Thoughts From The Passenger Seat

2026, hobbies

A Busy Week

Posted on May 29, 2026 by nancyb422

I’m still getting over my cold or bronchitis and I think now it’s drifted into the “seasonal allergies” stage. I thought everything would be done “blooming” by now, but somehow I think it will be all summer long.

Saturday is our Tea Party fundraiser for the Preservation Trust organization where I volunteer. Whew. This is the fourth year, but my first. From what I’ve gathered, every year has been a little different, with the first two years at one of the homes in the Trust and last year and this year’s will be at the head of the Trust’s home. It keeps growing in size and this year they added two additional rooms to set up tables bringing the attendance to 95. We had a heck of a time pulling together 95 place settings from the collections and are at the point where we’re filling in missing saucers and knives from our homes!

Since it’s primarily volunteer driven with a few donations, that means women are making and baking 100 to 200 items. I had to make 100 cupcake size cheese cakes. Previously the most I ever made was 30 and the first time was a month ago! Let’s just say, I’ve been short on sleep due to worrying whether they’ll come out ok!

I’m getting settled in to working with a group of women and enjoy their company. But volunteering is hard work while still working almost full time.

I’m hoping for nice weather tomorrow – not to hot, not to cool because there will be 18 women on a screened porch. Wish me luck.

2026, thoughts

Letting Go

Posted on May 25, 2026 by nancyb422

I have a friend in his mid-20s that I’ve known since he was six years old. We became acquainted through the Big Brothers Big Sisters program.

He hasn’t had an easy life, and living with his grandmother and mother and moving through life devoid of any male guidance or mentor, meant he learned it, or made it up as it came along. Through the years, I tried to give him practical advice, made sure he had a male teacher or two, and even attended meetings in middle school with his advisors.

He started working right out of high school and was living on his own with a friend. He lost his job after a disagreement with the manager of the restoration company where he was employed and came to us asking for a job four years ago. I saw this as a great opportunity to work around good men, learn the carpentry trade, and have a good future with a thriving company. We’ve known him for so long, he was like a son to us.

Our contact before that had been minimal but with him as an employee, he’d stop in my office at the end of the day to talk and I was available to help him whatever he needed outside of work.

It was a rough few years, and we let him go in March. We both professed that it wouldn’t hurt our relationship, but because of how he left, it did.

It was hard to watch someone who was given an opportunity to learn a trade, learn from good people, just toss it aside because of he couldn’t take direction, or criticism. No matter how much I tried to guide him.

He’s now working on his own as a 1099 contractor without any of the benefits of being an employee like health insurance or someone else taking care of your taxes. But he’s making the money he thinks he deserves and he’ll figure it out. Some people just have to do it their way, and in the end, they can be successful. And that’s what I wish for him.

2026, Writing

In My Skin

Posted on May 22, 2026 by nancyb422

What’s the oldest things you’re wearing today?

I will admit to hanging onto things for a very long time, but today the oldest thing I’m wearing today is my skin. HAHA! It is sixty-six years old and although it has seen better days, a little worn and out of shape from the day I received it, it is serving me well.

Right after I wrote that, I realized I am wearing my mother’s initial ring on my pinky finger. It has her initials EP on it.

I don’t know how old she was when she received it, but if I were to say she got it as a high school graduation gift, that would make it 86 years old.

Her ring is the oldest thing I’m wearing today. After my skin 😉

*Gram, Uncle Lester, Janice, mom holding me and my twin (I don’t know who is who! 1963-ish)*

2026, Writing

The Family Stories

Posted on May 21, 2026May 21, 2026 by nancyb422

What is the legacy you want to leave behind?

Legacy: anything handed down from the past.

I became my family’s historian in the early 2000s while sitting with my aunt and the family portraits, listening to her stories of the people in them. They were her legacy to me.

For the past 25 years, I’ve collected information, discovered new family members and brought my ancestors to life. I discovered facts that may never have been uncovered without DNA and research.

I created a blog and have written about their lives, loves and losses, accomplishments and failures for ten years.

One hundred and thirty posts on people, places, occupations, and stories collected from when they were alive to share them with me.

This will be my legacy, sharing the voices of the past with future generations.

2026, Writing

Validation

Posted on May 20, 2026 by nancyb422

If you saw my story from yesterday (probably not, I can’t seem to get any traction here LOL), I talked about whether I should go to an event with a medium last night because I was recovering from bronchitis and have this icky cough. My husband said “No”, but my Tea Party chairperson, a former infectious disease person, said, “go, you’re not contagious”, so off I went loaded with cough drops and water.

The woman is pretty popular here in New England and aside from John Edwards in the mid-90s in a ballroom space in Providence, Rhode Island, I’d never been to a group type medium event like this. This one had about 40 people. I went with an open mind, more for the experience because I have my own one on one medium connection. I took a seat that had a good view of the whole room so I wouldn’t have to turn around at all.

