mean I won't. I'm a tough old broad, but I can only take so much. Once we get permanently settled, THEN I will melt down. I hope. Just not yet.
Anyway..when I can get online, I usually just go to Kats thread in Announcements cuz I never am on long eoung to come here too, so forgive me. I will try to pop in when I can, but for updates, check the thread of Kats.
Hugs to you guys and thank you all for your prayers and support.
I dedicate this poem to Gracie. It's pretty appropriate for one tough lady who takes the weight of others' grief and carries it bravely.
"If—
BY
RUDYARD KIPLING
If you can keep your head when all about you
Are losing theirs and blaming it on you,
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you,
But make allowance for their doubting too;
If you can wait and not be tired by waiting,
Or being lied about, don’t deal in lies,
Or being hated, don’t give way to hating,
And yet don’t look too good, nor talk too wise:
If you can dream—and not make dreams your master;
If you can think—and not make thoughts your aim;
If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster
And treat those two impostors just the same;
If you can bear to hear the truth you’ve spoken
Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools,
Or watch the things you gave your life to, broken,
And stoop and build ’em up with worn-out tools:
If you can make one heap of all your winnings
And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss,
And lose, and start again at your beginnings
And never breathe a word about your loss;
If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew
To serve your turn long after they are gone,
And so hold on when there is nothing in you
Except the Will which says to them: ‘Hold on!’
If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue,
Or walk with Kings—nor lose the common touch,
If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you,
If all men count with you, but none too much;
If you can fill the unforgiving minute
With sixty seconds’ worth of distance run,
Yours is the Earth and everything that’s in it,
And—which is more—you’ll be a Man, my son!"
