MY LIFE: Part 3c

 As the World Turns.

• Sure, there was a TV soap opera from 1956 to 2010 on CBS that had 54 seasons and 13,858 episodes.
• About a fictional town in Illinois on the tribulations of upper class families.
• Produced mostly female stars, like Meg Ryan, Julianne Moore, Marisa Tomei and Amanda Seyfried.
• Was not the longest running, for that title belongs to Guiding Light.

• 
  In London, British Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer (on the right) is expected to resign tomorrow.
• Andy Burnham (on the left) will probably be the next PM.  Who is he?  Another day.
• Brexit has seriously hurt the economy,  Hate crimes have increased in England and Wales.
• But London remains very safe for visitors.  
• Just use common street sense, as you should anywhere you go.
• About homicide, London is 3 times safer than New York City, 5 times better than Los Angeles and 15 times lower than Philadelphia and Chicago.

• 
  About that Memorandum of Understanding discussion between Iran and the USA:
• Has not yet really begun at the Burgenstock resort of Lake Lucerne.  Want to stay there the next time you are in Switzerland?  Minimum $1000/night.

• 
  But didn't Presidents Donald Trump and Masoud Pezeshkian already sign the 14-point memorandum of understanding to end the war?  Yes, but this agreement was only to begin discussions to iron out the details.  
• 
  JD Vance, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner are there.  And so is Iranian Foreign Minister Abbas Aragchi.  Plus mediators from Pakistan and Qatar.
• All the problems mentioned this past week, though, remain.
• There was continued fighting in Lebanon through the weekend.  
• But Israel says they are not doing anything of any military nature anymore.
• On the other hand, Netanyahu has indicated that they won't leave Lebanon.

• 
  So Iran announced they would close the Strait of Hormuz.
• All the above ticked of Trump so much that he insulted the intent of Iran today on FOX and Truth Social.
• From Google AI:

The Iranian delegation lodged a formal protest and weighed options to leave the high-level peace talks in Switzerland. The friction occurred after President Donald Trump threatened military escalation and insulted the delegation, stating in an interview, "You won't even make it back to your f**king country". [1, 2]

FIFA World Cup Games today:

Spain 4, Saudi Arabia 0 (Final - Group H, played in Mercedes-Benz Stadium)

Belgium vs. Iran (3:00 p.m. EDT / 12:00 p.m. HST – Group G, at SoFi Stadium)

Uruguay vs. Cape Verde (6:00 p.m. EDT / 3:00 p.m. HST – Group H, at Hard Rock Stadium)

New Zealand vs. Egypt (9:00 p.m. EDT / 6:00 p.m. HST – Group G, at BC Place) [1, 2, 3, 4]

Wyndham Clark had a six stroke lead as final round play began today at the U.S. Open.  However, by Clarke's 7th hole, the lead has shrunk to one, with Sam Burns making a run. Now on NBC until 7PM EDT.

I should have begun with HAPPY FATHER'S DAY.  Here at 15 Craigside, we have a special meal planned tonight, which I will write about tomorrow.  As for sports and today, I was sent this starting line-up for the Los Angeles Dodgers against the Baltimore Orioles.  Shohei Ohtani was on paternity leave and returned yesterday to hit a home run.

For those new to this blog site, I've been reviewing MY LIFE, which I determined had three episodes, the second one with three chapters and many parts.

• Age 1-5.
• Three 27-year periods.
• Parts 1a and 1b:  educational years.
• Parts 2a and 2b:  work time.
• Parts 3a, b, c and more to come:  retirement.
• Age 86 to ?.

In Part 3b, I indicated that much of my life from when I first retired, 1999 to 2005, I did not do much.  However, from Winnie the Pooh:

In a conversation with Christopher Robin, by A.A. Milne:

"Don't underestimate the value of doing nothing, of just going along, listening to all the things you can't hear, and not bothering." [1, 2]

But in 2006 I got inspired, and decided to write a book about my professional life.  As I said in 3b, that led to two more and a stint with the Huffington Post, where I wrote more than a hundred articles.

That was my productive retirement period.  But everything changed when my wife of 47 years, Pearl, got ill, and after a month in extended care, passed away on 19July2008. 

We had discussed at some length the matter of death, and we both agreed that there should be no mourning period, but instead, a rebirth.  My blog of July 16 provided “Some Thoughts on Coping with Uncertainty and Despair.”  Both the uncertainty and the despair are now gone, and Pearl is at peace.  Thornton Wilder, perhaps, said it best:

"The highest tribute to the dead is not grief but gratitude."

That was the title of my HuffPo that day.  

In this blog posting, I explained the background behind this photo of her.

In 1983 my wife Pearl was diagnosed with breast cancer:

While she was recuperating at Kuakini Hospital, I saw in a flower shop a red, spherical flower with no leaves.  I learned that this was an African Blood Lily (Scadoxus multifloras) and grew from a bulb.  I called it a sunburst to inspire her.  I told her that as long as she could re-grow this flower, she would live.  While chemotherapy lasted for a terrible few months, she mothered two more flowers the following year, and they almost kept doubling each year. 

She lived a quarter century following that first sunburst.  This photo was taken the year before she passed away.  When I moved to 15 Craigside in 2014 I brought along three pots of this African Blood Lily.  I gave one to a neighbor on my floor.  Surely enough, they bloomed each year, usually around July, her birthday month.

I coped by creating two tribute projects.

• Plant a tree that she admired in Hilo and other locations.
• Drop her ashes off at places she wanted to visit, but did not, mostly because I was reluctant.
• This second effort resulted in a series of global adventures, which continues today, although the ash dropping part ended more than a decade ago.

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