sell by date

Featured by tresswann

Most of my life I’ve been obsessed with the obituaries. Children have a natural fascination with death and gore. The first headline I remember reading was about Marilyn Monroe’s death. Well, it was easy. I guessed from the size of the words. I liked reading the obituaries because they were little stories. I have always liked stories. After a while, I stopped reading them. There were better stories to read and it was slightly morbid.

I started reading them again in late middle age. This was because I had to see who among my friends parents had passed away.

I stopped reading that because it was easier to find information on Facebook.

Now, I view the ages of people who have died when I read the news. I calculate how much older or younger they are than me. Are they my age? Maybe they are five years older or eight years older. If they die at 93, it means they are 25 years older. That is such a long time, but it is such a short time.

It’s like life. There are very few transitions. At one time, I went from attending my friends’ weddings to attending their children’s weddings. There was no break in between. The obituaries have become that way. It is not so much the obituaries as Facebook. It seems that every week someone from my childhood dies. These are usually not my friends. My friends have not had a timeline. They have been leaving since my 20s. It has been a joke that men who date me and leave me die. Just about all my past relationships are literally dead. It no longer upsets me. It’s just a fact.

I was brought up not to disclose my age in public. I have been very lucky in that for the most part I do not look my age. I don’t believe that is true anymore, but people assure me that they are surprised at how old I am. My mother always pretended to be 10 years younger than she really was and she always got away with it. One of her friends was shocked to find out when my mother passed that she was the same age as her mother, exactly. They were literally born on the same day. The age numbers never bothered me because I did have that genetic gift. However, even though I must say that I looked fantastic at 60, it felt off putting somehow. 65 was a game changer. I moved into the last checkbox the demographic selection. I began to feel that time was finite.

I was at a school reunion about 20 years ago. One of my classmates said, “We’d better make the best of it. We are in the last third of our life.” I wasn’t buying it. I felt young and vital. Indeed, I was. I laughed at his statement at the time but once I passed the last milestone birthday, it became very real to me. Time had finally become finite. There was going to be an end to the chapter. And as I had discovered when I was 18, I was not going to know what it was.

There is a group for women over 50. In one of their promotional videos, there is a woman who wants to stay “juicy”. I was definitely juicy at 50. I was anxious to join that group. I went to a local organizing meeting and they tried turning me away at the door. “Honey, this group is for women over 50.” It reminded me of the time that a boyfriend and I went with the gay couple to a gay bar. Another hand came in between us, “This is a gay bar, kids.”

Recently, I heard on my radio station that the average life expectancy in the US right now is 77.9 years. Time is finite. I now have a sell by date. It’s not the expiration date. We have been educated that the sell by date really means “best used by”. The same can even be said for the expiration date. These dates have become very real for me. The clock is ticking.

My mother came from a family that had “gifts”. She wanted no part of that. Fortune telling and future telling were strongly looked down on. She always related the story of someone having her palm read and being told that they could not find the future line and walking out and being killed immediately by a bus. She believed that one did not need to know about the future. It makes sense. Every day should be lived as if it is your last. This is easier said than done. None of us can know when our time is over. Just because statistics say I only have another nine years means nothing.

What I am going to do with those remaining years is important. For quite some time, I have been considering the best use of my time every day. This now has taken on a greater urgency. My friends and I laugh that time is moving so quickly. One week starts before it seems the previous one has ended. Days blur. Remember when you were a child and it seemed like forever until Christmas? Or your birthday? I heard something recently that said time moves slower when you were younger because you were learning something every day. I still try to learn something every day and sometimes I actually do. However, it does not stop the gallop of time.

I feel an enormous amount of pressure now to make the best use of my time. It is interesting to consider what that might be. I have been writing for years. I had a manager 20 years ago who told me I never complete anything. I’ve always tried to be open to criticisms from managers from whom I am parting. For example, my first manager in fashion told me I was not proactive enough. I did not make that mistake again. However, I have to concede that I do not finish things. I’ve been thinking about the reasons why this might be. My father was a writer and very critical of me but he has been gone for 20 years. Plus, in his last year of life, he told me not to wait until he died to write but to do it now. I did not follow his advice. I am writing now. I am still not finishing. This is something I must do. I have always maintained that fear is natural and must be acknowledged. Fear should not stop you. I have been afraid in my life many times and just sucked it up and got on with it. However, submitting my writing for publication totally terrifies me in a way that I am not familiar. I need to get this done. My grandmother always said that I lived on “put off street”. I need to move!

There are other considerations as well. I love to read. I have been reading less in later years. It is something that soothes me. I used to read several books a week. This year, it looks like it will be only one a week. I have more time than when I was working So what is the problem? How do I find the time for my preferred drug?

Working. I have finally decided not to look for employment. This has been a very difficult decision. It has been based more on my physical condition than attitude and need. Now that I have my sell by date, it definitely falls to the bottom of the pile. I feel a certain amount of grace because my time is limited. This does not mean that I will not work for money again. If I do work again for money, it will be something that comes to me not something that I seek. Who knows? I may even sell a story or two.

Move is a word that’s problematic for me. I have become increasingly immobile. This has also led me to the decision to just stop actively looking for work. My body is betraying me. I thought for the most part I had treated it well. OK, I have had a massive chocolate addiction. I have been able to get it somewhat in check in the last decade or so. I was not pleasingly plump for a while. This usually happened when I was unhappy. I have had periods of unhappiness throughout my life. Plus, it was a delayed adolescent rebellion. Weight was always important to my parents because my aunts were morbidly obese and my mother was manic about her weight and appearance. However, only four short years ago when I was examined by a Medicare physician, I was told that I was one of the healthiest Americans he had encountered. I exercised more or less faithfully for most of my life. If I didn’t belong to a gym, I did an enormous amount of walking. Walking has always been my happy place. I no longer have that. My condition is impacting all areas of my life. I can no longer type, cook or walk. We all know that age will catch up to us eventually. My mother exercised regularly until just after her 79th birthday. Her deterioration was sudden and unexpected. She had definitely done everything right. However, we all realize, even she did, that as we age certain things slow. I am not slowed so much has come to a grinding halt. I do my best not to let it stop me. Of course, it does. What cannot be cured must be endured.

I wish someone would have let me know that I would not always be able to feel my body moving quickly. That one day I would no longer be able to feel the wet sand on my bare feet as I walked along the water’s edge. It’s funny how lust changes along the way. I used to lust over men, clothing and money. Now, I lust after shoes. I see people on TV or in the street and I want their shoes! I watch programs with beautiful stairways and I mourn. No one would have been able to tell me that when I was younger.

Clothing is another thing that changed for me as I got older. I used to be very forward. I had my pulse on something. It was undefined but I usually was a step ahead. Then I became a sort of contemporary classic. My mother had told me that I would grow into things. So, I began to rock Chanel type jackets, Calvin Klein pantsuits, beautiful suits in jeweled colors. Elastic waisted pants were for old fat people or going to the gym. Now, the least path of resistance is elastic. I do not like what I wear. I am succumbing to old age.

