“Remoted” – Day 368 (Friday)

Grandma Olive

Today is the anniversary of the death of Grandma Olive, my Dad’s mother. She was born in Nova Scotia and arrived in America as a child. Just this week I learned that she had a congenital heart condition and was the first woman to have open heart surgery at The Brigham in the 1960s. She died in 1965 at age 52, but nobody living seems to know the cause of death. A newspaper notice says she died on the way from her home to the hospital and had recently been a patient. This got me thinking about all the things we don’t know about the people we are connected to. 

In the curiousness about ancestry, the tube of DNA laden saliva was sent, prompted by encouragement from several cousins and aided by the dinging of the Outlook calendar reminder beginning at 11:15 this morning. Due to crazy stuff going down at work that momentarily felt like walking through hell-fire in a gasoline pantsuit, it was pushed to 12:00. And 1:00. And 1:30. Finally, at 2:15, I bolted from the desk, the office, the house, and drove to the Post Office. The small mailer was deposited into the drive-up mail box with the 5:30 pickup.

All week long, an undercurrent of annoyance that was impossible to ignore made everything a million times more difficult. The humming baseline of aggravation probably amplified everything and nothing was truly as bad as it felt in the moment. The monthly resetting of the cable box, a fact of life for a couple years and usually not worth much thought, was suddenly infuriating. Work stress on multiple fronts with system issues and project problems and unanswered questions that normally wouldn’t be any big deal, prompted a few outbursts that startled the dozing dogs. Before and after work, there were random tears during movies and while reading the news and Facebook posts. Cooking was annoying, as was the fact of needing to eat.

There was the echocardiogram and awaiting word from the cardiologist. Bits of family history gleaned from various relatives indicate that yes, heart issues run in the family, apparently on both sides. A bit of vaccination envy crept in around the edges like a poisonous fog after learning that many people I know in multiple states are already vaccinated and the best I have is pre-registration on the state website, which feels like the waiting list for the waiting list.

It’s good this week is basically over. It is definitely time to shake this one off and reset.