Still Here

Hello, Dear Hearts, how are you? I've missed you.

Like most folks I've been following the news from Haiti, especially the on-going rescue efforts and heroic medical care for both people and animals. What I could usefully glean these last few weeks, I've posted here @birdgarden:

http://twitter.com/birdgarden

(If you are looking at the blog you'll see my twitter posts appearing in the right hand column, just under the image of Gaia Holding The World)

I posted three links last night about the work being done to help farm and companion animals in Haiti by many groups working as one large, effective unit (work that, understandably, has to take a backseat to human needs.) You will also see link to news on animal rescue efforts during the floods in California and all through the harsh winter in Europe and here in the U.S. I'll post more when I can. (I will also write more on my new found respect for the networking & charitable powers of Twitter and my on-going distrust of and dislike for Facebook's privacy policies, another time).

I would like to thank those of you who wrote such kind remarks after my Yule post. I wasn't "back", per se, but I did want you to know that I was thinking about you and wishing you a happy time. We had a peaceful holiday at our home and took delight in small things. I hope you had a lovely time, as well.

The approach of Imbolc finds my family still at a crossroads but well, even so. My aunt has finally passed on after a series of strokes and a slow descent into isolation and confusion as her dementia increased. This passing was a blessing for her and those who love her. I should note here that the responsibility for her care fell to my cousins and their spouses who rose to the occasion with compassion, patience and respect for her needs. I merely cheered them on from the sidelines and did what little I could.

A while back, I called friends in N. California to see how they had come through the 6.5 quake near their home only to be told about the unexpected loss of one friend's elder brother. His death (and the death of my older sister) were both due to cancer. I hope some day to see this cruel disease cured in my lifetime. At this point, I'll remind you all to go to your doctors and get those moles checked (our friend's brother died from carcenogelic melanoma which started out as a small, cancerous mole three years ago and traveled to his brain) and, yes, my sisters, please, get those yearly mammograms no matter what those fools say. Do not, do not, do not wait until you are 50. The people who want you to do that, are thinking about their bottom line, not your health. Be proactive and take care of yourselves.

Meanwhile, my own dear elder is healing from the effects of her car accident (which occurred right after we got back from NADWCon), while suffering more and more from COPD and heart trouble. We have now moved from medicine A to B and are now at C for her breathing troubles which is, just now, effective. I continue to care for her (while she continues to be her strong minded, independent self, bless her ) as does my husband. This continues to involve travel and time away from home. I don't know how many men would take weeks off from work to care for a wife's relative, no matter how beloved that elder might be, but this one did. I married well in the best sense of that word and I have the good sense to know it.

The state of things leaves me with little time (and less brain) to do any thoughtful blogging. Please know that I read your own blogs with interest. Your insights, art, humor and wisdom continue to sustain me and I thank you.

The current situation in both California and Haiti reminds me to
a) do what good I can in the world
(to be honest, my volunteer work has kept me sane) and
b) count my own blessings.

As I said, what I do now makes me a bear of little brain so Tweeting updates on earthwise news and the odd posting of links to my Facebook account is all I'm really good for. My beloved has just installed wifi in our elder's home which is yet another blessing on my gratitude list. So if I can write, I will. But if I can't, know that you are in my thoughts.

May the sun shine on your journey in this new year. May we all find ways to help those who cannot help themselves. As an old friend says, "Witches deal with things". No doubt you are dealing with your own challenges, while at the same time offering a helping hand to people in need you've never met. You make me proud, you really do.

With love and respect,

Sia

Photo: Egress Sign at NADWCon (artwork by Magaret Grady). Photo from NADWCon Flickr pool, courtesy of Hereatwitsend

The Wife John McCain Left Behind

Since we're talking about character and family values, let's take a look how John McCain treated his first wife. I'd say it's pretty much the same way he has treated the economy (1):

...There is another Mrs McCain who casts a ghostly shadow over the Senator’s presidential campaign. She is seldom seen and rarely written about, despite being mother to McCain’s three eldest children...She is McCain’s first wife, Carol, who was a famous beauty and a successful swimwear model when they married in 1965.

She was the woman McCain dreamed of during his long incarceration and torture in Vietnam’s infamous ‘Hanoi Hilton’ prison and the woman who faithfully stayed at home looking after the children and waiting anxiously for news.

But when McCain returned to America in 1973 to a fanfare of publicity and a handshake from Richard Nixon, he discovered his wife had been disfigured in a terrible car crash three years earlier. Her car had skidded on icy roads into a telegraph pole on Christmas Eve, 1969. Her pelvis and one arm were shattered by the impact and she suffered massive internal injuries.

When Carol was discharged from hospital after six months of life-saving surgery, the prognosis was bleak. In order to save her legs, surgeons had been forced to cut away huge sections of shattered bone, taking with it her tall, willowy figure. She was confined to a wheelchair and was forced to use a catheter.

Through sheer hard work, Carol learned to walk again. But when John McCain came home from Vietnam, she had gained a lot of weight and bore little resemblance to her old self.

Today, she stands at just 5ft4in and still walks awkwardly, with a pronounced limp. Her body is held together by screws and metal plates and, at 70, her face is worn by wrinkles that speak of decades of silent suffering.

When McCain – his hair turned prematurely white and his body reduced to little more than a skeleton – was released in March 1973, he told reporters he was overjoyed to see Carol again.

But friends say privately he was ‘appalled’ by the change in her appearance. At first, though, he was kind, assuring her: ‘I don’t look so good myself. It’s fine. (Then).... ‘John started carousing and running around with women,’ said Robert Timber...despite his popularity as a politician, there are those who won’t forget his treatment of his first wife.

Carol insists she remains on good terms with her ex-husband, who agreed as part of their divorce settlement to pay her medical costs for life. ‘I have no bitterness,’

...She says. ‘My accident is well recorded. I had 23 operations, I am five inches shorter than I used to be and I was in hospital for six months. It was just awful, but it wasn’t the reason for my divorce.

‘My marriage ended because John McCain didn’t want to be 40, he wanted to be 25. You know that happens...it just does.’

- from the Mail On-line

Based on his actions and comments to date, I'd say he has yet to grow up.

Sia

Related Links:

McCain's broken marriage and fractured Regan friendship

The Real McCain

Cindy McCain's Fortune

Related Articles:

A Biography of John McCain (humor from the Daily Show)

A Barbie Girl for John McCain (humor & commentary)

Endnotes:

(1) Short Video: John McCain: Economic Disaster by Robert Greenwald