Another thing I was brought up to do was to give back. I still do that. I tutor a child. This gives me great joy. It is a gift to help a child be able to read and thus discover new worlds and new possibilities. I will not give this up. It is worth the time. I also volunteer. Right now, I am on my HOA board. It almost amuses me because I bring my experience to the table. I am seen as an older person with experience. It seems like only the other day that I was the firebrand on the board demanding change. Again, there was no transition. Perhaps this is the way life is.

I am actually comforted by the idea of a sell by date. It gives my life a shape. One of the things I had decided some months back, was to try and do something nice each day for someone else. It is selfish. I have no natural children. I do have “bonus” children. I have little cousins and nieces by marriage. These are the closest I have come to children. The reason I bring this up is that I’m concerned about the afterlife. I am part Jewish and to paraphrase one of the prayers for the dead, “you live on in memory of what you have done.” It’s not completely rational but I would like my memory to live on for another generation. I do not know how to explain this. I want my time on this earth to have meant something.

I am looking forward to embracing my remaining years. There is so much to do!

Route 66

Posted on June 9, 2022 by tresswann

So, this year I’ve been on Route 66. I am lifting this from a high school acquaintance who used this term for being 66. We were not friends in high school. I was weird and she was different, tougher. I loved the fact that she wore purple socks with her gymsuit every week. It was a small act of defiance. As adults, we speak to each other during high school reunions. I wasn’t going to the main event one year, just stopped in at the pre-event for a drink. She told me she was disappointed in me because we had to show up, we had to show that we had survived high school. Well, I certainly have survived high school. It was a time in my life, but it is a time in my life that I do not look back upon fondly. However, I am deeply grateful that I did not have to go to high school in this current era.

I’ve been on the real Route 66. It had always been on my bucket list except we never used that term. It was merely a list of places we wanted to go to and things we wanted to do. I have been blessed to have crossed many things off that list. My best friend and I were in New Mexico on vacation. Times are different now and we were more innocent and dumber, despite the fact that we were in our 30s. We retained a positive outlook on the world. This is not to say that the world had not harmed us or that bad things had not happened to us, they had but we had dusted them to the side. Our New Mexico trip was one of the best I ever had. We were young, irresponsible with money and drove all over the place. We loved the road. It’s part of that Route 66 mystique. To this day, I get a thrill seeing the open road in front of me. We found ourselves back in Albuquerque before we had to leave for New York. Another thing we loved to do was drink and we certainly weren’t driving. We had become friendly with the bartender. Bartenders usually liked us, not only because we drank but when we were around, men also drank. This bartender was different. She was a woman. As such, we had a different relationship with her. A cowboy came and sat down next to us. He was fascinated by us and bought us drinks. We were hard drinking women. We drank strong Scotch, unusual for women. We are special, unusual women. I remember what we wore. I define my life by clothing. My BF had a short pink wash denim miniskirt with a pink and white vertical stripe shirt. I had on my favorite black halter dress. He asked, with genuine curiosity, if I was wearing any underwear. Funny enough, I don’t remember the name of the cowboy. He liked my BF. Somehow, the topic of Route 66 came up and he volunteered to take us, to a cowboy bar, no less. We consulted with the bartender who assured us he was safe. And off we went into the night. We clambered up into his pickup. This was real! And then, he pulled his gun out from under the driver seat and told us we would be safe with him. This was back in the day when you could drive drunk relatively safely. In other words, unless you were weaving madly, he would not be stopped. I had never seen a gun in person, nor have I ever seen one again. Can I say I was freaking terrified? I thought I am going to die because we wanted to see Route 66. Route 66 was a neon blur. All’s well that ends well. We arrived back to the hotel and the cowboy tried to take my BF off the elevator in his arms. I demanded he put her down immediately. I have felt badly about that for years. However, recently I found out that she was glad. Well, that’s less weight to carry around for sure.

Reaching Route 66 has been quite a journey. I have been blessed to travel. I have been privileged to see so many things. I have seen Basques dancing outside a church in Barcelona. I have seen real flamenco in Madrid. I’ve been propositioned by Mike Tyson’s people in Tokyo. I have been driven all over Taiwan. I’ve been to an alligator farm in Taiwan. I’ve been to Punto del Este in Uruguay. We made the bus go back and forth over a Gaudi bridge. The bus had an award winning high school singing group from somewhere in South America. They sang Bruce Springsteen’s “I’m on fire” in English although they did not understand a word. I’ve seen tango danced by real people in Buenos Aires. I have attended ready to wear in Paris more than once. I survived hurricane David on the beach at Club Med in Haiti. I’ve been invited to private views at museums. I have seen The Rolling Stones twice, once for my 30th birthday and once for my 50th birthday. I loved a postal postal worker and he loved me. I have been so very lucky. I didn’t know what it was at the time. But now I am on Route 66 and looking back. One of my friends said about 20 years ago or so that we should have written a book, “had I only but known”. It kind of sums it up.

And it wasn’t all the physical, material journeys. I have had the best, the very best people in my life. I have been lucky enough to recognize that. So much love and support. I had a dream of knowing people from all over and it has happened. It’s wonderful. I used to take books out of the library when I was little about different countries and I wanted to learn different languages and I have!

What I didn’t account for was the presence of AA’s in my life- Alcoholism and autoimmune disease. My husband has one and I have the other. Actually, alcoholism is a family disease, so I have two. Not so lucky. A change in the bucket list or the dream list or whatever you want to call it. I am almost completely immobile. I can no longer say that when I sit down, I feel like me. That is no longer the case. I look in the mirror some days and I see a little old lady. Who could she possibly be? It’s me. This is much the same sensation as when I would catch a glimpse of an adult in a window and realize it was me. My insights no longer match my outsides. Inside, I am not a tiny grey haired lady in a chair. I am vibrant and not immobile. I still actively engaged with life. I keep on learning. I have also come to realize that I have a lot to share. The events and experiences of my life have value to others. In sharing and examining, I also gain additional insights into myself. This both pleases and scares me.

So, Route 66 will end in a few months but not for me. I still plan to be that woman travelling down two lane blacktop whether it’s virtual or in the real world. I will continue to make stops along the road that will both terrify me and help me continue to grow. I am going to get my kicks on Route 66.

Two Little Girls in Green Dresses and…

Posted on November 13, 2019 by tresswann

This is about two little girls in green dresses, families, a school dance and how it changed lives, and its reverberations.

Amazingly, at least to me, this story starts 50 years ago.

I grew up in Levittown in the era of large families. It was a time of stricter Catholicism and an innocent optimism. Birth control was restricted and popping a pill was not yet a common thing. There were these huge, iconic families with children in every grade. People said that Levittown looked alike. It wasn’t the houses. It was the children, families of little rubber stamps. About 10 years ago, I went to a party of Levittown people. One of the men asked, “Do you know who I am?” An interesting question that I have heard throughout the years. There were at least 3 – 4 of them, one older than me, one my age, one my brother’s “You are one of the P brothers.” We all laughed and he told me which one he was. He was my age.

