Today is my 20th anniversary at Democratic Underground. I migrated from

[CC27]

japple

Today is my 20th anniversary at Democratic Underground. I migrated from
The Smirking Chimp and lurked for awhile before joining. I wanted to be at my 10,000th post before my anniversary, but fell short.

2004 was a dark period in my life and the kind folks at DU really helped me through it all. My husband and I were living in western NC and I had a job that I loved at a State university. Then duty called and I needed to move to GA to take care of my Dad and see him through to the end. My husband was also having health issues. He had cardiac issues as well as a below-the-knee amputation and I was worried about him getting around in all the ice/snow in the mountains. We made the move gradually over a period of about 5 months. In October I gave notice to my employer that my last day would be on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving.

On November 10th, my husband headed out to Georgia with our next-to-the-last load. He called me on Sunday to report how things were going and that was the last time I ever heard his voice. A couple of hours later, my sister called to say that he had collapsed in the kitchen at Dad's and the ambulance was on the way.

I made a few phone calls, threw some stuff in a bag, asked my neighbors to feed my cats and headed for GA. It was about 9:00 pm and I didn't stop until I got to Dad's about 4 hours later and found out that Bob had been pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital. He had a myocardial infarction and it was over in an instant. I found out later that my brother had done CPR on him until the EMT arrived.

The next day, my step son and I made arrangements for cremation and I went back to NC. That week was the darkest time of my life. The angels truly held me aloft. I packed up the rest of our stuff and finished training my replacement at my job. The end of the week, family and friends gathered at their mountain house and we drove to the top of Bob's favorite mountain to scatter his ashes. We stood around and shared our favorite memories of him, sang Amazing Grace, and then released his ashes to the wind.

That afternoon, my sister, brother and SIL, best friend, stepson and a couple of friends loaded up the rest of my belongings. The next morning, we got the cats in their carriers and left for Georgia. And here I am and will remain until the grim reaper comes for me.

I am thankful for DU and the community of support I have found here. You have helped me through days when I nearly give up in frustration over living in redneckistan, the days of desperation of working with cat rescue, dealing with health issues and breast cancer. You have also celebrated with me the joys of just being alive and living in this beautiful, wonderful world. Thank you for being here.

https://www.democraticunderground.com/100218980347

They've been congratulating themselves lately on how long they've been at the DUmp.

[SVPete]

"japple"'s name is unfamiliar to me. Does she not make a lot of political posts? Moving from "Smirking Chimp" to DU might have been a step up.

[beefeater]

"japple"'s naem is unfamiliar to me. Does she not make a lot of political posts? Moving from "Smirking Chimp" to DU might have been a step up.

japple
Account status: Active
Member since: Thu May 27, 2004, 11:50 AM
Number of posts, all time: 9,891
Number of posts, last 90 days: 147
Favorite main forum: General Discussion, 61 posts in the last 90 days (41% of total posts)
Favorite topic forum: Fiction, 17 posts in the last 90 days (12% of total posts)
Last post: Mon May 27, 2024, 12:39 PM

Looks like it's writing more fiction.