A Conversaton with Elizabeth
1998
Emoticons May be Necessary

From:          Elizabeth
To:            larry.m.mixson@bvs.com
Date:          2/26/98 2:29pm
Subject:       Emoticons May be Necessary
 
I know about Amazon.com and go in once in a while for work related items. I guess the "joke" I tried to make about discount books got lost. You talked about spending 100's in a bookstore, and I wrote back I spend in the 40's and 50's, but that I also go to AUM university library now when I get "sudden" interests in things. Before getting my card there I would buy a stack of books when I got sudden interests. When I went to the Buddhist retreat I came back and bought a stack of books on vipassana meditation. My joke about a "discount" was sort of like "Hey want some books on meditation cheap--at a discount--I've got a stack--as my interests moved on or away."
I hope you do get in the New York Times reviews. I read about Pinker in his reviews as well. I think the first time you go into the NYT you have to register, but its free. Under the AP news there is "breaking news" which consists of stories as they are being written. I try to read it every day. It makes tomorrow's newspaper rather stale however.

AZ--alzheimer's. My sister totally freaked out when she discovered it might be genetic. She started writing to my mother's family in England and Australia trying to get details of past family members. Her concern was not our mother, but "herself." One feedback on what you wrote, there's no ongoing "fight" about property. I called my sister on my last visit and told her explicitly to bring to me certain sentimental items which I knew my mother had for me. Also I told her to bring back to me my/our set of Childcraft books which my parents bought for me/her when I was about 5. She had the audacity to "balk" and ask me "why they were so important to me." This was AFTER her ripping off the house, all the money, the car, the color t.v., and everything else. I was absolute steel about it and she finally complied. I got the items. My mother was collecting "lions" in bronze for me, mostly heavy bookends, which she would find at flea markets. She had told me was doing it for me because I'm a Leo. I now have them, or least the ones my sister choked up. The Childcraft books are in my living room. I love to look through them at the poems and art works I spent so much time with as a child, and read the stories I read over and over. But, the "fight" is over for property, etc. I'm out of it. I need to go visit my mother again soon and that is weighing heavily. I drive and its a long way, one whole day down, and another whole day back (10 hours). I'm thinking about Spring Break or possibly after finals, when I will also have finished 6 months at the hospital and have some paid days off coming. I have found a pleasant place on Clearwater Bay were I stay, a site where people drive in to watch the sun go down. Its a small motel, but right on the water. You can't spend "all day" with an AZ person anyway. The homes have their own routine. I weave visits in and out of activities. Last time I saw the Alexander the Great Exhibit which was there, and also Judy Chicago's Holocaust installation. But, it is hard. The first time I went down, I cried all the way home. I could hardly see to drive. From my determination, my mother got put in early. She was not then, may not now, be near death. She became temporally dislocated, to time mainly, confusing morning and evening, days of the week. Physically she was fine, and she could care for herself. But, she was going to Burger King at 6 in the morning and ordering "a fish sandwich." Then she would get mad when they wouldn't serve her. Also, she was carrying large amounts of money with her and fumbling through it. My/we were afraid she would get robbed or mugged.

I am mega-restless. The hospital census must be down as my work has been slow for a while.

Who are you when your memories go?

I'll get Wired.. Newsstand its 6 bucks. A large number of cases to brief this weekend.

I'm also a Laubach Tutor, a volunteer who teaches grown people to read. I'm way behind with my student because of law school. I've worked with her a year. She should/could graduate in April, if I weren't so busy, or with no empty slots in my day, or just too tired, or really just wanting to go home and relax.

I bet you've gone for the day. I'm a little scared of the weather. I'm sure you heard of Orlando. I lived there before UCF when I was in 7th grade. We are expecting bad weather here in the afternoon, and tornados are frequent here.
M
y apt has pockets of extreme organization nested within total chaos.

I found it sad to hear about her mother having Alzheimer’s, I had known two or three people that had it including my Dad’s long time best friend Billy, and a high school friend’s father. It is terrible to see how people with Alzheimer’s lose their memory. I don’t know which is worse, Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s which I had experienced with my Grandma Junior and was seeing signs in my mother, and I had seen Alzheimer’s with my younger sister’s mother-in-law. With Alzheimer’s you lose your memory and become unaware of what is happing to yourself while with Parkinson’s you have your memory, but your body slowly decays. Both are terrible ways to go. As I write this my mother’s last surviving sibling, Uncle Cork is in his final year or perhaps two with Parkinson’s. After seeing my grandmother and my mother go through it I have a difficult time seeing Uncle Cork knowing what he is going through and what is to come.

Turkle-izing