Another family was the Gs. I don’t know how many there were but there was my age and brackets. B had a crush on me when he was in kindergarten and I must have been in third grade. Upon seeing me at a reunion decades later, he asked, “Don’t you feel anything between us?” “Yes, I do. Your wife.” His brother T was/is my age. The family was large, popular and unbridled. I remember Mrs. G writing a letter to the local paper about her children being able to look into what passed for a strip club at the time, at 9:30 at night! My thought was why were they out then when that was my bedtime. T was popular and arrogant with that teenage boy swagger.

He was part of a crowd of those boys. Every school has them, in every year. They band together in their adorable cuteness. Girls love them, for the most part unrequitedly. Teachers pander to them in order for their classes to be unencumbered with chaos and testosterone. They rule the halls, the classrooms and the schoolyards for that brief, shining moment in their lives. It’s been my experience, for the most part, that those charmed boys and girls, once school is behind us, morph into fatness, polyester and, for the guys, baldness. I had liked T in 2nd and 3rd grade but outgrew it. By the time junior high school rolled around, I steered clear of him and those boys. They weren’t part of my world and I didn’t want them to be.

I met Sue(no initials here, we share the same name) in the fall of 9th grade. She had transferred from Catholic school. We were introduced because we had the same name. 9th grade is a cusp between the child and the young adult. We shared a name so we must have similarities. Well, we did both have brown hair, wore glasses and were “nice” girls.

There was a holiday dance that year. These were simple affairs. It was in the cafeteria. There may have been crepe paper. The lighting was dimmed. There were records with pop tunes. I had attended the end of school dance the previous spring, worn white lipstick for the first time and had had fun with my friends. We were nerds although the term was not in use then. I believe we were known as weirdos. We were the advanced class and in many cases had known each other all our lives. When you grow up as closely as that, you have a defined role and place. However, there was still the remote possibility that things might change. A dance held magic, unnamed possibilities for a girl like me. Glamour was an undercurrent. It was still the era where girls could not wear pants, let alone jeans to school. Mini skirts had arrived but were not yet micro.

The afternoon of the dance, E asked me if I wanted to go? Sure. I didn’t take it as a date. My first real date happened on the last day of 11th grade. I had known E since we were both 7. He was funny and nice. He liked comic books. He was thin but was gaining a bit of weight He was blond. I don’t particularly care for blond guys. Apparently, E saw it as a date, as I found out later. We were driven separately. In those days, once you arrived at the dance, you stayed. Your coats were taken and left in the gym. It was only E and I from our regular set that night. As soon as the coats were locked and we entered the cafeteria, E had a severe asthma attack and had to go home. This apparently was brought on by the pressure of the “date”. Instead of telling a teacher, we had come together which would have allowed me to call my parents and leave; I was adolescent, awkward. embarrassed and found myself to a folding metal chair at the edge of the dance floor.

I had been excited about going to this dance. It was an occasion. Since, it was late notice, my mother let me wear her green sheath. Since it was hers, I felt it was the height of sophistication. She gave me a long chain necklace with green stones. I had graduated from white lipstick to pearlized pink. I have always had my own specific sense of style. In my mind’s eye, I was adult and glamorous. Teenagers at that time in Levittown went to Mays Department Stores for their clothes. Everyone wore the same thing. This was not me. It accentuated my differences. The houses may not have been the same but at times, it appeared the people were uniform. So, there I was in my version of sophistication, sitting on the edge of the dance floor, counting the hours and minutes until I could escape. Counting the minutes is something that I later learned from Sue to do correctly. A group of about three of those boys approached. The only one I remember after all these years was the ringleader, T. Those boys mocked me, asked me to dance, grabbed at me, made apelike motions. It was awful. I sat there, mortified. The chaperones didn’t materialize. A was a stocky boy. Boys are not fat. A was middle of the road. He was smart. A was also brave. He stepped up to those boys. “Leave her alone. Just leave her alone.” They were stunned. And then, Sue swept in. “You are in a green dress, so am I. C’mon and dance with us.” Sue was in a moss green chiffon dress that had been cut down, if I remember, from a wedding. An age of glamor, mystery and possibility. Two little girls in green dresses; she led me by the hand to a circle of girls dancing . The evening eventually ended. I went home, cried hysterically and threw up. My parents declared I was never to go to another dance again. I never did until I reached college.

It was the start of a decades long friendship for Sue and I. She has taught me so much about how to live my life. I carry those lessons with me. Counting the time lets me cope with infusions and MRIs. Okay, I also sleep through MRIs. She taught me about connecting to life and to others. Reaching out and being brave can change a life.

We ran into A at a reunion some years back and thanked him for that evening. He remembered! He also remembered that he was slightly scared because he, too had to go against those boys. It was the right thing to do. He is still a lovely man.

T is in my life. We saw each other at our 10th reunion. We spoke. I met his wife. He was adult as was I. Years later and I don’t remember how, he asked me to read a play he was writing and subsequently had produced. He knew that I read tons and attended lots of theater. We became distant friends on Facebook.

All three of us have faced significant health issues and situations. It has been a true and deep comfort to share with people who knew you when and before. We weren’t always broken. When we talk, I picture us as we used to be. We are young and healthy.

T is now my health insurance broker yet we speak of many things. “Of shoes — and ships — and sealing–wax —. Of cabbages — and kings —. And why the sea is boiling hot —. And whether pigs have wings.” We have a common past. It’s not only a shared geographic past but of a certain time and place, a shared youth. We have never spoken of that dance. I don’t even believe he remembers it. We talk of people. And if you are reading this T, this is what I want to say, not what I should say. We have had conversations around that topic. I love that my life moved on and can still include that boy.

I recently came across that green dress. Yes, I still have it although I had forgotten. It looks so tiny. It’s hard to imagine my mother wearing it; let alone me. I kept it for all it represented to me – sophistication, pain, strength, deep and abiding friendship. Two little girls in green dresses at a dance and a lifetime.

In Which a Gypsy Contemplates Another Move

Posted on October 1, 2019 by tresswann

I lived with a man once who derogatorily declared that I was a gypsy and could move my life in a cargo van. True. But was that a bad thing?

I have moved very few times over my life and each time, the move has evolved and reflected where I am in life, not just physically. As I prepare to move again, I look back. My days of gypsy moves are gone. My youth has passed. My mobility has become impaired.

I really didn’t move initially in a real sense but lived away in college. My second through fourth years were lived in Rogers House, a brick 4 story house across from the university. It was a walkup. My first year there was on the 2nd floor. It was emergency housing for me and I believe my friends helped me move in possessions and clothes. It was already furnished. Every year, I had to leave and come back. This involved travelling back and forth with my father only. There was never enough room for my mother. The third and fourth years, I lived on the fourth floor. My father must have helped me. I ran up and down those stairs several times a day. It was a very modern apartment for the times. It had a trash compactor. Well, as fit as we all were, 45 pounds of compacted trash were slightly beyond us. We became known as “the girls with the garbage” because any time someone walked us home and walked up those four flights with expectations, they literally left with garbage. I had to sit with hats on my lap in my father’s car when I left because there was no space. I can’t believe how easily I ran up and down those stairs and with stuff. Who knew 40 years later that I would not be able to manage unaided the two steps up to my home.

