* The Music: Tonight, I’m going electronica. Gert Emmens, an album called “Wanderer of Time”. [1] Emmens is a relative unknown in the US, except in the rather esoteric world of electronica. The album reminds me of Tangerine Dream in it’s heyday. A little escapism, I guess… for reasons you’ll see.
* I see DavidL has made the column of Slate’s Caren Crockett. [2] Cool. Nice to be noticed.
* No word as of this writing about Cathy Seipp [3], though you gotta know what’s happening there…
As earlier mentioned in the comments section, my mother is in the hospital. The doctor says that right now they’re just making her comfortable. She’s sedated, with painkillers among other things. Lungs collapsed so right now we just want to make sure she has dignity and is not in pain. The doctor says she has a couple days left. I want to thank all her readers for reading this blog, her friends for supporting her who made up “Team Cathy.” Through you all, I learned what a true friend was. I’m at her bedside now, holding her hand. I tell her she has 292 comments on the latest blog post..her last but she just squeezes my hand. She was very happy with this blog. In honor of her, if you can…support the American Lung Cancer Society and or adopt stray dogs and cats from the pound. Those were her causes. Thank you all so much. Will keep everyone posted.
I don’t expect good news to be coming out of this. I hate to say it that way, but if you think about it, Cathy has been quite open and honest with us throughout this process, and it almost seems disrespectful to be less than brutally honest about it, now. Longtime readers will know it’s not like me to pull my punches, anyway. So, there is.
I always enjoyed Cathy’s style. We exchanged notes only occasionally, Usually involving something she’d written to which I had a comment. As I say, such correspondence was rare.
Despite the fact that we never really knew each other and hardly spoke, there’s something about what’s happening here, that leaves one with a certain feeling of helplessness. It’s been disheartening these last few months, to watch her health deteriorate, for reasons I’m not sure I have the words to describe to you…
Ya know, I have sat quietly by and watched countless bastards die, who richly deserved their fate. And others who probably didn’t deserve the fate they ended up with. On rare occasions, I’ve commented on both of them. Sometimes kindly, sometimes harsh, and often I’ve been charged with being overly harsh in such situations.
This case, however, is different….. Something special… Because, I think, we’re losing something special, here. Not that she had any particular political insight. I disagreed with her occasionally. Usually not. But that wasn’t her focus. Rather, I think, it had to do with her ability to allow the reader more directly into her thoughts than most writers can do. It’s a rare gift.
(Sigh) And alas, not to be indelicate about this, assuming no changes, it’s about to become a little rarer.
.
* Captain Ed [4] has some comments and a tale to tell…
Last night, I had to have the First Mate sent to the hospital in an ambulance because her blood pressure could not stay under control. She’s in the ICU tonight, and will now likely stay in the hospital until her transplant late next week. The doctors have to stabilize her BP before she can handle the surgery that would stabilize her BP — so our frustration has grown tremendously the last few days.
However, my wife is blessed with a friend who will donate his kidney to save her life. Now that she has the proper supervision, her life is not in danger. I can still call her on the phone and talk with her. She is getting the best medical care available, and it is helping her.
I wish I could say the same for Cathy, and when I read her daughter’s post, the impatience and the frustration I felt all day today melted away. Please join me in prayers for Cathy, her brave and supportive daughter, and the entire Seipp family. They will need them in the days ahead.
It’s true. Both families are in our prayers tonight, and I hope, your own.
Perhaps it’s just as well I don’t add anything more to tonight’s Ramble. I’m not in the mood, anyway.