Harbor Freight and Dr. Who

 I'm now in the "three month" phase.  I'm trying not to dwell on things, or mope, but playing in the background like white noise are the memories.  Bob went into the hospital on January 7.  Things went steadily downhill until March 30, when they ended.

Tomorrow, January 13, was one of the big days.  That was the day he got the bone marrow transplant.  The ward throws a "birthday party" on that day, because  they say this is your new birthday.  All the staff on duty that day come in to clap and sing happy birthday.  He got a bag of presents - a warm lapblanket, some toys, a card, a hand-crocheted hat (he lost his hair a few days later), and a medi alert bracelet.  It was at the last that I saw his face change.  He had convinced himself all along that if he just got through this, in a few months he would be back to normal.  It was at this moment that he realized it would not happen; he would have to be cautious the rest of his life.

Those memories just play in the background.

I just heard that a Harbor Freight tools will be going in on this side of town.  Odd to be excited about cheap Chinese stuff, but Harbor Freight is fun.  I remember many years ago when Tallahassee got its first one, in a strip center anchored by a natural foods store on one end and Olive Garden on the other.  In the weeks before opening, when we were running errands in that area, we would look over and be excited for the opening.  Sometimes, afterwards, we would just go in to look around (we did that with a lot of places - Barnes and Noble, Michael's, Hobby Lobby.  Somehow, I don't do that any more - I don't seem to be in town much)

I was watching a trailer for the new season of Dr. Who.  Like they have done a few times before, they have brought in an actor from the "classic" Dr. Who.  In this case, it will be Leela, who was one of Tom Baker's companions in the late 1970's.

What do these two things have in common, that caused me to heave great sighs.

One is the memory of Harbor Freight.  The excitement of getting one, and the fun of just wandering through.  The other is the memory of Leela.  She was Bob's favorite Dr. Who companion.  The Doctor had found her on a planet, a descendant of people who had landed there long ago, and who had long since gone a bit feral.  Bob loved her straightforward attitude ("shall I kill him for you, Doctor?")  There may have been other reasons he was so enamored of her. 

From time to time through the decades, we might see a vintage Dr. Who with Tom Baker, and I can still hear his voice of "ahhhhhh, Leela."  (I didn't get jealous because he was diplomatic enough to say that he saw a resemblance between us, if more of attitude than appearance.)

Cheap Chinese tools and a feral warrior.  Nostalgia is a strange thing.