Widow's Endorphins: One Small Step

Widow's Endorphins: One Small Step: Fifty years ago today, July 20th, 1969, two human beings on board the lunar module, Eagle , landed on the Moon.  Six hours and 39 minu...

One Small Step

Fifty years ago today, July 20th, 1969, two human beings on board the lunar module, Eagle, landed on the Moon.  Six hours and 39 minutes later, on July 21st, Neil Armstrong, Commander of the Apollo 11 Mission, would step out onto the moon's surface, and into history, becoming the first person to walk on the moon.  He made the profound observation, "one small step for man, one giant leap for mankind".  

The historic, life-as-we-knew-it-would-never-be-the-same events were transmitted to earth in blurry, black and white images, watched by an estimated 650-million television viewers around the world...but not by me.  The night of the moonlanding, my 12 year old girlfriends and I were hanging out on a gravel playground at Sperling Avenue Elementary School in North Burnaby, fascinated by an ant hill in the making.  It was a balmy Summer night, and still light out.  I glanced up at the moon, did the pre-teen eye roll, and sarcastically said, "what took 'em so long?"  I could smack myself!

I am grateful that my pre-teen studied ennui gave way to a grown up sense of awe.  There's so much to discover, from the tiniest nanoparticle, to distant galaxies - and it's all fascinating!

  

After a brief walk on the moon, Armstrong was joined a few minutes later, by Buzz Aldrin, and the two American astronauts began taking selfies - Armstrong capturing his own image in the reflective visor of Aldrin's space helmet.  They also gathered up about fifty pounds (21.5kg) of moondust and minerals to take back to the earth lab for study.  They spent less than 24 hours on the moon, yet it must have seemed like an eternity for the third astronaut on the mission, Michael Collins, who was all alone, way out in lunar orbit, piloting the command module, Columbia. 

The footprints left behind, are still there.  The moon has no atmosphere, so there's no wind or water to erode the footprints away.  There are no volcanoes, either.  There are meteor showers, and there is the rare possibility of a meteor striking the moon's surface, just where the footprints are located, destroying them. There are also solar winds, which move particles very slowly over the surface of the moon.  Future astronauts and lunar tourists will have to tread carefully, so as not to destroy the footprints, and efforts are afoot to preserve and protect the area of the first moon landing.

There is another footprint mankind has left behind...the ugly kind.  Two hundred tonnes of space debris and human waste from five decades of lunar exploration, litters the moon.  The crashed spacecraft, robots, research equipment, good luck coins and earthly memorabilia, were left behind by American, Soviet, European, Chinese, Japanese, and Indian missions.  Just as they've done on Mount Everest, human beings have scarred the pristine landscape.  

We have a multitude of crises on planet Earth: hunger, disease, pollution, corruption.  It is often said, "we can get a man on the moon, but we can't...(fill in the blank)".  It is also said that the technology and know how are there, or can be created to meet the need;  what's lacking is vision, and will...and one small step...

In 1961, when US President, John F. Kennedy addressed Congress, he boldly announced his intention to do what had never been done before, "I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the Moon and returning him safely to the Earth."  Kennedy admitted, "no single space project in this period will be more impressive to mankind, or more important for the long-range exploration of space; and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish."  In unifying his nation, he added, "in a very real sense, it will not be one man going to the Moon - if we make this judgement affirmatively, it will be an entire nation.  For all of us must work to put him there."

In less than a decade, man walked on the Moon, proving that anything is possible, when there is a will and commitment to make it happen.

Widow's Endorphins: Biker Chic

Widow's Endorphins: Biker Chic: For the past year, I've been cycling ten miles a day, four times a week, and getting nowhere.  A stationary bike, may not take you...

Biker Chic

For the past year, I've been cycling ten miles a day, four times a week, and getting nowhere.  A stationary bike, may not take you places, but an active imagination can take you anywhere!  I "travel" through wine country in France, and California, or even Canada's own Niagara and Okanagan regions, without ever leaving home.

Three years ago, I borrowed a generous Torontonian's turquoise-mint green bicycle, for a photoshoot in the park next door (https://widowsendorphins.blogspot.com/2016/08/balance-and-bicycles.html)

The photographs survive, in my computer archives.  The flowers in the park, however, are gone.  They've been dug up, in preparation for the expanded excavation of the reservoir lands.  You've heard the sarcastic expression, "take a picture, it'll last longer"?  It's true!

The park next door is not the only site undergoing massive reconstruction.  The complex where I live, is undergoing major reconstruction of our balconies.  Gone. along with the balconies, are windowboxes and planters which would be overflowing with roses, fuchsias, geraniums, begonias, dahlias, lobelia, and sweet potato vines. 

