Musings & Thoughts for Tuesday, July 18, 2023, or: Hello…and Goodbye (An Unusually Quick Hit-and-Run Post )

Late Morning, Tuesday, July 18, 2023, Lithia Florida

Hi, there.

It’s another muggy and possibly stormy summer day in the Tampa Bay area on this, the second workday of the week. As I begin this, my 1,185^th post on A Certain Point of View, Too, the temperature (outside, of course) is 84°F/29°C under mostly sunny conditions. The feels-like temperature, however, is higher than that – it’s 92°F/34°C. As is the norm here in Florida – this, after all, is the “wet season” – today’s forecast calls for partly sunny skies with a good chance of scattered showers around midday. Today’s high is expected to reach 92°F/33°C.

Hello, Goodbye

Today’s post will be, by choice as well as necessity, blessedly brief. July 18, since 2015, has become one of the worst “anniversary dates” in my rather lengthy list of such landmark dates. It was on a hot, rainy-and-sunny day (a Saturday) when I had to say “adios, Mami” to my dying mother, even though I had to do so while she was still technically alive. (I was not by her deathbed when she passed away, a fact that still bugs me to this day even though my reasons for not being there were, and still are, valid.)

I’ve already written a detailed account of what transpired on that horrible day in July 2015 (2,557 Days), so I don’t see any need to write another one. Suffice it to say that this eighth year after Mom’s death has been even more painful than past years…and I’ll leave it at that.

Action This Day (On Writing & Storytelling)

Even if it wasn’t The Dreaded Anniversary, I’d still need to keep this short so I can publish this post on WordPress ASAP and start working on Reunion: Coda. According to my computer’s Weather app – which is where I get all my climate-related information from – we may get some rain showers between 11 AM and noon. There are no thunderstorms in the forecast, but on Sunday and yesterday, the weather predictions did not include boomers either, yet we had them here in Lithia…on both days!

My plan is to start my rest break as soon as I publish this on my blog. Hopefully, if the rain showers do come this way – as rain showers or T-storms – they will pass through quickly, and I’ll be able to get to work between 12:30 PM and 1 PM. If I’m fortunate enough to have a clear mind and a positive outlook, I should be able to restart working on Chapter 10, Scene Two…a section of the story that is truly kicking my ass.

So, on that note, Dear Reader, I must take my leave of you. Until next time, stay safe, stay healthy, and I’ll catch you on the sunny side of things.