The Caregiver’s Tales

Tiny essays on life, nature, grief and other things that catch my fancy in the Texas Hill Country. Here’s how it all got started.

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John W Wilson 10/26/21 John W Wilson 10/26/21

At Rest

Inertia. That’s me. The tendency of a body to stay at rest. As a human it is probably a pretty good trait.

John W Wilson 10/14/21 John W Wilson 10/14/21

The Sweet Bit

They’re stringing the lights in the trees at the courtyard of the headquarters of the Pedernales Electric Co-op.

John W Wilson 10/12/21 John W Wilson 10/12/21

The Card

Hint you might not be focused: A debit card arrives from a bank you don’t know. Slight panic. I’ve been hacked.

John W Wilson 10/11/21 John W Wilson 10/11/21

Good Day

It’s a new day, but aren’t they all? Last week was sort of weepy for me.

John W Wilson 10/10/21 John W Wilson 10/10/21

My Little Friends

I have a monkey. Actually, it’s an orangutan. And it’s ceramic. And it’s old.

John W Wilson 10/7/21 John W Wilson 10/7/21

Gone Friend

My friend Jim Tobin passed away this past Sunday, October 3. He was a victim of ALS.

John W Wilson 10/4/21 John W Wilson 10/4/21

The End

Today I start my push for the summit. Naw, just kidding. Today’s trip will be anything but heroic. I’m simply going home.

John W Wilson 9/18/21 John W Wilson 9/18/21

Pytor’s Tune

Once upon a time I bought an alarm for my front gate. I was monitoring the comings and goings of my late wife whose dementia made it dangerous for her to be out and about unattended.

John W Wilson 9/14/21 John W Wilson 9/14/21

Getting Better

Whatever I did to my poor old back muscles seems to have eased a bit. Yesterday, as I sat here and typed, I could barely sit here and type.

John W Wilson 9/3/21 John W Wilson 9/3/21

Timeout

It took two days, but I finished boxing, alphabetizing, and labeling my CD collection.

John W Wilson 8/30/21 John W Wilson 8/30/21

The Return

Well, I’m home after five days of music, friendship, and fun in Marathon, Texas. It was all good.

John W Wilson 8/25/21 John W Wilson 8/25/21

Still Good

Here’s another indicator of how well I feel. When something needs doing, I do it.

John W Wilson 8/24/21 John W Wilson 8/24/21

Starting Over

I’m pretty sure no one really understands how good I feel right now. My house is a holy mess, my wife died a year ago, but here I stand in all the debris feeling just as I did eleven years ago when we first moved in.

John W Wilson 8/23/21 John W Wilson 8/23/21

Two Bags

Gave two of my wife’s little bags to two little girls yesterday. Nick-knack bags with pink felt flowers and the like.

John W Wilson 8/22/21 John W Wilson 8/22/21

Hardly Detritus

I was thinking about taking a break from writing about death and destruction as I deconstruct my wife’s closet, but it’s pretty much a constant and not really that much of a struggle.

John W Wilson 8/21/21 John W Wilson 8/21/21

Two Women

Friends. Yesterday was seismic. As seven boxes of my wife’s clothes and shoes went out the door a new recliner crashed into the room. Continents drifted. Mountains rose. New oceans formed.

John W Wilson 8/20/21 John W Wilson 8/20/21

Moving Day

I did what I thought was going to be a hard job yesterday. I packed up my late wife’s clothing for the local Catholic charity in Fredericksburg. It was hard.

John W Wilson 8/19/21 John W Wilson 8/19/21

Farm Report

An unusually wet July and August have done wonders for the khaki weed harvest. Crop yields are way up.

John W Wilson 8/18/21 John W Wilson 8/18/21

Cut Flowers

Preamble: In 1975 we bought our first house. It was built by my father-in-law in a new subdivision he was developing in Pasadena. His house was right down the street and around the corner from ours.

John W Wilson 8/13/21 John W Wilson 8/13/21

A Ball in a Box

Talk about old habits. On the anniversary of my wife’s death, I decided to remove my wedding band. It’s been well over a week, yet I find myself reaching down to absentmindedly fiddle with the ring.