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PREFACE: Seeing how I could not finish writing, in a timely manner, the narrative about the events of this year’s April 16th, I opted, instead, to buy some time; i.e. to secure the above, apropos timestamp by originally publishing what was, essentially, an “empty” post. What follows is the April 17th, approximately 4 a.m. completion of my heartwarming story.
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As a lifelong, old-timer Michigander, I can attest to how (in as little as mere hours), springtime temps can plunge from balmy warm to balmy (batcrap crazy) cold; dramatic climatic shifts, such as these, frequently precipitating severe ice and snow storm events; such weather patterns even predating today’s catastrophic, climate change disturbances.
Even so, climate change is REAL; thereby making accurate weather prognostication even more unpredictable than ever.
Case in point has been this very spring’s wacky weather; for starters, the thundersnow phenomenon, which wound up thwarting my original game plan to shovel often (to stay ahead of the rapid accumulation). I mean, who’d even want to risk going outside when a metal snow shovel could act as a lightening rod?
Then, mere days later, came the wintry mix, where cleaning up that mess required a handsaw. Indeed, I had found myself dealing with thickly ice coated, downed tree branches (many with diameters measuring a bit over 7.5cm / 3in); all of which proved more tiresome than clearing the same measurement of fallen snow. Worse yet, downed tree limbs, elsewhere, had literally sparked a 27 hour long power outage within my neighborhood; causing my home’s inside temps to drop down to 9.4ºC / 49ºF.
All of that providing ample, additional proof that humanity should never downplay / deny the grave seriousness of climate change.
Yet, in one rare instance, a third weather anomaly wasn’t all bad. More to the point, this involved a significant slowing down of a low pressure area’s storm front; essentially drying up the previously predicted Sunday, April 16, 2023 rain-out (save for a brief, late p.m. shower). Yep, the worst of it simply never materialized; all of which had timed out perfectly for moi.
You see, instead, my small sector of Michigan was experiencing a near picture perfect sunshiny morn, all of which helped me keep my plans alive, namely my outdoor, Sunday Service for one (yours truly); thereby permitting me to…
- commemorate the 20th anniversary of my mother’s passing on.
- go on my on-foot pilgrimage back to the nursing home and a nearby, community maintained, wilderness park.
- relive my 22 hour long bedside vigil where our hours long, late afternoon, final conversations / reminiscences, at times, had been so normal (even momentarily humorous) that I had even begun to wonder about her doctor’s grim diagnosis; to doubt that the woman I had known, for nearly half a century, was dying before my very, tear-welled eyes.
Alas… long sigh… eventually… I did realize how the final paragraphs of the final chapter of my mom’s Earthly life and times, were being written in real time; coming to a peaceful denouement.
Further factoring in how the global health crisis had suspended this (from 2004 onward) annual ritual (2020, ’21 and ’22), everything, as it was unfolding in 2023 was (still is) feeling especially uplifting, emotionally; even going so far as to restore that long-lost, feeling of pre-pandemic normalcy.
Hmm… I now find myself wondering about my life within whatever remains of my Earthly existence. Would it be premature to make a bold prediction, i.e. forecast that my pre-pandemic, normalcy buzz will wind up snowballing?
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Be humans Vaxxed OR Unvaxxed, We
can still shed and spread the batcrap
crazy contagious coronavirus which,
in turn, spawns new variants; which,
in turn, could, eventually, render the
available vaccines worthless; which,
in turn, will drag out the pandemic’s
needless suffering, illness and death!
HENCE… this easy as pie, cover your
nose and pie-hole/hole-up heads-up:
Stay Publicly / Properly Masked!
Stay Safe at Home!
Stay Healthy!
-30-
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CommonSenseTom 