Celebrating Pam

Two weeks ago my dear friend Pam died. It was more sudden than we expected and losing her is hitting me hard.

Pam was my appreciation buddy, a brilliant singer, and the truest of friends. She was a beautiful woman with a fantastic laugh, a stunningly bright smile, and reserves of wisdom and caring that boggle the mind.

Pam was such a bright light in the world and in my life, and I miss her every single day.

I met Pam during rehearsals for the women’s world music choir we were in, the Earthtones. I was in awe of Pam’s magnificent deep alto. And even though I was across the room in the soprano section, we found each other early on and became fast friends.

Occasionally I’d help fill out the alto section on a song and we got to sing right next to each other. Bliss!

Pam, Peggy (our Earthtones director), and me rehearsing at Peggy’s house

For a few years Pam and I were in a small group, Juniper Skye, with another wonderful singer and drummer. We didn’t play out a lot, but we had so much fun!

The harmonies we made! The laughing we did! The time we had cake for Kristi’s birthday and my dog ate all of it when we were in the other room! 🀣

We often rehearsed around a little table in the back room of my house. Sometimes our feet would touch and Pam noticed how cold my feet always were.

So… of course she wrote “Vampire Feet”, a fun jazzy number about my tootsies! It was one of my favorite songs.

Pam was my first appreciation buddy. As soon as I started posting my daily appreciations online, Pam joined right in. It made it so much more fun β€” and easier to stick with β€” to have a friend doing it, too.

Pam enthusiastically cheered me on whenever I tried something new. She came to almost all of my Seriously Happy classes and her wisdom and energy added so much depth to those experiences β€” for me and for the whole class.

Our conversations ranged over a huge variety of topics. We talked about cats and art and aging and health. We shared whatever new thing we’d learned or project we were working on (always something!).

We talked about the challenge of healing childhood wounds β€” and ways we could grow into being even more our authentic selves.

Pam and I sang together during her chemo treatments, cried together when my sister died, and laughed at the absurdities of our lives.

…Like that time in the chemo lounge (Pam’s name for the infusion center) when the musak playing was Queen’s β€œAnother One Bites the Dust”! Hilarious.

And we laughed. Every time we talked, we laughed. I can still hear her laughter in my mind. What a beautiful sound.

I can still feel Pam’s light and love around me today, but I am going to miss her the rest of my life. ❀️

Appreciations 2/6-2/9: legos, laughter, little miracles

lego-kisses

Valentine-themed lego fun thanks to Sarah!

Newly organized craft supplies. Woohoo!

Dinner with Sarah, Ida, Katie, and Cina. What bright, funny, adorable people! ❀️

U of M cardiology’s very pleasant hold music. What a treat. πŸ˜€

Sunshine.

Not being sick!! OMG what a little miracle this is. Feels amazing!!

Toby in the new box. Yay!

toby-in-the-box

 

Appreciations 4.267

Sunshine! It may be chilly, but it sure is pretty. πŸ˜€

Triumphing over tired – but gently. Not so much with the sleeping the past few days, but I really wanted to get some stuff done today. Managed to do that – but also managed to be gentle and rest when I needed to. I love finding that kind of balance. Something to strive for. πŸ™‚

Listening to Ellis’ concert even though I didn’t quite have the juice to get my body over there tonight. Sweet!

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Fabulous meeting with Sara at Shish yesterday – so productive and fun! Delicious food, great service, and the most hilarious music from long ago. Sara said we must’ve been listening to the Forgotten Music Station. I felt like I was 10 years old and had to keep reminding myself that we were having a meeting and it wasn’t time to dance. πŸ˜€

Another awesome meeting with John this morning – more good work peppered with sweetness and fun. I like my job!

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Finishing the kitchen backsplash project. Yippee! It looked so fresh and pretty when it was done, but before all the stuff was back. Still looks pretty good, though. πŸ˜‰

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I appreciate that I am so interested in the stuff of my life that I sometimes maybe rush back into it a little quicker than is, strictly speaking, wise. Achoo! πŸ˜› Oh, well! Yesterday was fun and today I did more resting and will head to bed early again.

Yesterday’s fun trip down memory lane, listening to songs I wrote a few (or many!) years ago. Got me thinking of going back and actually finishing some of them (they’re almost all drafts written in an hour or so. I’m pretty good at starting songs, but not so good at finishing them!) Hmmmm. That’d be an interesting project. Some are from so long ago I don’t even remember writing them….but that’s my voice on the recording, so I must’ve. Hahaha!

More Wodehouse wonders…. like this description of a toddler: “His walking was a bit amateurish and his speech rather hard to follow …” Accurate and hilarious.

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Quick healing – already feel like I’m over the worst of the cold that started Monday. Phew!

Listening to Ellis’ new CD, The Guest House and then Ray Charles’ Genius Loves Company while I did a little busy work. Fun!

I am feeling the genius of naming my company Seriously Happy. I end up saying things like, “I got my seriously happy checks in the mail today,” and “I’m going to do some seriously happy work now.” And since I don’t yet have address labels, writing:

Seriously Happy
Diana Korpi

as the first two lines of my return address. πŸ˜€
Β 
This makes me happy. Seriously. πŸ˜‰

Appreciations 4.175 – magic warmth

Nice visit with my folks today! Got to figure out the staging plan for Women of a Certain Height improv show next week, fixed up Mom’s iPad and FB issues, got some computer stuff done, and had a nice visit. Plus I came home with gluten-free goodies from Mom. πŸ˜€

Things magically fixing themselves β€” at least temporarily. When I got home, the house was freezing (60ΒΊ), but when I cranked up the heat, we only got cool air. By the time (about 30 minutes later) I called to schedule someone to come out, the furnace decided to start blowing warm air again. Thank you, furnace. Nice to have a warm-ish house (it’s up to 64ΒΊ now!) for sleeping tonight. Makes me really appreciate all the cold days when the furnace works so well I don’t even have to think about it.

The fun of listening to Earthtones tracks from 2002 (I wanted to add some music to our website). I was so happy – and so scared – that first year! πŸ™‚

Appreciations 4.171 – the concert

WheeIt’s a little hard to find words to adequately describe Ellis‘ CD release concert last night. πŸ’—πŸ’—πŸ’— The open-hearted joy passing back and forth between Ellis and the audience was palpable. Her unbelievably beautiful music, with her strong, clear, gorgeous voice, perfectly balanced accompaniment, and soul-stirring lyrics bewitched us and transported us to some new level of joyful in-the-moment living. What a treat to watch her and Rad playing together and having so much fun as they created a new kind of magic. Every song was amazing in its own way and Ellis’ stories made us laugh and cry and whoop and holler with glee. And OMG the Desdemona-Ellis-Nina Simone folk rap mashup! O. M. G. No words – you just had to be there. πŸ˜€ The night was made even better for me, by getting to share it with people I adore! So many fun moments of shared joy and love.Β πŸ’— It was an incredible night and I am profoundly grateful for having been part of it.

Sunshiny Sundays.

Naps. πŸ˜‰

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zingZing! Fun to say, fun to write, fun to color. πŸ˜‰

More sunny sunshine and balmy weather. Yay!

Fun work evening, sitting in the living room, listening to all of Ellis’ CDs in order… just revving up for Saturday’s concert. I’m so excited! It’s going to be an awesome show! πŸ˜€