It Takes a Village …

The days are counting down now until my escrow closes and as is always the case there are complications. Good problems have arisen.

I gotta go. I am heading To Canada 6 days before the planned closing date to work on a wonderful new Hallmark project. They are a terrific company to work for and I am always gratified to be in a film that has the promise of many a smile in its heart.

There is however a wee fly in the ointment. It turns out that in Texas you cannot sign escrow documents from a foreign country unless you are with a notary standing in front of the US Embassy. I am pretty sure that would be impossible in Victoria. Power of Attorney (POA) can only be assigned to a blood relative, and all my peeps are in California. This means an early close must be arranged with a rent back to give me time to gather and ship all my things.

I just got back to Austin from Los Angeles where my friend Ryan spent a full day driving me around to look at places helping me to secure a lovely apartment in a lovely part of town. I stayed with Ryan for most of the trip and he can attest to the fact that my nerves were a bit raw.

“What are you going to do about the dog?” He asked innocently enough after breakfast one morning.

Not for the first time in four days the tears began to flow. I wasn’t sure how to tackle her situation. Michael thought I should bring her to LA and introduce her to Rob who has agreed to be my back-up on dog duty. I felt bad about leaving her in Austin with the house packed up, was afraid she would think I had abandoned her. 

Shauna to the rescue. Roxy will be able to stay with the family next door until I can come back to get her. Good. Deep breath. Good. Good.

Next frantic thoughts. How to get everything organized under the new much truncated timetable? I mulled and mulled this one. None of the things that need doing are difficult to do but I was truly daunted, my brain is a bit wonky.  

I think of David. The beautiful soul who was at one time a deeply loving caregiver for my friend Michael who was wheelchair bound and coping with MS. David was and is family to those of us who loved Michael. He has lived an interesting life. He is gifted in many ways. A great cook, a meticulous organizer, a superb butler and on and on. He loves to wander too, and I thought he might be willing to come and help me.

Yes. He can come on the 19th. He will know what to do and how to approach it.  Good. More breaths. Good.

Okay now I need to learn a song for the film. Jeffrey said to call Bob. Bob is on it. Thanks Bob!

The woman who has been helping me with photo selection and technical aspects of this column could no longer do so. Yikes!

Ronnie knows a girl named Rebecca. She is lovely and proficient in all the ways that I am not. Rebecca glided into the role effortlessly. 

Thank God. Breathe. In through the nose. Out through the mouth.  

My sister chauffeured me to airports and lent me her well-worn pick-up truck for the duration of my stay. Ryan put me in his pool and let me paddle about suspended on three noodles talking through what needs doing. I got to see a few pals and have a few laughs and made it back to my Austin house in one piece. 

My manager Steve has been there every step of the way, walking me through the details of the production schedule and absorbing my stress about the move with infinite patience and solid advice.  

Breathing now.

Dad’s situation is stable. We have finally put in place the caregivers that he needs to have a smooth transition to wherever it is that we go next. When he can talk, he is in good spirits, but he is often too tired to take a call. I still worry but, know that we are doing everything that we can for him on this earthly plane.  

There are times in life when it just all seems like too much, this even when we know that there is no such thing, that “too much” is just a feeling. Even when we know that everything can be handled it is easy to let anxiety creep in. This will come as no surprise but, anxiety is not helpful in any way and worry is a waste of time.

 I confess to having wasted some serious time.

Most of us have done more than our fair share of worrying these past few years. These are anxious times. Just for starters…a global pandemic threatened not just our physical lives but our mental state as well and it took a hefty toll on our social fabric. People were Isolated and terrified. Many still are.

Fear does not bring out the best in people. 

That is why politicians with aspirations to totalitarian rule use it as a tool to inspire loyalty. You…my followers will be safe from those others. Dictators from Amin, Hitler, Noriega to Putin routinely stoke fear in their populace. Fear of contagion, fear of financial ruin, fear of the loss of a particular culture. Fear of the other. Fear can make people violent and incapable of reason. Fear can make folks follow blindly toward a path of their own destruction. 

So, when they try to scare us…which is how profit is made by networks and social media outlets and how political gain is won by some bad actors. When they try to make us afraid so that we can be divided and ultimately conquered. Let’s just take a pass.

Let’s just all take a deep breath. In through the nose. Out through the mouth.  

Our young country has survived many crises. We have learned how to manage every new threat. Watching Liz Cheney’s concession speech last night was a study in courage and tenacity. She stood up for what is right and though it cost her dearly, she vowed to do it again.

So must we all. 

And boy-howdy do we need to vote this fall! 

We elected the calm guy in 2020. That was a good start. More to do but, it can be handled.

We’ve got this.

On we go…