Flux
May 13th, 2011
At any one time it is not surprising to have peaks and valleys in your life. It is the balance that you come to expect but some years are remarkable for the change that they bring about. One of those years was 1977. After eleven years in Humorous Planning Department at American Greetings Corp and creating thousands of greeting cards I was ask to draw a ragdoll character, it was to be later to be called Strawberry Shortcake. In 1978 I moved to TCFC (Those Characters from Cleveland) where I no longer drew greeting cards but created toys. We boarded a train that year and took a trip to see the King Tut exhibit in Chicago. My husband followed crafting unique Egyptian themed pieces of jewelry. It was the year we traveled outside the continent, we flew to England. We became aware of how old mankind was as we visited continuously inhabited places from 12th century, no longer continent bound. In 1977 after a my promotion we moved from a house in Lakewood, OH a suburb I had lived in since 1953 to Fairview Park, a place we would raise our children. That same year our future daughter would be born in Akron, OH. She came to live with us in 1981 when we adopted her.
“You must leave now, take what you need, you think will last
But whatever you wish to keep, you better grab it fast”
Forward to 2010. The year Non Hodgkin’s Lymphoma came rudely barging in on our life. My husband diagnosed in the summer of the year. Followed by six months of chemo. And now in 2011 struggling with after tremors he is trying to get his feet back under him.
“The carpet too is moving under you”
In 2010 the year my daughter left her teaching position. In 2011, after a year of here and there and helping her dad and helping herself she is actively looking again. She will be landing in a new place with a refreshed sense of self worth.
“Strike another match, go start anew”.
2010 found our son’s thirteen year marriage floundering leading to a separation in 2011. What will follow will assuredly be a changed world for him.
“The lover who just walked out your door,
has taken all her blankets from the floor”
In 2010 my doctor stopped her practice and I moved on to a new doctor. One who prescribed meds to keep my asthma in check. I am back walking in the Park my husband walking along with me. The inclines are harder now but the reason to continue, an insatiable curiosity, still exists.
“Leave your stepping stones behind, something calls for you”
Note: Lyrics, Bob Dylan’s It’s All Over Now Baby Blue