Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression and Acceptance. Those are the five stages of, well, everything seriously bad that happens to us– grief, lost relationships, addiction, job dislocation and death– to name a few (as if one can bargain with grief and death).
Nothing in life seems quite so orderly, however. Some people never get past their own feelings of anger and bitterness. Others seem to live in a perpetual state of grace and total acceptance (though in the interest of disclosure, I haven’t yet met anyone that fits that description). Life is an ongoing process, and I feel blessed– even in spite of it all.

Romeo: Lady, by yonder blessed moon I swear…
Juliet: O, swear not by the moon, the inconstant moon,
That monthly changes in her circled orb,
Lest that thy love prove likewise variable.
Quotation from William Shakespeare, Romeo and Juliet

Blessed are the forgetful: for they get the better even of their blunders.
Quotation from Friedrich Nietzsche

1) One would expect that 50% of all deaths are women. However, according to the CIA World Factbook, there are 107 men born for every 100 women. Since women live longer, the actual worldwide ratio of men to women is 1.01 to 1. Ergo, more men than women die. 2) A woman dies every minute from pregnancy complications and childbirth, mostly in poor countries. 3) Women never cry over nothing.

You did me
a favor
pushing me
out the window
I learned
how to
fly
Poem by Austin Straus

I’m trying to be sensible, but going to work after being told I am going to be laid off is weird. They want me to be committed, but how can you commit when you can’t trust your employer any longer? For another thing, I feel rejected, vulnerable and powerless. I’m being dumped. I want to get angry, but I can’t because I’m suddenly walking on thin ice. I want to grieve, but I can’t do that either. I have to go to work tomorrow; I’ll go to work until they tell me not to come in again.

Are you being given impossible jobs with no chance of success? This one is underhanded, which is why it’s so popular. The company may need a big reason to give you the boot, especially if you’ve done everything right and are the life and soul of your department. Enter the impossible task. “Ahh Wilkins, we need you to expand our new line of warm, alcohol-free beers to construction workers.”
Quotation from Paul Michael, You’re Fired! 20 Signs That a Pink Slip is Coming

Friends will arrive and friends will disappear. There are lifetime friendships, to be sure, but like great-grandmother’s diamond ring, nothing lasts forever.

I been meek, and hard like an oak.
I seen pretty people disappear like smoke.
Friends will arrive and friends will disappear,
If you want me, honey baby, I’ll be here.
Lyric from Vic Chesnutt, Buckets of Rain

[Vic Chesnutt, in a wheelchair since an auto accident at age 18, died on Christmas day from an overdose of muscle relaxants]

Today is Remembrance Day, also called Veterans Day or Poppy Day. It’s a day to honor all of those who sacrifice during times of war.

We are the Dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved, and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.
Poem by Lt.-Col. John McCrae, In Flanders Fields

Yesterday wasn’t a good day. I misjudged a step, fell down and broke my thumb. When I got home from the emergency room, my sister called to tell me Aunt Lucille died. Sometimes, there isn’t any choice but to accept whatever happens.

Well why do the hands of time
So easily unwind?
Some lessons we learn the hard way.
Some lessons don’t come easy and
That’s the price we have to pay.
Song by Melody Gardot, Some Lessons

Losing my mother was very painful. I developed pneumonia a week afterwards.
I’m in Costa Rica for holiday. I’ll be back soon. Each day while I’m gone, I’ll present a vintage Encore Seraphine comic “rerun” from 2007. I’ve done some light editing on them, but they retain the atmosphere and content of the original. I hope you enjoy them, and I’ll have lots of new adventures to share with you when I return.
Happy New Year!