Monday, 12/3/18
As noted, this is a blog about the experiences of an older man, newly widowed, adjusting to life as a bachelor at age — shall I be coy? Naw. Age 76. A healthy 76; after all, I ran my usual 4K jogging route this morning without stopping.
Just a day ago
Let’s get real. As I write it was just over 24 hours ago that the extremely polite men from the mortuary contracted by the Neptune Society carefully and respectfully wrapped Marian’s body and wheeled it out of the house where we’d lived together for 45 years. She loved this house and more than once said she wouldn’t leave it alive, and like most things she said, she was right.
Her end was not at all unexpected; she and I were in no kind of denial about her diagnosis, or the reason she was being cared for by hospice nurses, not regular doctors, or the steady deterioration in her strength.
I’ve had several months to think about and pre-plan my transition to codger-hood — since her diagnosis in April, really, and more intensely since the oncologist said “there’s nothing more to do” back in September. I’ve got quite a list of policy decisions and possible actions to take during this transition — a transition I expect will take more than a year, or might never end.
One of the early decisions was, “blog it”, and I set up this blog weeks ago. (I was delighted to find that “codgerville.net” was available.) No, I didn’t tell Marian I’d done it. We did talk about my future as a bachelor, and she had several very sound suggestions. But it seemed a little presumptuous to take actual steps.
In hindsight, an amazing amount of stuff has gotten done in that 24 hours. On the principle of not making a blog page too long, I think I’ll break off here.
Codgerville 