Loss.

 Most of you, if not all of you, know by now that my daughter (aka The Brine Queen) died unexpectedly on September 14th of this year.  These last several weeks have been painful and chaotic. We've all been devastated both emotionally and financially by this, and I've been struggling here financially and hosting my son-in-law who has been couch surfing as long as it's been allowed, since finding a job or affording an apartment is just about impossible during the pandemic.  

I've been trying to get Carlos more involved in life here in CA, and to that end we did go to the Santa Ana Zoo last week, and we went whale watching on Tuesday.  I'll post about it all later, but I just don't have the energy to do it right now.  

On Sept 16 I started the long drive to FL, driving up to 17 hours a day, a trip that was made longer and more complicated by Hurricane Sally and the subsequent flooding and road closures.  As a result, I have some pretty painful soft tissue damage in my right leg that will take considerable time to heal.  I've pretty much spent these last 6 weeks in physical pain as well as emotional pain. 

Life is not 100% dismal.  My youngest and his significant other are talking about getting married soon.  My remaining daughter is in a happy relationship and just got a new job.  And I'm finally going to have my hand surgery the end of November. 

But I'm tired.  Very tired.  So posting about binturongs and dolphins and the joy of being out on the water again if only for a few hours will have to wait for another day.