I came home to my parents and stayed put for years. My postal worker and I started to look for a place to live together. We couldn’t come to an agreement so I found my own place. It was the 2nd floor of a house. I absconded with my bed, my parents’ black and white TV, my bedroom set which had been theirs originally and my childhood desk. My brother must have done that move. My boyfriend certainly did not. I bought a room divider at Ikea and lifted it in pieces up the stairs. I acquired a color TV and VCR one Black Friday which I also lifted up myself.

I became engaged, not to the postal worker. We rented a cottage in another town. My fiance rented a cargo van. His brother and my best friend came along to help. We should have known there was trouble ahead when a piece of furniture couldn’t get out the door. D’uh, take the door off the hinges. Girls knew about that? Yes, “girls” in their thirties knew that. Girls had their own tools provided by their fathers and girls knew how to remove hinges. A van and two packed Escort hatchbacks did the job.

Of course, the marriage was doomed. My brother knew this the night of the wedding when he came back to the cottage and I announced, “This is John’s room and over here is my room.” I became almost clinically depressed. My father said he would not help me with the move. I had to hire a mover even though I was broke. I packed 17 boxes and piled then in the living room before my then husband realized I was serious. The mover expressed condolences to me on dealing with my parents and said “I give you three months.” It was more like three years. My father had cleared the garage for me and then decided he needed it back. Rent storage space; load up the Escort and stack boxes.

Next move. I met a man my parents detested; he of the gypsy comment. He rented the cargo van and I loaded the Escort up yet again. It was 1 floor. It did not work out. I quietly found an apartment on the top floor of a house and just as quietly began to move things out. I did have a problem. I needed someone to drive the van. My friend had a business with workers who liked me. They would help. However, her husband said he liked the man and could not take sides. I took the man out to dinner and he knew immediately I was leaving him. He drove the van cementing forever his version of the gypsy life with the cargo van. My friend’s workers met us and it was the easiest move I ever had.

Next move was from that apartment into a home of my own with my new husband. His 18 year old son and friend helped. Just worked part time for “Joe the Mover.” He borrowed a box van. We couldn’t rent something to let him drive. He was too young. The box van didn’t do it. I had every Bon Appetit from 1984 -2006. I had to resort to “rent a wreck” and a cargo van. And I drove it and it was easy. There was a basement with “mad crazy stairs” and an upstairs. I didn’t even take a day off from work. It appeared my gypsy days at ended. I had a husband, furniture and a mortgage.

As my condition progressed and the neighborhood deteriorated, it became apparent it was time to move on. There were no more cargo vans in my future. The projected move was out of state and to the South no less. Let’s be real, a move to another country, just one without a passport. A real mover. As much as I advocate change, I still consider move and pack ugly four letter words. Moving requires an evaluation of where you have been, where you are and where you think you are going. The destination is never clear or defined until you actually alight. It’s painful, at least to me. Think about the optimism when one starts. There is a reason the move is taking place. It is a leap into an unknown. There are simple things such as “Will the sun still make my walls glow?” What is the library really like? What sounds do you hear in the still, quiet of an evening? Then the most important questions – “What do I take and what do I leave behind?

A good friend and I have had this discussion in terms of the migrant experience. What do you take in your grip? And what’s left behind? As I contemplated this move, I had to reflect yet again on my grandmother and what she brought with her; how she brought it and what she left behind. Grandma brought crystal, champagne glasses with stems so thin, they break if you breathe. Only one is left. Other crystal that was her mother’s. Silver service for at least 36 people. It was for a way of life that no longer existed. Tea cups. Vases. Trinkets. A crystal heart with a silver cover holding a lock of her dead sister’s hair. The silver sandwich tray that the servants would put sandwiches out for Sunday supper. The paper cross that held the rose rosary beads given to her by my grandfather. Pictures of relatives; some lost to the mists of memories. What was left behind? Fiestaware dishes. A way of life. Friends. Family. Home.

So, I was faced to evaluate what was worth sixty cents a pound to me. Definitely most of my books. My great-grandfather said that books are your best friends. They represent the times in my life. There are the childhood books: Heidi, The Secret Garden, A Little Princess, Little Women, the Bobbsey Twins. College: Victorian poets, Fanon, Marx, TS Eliot. Life: Cookbooks, Dickens, Rhys. I would be leaving my life behind. My umpteen sets of dishes for every occasion. This is a fetish inherited from my grandmother and filtered through me. A dining room set that I had to acquire when I bought a home. All of a sudden, I am no longer a cargo van gypsy but a woman of substance; of nearly 12,000 pounds of “stuff” and a tractor trailer.

And I could no longer lift things or pack due to my condition. No more footloose and fancy-free days for me. It’s sobering. Is this “weight” I wanted? What do I leave behind? It’s a new era so my friends and family are only a telephone call or video chat away. I definitely lose a sense of place and time. I knew the rhythms and scent of my life; the hot tar city smell, the salted beach sand, the magnolias, the mums, the roads. And am I ever going to be that life packed into a cargo van gypsy again? She has been left behind and I miss her terribly.

Valentine Venting and….

Posted on February 16, 2019February 16, 2019 by tresswann

I have never been particularly fond of Valentine’s Day. My parents were completely unsentimental. I can remember being shocked when I was about 4 or 5 that Daddy came home with candy for Mommy and me. My mother didn’t particularly like chocolate or sweets. I was not allowed. Our chocolate and candy consumption was strictly monitored. I was an odd child without tons of friends so the card exchange was always scary for me.

I remember in college not even checking my mail freshman year and by then I was cute and popular. The next day I found someone had left me a rose.

In our 16 years together my husband has given me two stuffed animals. I hate stuffed animals. My late ex-husband gave me Russell Stover chocolates the year we were married which I believe he ate. Joe, the man I lived with after that did give me chocs but also called me Gordita. So, so much for that.

Kevin, who has been the love of my life, didn’t really do it. Though I do remember one year buying a red flapperesque dress and going out for Japanese food. It was a charming, small restaurant. I felt pretty and sophisticated.

Valentine’s this year was horrid. My first thought on waking was the Parkland shooting anniversary. My relationship with the holiday as always been ambivalent. These children do not have that luxury. It will be a day of sadness and death. Did anyone in your high school class die? You are supposed to be invincible at that age. Worse, did they die of something other than illness? Someone in my class did and we still talk and muse about it decades later. I cannot begin to imagine the pain these kids are in and will be in, along with others their age that the day was completely altered forever.

There’s still the personal. I have been unexpectedly blue all week.. As part of selling the house, I have been decluttering so this wee kI went through tons of paper. I found that I was diagnosed with this condition 10 years ago. I should be grateful but I am not feeling it. It was February and I was about to teach a class. As I recall, I was getting ready (I was a technical trainer) and was fiddling with AV equipment and plugs and was underneath desks. The doctor rang, said you have PPMS. I went back to my plugs and taught my class. I thought it was the good kind. Ok, so if I look at my “progression”, I am in good shape. Me, being me, I am not. I was so confident and oblivious. I hate how my world has become confined. I swore that would never happen and it did. I am battling back.

