Death of a Salesman

 Guess what; today I am going to be writing about death. 

Why death? My friend, Elisa from The Crazy life of a writing Mom is coming out with her new book and she wants us all to celebrate that by writing about death, actually about loss. I am a bit early( I think)  because I can not write tomorrow. Her book, “The Golden Sky” is about the loss of her infant son.

My experience with that is limited. I have lost a son due to a miscarriage and another due to the fact that I had to give him up for adoption, but I have never had to face death like she has. I have faced death though.  

The thing I can I can tell you about death is that it smells. Sweet and pungent it sticks to your skin. It is the kind of smell that does not easily wash off. If you have ever loved someone that has died, you take that smell with you. You wrap it around yourself like a blanket and take it to bed at night. You get out of bed and take a shower, but the smell is still there. Another thing about death is that it is so quiet and so full of noise at the same time. Stand there and listen to all the noise that surrounds death and you will hear nothing at all. Death can be your best friend, it will never leave you, but what you take with you from death can either drown or save you.

Many of you don’t know that I have a company. My husband and I started it when we bought a motel in the middle of Norway over 15 years ago. Like me, this company has been through some changes. Those first great expectations withered away and died when the market fell out. Needs change, we sold the motel, moved to a small town and started the company over again. Now don’t laugh, but I really do have to tell you about the death of a salesman.

From motel owner and part time retail man my husband went from selling computers to fixing them and he took our company with him. In the middle of nowhere Norway we soon found out that computers had no lifeline and the salesman slowly died. Out of those ashes a Fireman was born. I know, I have asked myself the same question. Where did the fireman come from? It really does not matter because today he is keeping us safe. The death of a salesman turned out to be the birth of another one. Yesterday our company was selling rooms and computer fix overs; today our company is selling life protection. After working as a fireman for a while and seeing the death that fire creates, my husband decided to change our company and to sell fire protection instead. He now installs fire equipment and teaches classes about fire prevention all over Norway.

I know that this is not the kind of story you were expecting. Most of you have probably experienced a terrible loss and what I have written about must seem very trivial to you. The fact is that I could go on and on about how terrible death is. You already know that and you live with it every day. Let it drown you or save you. Your choice…

Happy Days

 How fun is it to get out of bed and face another paintbrush? Please join me as I travel yet into another dimension, the dimension of the “Never Ending Saga of Home Renovations”. My husband was looking forward to me coming home all renovated myself and ready to grab that paintbrush with a new vengeance. Ha? I can get dressed and take out the garbage, I can even go to the store and buy something for dinner, then make it. Expectations wait for me like dirty dishes in the sink. Do you ever feel like you are so busy running around trying to make everyone else happy that you have missed the point? All I ever really wanted was a closet to hang my clothes in, a toilet that I could use without waiting in line for and a little bit of privacy. Guess I should be grateful for all these spotlights and new technology that I have no idea how to use. Guess what? I can turn the power off and on from my telephone. Well not really, but my husband can. I am having trouble just using my phone. Guess I should get dressed and put on my painting clothes. Oh wait, where do I find those? They are certainly not in the sink with the dirty dishes, or are they?   

Winter Garden, we need shades.

Future bathroom

More walls to paint in future living room

 Room with a view that someday might be my atelier.

TTT............Things take time.................

Rocky Day

 

Rocky… I thought about it all day although no one I was with realized how suiting I thought that name was for my last day in Colorado. The Rocky Mountains National Park, beautiful and breathtaking, yes I was there and saw it. Unfortunately my heart was not there. My heart was turning into stone and breaking into a thousand pieces that slowly fell to the bottom of my stomach. Clunk, clunk, clunk, only I could hear it. Still I forced a smile now and then, got out of the car to walk through cold snow and wind, and got my picture taken together with my son and daughter.

I would have to say good-bye to them soon, so soon after just saying hello. If you have read my blog then you will know that I traveled to the states to meet them for the first time in many years. So I spent my last day with them in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. I am home again in Norway now. I am home and looking at those pictures and I am thinking of the saying, “Home is where the heart is.” Mine still seems to be falling to the bottom of my stomach in a thousand pieces. Clunk, clunk, clunk, only I can hear it.

Boo Me...

 Ghosts appear in unusual places and seem to haunt some more than others. Have you ever seen one? Do you want to? I am fascinated with ghosts, and I do not mean my own personal ghosts from my past, those I could do without for a while. Nothing really scares me anymore. Sure there are things that I find creepy, like dolls and clowns, but the search for something supernatural and terrifying has eluded me. Not for the lack of trying because I have done my fair share of ghost tours and cemeteries at midnight. I have read all the horror books and seen the films and yet I remain disappointed. My search for something extraordinary, unbelievable and terrifying at the same time continues.

Stanley Hotel

Recently I traveled to The Stanley Hotel in Estes Park, Colorado with my daughter, son and his girlfriend. You might recognize the place from the movie “The Shining” and you can read about the hotel here. The TV show “Ghost Adventures” was filming while we were  there so no one paid much attention as we roamed the forbidden halls with our video camera. We went on a ghost tour later but it was not anywhere near as fun as our own exploring. Our telephones kept turning off, pictures would not focus and the shutter on the video camera would not open. We saw and heard things that could not be explained and I felt physically ill on several of the floors. Expectation and imagination you say? Maybe that is so, and it is what I tell myself, but I will never really know. Creepy…? Yes, but I am I still looking to be scared, so if you have a good story, Boo me.

 My son and I exploring the halls

 My daughter and son outside the famous room 217

The three of us on our ghost hunt

Believe it or not...these pictures were very difficult to download! You have a ghost story? Please share!

Talking bout my Girl…My Girl!

 Leaving sunny Colorado I headed for the plains of Minnesota to spend some time with my daughter who I had not seen for over 20 odd years. I also got to meet my two grandsons for the first time. Do you think I was excited and nervous? You can guess the answer to that. 

My daughter and I

I made it in time for her 31^st birthday and let me tell you, that first hug was one of the best hugs of my life. The month of October was filled with fantastic hugs. First my son, then my daughter and my grandchildren, you cannot put words on this page that would let you know how I felt. My beautiful daughter and her children slipped into my arms as if they always belonged there. I still feel the warmth of them now and will continue to, until I see them again.

Garden of the Gods

 If someone were to ask me what my favorite day in Denver was it would have to be my day walking in the Garden of the Gods.  Giant red rocks shadowed the ground below them and reached high into a crystal blue sky. To be able to share such beauty in the footsteps of millions that have walked before me was an overwhelming experience that I was lucky enough to share with my son. It is not surprising that the gods decided to plant a garden in this beautiful country. There was more God here on this Sunday than in any church and clearly my prayers were just a whisper in the wind among so many others. Faced with such enormous beauty standing still in time, my only thought was how I could press this time and put it in a bottle so that I could keep it with me forever.

Have you been somewhere that was so powerful in its beauty that it will forever be a part of you?

Zombie Mom

 My memory box is full of wonderful memories from my trip to Denver and Minnesota. Sorry that I have not been sharing them more with you but my computer had a melt down and the charger for it got fried. Home again in Norway and new charger hooked up, it is time to share the rest of my trip with you. I left you all in suspense just before my adventure into Zombie world. 10,000 zombies in one place, and yes I was one of them.

 At the zombie crawl with my sons girlfriend

Zombie mom attacks son

The Denver Zombie Crawl is known in the Genus World Book of Records as the biggest zombie gathering in the world. Check it out here. Denver is a beautiful city and my first encounter with its streets littered with zombies was an amazing experience. I will tell you more about my trip in the following days. Until then, I have a lot of catching up to do.