While January is cold, dark, and bleak, I would take it any day over August. To say that August sucks is an understatement.
Growing up, I started school in August. And while I liked going to school, I did not enjoy the heat of the first few weeks. You see, I am old enough to have attended schools that were not air conditioned. We had windows wide open and big box fans shooting hot air around the room. The heat made the adults even more grumpy.
We probably were able to deal better with the heat back then because many of us did not have air conditioners at home and were, perhaps, more conditioned to the heat. Regardless, some days, the heat of August was bad.
So you're saying to yourself, "Come on, Leslie! You're whining about heat of August in Kansas?" No, I am grousing about the heat of August in Kansas, but there also are multiple other reasons to dislike August.
For instance, I found out today that someone I know has been diagnosed with cancer in multiple places. The diagnosis came while he was traveling. He has not yet been able to return to his home and is being treated, for the moment, far away. That whole situation sucks, August!
Nonetheless, I will try to send positive vibes his way and pray that he recovers fully.
For me, August has been a time of personal loss as well. The two-year anniversary of my Mom passing is coming up next week. She had a brain bleed and was in a coma for about six days before she passed. (You can read about Mom here) I sat with her each day and talked to her, though she could not respond. The doctor said she couldn't hear me, but the nurses assured me she could. I told her about what was happening in the neighborhood and tried to keep my comments upbeat and positive. When one of the doctors told me she didn't have much longer, I made arrangements with the hospital staff to stay in her room with her. She passed peacefully and I went home to a house devoid of voices, but full of memories. Miss you, Mom.
Earlier this month, a good friend from college died. We had kept in touch over the years and up until a few weeks before she died, we had either chatted or shared memes in Facebook Messenger nearly every day. My friend was smart and well-educated. She had a caring heart and a delightful sense of humor. She was a great human being and I miss her terribly.
After my own health scares a couple of months after Mom passed, I made the decision to not get another dog. My little Jorgie had passed the year before Mom, the same year as Dad. I had toyed with the idea of getting another dog, but I didn't want to suddenly die of some dreaded disease and have the poor little dog think I had abandoned him. So I decided I would be happy with loving on other people's dogs.
I also started following a number of animals on Facebook, including Timothy the hippo from the San Antonio Zoo, his crush, Fiona, and the rest of the hippo bloat at the Cincinnati Zoo, Teddy the ornery golden retriever from South Carolina, Chuck the bearded dragon, and Charlie the golden retriever from Ohio. Their antics made me smile and prevented my Facebook news feed from becoming a suckhole of negativity. Sadly, since spring, several of the animals I looked forward to seeing have died, including Larry the Great Dane, Charlie the Golden's older housemate, Buddy, and Spike the head-bobbing bearded dragon friend of Mr. Crabs.
This week, Jackie, the female bald eagle of Big Bear Eagle Nest Cam fame, died after several weeks of intensive care at the Ojai Raptor Center after she was found unable to fly. Jackie was a beautiful bald eagle and was fiercely protective of the nest and eaglets she shared with her mate, Shadow. Both she and Shadow were/are advocates in their own way for wildlife initiatives and because of them and the videos in which they starred, Friends of Big Bear Valley was able to raise the millions of dollars needed to buy land around the nesting site to protect the eagles and other wildlife in the area.
Watching the nest cam videos was both educational and a nice change of pace from all the crap that is happening in our country and the world. I don't know what will happen with Shadow now that Jackie is gone. Should Shadow find another mate, as he probably will, I hope people will be kind about it. That's how nature works. I hope the nest cam videos will continue.
So August, enough is enough! Let's have some happy news and events for a change. We sure need it!