The realtor had a realtors’ open house on Valentine’s. Everyone who came said the house was worth much, much less. This is devastating and hard to believe. I was able to go upstairs for the first time in months and understand. It’s a wreck but one that can be fixed. Of course, struggling upstairs didn’t help. It took forever and tons out of me. It was scary. However, it was better than last time when I had to go down on my butt and then struggle and crawl to stand.

Now, as to Kevin, he is in a nursing home in another state and has paranoia and Parkinson’s.Postal Old Girlfriends, Postal and RituxanI am trying to ring him every Thursday. “Happy Valentine’s Day, Kev.” “You are two days late.” “No, today is February 14.” From there the conversation totally devolved. I can’t even repeat it as it made no sense whatsoever. For example, he said something about my car and I told him I drive a Buick now. He told me he was surprised I bought a Swiss car.We always helped each other with cars. There is so much we have shared over the years. When Buster the Biker unceremoniously dumped me, he arrived with a stack of blues cds. I held him when he cried several months later when the woman he had been seeing for years, went back to her husband. I always tell him I love him when I call. We have known each other since 1984 and supported each other through good times and bad. It has been like a marriage. We have been a constant in each other’s lives. Valentine’s, he did not understand what I said. It was the start of spring training and even that produced nonsense. He used to walk 8 miles a day for his job and when it was light, catch a round of golf. After we definitively broke up, if one of us wanted to see the other, we’d head to the beach. Either one of us was likely to be there. The beach has a four mile walk. It didn’t matter who was where, the other one was, we’d turn around and walk the rest of the way, anywhere from 2 -8 miles. Now, we both can barely walk. Ironic, isn’t it? My heart is broken.

I have a friend who is 95. I was speaking to her this week and long before it became popular, she told me I was unusual as I was so resilient. I didn’t understand. I thought everyone just tried to stand up again until they could. Many years ago, I worked for a man who used to say about me, “The child does not understand the concept of NO.” And indeed, I have not. I integrated a primarily all male university. I have worked in all male companies/industries. I have changed industries. I have been David and gone up against a corporate Goliath. I though I ignored my diagnosis and kept fighting. She told me again this week about my gift. It sounds good on paper and when I look back. It’s never felt like resiliency or grit. It has felt that I have lived my life as a Joe Palooka punching bag; one of those toys with the weighted bottoms that when it is hit, it pops right back up again and again.

Kevin and I loved the beach, all year round. I have likened life to the beach and the ocean. After Hurricane Gloria, we rode down to the beach. We laughed at ourselves as we did so. We wanted to make sure it was still there. There were huge waves crashing against a diminished shore. The sea was calm within a few days. The sea is like that, sometimes calm and clear, other times waves knock you off your feet. The waves can erode your shore or build it up. I guess I just have to wait for that wave to catch me again and build me up.

Mortality Musings

Posted on January 31, 2019January 31, 2019 by tresswann

I am a woman of a certain age. I remember someone at a high school reunion almost twenty years ago saying “We are in the last third of our lives. We need to make the most of it.” Mortality looms, even more so with this condition. Time is becoming more finite. It’s not morbid or depressed. It just is. If you have read me, you know that I have lost old lovers and husbands in the past. Dead friends are no longer as surprising.

This month I have learned of two people from my youth that have died. Somehow, these have hit me.

This weekend, I saw that HV had died. I hadn’t really known him in high school. We mixed in different circles. He was a year older. He wasn’t quite fat but rather pudgy, the type of guy, I call vanilla pudding, bland features swallowed in his face, outstanding only in his vanilla-ness.

I graduated college and ran into TM, definitely not my set, also a year older. He was a football player. I was a nerdy hippy type. TM asked me out. Fourth of July 1977 was on the horizon. There were going to be a group from high school going to Montauk for the weekend. Montauk at that time was still definitely, the un-Hamptons. We were Levittown, still gritty and blue-collar middle-class. HV was a charter boat captain and he had a house there which was to be the base for the weekend. T and I drove out early in the morning. People were already there. It was a crowd from high school that had never been my friends – football players and cheerleaders. Since I had left high school and Levittown, I had blossomed. Well, everyone does, don’t they? You leave behind high school, teenage hormones and expectations. I had shed my glasses and emerged from my chrysalis. They saw me as a new thing. I grew up in the era in Levittown where everyone drank. It was a fact of life. You went over someone’s parent’s house and you were given a drink. My mother’s boss, when I was 15, asked me what I wanted to drink and said, “And don’t give me any of this Coca Cola shit.” Vodka stingers! Even given that background and mindset, I had no interest in drinking before the early afternoon. We walked in and were immediately handed beers. I realized that the weekend was going to be longer than I thought. At that age, I was very good at holding onto a drink and/or pouring it out. I was still fascinated and slightly intimidated by the former cheerleaders. I remember Crosby, Stills and Nash on what appeared to be a continuous loop on the stereo. In those days, there were record players and probably everyone was too drunk to change the record. I hated “Dark Star”.

H had also undergone a metamorphosis. He was tan, lean, bleach blond long hair, deep, startling green eyes, gorgeous and charming. I was stunned, tongue tied. His girlfriend was one of the cheerleaders and so friendly to me. At some point during the now evening, H approached T and suggested that we leave and go to the boat. People were bleary and passing out. The air was thick with cigarette smoke. Levittown and jocks during that era was all alcohol and no weed. We went to the boat. Remember the excitement and newness of being “adult” couples? We drank more and then T and I retired to a berth. Hormones, alcohol, excitement. What can I say except to the inevitable outcome? I hadn’t the experience I was to later acquire, starting with T, to understand that sex with football players is a non-starter. T, especially T drunk, had all the technique of a stray, horny dog. My outstanding memory of the evening was looking through the portal and seeing the 4th fireworks. I said something about it and T thought I was seeing fireworks because of him. I was too amazed to rid him of that notion. He then declared that he was looking for three things in a woman – she had to be pretty, good in bed and know how to cook. H had already checked two of the boxes but didn’t know if I cooked. We all passed out. The beer started again at dawn. I never ran into H again but still see his dark green eyes, deeply tanned legs and remember his kindness.

T and I continued for the summer. It was the Son of Sam summer. We were in a NYC suburb. T, big jock that he had been, was deathly afraid of spiders. So, that combined with the fear of sitting in a car, led to me being practically thrown out of the car with the motor running. Romance was not in the air. Mercifully, I never cooked for T.

The ramifications for the weekend did not end there. I had a high school boyfriend who I have always loved and adored. He was an artist. He had moved to California. We stayed in touch in a distant way. A few years after the Montauk party, B came for a visit from CA. The first thing he said after we walked out of my parents was “What’s this I hear about you sleeping with H on his boat in Montauk?” “I slept on his boat but not with him. I was there with T.” “T, even worse!” The world is small. B was working temp at a factory in CA as was one of H’s brothers. They got to talking…. And I guess it was a better party than I thought. B and I got straight after some difficult awkward moments. We are still friendly to this day.

