No Strings Attached

Posted By Kathleen David on April 21, 2015

He passed away yesterday morning due to complications from cancer.

He died at home surrounded by family who loves him very much.

This is one of the reasons I have been rather quiet for the past month.

Gunter had been in hospice care for a while now and we all knew it was a matter of time. The time came yesterday.

Peter was up here because we were going to visit this weekend but his sister said that it would be a good thing if we DID visit this weekend as Gunter had taken a turn for the worse.

Caroline and the girls call him Papa Jack because when he came to America, he decided he needed an American rather than German sounding name.

His father got him and his mother out of Germany right before the Nazi took power. Their friends, relatives and neighbors were not so lucky.

Gunter had a passion for the American Cinema. He loved watching movies. He wanted to be an actor. Peter fulfilled that wish by getting him a part in Oblivion. He’s the guy who walks into the Saloon, sees that bad stuff is about to go down, and tell them that he’ll come back later.

Gunter, through circumstance, had to re-invent himself. He was a newspaper reporter for years and later became a family therapist when the newspapers were consolidating and jobs were hard to find.

He was a loving husband of 62 year to his wife Dalia. He was a loving father to his three children and a loving grandfather to his eight grandchildren.

After he retired, he worked on becoming a published writer and succeeded in doing so. He has short stories in various places that he had written. He was a good storyteller.

He was proud of his children’s accomplishments. Next to his desk on a bookshelf, he had a lot of Peter’s books. He told me that he was so proud of the man that my husband had become.

He was kind to me. He told me that he loved the way that Peter and I looked at each other when we thought no one was looking at us. He said it reminded him of Dalia and him. He made me feel part of the David family even before I married Peter.

He loved Caroline. Sometimes he didn’t understand what she was talking about, but he would listen very carefully and nodded a lot. He would then come to me for the explanation of what she just told him.

Caroline loves him very much and missed him very much.

Today the family gathers. Tomorrow is the funeral.

He will be missed.

I am grateful that Gunter was my father-in-law.

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Posted By Kathleen David on April 17, 2015

It was raining rather hard last night and now it is just raining. I can tell you that the west side of the house got pounded.

My father sent me some lovely pictures of their gardens. Made me nostalgic for the Atlanta Spring. Right now I have some crocuses out and daffodils starting to come out and a number of trees budding.

Mets are doing pretty well. Peter is enjoying the games because, so far, getting behind in the score isn’t an automatic loss like it was last year. The Yankees are having some problems but I am not counting them down and out this season. The Cubs are even doing well. Cubs vs. Rays world series would mean that Back to the Future got something right.

NBA finals have started and I have no horse in the race. I will be amazed if the Nets make it to the next round.

Why Robert Carlyle doesn’t have an Emmy is beyond my understanding. I know it is not a drama and science fiction and fantasy are still looked down upon but last weeks performance was a masterpiece.

Random thoughts are random.

It is an avoid the drop day. I had a terrible time with dropping things yesterday. Today the hands are shaking less but the tremors are still there. It’s the sudden loss of grip that drives me nuts especially when I am bowling an decent game and then balls go into the gutter because I release too soon through no fault of my own. That and when I can feel my whole body vibrate slightly. It is a really weird feeling. The eye lids going makes it hard to get things done because my vision feels off.

After a couple of rounds of kitty politics, everyone is in their favorite corner asleep. I have no idea what set them off. I am just glad that they settled it.

I am grateful for the ability to pick things up without dropping them.

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Posted By Kathleen David on April 15, 2015

I don’t know the first time I heard the phrase ‘over share’. I think I read it before I heard someone say it.

It’s one of these newer phrase used to describe behavior especially in this digital age where one can over share without knowing it.

The phrase was ‘that’s more than I needed to know’.

We, as a species, seem to like to share in some ways and not in others.

One learns from childhood what topics can be spoken about in public and which should not. And it is different for different people, family, nations, and cultures. I don’t believe there is a gender component other than the social pressure.

I try in my little space here to share what I think is appropriate. I talk about my family and experiences I have. I talk about things I have learned and want to share. I talk about my feels on various things that I read or hear about.

I honestly try not to over share. If anything I am a little on the conservative side of what I talk about. There are things I would like to shout from the rooftops but I know better and that it would serve no one if I did.

