Yes, I wish it would quit raining, but, as we are constantly reminded when we say that: “April showers bring May flowers!” So I’m trying to be okay with it.

At least the weather is warm — no jackets necessary, for now. AND — my dogwood is blooming!

It’s an ancient dogwood tree, outside my kitchen window, but two seasons ago, it suddenly sprang an entirely new tree from it’s trunk and that one is blooming like crazy right now. (The older part of the tree takes a little longer, but it’s full of buds.)

Anyway. When I saw the dogwood blooming when I came home yesterday, it made me really happy.

I had a rough day yesterday with my favorite 94-year-old Japanese client. I’m not sure what caused the setback, but when I arrived, he was already dressed and sitting in his wheelchair in the kitchen — right in front of the kitchen door. Totally silent. He scared the heck out of me when I let myself in because he is usually still asleep in bed.

The hard part for me was that he didn’t recognize me. He didn’t know who I was. I could see he was really struggling with it, so I just tried to act normal, do what I always do, say what I always say, and as the day went on he mostly got his bearings — I’d say 99%.

That depresses me when it happens, but it had been a really long time since it last happened, so it was hard. But I had to hide all of those feelings in order to not alarm him — which makes it even harder on me.

And today, I have a different client. She is in really bad shape. She is very emotionally attached to me when I’m there, so that is exhausting, too — and, again, I can’t show it.

Anyway. I’m working hard to stay aligned with myself.

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If you signed up for those White House text messages, then I’m sure you got the link to Trump’s speech yesterday — explaining Liberation Day.

Not just tariffs but the colossal amount of money that various countries and companies have committed to giving to the US.

From George News yesterday afternoon — (includes news footage):

“HAPPY LIBERATION DAY, AMERICA! 🇺🇸💰

President Donald J. Trump has secured nearly $5,000,000,000,000 in investment and trade commitments from across the globe.”

If you missed his speech, you can see it in easy segments HERE.

My understanding is that within 6 months, we should start to see some remarkable affects to our overall economy because of this.

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There’s also this from Trump — which should help us all enormously:

“Speaker of the House Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune have been working tirelessly on taking the next step to pass the plan for our ONE, BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL, as it is known, as well as getting us closer to the Debt Extension necessary to continue our great work. The Senate Budget plan gives us the tools that we need to get our shared priorities done, including certain PERMANENT Tax Cuts, Spending Cuts, Energy, Historic Investments in Defense, Border, and much more. We are going to cut Spending, and right-size the Budget back to where it should be. The Senate Plan has my Complete and Total Support. Likewise, the House is working along the same lines. Every Republican, House and Senate, must UNIFY. We need to pass it IMMEDIATELY!”

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Okay, with that, I guess I gotta scoot.

Enjoy your Thursday, wherever you are in the world.

Thanks for visiting.

I love you guys. See ya!

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The other day, I picked up a used Best of Neil Diamond CD at the Dollar Store. So that’s what I’ve been playing in the mornings.

What I find interesting is that most of these hits, I remember primarily from his live album, Hot August Night (1972), which both my mom and I listened to constantly back then. (My adoptive mother was a huge Neil Diamond fan.)

So listening to the original versions of these hit songs, the way they first sounded on AM radio, and not listening to them “live”, is sort of jarring. But in a good way. It makes the songs sound more immediate and intimate, and in some cases, heartbreaking.

As I’ve been re-listening to the song “Shilo”, it sort of stops me short now, because I see the parallels now between the lyrics and how my own life was back then — although from a girl’s point of view, and my “Shilo” was my imaginary birth father in my head.

If you’re new to the blog — I suffered from mental illness for most of my life, stemming from relentless mental, emotional, physical and (later) sexual abuse. I lived about 90% of my waking hours in an imaginary world. Especially when I was at home. And I didn’t talk very much. If I wasn’t alone in my room, I usually sat quietly and stared.

Anyway. All of this comes back to me while listening to this song. But it’s a beautiful song.

“Shilo” by Neil Diamond. Here is the Hot August Night version (1972) — the one I knew best. Enjoy, gang.

“Shilo”

Young child with dreams
Dream every dream on your own
When children play
Seems like you end up alone
Papa says he’d love to be with you
If he had the time
So you turn to the only friend you can find
There in your mind

Shilo, when I was young
I used to call your name
When no one else would come
Shilo, you always came and we’d play

Young girl with fire
Something said she understood
I wanted to fly
She made me feel like I could

Held my hand out, I let her take me
Blind as a child
All I saw was the way
That she made me smile
She made me smile

Shilo, when I was young
I used to call your name
When no one else would come
Shilo, you always came and you’d stay

Had a dream and it filled me with wonder
She had other plans
“Got to go” and I know that you’ll understand
I understand

Shilo, when I was young
I used to call your name
When no one else would come
Shilo, you always came

Come today
Shilo
Shilo

c- 1968 Neil Diamond