The story doesn’t end there. There was a reunion of 70’s classes from my school in early 2001. An H brother was there. He had a few brothers. Reunion, Levittown, alcohol. Someone introduces me to the brother. I go off on him. “And you, you had the nerve to tell B I slept with H! How dare you! It wasn’t true and even if it was how f’ing dare you!” Uh, wrong brother? Levittown was like that back when we were growing up, huge families where all the kids looked the same. And we held and hold onto those associations.

The second death preceded the first death and is a different story. A family moved in diagonally from our backyard. There were two girls, M and C, M, a year older and C, a year younger. The elder was fragile, tiny and stooped as she had had polio. The younger suffered ridiculously bad acne. High school was almost 2 miles away. We were just under the bussing line. I used to walk home sometimes with M. She was terribly slow. Children and teenagers are cruel. As I mentioned, I was in the nerdy, hippie set. I was bullied which made my later acceptance by T and H odd. However, much I was bullied, it was worse for C and M. I have always felt it important to be kind. It’s one of the adjectives most used to describe me in recent years. It’s been part of my life. Being “other” offers choices. You can either reject or embrace the world. I go for the positive. As with younger siblings of odder elders, C tried to distance herself from M as did my brother. It didn’t really work. However, she was stronger and bigger so superficially, at least, she was better able to stand up for herself.

It is said, revenge is a dish best eaten cold. C went on to work for unemployment. It appeared that all those years of bullying and childish spitefulness had taken a toll on her. She was now in a position to fight back. Unemployment is difficult in the best of circumstances. C certainly got her own back in that position. Nasty and unpleasant doesn’t begin to describe it. I remember once telling her but I was nice to you! I moved out of the neighborhood and stayed employed. They passed from my existence.

Then I saw a notification on my high school FB page from a former childhood neighbor that C had passed away. Sad. But. People who hadn’t known her expressed sympathy and condolences. Fine. I don’t understand that but it’s the intent. The guy who posted was also her age; she lived directly behind him and he was also distinctly odd and bullied. I have no idea of the depth of their relationship. What did amaze me was the comments of the people who had known her. One likened her to a “shy kitten” yet despite this I remember him being one of her tormentors. The family had a name that was similar to a brand commercial. Some people remembered calling this out to harass the sisters. Most of us grow up. What disturbed me was that these people expressed no regret only an “I remember doing that to them.” Now, written in my yearbook as well as in later years, I would run into people and they would express regret or that they wished they had known me better or they went along with the crowd. I was horrified that there was none of that for C. So, how much has really changed for some people since high school? Are we stuck in a high school/childhood loop? How and why do some of us change? I like to think that I have but maybe not? The childhood neighbor wants to friend me on FB but I have no interest. Yet, I am close on line with childhood people that I had issues with in high school. I remember working on my 10th reunion and a mean girl was on the committee and she told me I was no longer weird. I told her I was the same as I ever was. I believe I am except I had contact lenses, a good hair cut and an enviable job. I always told people after high school that perception changed just as long as you were well-groomed.

Two passings. Two different lives. Carpe Diem. What will be said after I’m gone? Will I be remembered as the Montauk girl? High school nerd? Or the woman who can’t really walk, the disabled? Or the woman I see myself as?

Propriety, Blueprints, Surgery

Posted on November 25, 2018November 25, 2018 by tresswann

In the past, in certain circles, a woman’s name was only supposed to be mentioned in the newspapers three times: birth, marriage, death.

I feel much the same about hospitals and the maximum should be three: birth, childbirth, death. This list is flexible downwards. There is no need to have any of these three events in hospital. As to myself, my birth sufficed. It was noteworthy at the time as I was the largest baby delivered at that hospital up to that point – a whopping 9 lbs., 8 oz. Very healthy indeed. In fact, record breaking for that hospital at the time! Since I did not have children, no hospital for me.

However, things appear to be changing. Dr. F, my neurologist, told me when I first started this journey almost 10 years ago, that there appeared to be some issues with my spine. If it wasn’t going to definitively help my walking, then why bother. Well, Things Fall Apart. I have been back for my second surgical consult. This practice lets you know in no uncertain terms if you are 15 minutes late, your appointment is forfeited. Despite having left early, I hit construction and traffic. Having made up my mind, I want this done as soon as possible. I gimped in five minutes before my appointment and then waited for over 2 hours! Not fun and definitely stress making. Surprisingly, my blood pressure was 90/50; repeat 90/50. I am normally low but never this low. And surprisingly, they were good with that. The first time I had Rituxin, they were freaking at 100.

The surgeon enters along with the resident, who is under the impression we have met before – so not a good sign. If I was still in my youth, this would not have been disturbing as I was highly visible and was all around. Now, in my little old lady mode, NOT. The surgeon pops my latest MRIs and scans into the computer. I do not like seeing these. One, they are ugly and I do not do ugly. Two, I really do not understand what I am seeing. So, why look? Now, Tom is a different story entirely. The surgeon pops up my lumbar spine MRI and announces that it’s arthritic but I am old and that’s normal. Who’s old? Yes, there’s edema . So, yes I have fractured my tailbone. Too bad. There’s nothing to be done and it won’t impact the surgery. Now, he brings up my neck. I feel like a skeleton. It looks like one for sure. I have become my own Dia de las Muertes. Tom is fascinated. He tells the surgeon it’s just like reading a blueprint. Dr. B agrees and they are off on a tangent on elevator construction (Tom’s old career) and blueprints. Well, the fracture they thought they saw in my neck is not new and apparently healed. These latest tests indicate that surgery will be through the front of my neck aka my throat. I am not reassured that this is positive although he assures me it is better. It doesn’t sound that way to me but who am I? The patient? What are the downsides? Well, since they are going in through my throat, nicking my caratoid? As an old boss used to say, “oh joy, oh rapture unforeseen.” Not likely. My voice could go down an octave. It can be low to begin with. I used to work on a phone line and people used to call back and demand to talk to Steven, me. It’s not the worst outcome. I may not be able to swallow, briefly. I did want to drop a few pounds before the New Year so in a twisted way that works. And of course, smoothies always work for me. In terms of positive things, I won’t be one of those old ladies who can’t raise her chin from her chest. Also, he is confident that my balance will improve. Also, from what he describes about this impingement, I am cautiously optimistic that I will improve.

Also, on the positive side is that this is normally an outpatient procedure. However, since I am “special” ( I tell him, “No. I am unique.” which discombobulates him) I will have to stay overnight. Tom’s scheme is to not leave the hospital while I am there. He will hide and/or stay in the cafeteria. I anticipate strong painkillers, so whatever. It is sweet though

Next rant. My neurologist, Dr. F needs to sign off on it. Since she is female I continually refer to her with feminine pronouns which he ignores and continually references he and him. He needs to get “him” on the phone as “she” needs to sign off on this surgery. Considering she has advocated for this for 10 years, I do not envision problems. I feel comfortable with his arrogance, a necessary trait in a surgeon.

I am scheduled for December 11 which is just about perfect. I was able to conduct my last Elves Workshop, traditionally held Thanksgiving Friday; Hanukah, Christmas tree purchase (the joys of being interfaith), my tea vendor show and our annual holiday centerpiece class. I know I am lucky that this is only my second stay in hospital. And on the upside, maybe I’ll buy blouses instead of pullovers?

