Monday, August 19: I was surprised driving to town when *NSYNC’s Bye Bye Bye came on the radio and my eyes filled with tears. I bought the album that song is on the summer after it came out because I was doing a lot of driving between Michigan and Illinois and sometimes singing along to a boy band was just what I needed to keep my energy up. The reason I was doing all that driving was my dad was dying of throat cancer at the same time as my mom was battling breast cancer. I didn’t realize the song was back on the charts, so hearing it on a current pop channel was unexpected. So were the tears, since it’s been almost 24 years since he died. It wasn’t a shock or a huge trauma at the time since we knew it was coming, so the wound wasn’t as deep as it might have been even when fresh. I didn’t realize I had that particular groove in my brain.

 
Tuesday, August 20: Went out on the sailboat with Mr. Karen. I’m getting somewhat better at my first mate duties but am far from feeling like I can call myself a sailor. While we were out, we saw one of the fire fighting helicopters over the lake.

 
Wednesday, August 21: It’s like a trap set just for me in the grocery store: Cheez It crackers, but puffed, and on a big sale.

 
Thursday, August 22: No pictures, just screenshots, of which this was my favorite. We can’t even get pizza delivered to our house here, unlike in Michigan when we sometimes ordered it so often, the driver once brought someone else’s order to our house just assuming it was for us since it was on our street.

 
Friday, August 23: Another day at home just taking care of mundane stuff like replacing old toothbrushes with new ones.

 
Saturday, August 24: Not quite decorative gourd season, but close: the hard squashes are here. (I did not make the tower but I liked it.)

 
Sunday, August 25: Went through one of my “doom boxes” (Didn’t Organize, Only Moved), of which I have many. Found a lot of junk mail that just needed personal information torn out (to be shredded) before it could go in recycling. Found some things to be filed. Found a (paid) bill that had been missing so long that it didn’t need to be filed anymore (that file only goes back a couple years). Found a few things I could put where they belong. And yes, did move some things to another doom box. I know, I know, but that’s the best I could do. One of my big audacious goals is to leave fewer doom boxes (and bags and piles) of things for relatives to go through after I die than my mom did.

 

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On this date in 2021 to 2023: No journal entries
2020: One of the High Points of Summer
2003 to 2019: No entries
2002: Supply Lust