In a prayerful mood after an inspiring day

I spent an hour and a half in the pool today with Bill who suffered a stroke not too long after I moved here around 13 years ago. He was unable to walk, was paralyzed on one side. He said after he left the hospital, friends helped him move in here. At the time we had a kind of cage in the lobby walling off the rest of the complex as security, and he thought he had been put in prison. He kept asking, "But what have I done?" I suppose they thought he was more or less asking God why he had a stroke and did not realize he really thought he was in prison. I told my son Raymond, is that existential or what? This delusion persisted quite a while, but I remember seeing Bill work so hard to get to his feet and walk very slowly down the sidewalk. Most of the time he has to stay in his wheel chair or scooter, but he can walk if he has to! He also quit drinking and smoking and even earns money at job he does for a friend on the computer! He is quite the success story. He was a relatively young man when this happened as his hair is still black as coal (he is part Apache). I have always thought how strong those people who have stokes have to be to come back at all. I always feel like praying for Bill to continue living and being the inspiration that he is.

I have to pray for another lady I do not know but is my sister Ann's grandkids' other grandma. She is the mayor in the town where Ann lives and she and her husband have run a restaurant for years. I have always gotten the impression she was a whirl of energy, around 60 years old. Well, she lost her voice and now they have finally got to the bottom of it, the doctors have told her she has incurable lung cancer which has metastasized into her throat and even into her heart and there are 6 lesions in her brain! They are amazed she has been able to do what she has been doing right up to now. She has unfortunately been a long time smoker. I am sure the whole town is praying for her right now as you might say she has been totally blindsided. Ann's son and her daughter were about to make a move to Austin, Texas next week with three grandkids of Ann's, and she told them she wanted them to take advantage of this opportunity, to go. What a brave lady!

Another one on my prayer list is old guy in here who has been fighting prostrate cancer. Well, Friday I saw him out in his usual chair in the lobby where he has been coming for a long time, when he wasn't in the hospital. They said they took him to hospice Saturday, and he must have died over the weekend, because his photo was up Monday saying he had passed on. So here is a prayer for Warren for a happier journey into the hereafter. He graced us with his presence right up until almost the day he died. I always love it when people live life to their last breath.

Last of all another prayer for my son Raymond who is launching off with another theatrical event up on top of Thompson's ledge with a play called "Under the Desert." Funding is scarce. I committed $100 to it, as I know he produced this play 3 times, so it has been extensively revised, and should be very polished. An actor has come from Los Angeles who you can read about in his blog Cowboys and Bohemians, and a long time actress in many of his plays, Tracee, is coming from Phoenix to do the woman's part. She is very excited about this big role. She was the one who has come clear from Phoenix to do the lights for the festival for 6 years.
So I am sending up a prayer for this play, praying that it will be an inspiration for everyone who sees it and will carry Raymond into his next move and next project with strength and resolve.

This poster is one Connie made for Raymond's "Bohemian Cowboy" which he is going to be doing in Escalante, his dad's hometown this Saturday. This is one of my all time favorites of Connie's creations. I think it is beautiful. I am also sending up a prayer that Raymond will have a successful performance of this haunting play about his dad who disappeared above Los Vegas into the desert nearly 4 years ago. Everett Ruess's disappearance haunted Escalante for years who was an artist and writer who came there to become lost, but now one of their own has disappeared into another desert and will always cause a twinge of sadness because no trace of him has ever been found.