Things Fall Apart

Posted on October 25, 2018October 25, 2018 by tresswann

I have always had atrocious handwriting. I received an A in penmanship first quarter 5th grade. Both the teacher and my mother thought I had doctored the grade until they realized it was in his handwriting. I received a D for the next quarter, had to stay after school and had a special book. Alas, to no avail. By the end of my first semester in college, my dorm mates said I could encrypt anything against Russian spyware. I was in trouble my second year on. My parents, in particular,my father were concerned about my wellbeing – academic and personal. My father was a writer and an editor. He was interested in what I was reading and would edit my papers. This usually occurred after the paper had been graded. I soon figured it out. With right amount of charm and angst, I could get Daddy to read the texts and send me notes. These could then be lifted almost whole and used for a paper.

As I said, my life took a very bad turn from my sophomore year. However, I did find my groove. For those of you who have only seen the fashionista side of me, there’s more. I became excited by African and West Indian studies. Take a deep breath. My particular area of interest was the syncretization of African religious forms in the colonial world. Yes, I did spend the majority of my working career in financial training. I had wonderful, absorbing classes and read amazing things. I loved it. I was very excited to be reading Chinua Achebe’s “Things Fall Apart”. In the ’70’s, it was revelatory. So, back in the old days, mail was composed via either typewriter or handwriting. I’ve mentioned my handwriting. In terms of my typing, let’s just say that I was sent to school with erasable paper, typewriter erasers, Correct-type and tape, and whiteout. Also, it was back when a telephone call to the next town involved extra charges, let alone another state. The usual agreement was 1 call a week. Now that I have set the scene…

You might guess where this is going…

I wrote home very excited about Achebe. My father couldn’t read my handwriting but could see THINGS FALL APART very clearly. He jumped to conclusions and called me. We sorted it out. Hysteria on both sides calmed. And no, he couldn’t read the novel because Achebe was not available in the Levittown of the 1970’s, nor did I need the help.

Present day, my writing is worse. I am older but more than that, my hands are impacted by this condition. Even I can no longer read my handwriting.

When this first started, I would run into people I had not seen in ages. Three years ago this week, I was let go from a company I’d been with for 15 years. I was a technical trainer so literally had worked with hundreds of people there in the NYC office alone. The company occupied four floors of a building that was an NYC block. I did an enormous amount of walking as part of my job. I didn’t see some people due to they’re being on different floors and not needing me. I’d run into someone at a meeting or in the hall and I would hear, ” Oh my G-d, oh my G-d! What happened?” My response, a shrug and “Things Fall Apart.” And no, it wasn’t a stroke or an accident. It’s not cancer, contagious or terminal. My brain is the same.

Well, things do fall apart and are falling apart; not colonial structures but me, for real. I have discovered since summer’s end that my spine is a mess and I have osteoporosis. My teeth were rotting. I have acknowledged that I am in pain. I never used to be unless I had fallen. I went for my spinal surgical consult on Monday. I was fairly inured to the idea that surgery was in my future. Two neurologists said it was time. My walking was bad. I am beyond non-surgical intervention. When the issue was first raised, I had intense issues. My dear friend was paralyzed after spinal surgery twenty years ago. I have always been fearful due to that. I also made the analogy that it was either like cataract surgery or laser surgery for the over 40 eye. In each instance, change would be minimal at best. The surgeon showed Tom and I, an in-depth section of the MRI. My philosophy has always been not to look. Do I know what I am seeing? Can I tell the doctor to do it differently? This time I could clearly see something was not right. So, this appears to be like cataract surgery. It’s so bad that anything will be better. I was told without surgery I will be one of those little old women whose head falls on their chest. He discovered a fracture in my neck. I need further tests to see if this is new or old and a better picture. This is disturbing on several levels. I fractured and didn’t feel it? My mother had spinal fractures and they were excruciating. She literally broke apart. I am so similar to my mother. This is not a trait I wish to share. I was also told I am two inches shorter. Visions of the Wicked Witch. I am too young to be melting and shrinking. I walk worse. I am fighting as hard as I can to stem and reverse the tide. But. But things fall apart.

In terms of the surgery I need they can’t say if it will be through the front or through the back. Two different types of surgery. The additional tests will tell. It will require an overnight stay. In anyone else it would have been outpatient. However, because of my multiple issues, I need to be monitored and physical therapy will have to sign off on my release. Now, back in the day, a lady only had her name mentioned in the papers three times – birth, marriage ,death. This corresponds to my view of hospital stays. I am not pleased although I do realize the sanity of staying overnight. May I be blunt? I have bashful kidney/shy bladder. This is almost scarier than any operation. I won’t be able to drive for a couple of weeks due to painkillers. I am the driver for my household. Scary, huh? And I see another wheelchair ride in my future. The surgeon is disclaiming all over the place about my prognosis as is my neurologist. I’ll still have MC and they say it probably won’t impact my mobility. I remain totally optimistic that I will be improved on all kinds of levels. If not, why bother?

Things Fall Apart! But… But..

4th July Independence

Posted on July 4, 2018 by tresswann

The Fourth Of July was not my mother’s holiday. She grew up in another country. As with Thanksgiving, she would state, “This is not my holiday. I did not grow up with it, but I will do it for you children..” So, we would have hot dogs and hamburgers and most importantly apple pie. She would laugh and say the garden knew it was a holiday as it was red, white and blue -hydrangea, roses and daisies. We’d sit out in the backyard to catch glimpses of the fireworks from the park. It meant ice cream. Sometimes, sparklers. Illegal, illicit glittery sparklers with the other neighborhood children.

As time marched towards adulthood, it became a day to sleep late and not work, followed by the requisite barbecue and pie.

The summer I graduated college I was looking for work. I went to my local neighborhood dive. Most of the people there were people I’d been at school with. I was an introverted nerd who had blossomed in my time away. I was shocked when a football team jock invited me to spend the 4th with him in Montauk, at another classmate’s house party. I told him I had to ask my father. Said father was furious, not that I wanted to away for the holiday with a boy; but rather that I had said I had to ask. So off we went. I remember getting there early in the day. Just about everyone was from high school and the cool kids no less. Despite my blossoming, I felt as if I was in a foreign land. We all grew up drinking. It was the era. But these people had started way too early in the day for me. When it was dark, H the host, suggested that T and I join him and his girlfriend and sleep on his boat. I don’t do boats. My grandfather was a ship’s pilot and drowned. Yes, this was over 50 years later but I had and have an innate antipathy towards boats. Evening falls and finds us in bed. Hey, red blooded American twenty somethings! So, lying on my back and thinking of England and see fireworks. Yes, they’re exploding in the harbor or wherever the hell we are. I say, “I am seeing fireworks.” Poor thing took it seriously. The romance was short-lived. It was the Son of Sam Summer and that coupled with his fear of spiders cooled things down quickly. The other takeaway was that my high school and forever boyfriend was in California at the time. Some years later, he returned to NY. The first phrase out of his mouth was, “What’s this I hear about you sleeping with H on his boat?” Uh, wrong guy and it’s a truly tiny country.

