Soren update

I saw Soren last night, at a piano bar; he looks good- quite dashing in his Velma's the new bowler- and immediately remembered, when I mentioned that I'm looking for a second hat, a conversation we'd had on LJ several months ago, in which I had mentioned that my hat store had closed.

(no subject)

From RM's post:

britgeekgrrl's husband has been battling cancer for a couple of years now. Sadly, that battle is almost over and sooner than was expected. If you've ever lost a loved one, you know that death-related expenses can be massive, even when choosing the most affordable and simple options, as is the case here. Cremation and associated costs are expected to run about $1,400 and it's just not in a budget that thought the timeline on this was going to run for several more months. As kshandra notes in her own post on the subject, we're "also hoping to cover Johanna's day-to-day expenses for a while as she sadly does not qualify for Family Medical Leave Act coverage and only has about 45 hours of PTO available to her at work."

There's not much we can really do for other people, and all of us wind up with our own set of circumstances, but I really believe -- I have to believe -- that there's service and value each in seeing people in, through, and out of this life, even if we don't have children, even if we never have to tend to a loved one near the end.

So this is me asking for a favor, not just because britgeekgrrl and her husband need your help so that the end of their time together isn't focused on funereal financial worries, but because in a awful situation this is a good you can do even if death is not just a tragic thing, but an ordinary thing.

So, if you've got and money to spare, and I know many of us don't in this economy and this season, please PayPal a little bit to johanna_mead@yahoo.com Please select Gift (under Personal) under transaction to reduce the Paypal fee situation. Boosting the signal is also welcome.

I would very much like her to be able to stop worrying about the financial aspect of at least the cremation today, and I believe we can make that happen.

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ETA: britgeekgirl reports:

Nurse says Alex hasn't got too long to go. Anything between three one and ten days, probably. (As the edit suggests, the thoughts are more towards the shorter end...)

Getting a hospital bed brought in tonight, which will make things easier.

I have been gobsmacked by everyone's kindness re: PayPal fund. Enough money has been raised to cover cremation/etc and I've got a few dollars left over which I'm going to put towards bringing in a nursing asst to help with heavy lifting, etc, for which I am VERY grateful. In fact I'm going to see if the mother/daughter team that helped me with Susan are available (they're still working).

Aotearoa, again

I got my vacation transfer form signed today; first step on the road back to New Zealand.