Also I have to think about if what I write is going to affect others in a negative way. There are times I want to take people to task for what they say about Peter. I really do but I hold my tongue because I know it is not going to help Peter and I don’t want to give the other party the satisfaction of knowing that they got under my skin. There are times that I am more furious than Peter at some of the things he is accused of.

There are other times that I would like to talk about a topic but I also know that it doesn’t need to be out there hanging where others might find it down the road. Again it has more to do with Peter than me but still I know a couple of people who had some real problems from things they said 10 to 15 years ago on the Internet. So I keep it to myself.

I do try to talk about sensitive topics that I know something about and feel that I can add to the conversation. I know several things I have talked about have helped other people with various situations and I feel good about those.

But it is a tightrope between sharing and over sharing. And one that I walk every day that I write on any social media platform.

I am grateful for the people I have helped over the years.

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Posted By Kathleen David on April 13, 2015

I started keeping a paper journal about age 8 or 9. I wrote pretty consistently from ages 13 to about 17 or so then sporadically, with some long periods of consistently, from 17 until now. I will probably continue to do so. I honestly have no idea if anyone other than me will ever read them. But they are for me not for anyone else.

I write less on paper when I am posting content on my web log, which I have had since 2004. So I have been journaling on line for over 11 years now.

Caroline has been reading my web log. She is up to 2009 and says she has learned a lot about her childhood that she didn’t know or remember.

When writing the online journal, I always kept in the back of my mind that Caroline might be reading this down the road.

Also being married to a writer of stuff with a bit of a following probably kept me from making those mistakes of over sharing. There are entries that I wanted to write or did write and then didn’t post because, after reflection, we really didn’t need the possible fallout from me saying something that would be taken out of context and used against Peter.

I blame and thank Louise Fizthugh author of Harriet the Spy for my love of journaling. She made it sound like a neat idea and so I started doing so.

I still have those journals. I have all my paper journals in various places. I do occasionally go back and reread previous parts of my life.

There are times that I wonder what the point of it is but then I remember that the paper is for me and the electronic is for others.

So I will continue to write here and other places. Even if, right now, no one is reading because there is always the chance that down the road that someone will and it will either help them or explain something to them about me that they hadn’t realized.

It is my record of my life and the people in it. It is my legacy to the future in a strange way.

Plus if I ever had to write an autobiography, I have my material.

I am grateful that I have written about my life.

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Posted By Kathleen David on April 12, 2015

I know I haven’t been saying much here. That might continue or I might start using this space again.

I can’t really say what has been going on because it is not my place to. Just know there are things going on mostly not good that are taking my time and energy.

Having said that, know that Peter and I are fine. Our relationship is just as strong as ever and, right now, we are happy that we have each other to lean on.

Baseball started which is a nice distraction. I am always conflicted when the Mets play the Braves due to where I grew up and where I live now. I hope both teams do well. And the Orioles, I will always cheer for the Orioles.

The ‘it was in my herbal supplement’ defense or the ‘someone else must have slipped it to me’ defense is getting pretty old. Yes, I know there have been a couple of cases where athletes have been able to prove that the herb supplement mimics whatever they are testing for but every time? There are other more healthy ways of giving yourself an edge.

Daredevil is a good gritty interpretation of the character. If you liked what Frank Miller did, this is the series for you. Lots of good acting and dialogue but be warned there is also lots of blood.

Once Upon a Time returns tonight and I think they are writing a character out of the show at the actor’s behest. Nothing solid. No one has said anything to me that is in the know. Just one of those feelings.

Caroline had a good spring break. She spent some time with her sister and her best friend. She built a blanket fort and had a sleepover with a friend. The weather has been nice enough that we have started taking walks again for exercise and air.

My computer is having some problems with the latest update, which must be because of the watch. Microsoft Word stopped working for a bit but I finally got it to cooperate.

I have no interest in the Apple watch. I have an iPhone and I have a wristwatch that works. I’m fine right now. Get it to the point of the Ðìçk Tracy watches and we’ll talk.

Game of Thrones starts up tonight. GRRM has gone on record saying that this will be the point where the books and the TV series part ways. They do know the end game for GRRM but might go another direction entirely. Besides the books were getting harder to film and they would have had to put my favorite main characters on the backburner for a season to keep with the book continuity.

Can’t find my favorite coffee beans so having to make do. And coffee is getting even more expensive and the packaging smaller. I am not liking this trend.

I am grateful for support in all its myriad of means.

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