Next decade(30’s):

“Paris was a place you hide away if you felt you didn’t fit in.” from “Every Picture Tells a Story”

I found myself in Paris for July 4 for pret a porter and my job. I knew I’d get a comp day. Imagine being paid to do this? I love Paris and it was not my first trip. I went all over the city. My employers had a “rule” that I couldn’t come home without a roll of film. It was unusually cold and I wasn’t prepared. On the Metro, a gentleman thought I was homeless. One thing, whenever I travel, I note what makes me an American. If I hear the Star Spangled Banner, it gets to me. “land of the free; and the home of the brave”

Next decade – the Millennium

I find myself on July 3 starting at a monolith which I call the Bank, in all its omnipotence. The HR orientation woman tells me, “There is no early leave at the Bank.” I look at her quizzically as why are they discussing retirement when this is my first day? She explains that early leave means for the 4th. This is good because I am already planning my own early leave of staying just a year. So much for plans. I end up staying for 15 years through a new marriage, the death of both my parents and the onset of my lack of mobility. Yesterday was the 18th anniversary. So much of me was tied up there and still is.

Next decade (40’s)

I am at the Bank. I have been seeing the man I will marry for about 9 months. He has a room in a house full of guys. The owner is a friend of my brother’s. He has AIDS, which he denies; smokes copious amounts of weed and drinks heavily. He is one of the sweetest guys I have ever met. We barbecue in the backyard. And of course, we drink. Everyone laughs as I discover I have drank a whole bottle of rum. They laugh again as I try to get up the stairs into the house in my dizzy flipflops. Tom and I sit on the lawn and watch neighborhood fireworks. I am happy

Same decade(50’s):

We move. We laugh as our house is close to the police precinct and the display of fireworks emanating from that direction is spectacular. We sit on the step and move back and forth between the front and the back. The noise continues till morning. My reflection is that we are lucky to live in a country where the explosions and the lights are not bombs

Present Day –

It’s hot and steamy. Normally, this my weather. Instead, the heat has made me captive in home and body. The fans spin and the A/C is on. I look out windows and at security cameras instead of being outside, half dozing, reading in the afternoon heat. No barbecue, no apple pie, no fireworks of any kind. I have been told that currently I am grieving the Bank or more precisely my work there and my life. A couple of things -it may be illogical but I see not being at the Bank, the beginning of my current decline. I became complacent. I didn’t learn enough new things. Most importantly, I didn’t make a plan. Even if I had, there was no plan to lose mobility. Today, for now, I am dependent rather than independent. However, I still have my mind! So, land of the free, home of the brave.

Vice Presidential Aspirations and Disability

Posted on May 21, 2018May 21, 2018 by tresswann

What did you want to be when you grew up? I was about ten and I sent away for career brochures. I think it was from an insurance company. I thought lawyer looked interesting and different. Girls just didn’t become lawyers then. I also really, really wanted to become an actress. Also, write books. My father was a writer so it’s in my DNA. And I probably couldn’t do it because my father was a writer. He did tell me before he died that I should write and not let him stop me. It was a gift from him to me.

As I grew, practicality intruded. I have a facility for language. I decided to be a multi-lingual secretary. My mother was a secretary. She was excellent, well-paid and powerful at times. I was told in high school that I wasn’t fluent enough; native speakers would receive precedence; I was that smart that I should have my own security. Reality? After Hopkins, I applied for a secretarial spot that wanted someone who spoke English, French, Spanish and German, and who studied Latin America and Africa in that order. All checks. I didn’t get the job because my typing wasn’t fast enough.

Moving on, again with the practicality. OK, if I couldn’t be a multi-lingual secretary, I would major in International Relations at Johns Hopkins and become Henry Kissinger. Well, that didn’t work. Economics and I were a nonstarter. I did attend a job placement interview at Hopkins. When asked for my aspirations, I said I wanted to wear Vogue clothes. The counselor was mildly taken aback but assured me with a Hopkins degree I could do anything. NOT!! See above for starters.

Attempting to be logical, I determined if I wanted Vogue clothes, I needed to work in clothing. I had thought about this in high school but fashion was a trade and I was supposed to be too smart. And I didn’t draw. Uh, all work in fashion is not design. Hopkins? So, not working. I was on my second job as assistant office manager in a major construction company when the receptionist turned me on to FIT Continuing Ed. I was off and running. Sundays 9- 5 and two nights a week till 9:30 or 10:30. And I received an A in my art class. My new ambition? I was gonna be Calvin Klein. In later years, I was questioned as to why I always wanted to be men. Duh, that’s where the power was and is.

I started out as an assistant at Bobbie Brooks. Why I got the job? I was the only candidate with personal stationery; I am a Libra and they thought because of Hopkins, I knew psychology. I decided I wanted to be a merchandiser in my own right. Five companies later, I did it! So, then what? I wanted that VP title but I was just a “girl”. This “girl” negotiated a licensing agreement with a major French fashion company. Girls didn’t get to be vice presidents in that company. The fashion press referred to me as vice president merchandising but not the company. Yes, they merged with another company and gave my job to a male VP. I definitely was able to buy and wear Vogue clothes so I did fulfill that ambition.

Back to the drawing board and I started working in financial services from the bottom up. I had a facility for it. Who knew that a fashionista could be successful in banking?! Complications. I was up for an AVP but was let go. I came back as a consultant for another 11 years. Same story – perceived as VP but no title. I wanted to end my career as a VP.

Unemployed again, over 50, mobility issues, not happening. In the last three years I have applied and applied. I began to realize that I could no longer commute into Manhattan. If you want to be a VP and a woman on Long Island, you have no life. I tried anyway. I was told three years ago to apply for disability. Me? I am not disabled. I just don’t walk well. I am no longer the woman who wore three inch heels ,carried pocketbook, laptop and projector but disabled?

I finally succumbed last November and applied. It’s like when I obtained the handicap sticker 5 years ago. It was a “just in case”. I thought it was temporary and I would be me in 5 years. I am worse. Cane, walker. Everyone said if anyone deserved it, it was me. I have fought so hard. I only did it because of economics. This is a title I do not want.

Last Thursday, I received a letter saying I was medically qualified but the non-medical was still being evaluated. This makes no sense. Friday, there is a check in the mail. I am officially disabled. It is bittersweet. The wolf at the door is being held back. This is not a title I ever aspired to or even wildly imagined. WTF happened!! This was not what I wanted to be when I grew up. I am coming to terms with the fact that my career life is over. I am NEVER going to get that title, again, something outside the sphere of possibilities.

It’s reinvention time, Tresswann rising. What do I want next? What am I going to do for the rest of my life? Well, the great Carib-American novel is possible but probably not publishable. I need to walk. This gives me the opportunity to focus on getting back to walking. I feel a little lost but I shall regroup. I did originally want to write so maybe…

What did you want to be when you grew up and what happened along the way?

Tresswann Shall Rise Again – Living Life!

Confronting and Overcoming Autoimmune Disease on my terms Healing, Musing,

aging