Time Marches On, Sigh

I am reminded today, in the midst of some rough times with former friends and organizational in-fighting, that I had some wonderful times in my long-term job with the nonprofit organization. A lot of funny things happened, and I met some of the most wonderful people on earth.

One of them passed away this morning. She was the oldest of the women who started the organization, and one of the ones I'd had the most contact with. As the picture shows, much of our contact was with strong beverages in hand (hers were usually a Cosmo). In this 2005 photo, Edwina was pushing 90, but still a barrel of laughs. She was most thrilled and honored to pose for the cover of the never-written memoir my graphic design partner and I wanted to do. The furthest the book got was this poorly PhotoShopped mock book cover we made as a joke. (I assure you, David could have made a much better book cover when the time came--he is quite the talented one when it comes to images.)

Here's her obituary, if you'd like to read more.

I think a lot of people have a huge hero-worship thing going with the women who founded the organization, and have sanctified them to the point where no one would dare suggest they could do any wrong, make a mistake, or be human. But, they are humans. Nice ladies, some of whom had some strange ideas along with their wonderful mothering instincts and love for babies. But, they were great mentors, excellent listeners, and quite innovative in many ways. Edwina listened to me and my friends for hours, never tiring of helping more and more women try to find different ways to make the world better for babies, children and parents. She lived a long life, got to see her children become successful, as well as good parents themselves, and left a legacy of humor kindness and cheer that many, many people will never forget. A toast to dear Edwina!

Not much else is going on except in my mind. We had Lee's tarot friends over for dinner last night, and that has left me feeling a bit sickly--I don't think they did it, but it must be something I ate. They were most pleasant. And we sang Beatles songs at church, including a wonderful a capella version of "Because," all arranged by a talented church member.

As a fun weekend activity, I have mostly dwelt on my inner failings, poor judgment of others (at the moment I am totally unsure who my friends are and aren't), and the meaning of loyalty, none of which is doing me a bit of good. But, it's something I am good at doing, heh heh.

I am going to stop dwelling on all my personal issues right now and go knit and be happy that my wedding shawl yarn arrived. Lee says we should get married three weeks after it is done. Yeah, that's a way to plan!