    

In search of flora and fauna, I also have fun, exploring the chrome and bright colours of the bikes in our bike racks.  The daylilies growing nearby, are a cheerful backdrop to the black and chrome handlebars of bikes, ever ready to be whisked away by their owners, on a sunny afternoon.  

I am drawn to circles, and bright colours, so photographing bicycles is always a joy.  These gleaming, new bikes were parked outside of a cycling shop in Steveston, British Columbia last July.  I look at these photographs, and recall the freshess of the salt air, and warmth of the sun that afternoon.  Happy in the knowledge, that I will return!

In my imaginary travels, every happy cycling adventure ends with a delicious picnic, luscious red wine, or chilled champagne.  Don't ask me how the champagne stays chilled on the journey...just go with it!

Photographs Copyright of:  Ruth Adams, Widow's Endorphins Photographic Images Incorporated.

Widow's Endorphins: International Widows' Day 2019

Widow's Endorphins: International Widows' Day 2019: It's International Widows' Day.  Truthfully, for widows around the world, every day is widows' day.  Every.  Single.  Day...

International Widows' Day 2019

It's International Widows' Day.  Truthfully, for widows around the world, every day is widows' day.  Every.  Single.  Day.  

I chose this photo of the beautiful garden gate in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada's Butchart Gardens, because it represents a divide: life and death, before and after, what is visible and invisible.  Almost every widow I know, thinks of her life in terms of before and after the death of their husband or partner.  We can tell you not only the date of death, the exact time as well.  Many (not me, because I don't think in terms of numbers), actually count the days since their husband was alive.  There's even an app for that.  

The gate may also represent the unobtainable, the barriers facing widows around the world - especially, in third world countries.  The United Nations global statistics says that of the world's 258 million widows, one out of ten live in extreme poverty.  They (and their children) are destitute.  

UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, says, "women are significantly more likely to suffer poverty in old age than men".  He says, "widowed women's lifetime earnings and savings are often too little to avoid poverty".  The Secretary-General says, that discriminatory inheritance rights, means that women "may be stripped of land, property and even rights and access to their own children".  In some parts of the world, widows are outcast, subjected to violence and sexual abuse, and forced to remarry. 

The UN Secretary-General is asking all of us to reflect on ensuring that widows "are not left behind". 

The most recent statistics for Canada and the United States show that there were more than 1.4 million widows in Canada, including those who were living common law.  America has ten times our population, and naturally, the statistics for widows is about ten times greater than Canada's.  In 2018, there were 11.7 million widows in the USA.  As the populations of both countries age, the number of widows grows.

There's comfort in numbers.  There's something reassuring about widows talking to other widows - discovering that they are not crazy to still hold onto a pair of his boots, or not being able to let go of shirts that are still hanging in the closet months, or years later.  

There are many on-line groups for widows, and I have found listening and sharing is healing and empowering.  To widows reading this, you are not alone.
 

One final note, relating to the garden gate...the invisible and visible doesn't just refer to life and death.  Many widows say they feel invisible.  Widows are thought of as frail, octogenarians, living in isolation.  They are in fact, young women, often living in isolation.  The average age of a widow in the US is 59 years old, and the average age in Canada is 56.

Sometimes the isolation is self imposed.  Many widows, particularly in the early months are contrary:  not wanting to be left out or excluded, and yet, not wanting to be around anyone.  If you are a friend, call them anyway, they may decline the offer, however, it will mean so much that they were thought of.

Even going to a celebration can be overwhelming for a widow.  It is a full in the face reminder that even surrounded by friends and family, they are alone.  The very person they may wish to share the joy with, isn't there.  

As I said in the beginning, every single day is widows' day.  From the moment her head hits the pillow, and all through the night until sunrise, the empty place in the bed is a reminder of being alone.  Every time a widow steps out the door, she is reminded of places and events shared with someone who is never coming back.  Every grocery trip is an aisle of his favourite foods, or if he was seriously ill, food lables which had to be carefully studied.  Eventually, it eases (after years of fanatically reading the lables of food, I never look at them anymore). 

It takes time to learn to live the life of a widow...to be just you.     

  

Photographs Copyright of:  Ruth Adams, Widow's Endorphins Photographic Images Incorporated. 

Widow's Endorphins: Summer Solstice

Widow's Endorphins: Summer Solstice: Light, after darkness.  In our Northern Hemisphere, Summer Solstice is the longest day of the year, and the official beginning of Summ...