Visual reminder

I still reach for my ring, or the spot where it used to be. I rarely took my ring off. I was always afraid that I would lose it. And I would frequently touch it, sometimes unconsciously. I never really put too much thought into why I did that. Now I realize that it was a source of comfort. I miss that.

After 18 months or so I’m surprised that it still looks like I just took it off. If you look closely at the picture below you can probably see the indentation in my finger. It’s more noticeable from some angles. I’m kind of glad that my body refuses to erase this evidence!

I know I haven’t written as much lately. There are many reasons. We spent a week in Nebraska and I started a post there and never finished it. School has been a little busy for me. I doubled up on classes for a few weeks and it just seems like I’m spending more time on it. I kind of make myself crazy. I’ll pull up 25 different articles and then have information overload! I always get it done though. I’ll finish my current class in a week and then I’m taking two weeks off!

The main reason I haven’t written? The brief relationship I had really made it hard for me to write. There’s just some things that I can’t write about. And I’m really torn because I keep meeting guys and becoming friends on Facebook with some of them. So I worry about putting things on here that might scare someone away or hurt someone’s feelings. But the whole point of this blog is to be real and share what I go through. I guess I just need to figure it out.

It just occurred to me that maybe I need to meet someone who shuns social media like Patrick did! And as soon as I thought that I could almost hear him laughing since this kind of situation would prove his point about not being on social media! Too funny!

What I will say is that dating at 50 is different than dating at 18 in SO MANY ways. At 18 you have the rest of your adult life ahead of you. I was looking for someone who wanted the same things in life, someone I could raise children with. Now, it’s just different. There are things that matter less and things that matter more. And it’s a little more practical in some respects. It seems like just enjoying spending time with someone would be enough, but there’s a lot to consider. I guess I could sum it up by saying that Patrick and I created our future together. My future is now changed but some of it is still there. And the men I date probably have their future planned out. So you have to find a way to merge those rather than starting from scratch. I’m not sure if that makes sense but that’s the best way I can think of to explain it. And it’s a lot harder than I thought it would be!

So, I still need to write about Nebraska and also Patrick’s phone. Plus there’s a lot more coming up. Stay tuned…

The Elephant in the Room

When you lose someone unexpectedly, especially with an element of tragedy, you become the center of attention for a while. This is a strange feeling and not really the kind of attention most people are hoping to get. In the first weeks after Patrick died, it was really pronounced. People felt so helpless and they would jump at the chance to do something. This was good since there were times when I wouldn’t have eaten if someone hadn’t put food in front of me. The girls noticed it too. Sierra commented about it and said she felt like she could ask for just about anything. She even joked a little and said she felt like she could ask for something random, like a lint roller, and someone would get it. I shared this story and the next time her Zia Jenn came over she brought her 3 or 4 lint rollers. All joking aside, it’s really not the kind of attention we were looking for and it was good when things got back to normal. And now, we focus a lot more on the good memories. But, it’s a sad story, and inevitably it’s going to come up many times when you meet new people. It’s always a little awkward. You want to tell people who are new friends but you know it’s going to make them sad. I don’t want to minimize the impact but I also want people to know that we are doing well. So I always try to find a quick way to explain that this horrible, life changing tragedy happened but it is no longer the center of our existence. I’m not sure if that even makes sense. I just think it’s one of those things that will always be awkward. Last Saturday, my sister Denise and I went to hear her friend’s band play. She ran into a lot of friends while we were there and one came to sit at our table. I’m not sure how it even came up but Denise told him that I was her sister who had lost her husband. It was just a footnote in the conversation but of course it changed the entire direction. The friend jokingly scolded Denise for bringing up such a sad topic. This is always funny to me because there will never be a time when someone makes me remember that I’m a widow, i always know. Denise set him straight and told him we talk about Patrick all the time and she knows I am comfortable with it. And again, I think the guy was just teasing her, but I think it’s just so funny that death is such a taboo subject. People just aren’t sure how to handle it. I also don’t want it to appear that I am bringing it up for them to feel sorry for me. I know that’s kind of inevitable but at times I almost want to apologize for making people feel bad. I know that’s silly but unfortunately it’s just our culture. We all see the elephant in the room but we think maybe people will forget he’s there if we don’t mention it. Really? It’s an elephant!I know I don’t speak for everyone who has lost someone but I think, in general, it is better for everyone if we acknowledge that death is a part of life and so is grief. I will never forget Patrick and I’m going to occasionally be sad about that. That’s just the way it is.

This is Distracted Driving

I held my breath as my brother, Denny, opened the back of his SUV. He had told me that it wasn’t as bad as he expected, but still… Suddenly, there it was, the bike that Patrick had owned for most of our marriage. The bike that he rode through all kinds of weather. To work, for exercise, towing a bike trailer to pick up the girls from daycare. So many years. So many miles.

My husband seriously had the body of a Greek god. He was a fanatic about working out. I never noticed a bit of fat on him, not even a beer belly, though he definitely would have earned that. He was a faithful Catholic but working out was his second religion. I know I’m repeating myself but I can’t tell you how ironic it is that he died while working out. Ironic and unfair. And so preventable.

The front half of the bike looks the same to me. Well-worn but definitely Patrick’s. I notice the seat and laugh. No self respecting cyclist would put their rear on that saddle! But Patrick was the anti-cyclist. He didn’t need all of that fancy stuff. Just two wheels, pedals and maybe some gears. In cycling, his ride would be referred to as a “beater bike”. He did occasionally commandeer some of my gear, like the expensive headlight with the external battery that apparently didn’t survive or wasn’t found after the collision.

The rear wheel looks like an accordion. Exactly what you would expect when a car runs into it. I stare at it for a minute and then turn to bury my head in Denny’s shoulder.

There are also three envelopes, all marked with evidence tape. I open the envelope with the phone first. I take it out and it doesn’t look familiar. I’m surprised that it’s unfamiliar and then I see that it says Verizon and I realize it’s not his phone! In the same instance I realize whose phone it is and I quickly stuff it back in the envelope. Hopefully they still have Patrick’s phone. The second envelope is a water bottle. I wondered which bottle he had taken but I never took inventory. I suspected it would be one of mine and it was, a bottle from America’s Most Beautiful Bike Ride at Lake Tahoe. The last envelope was a part of his reflector that didn’t look at all familiar, just a random item you might see on the side of the road.

Denny takes pictures of the bike and sends them to me later. I will add them to this blog after I’ve had a chance to warn people. In one there is an illusion of a normal bike since the tire has retained its shape outside of the twisted wheel. I comment on this to Denny and he says “rubber holds its shape, like a memory of what it should still look like”.

This is the result of distracted driving. It doesn’t matter what the distraction is. When you are distracted enough to run into a person on a bike, or walking down the street, or in another car, the result is the same. The driver did not have alcohol in his system. He clearly had meth in his system but no one really seems to know how much meth is too much. How much meth does it take to make you impaired? According to California there is no clear definition for drug impairment. Personally I don’t think you should drive when you are impaired by any substance. Maybe someday the law will agree.

I firmly believe that meth and other activities interfered with this driver’s sleep and ultimately he fell asleep at the wheel, which is also distracted driving.

So, do me a favor, in memory of Patrick and the countless individuals who lose their lives every year, if you are too drunk, or high, or sleepy to drive, get an Uber or Lyft. Call a friend. Walk home. Do NOT get behind the wheel. And when you do, put your phone down and pay attention to the road. Don’t make someone else experience this.

We are hoping to use the image of his bike to spread awareness about all kinds of distracted driving. Stay tuned.