One of the women I dated in college, uh, went to Hope, and so I spent a fair amount of time in Holland, Michigan in the early to mid-2000s. And it felt like such a magical place and a magical time, and I kinda felt it at that time, too. So she would often take me out to Holland State Park. Especially early in the relationship, that, that courting phase, that honeymoon period. Um, and I was actually just telling my youngest brother about this this weekend.  I remember her taking me down to Holland State Park, 2004. And we were playing frisbee, and I'm really bad at frisbee. Right on the shoreline of Lake Michigan, there. I, I had just had the classic problem, which is when I throw the frisbee, it just turns sideways in the air and loses its -- just kinda curves down into the ground. But she was pretty good with a, with a frisbee, I remember. So, wanting to impress her in the most naïve late teens, early 20s type of way, I thought in my head, if I wasn't a good frisbee thrower, I could be a good frisbee catcher. Which basically just means I'm a golden retriever, it means I'm a dog. So there'd be certain times where, you know, she would throw the frisbee a little higher and I would let it float up there a little bit and then I would jump up to grab it. Because I, I was a basketball player, so I was like, "Here's what she'll like: me jumping high to grab something." Um, that was my game at the time. And then another time, I remember, she was pretty good at throwing the frisbee, but one time she overthrew me pretty well. Like, tossed it over my head, and instantly, I was like, "Ooh, I can chase this one down. She probably thinks I won't, but I'm gonna get there." So I broke out into a dead sprint and, you know, it's kinda hard 'cause you're, like, barefoot in sand, and so. Um, but like a wide receiver, I went and chased that thing down and, uh, I caught it. However, I ran out of real estate and I had run into those giant, like, boulder rocks that are right on the edge of, like, a pier's walkway. Stabbed my toe on one of those…

I actually had a really bad, almost car crash scare on Friday, so I guess I'm gonna talk about that a little bit. So I was driving to school and I had two exams that day. I had to take my math analysis HL exam and my chemistry HL exam for my IB diploma. And while I was driving to school, I, like, got really close to this one road, that's like near a major road, and a big red truck makes a turn out of a gas station, right in front of me. I had literally, like, maybe two seconds tops to figure out what I was doing and I managed to save myself. But here's the thing -- I don't know why that red truck thought that he could turn because I was right there and he was making a left, and, like, there was someone in that left lane so like I couldn't -- I had to pull up onto the right curb. My car got a little bit scuffed up and I was honestly just, like, in shock, like shaking, frozen, not feeling all the best after that whole incident. So I was kind of like, “Oh my gosh.” Like, I literally felt like I almost died. And then I had to drive up to the school and immediately take a math test. So here is the ironic thing is that last year, around the time of finals, I got into a car crash, somebody rear ended me and my car got totaled. And that day was the day of my chemistry test, like my chem final. And the funny thing was that later in that afternoon, I was taking the chem IB exam. And you're probably thinking, “Okay? So, what did having to take the math exam have to do with it?” Well, because I was like, very high stress about math and my math exam was the next day, and like, I went home and I couldn't study ‘cause my car was like, totaled, it was destroyed. I was freaking out and not having a good time at all. So I ended up talking to my teacher and asking if I could have an extra day so I could study the day before the exam before my math final. So I took the chemistry final though, on the day of my car crash and…

I remembered a time that I was outside and get caught in a storm. I had walked over in our neighborhood to get ice cream with my husband and our friend, and it was a beautiful sunny day, perfect for ice cream. We, you know, took a leisurely stroll, had a very nice time. We get our ice cream and we're walking back, and it was literally, like, the snap of your fingers, went from beautiful sunny skies to torrential rain just pouring down. I don't think I've ever seen something switch that quickly. There was not a cloud in the sky, no hint that there was gonna be a storm. And so we obviously were completely unprepared and we were probably only two blocks from our house. And, so we took off sprinting back to the house. And it didn't matter, within a second we were completely drenched through so rushing made no difference. Although, it does feel unnatural to walk in rain like that and not attempt to get out of it. So, I suppose we would’ve done that regardless. But we got back and we were all just, like, soaked completely through. Um, and, you know, obviously, got changed and warmed up, but that was I think the only time I've been outside and got caught in something like that just because there was no, um, hint that was gonna happen. There was no -- nary a dark cloud in the sky.