She explained her process and away she went. She immediately headed in my direction but stopped next to me where two sisters were sitting and she went on for a while, never moving in my direction.

After moving to a side table, she focused on the table in front of me with 10 people who had come together in small groups, and that went on for awhile.

I recognized some things she threw out, but other people were so quick to jump on them that I really didn’t feel like being that person to continually raise my hand. Just here for the experience remember?

And then I received the message that was for me and me alone. She was in the front of the room and she said, “Rocky”.

I raised my hand and said, “That’s my husband’s nickname.” She looked at me as asked “are you writing a book? I’m being shown you as a writer.” I responded, “I write stories about my ancestors and family.” She moved on from that but it was all I needed. Who was it? I don’t know, but the validation that they know I’m writing to share their stories was enough for me.

2026, thoughts

On The Road to Recovery

Posted on May 19, 2026 by nancyb422

I ended up staying home from the garden event that would have me wandering around in 80+ heat on Sunday and took myself to Urgent Care instead.

There was a long wait even with an appointment but I didn’t really expect much different on a Sunday morning.

Inflammation in the lungs, painful throat, no fever, diagnosis = Bronchitis. By the time I left the building, my prescriptions were ready to pick up down the road. The convenience of medical technology. They put me on 5 day Z-pack, some cough suppressant pills, and an inhaler. The inhaler is a first and I read the instructions obsessively before trying it out. It really does help!

I was feeling decent enough to stop and pick up a grilled cheese sandwich before I headed home. Coincidentally, as I was driving home from the restaurant my husband and friends were texting me to see if I wanted them to pick me up a grilled cheese sandwich! They were heading over to get theirs on the way home!

The medication has definitely kicked in and I went to work on Monday but avoided the fundraiser Tea Party meeting with a group of volunteers. I know when I won’t be wanted!

Today I’m feeling even better but my husband is insisting I can’t go to the event I’ve been planning on for a month – a psychic medium at our local brewery. I told him it will be a Game Time Decision. I really don’t want to miss it, but, in small area…..surround by other people and I’m sniffling from post nasal drip and clearing my throat and coughing?

Can I pass it off as allergies?!? What would you do?

2026, life

Current State of Health

Posted on May 16, 2026May 16, 2026 by nancyb422

There is a horrible respiratory “something” going around and I have succumbed to it.

It started with a couple of our employees and their spouses, then traveled to my son and his wife. Sore throat, aches and pains, running nose, heavy chest. Ugh.

I didn’t think much of it, considering it’s also allergy season. Heavy head? Yes. Sneezing? Of course! But then I got the scratchy throat and more frequent sneezing than just allergies.

Thursday I decided to take a sick day from work and just putzed around. I’m not going to lie – it was pretty nice and make me think retirement won’t be so bad.

I woke up Friday feeling okay, so worked out, and went into the office. As the day went on, every nerve ending in my body was alive. My throat went from a little scratchy to “I don’t want to cough because my throat will explode in pain”. I apologized for potentially infecting my son (who probably gave it to me!) and my co-worker and kept my door shut until I couldn’t take it anymore and went home.

Once there, I changed into my pajamas and headed for the couch. Eating dinner was out of the question. I drank tea and hydrated with water. When 8 pm rolled around and my husband headed to bed, I followed. After dosing myself with NyQuil, I couldn’t even focus on reading and just went to sleep.

Nine and a half hours of sleep and a good overnight sweat seems to have helped the situation! My husband bought me two types of fresh chicken soup and I had some for breakfast. Which made me realize, why do we have to have traditional foods for breakfast? What’s wrong with soup or leftover dinner?

Anyway, today I’m laying low again and hope I will be feeling even better tomorrow so I don’t miss the annual Trade Secrets plant and garden accessories event at Lime Rock Park.

2026, life

What’s Love?

Posted on May 12, 2026 by nancyb422

It’s my husband making hardboiled eggs unprompted so I can have an egg salad sandwich for lunch.

It’s emptying the dishwasher even though I’m short on time so he doesn’t have to come back home to dirty dishes in the sink.

Love. It’s what we do.

2026, Travel

Repeating Myself

Posted on May 7, 2026 by nancyb422

I wrote this great post yesterday about in 2017, I rappelled down a really deep cavern in California. I was reading my journal from the trip and was surprised to see how scared I was.

I scheduled it publish this morning, and it did. I clicked on my notification and read the journal entry. When I got to the end, I saw a picture of me in a previous post. The same picture of me rappelling that I had in the current post.

At that moment, I realized, that I had already wrote about that event! The horror! So I deleted it.

Here is that story from the first time I wrote it.