{"id":55237,"date":"2022-02-11T11:41:18","date_gmt":"2022-02-11T17:41:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/?p=55237"},"modified":"2022-02-12T10:00:07","modified_gmt":"2022-02-12T16:00:07","slug":"the-hermitage-common-room","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/?p=55237","title":{"rendered":"The Hermitage Common Room"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Imbolc and The Moon of 3\/4&#8217;s<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-55239\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/psycho-420x610.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"208\" height=\"302\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/psycho-420x610.jpg 420w, https:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/psycho.jpg 600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 208px) 100vw, 208px\" \/>Friday gratefuls: David Sanders. You&#8217;re the most articulate person I&#8217;ve ever met. Another person the night before, someone I admire: you&#8217;re the man I want to become. Geez. Yet. Nice, too. Therapy. Again. For me. For Ruth. Therapy Nation. Languishing. Mourning. Grieving. Bright Sun. Blue Sky. Black Mountain. Wireless mouse and keyboard. Wow.<\/p>\n<p>Sparks of Joy and Awe: Ruth and Seoah<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-55241 \" src=\"http:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/20220211_105137-scaled-e1644602182142-420x775.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"274\" height=\"506\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/20220211_105137-scaled-e1644602182142-420x775.jpg 420w, https:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/20220211_105137-scaled-e1644602182142-744x1372.jpg 744w, https:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/20220211_105137-scaled-e1644602182142-1200x2213.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/20220211_105137-scaled-e1644602182142-768x1417.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/20220211_105137-scaled-e1644602182142-833x1536.jpg 833w, https:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/20220211_105137-scaled-e1644602182142-1110x2048.jpg 1110w, https:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/20220211_105137-scaled-e1644602182142.jpg 1228w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 274px) 100vw, 274px\" \/>Living. As far as I know, it beats dying.<\/p>\n<p>Noticed my ax sitting near the window. Behind it is a painting, a Renaissance replica, in the shape of a cross. Jesus crucified. Above them hangs the red dragon on a green and white background, the flag of Wales. All the way on the bookshelf&#8217;s top is a human skull, an anatomy lesson tool. Up there, too, is a seven candle menorah, a replica of the Temple Menorah from the First Temple.<\/p>\n<p>The ax I can no longer wield. Too weak. Poor stamina. The painting I love as art and appreciate as metaphor. The flag is a roots thing. Captain Ellis from Denbigh,Wales. Our Welsh forefather. Though. None of my genetic work has teased out any Welsh blood. The skull. Not the only one. A beaver, a black bear, a Sabre tooth tiger (faux, but still cool). What lies beneath.<\/p>\n<p>Ruth returned home. Spent the last two days with me. She looks much better, less stressed. Medication changes. More knowledge about how to self regulate. A volunteer turn on her part which suggests a much higher likelihood of benefit. She was nervous about going back to school today. As she often says, Makes sense.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright wp-image-1338\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/11\/breck-oct-2008grandmaandruth400015.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"396\" height=\"297\" \/>Took her, Gabe, and Jon to Katsu Ramen. Was gonna be Domo, Ruth&#8217;s favorite, but it&#8217;s closed due to omicron. This was her 15th birthday meal. From last year. I took Gabe to his favorite, Benihana, last month. This little family. Sweet and, it seems, taking steps to heal from years of trauma physical and trauma emotional.<\/p>\n<p>A good time together then I drove back home, all the way across the Denver metro and up the hill to Shadow Mountain.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_46281\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-46281\" style=\"width: 211px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-46281\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/20170405_075518-e1514985950185-420x604.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"211\" height=\"303\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/20170405_075518-e1514985950185-420x604.jpg 420w, https:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/20170405_075518-e1514985950185-744x1071.jpg 744w, https:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/20170405_075518-e1514985950185-768x1105.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/20170405_075518-e1514985950185-1200x1727.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 211px) 100vw, 211px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-46281\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Rigel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Rigel. Not eating. Won&#8217;t let me give me her pills. I called a different vet, a local home call vet who does acupuncture, other things. We&#8217;ll see if she can help. Rigel also occasionally retches, like there&#8217;s something stuck in her throat. I don&#8217;t know what&#8217;s going on. She&#8217;s gone to the door to the Otherworld many times and always turned around and walked back. I&#8217;m neither hopeful nor despairing. Today, she&#8217;s alive. I&#8217;ll do what I can today.<\/p>\n<p>Had my first therapy appointment in many years yesterday. Dr. David Sanders, who founded the Kabbalah Experience and teaches the class on the Sefer Yetzirah that I&#8217;m taking right now. We met on zoom. Which I preferred to going in, wearing masks. Trying to hear.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-thumbnail wp-image-55242\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/psycho2-420x236.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"420\" height=\"236\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/psycho2-420x236.jpg 420w, https:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/psycho2-744x419.jpg 744w, https:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/psycho2-1200x675.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/psycho2-768x432.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/psycho2-1536x864.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/psycho2-2048x1152.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 420px) 100vw, 420px\" \/>Some tears. Talking about Kate. About our life together, our love, our commitment to each other&#8217;s growth. Focusing on life after Kate. As David asked, &#8220;What does this 74 year old man have left to do with his life?&#8221; Exactly.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m paying the bill myself. No insurance. Because I want to. May be weird, but it makes me feel good. And I can. Feels more like its mine, not mine and the damned Advantage Care. No pleading for help. Getting it.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_55195\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-55195\" style=\"width: 420px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-55195 size-thumbnail\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/20210404_190103-420x315.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"420\" height=\"315\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/20210404_190103-420x315.jpg 420w, https:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/20210404_190103-744x558.jpg 744w, https:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/20210404_190103-1200x900.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/20210404_190103-768x576.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/20210404_190103-1536x1152.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/02\/20210404_190103-2048x1536.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 420px) 100vw, 420px\" \/><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-55195\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Common Room<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>All boxes of kitchen stuff off the common room floor. Ruth won the contest. Common Room. A good one. The Common Room is a spot where we can gather, enjoy a fire in the fireplace, have a meal. Be together. Congratulations to Ruth!<\/p>\n<p>Feeling on the cusp of change. But, I&#8217;ve felt that way for a while. Even so. A sort of forward leaning, yet in the moment\u00a0 feeling.<\/p>\n<p>May sit in my new rocker a while today. Read. Maybe even light a fire. I want to read even more and I hope this new furniture arrangement in the Common Room will encourage that for me.<\/p>\n<p>Enough for today. See you on the flip side.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Imbolc and The Moon of 3\/4&#8217;s Friday gratefuls: David Sanders. You&#8217;re the most articulate person I&#8217;ve ever met. Another person the night before, someone I admire: you&#8217;re the man I want to become. Geez. Yet. Nice, too. Therapy. Again. For me. For Ruth. Therapy Nation. Languishing. Mourning. Grieving. Bright Sun. Blue Sky. Black Mountain. Wireless &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/?p=55237\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">The Hermitage Common Room<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[56,65,3967,4394,11,127,4312,4317],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-dogs","category-family","category-feelings-2","category-fourth-phase","category-friends","category-health","category-mountains-2","category-shadow-mountain"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=55237"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55237\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55247,"href":"https:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55237\/revisions\/55247"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=55237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=55237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=55237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}