She passed very quietly and she just ran down. That was kind of the way it was with my dad when he died, that she -- he had been in this coma state for about 14 hours, I think. And my mom had been standing beside him holding his hand for practically the whole time. And I finally talked her into going and sitting down in another room in a recliner to rest. And the nurse told me, as I was going back into his room, she says, "Sometimes people need permission to go, that they can't let go until they know that everything will be all right." And so I went in, and it was just me and one other person who was sitting off to the side. And I went in and took my dad's hand, and I told him that I would take care of mom, that she could come live with us, that anything that she needed, that I would take care of her, and that he didn't have to worry because she would always have a place to live with us. And he never took another breath. That was all he needed to hear. He just needed to hear that mom would be okay. And that's what was keeping him from doing his transition.  So, so, if you ever are with a loved one, who is passing, I always encourage people -- uh, sometimes I'm with people who, um, they are with their loved one, but they want somebody else with them. Like, one time, there was a, a teenage boy who was the only family member with his father who was passing, and he did not want to be there alone. And so, we took turns, their vigil companions, we took turns being with him, with his father, so that he wouldn't be alone. And whenever I'm with someone, I always encourage them to talk to your loved one, tell them you love them. Don't bring up bad things that they need to worry about, obviously, but talk to them. Tell ‘em you love them. Tell ‘em about your family. Not too long ago, I was with a woman who was with her mother, who was passing, and she was just nervous, ‘cause she didn't understand the death process and just didn't know what to expect and she just needed somebody there to kinda…

We all have tempers, and mine used to be kind of epic at times. I still get mad and very angry when I get forgotten about. My husband this year forgot my birthday and it's not like it changes and it's not like he hasn't been dealing with it for 50 years, but he didn't do anything for my birthday and I really let him have it. I was not happy. And he could have done so many different options. And I had already gotten his birthday present, and he actually had already received it that day. And he had the option of saying, "Oh, I forgot your birthday. What would you like, or what would you like to do?"  He could have done any of those things, I'm fairly flexible, but he didn't do any of them, he just pretended it didn't happen. And yeah, he's going to pay for that one for a long time. He's done it before. He's forgotten my birthday. And I think every so many years he just does it to see what will happen, but it really pisses me off. And I am not -- of all the things that I do, that, I think, is the thing that makes me the most angry. Especially made me angry this year because I had gotten him a really great birthday present. And he had already received it. His birthday's two weeks after mine, but this present came and I couldn't hide it. So, I gave it to him. So, there he is, and he has his beautiful suncatcher present that's out in the front lawn doing its thing, going around and around and it's really cool. And he hasn't done anything for me. So it's -- yeah, that's been fun. He did yesterday on Mother's Day, give me a very nice Mother's Day present. He said that was supposed to make up for it, which I'll give him some slack on that ‘cause that's -- he’s done that before too.

When I saw the word prank, I thought about how my friends in high school for, for some reason, I don't know why they do this -- they did this, but one day, they came in and they took all of my stuffed animals.  So you have to understand, like, it -- I lived in a small town. And our house was always unlocked, and my friend just lived about a block and a half away. So, you know, it wasn't a big stretch for them to say, “Oh,” you know, like, “just go over to [diarist name’s] house.” They must have known that we weren’t home but that the house would be unlocked and they went up to my bedroom and they took all my stuffed animals and took them, like, I don't know where. But the wild thing was -- is that when I got home, I saw there was like, just a stuffed animal randomly on our back steps. And I was really puzzled by this. Because I, I was like, you know, “Did our dog, like, grab a stuffed animal?” It -- that’s nothing that the dog had ever done before. Had shown no interest in my stuffed animals. But I just assumed that's what it was. And then I guess I never went upstairs for like, the rest of the day. And my -- so my friends were, like, so disappointed. They pulled off this kinda funny prank and I completely didn't get it ‘cause I didn't go up and notice.

One of the important lessons that I learned about myself, when I vacationed in Japan in March, was that I have a balance problem. I sort of knew it but was not really paying it a lot of attention because it really was not interfering with my lifestyle that much. But when I went to Japan in March, and I was walking through camellia gardens, I found myself needing to walk on hillsides because Japan is a series of islands that are volcanic and, therefore, that are slopes. And also shallow roots made it a tripping hazard to, to walk through camellia gardens that were interspersed with pine trees. Pine trees are a -- provide a natural mulch. The needles fall off the pine trees and mulch the camellias below, but then, there are shallow roots that one can trip on. And I was -- became very afraid of falling. In fact, I often asked some of the gentlemen in our tour to let me hold their arms while I was walking through the gardens because I was afraid that I was gonna fall down. There was a very kind lady in our tour who noticed that I was having a problem walking, and she told me that she had brought along an extra walking cane. And she said she didn't need it but she brought it just in case. And she said, "Would you like me to lend you my walking cane?" And I said, "Yes, ma'am. That would just be wonderful." So she lent me her walking cane, and I used it for the rest of the tour.