Patsy Terrell

Lived fully, laughed loudly, gave generously

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February 28, 2013 by Patsy

“Why I don’t go to bed early” – an Essay by Patsy Terrell

9:45 p.m. go upstairs
10:20 p.m. or so actually go to sleep
12:35 a.m. awake fully rested, shocked it is still dark outside
1:05 a.m. or so get back to sleep
1:45 a.m. wide awake, fairly certain it now must be daylight. It is not.
1:46 a.m. check Facebook and email
1:48 a.m. sigh and wonder why I can’t sleep like normal people
1:52 a.m. mentally edit photos I took yesterday – like the one above of cool icicles on a downtown building
1:57 a.m. open kindle and decide it’s the perfect time to learn the ins and outs of one-click
1:58 a.m. begin listening to “Stein on Writing” I downloaded from Kansas State Library a few days ago, hoping some soothing words will make me sleepy (it didn’t take very long to learn the ins and outs of one-click)
2:02 a.m. prepare a project for a client – at least in my head
2:05 a.m. decide I’m too hungry to go back to sleep
2:06 a.m. decide that’s stupid
2:08 a.m. mentally work on a proposal for a different client
2:17 a.m. check twitter and email – I’ve been chosen for a special offer, just in case you were wondering
2:20 a.m. debate if Sol Stein is right that fiction is about emotion and non-fiction is about information
2:24 a.m. consider a new website I’m thinking of
2:27 a.m. decide I really am hungry and wonder if a person should cook in the middle of the night, I have everything for eggplant parmesan, that sounds good, do people cook things like that in the middle of the night
2:42 a.m. think of 1749 new things I could be doing instead of lying in bed awake
2:45 a.m. get up and come downstairs
2:47 a.m. check Facebook and email – not much has happened since last check
2:48 a.m. begin writing
2:59 a.m. discover yet another big issue with wordpress and wonder if I’m nuts for switching (max upload size this time)
3:03 a.m. edit the wordpress install, but realize the three year old answer I’ve found online does not work, but does indicate the same problems still exist three years later
3:22 a.m. search for apartments to rent in Paris
3:43 a.m. manage to get wordpress to work after finding different answer, but it now takes more steps than is reasonable
3:46 a.m. think to look for plug-in – duh
3:47 a.m. debate getting food at home or holding off until 6 a.m. when I could go have a cinnamon roll at Carriage Crossing
3:48 a.m. realize this is far more pleasant to think about than word press installs
3:54 a.m. check Facebook and email – it’s a slow time between 2-4 a.m. it seems
3:55 a.m. realize am up to chapter three in audio book – don’t recall much from last hour
3:56 a.m. look up yoga poses online because my back hurts, think about making chiropractor appointment, think about people I know who do yoga, consider personal lives of two of them, which leads me to remembering a lunch conversation, which makes me think of another friend, which reminds me of a client project, which makes me think about a meeting I have coming up next week, which reminds me of a task I need to complete today, which reminds me of a lecture I attended a couple of years ago, which makes me wonder if I could reach my nephew by text after 4 a.m. because he’s an early riser, remember playing with a kitten in the hay loft together when we were kids, which reminds me of how much I love kittens and I remember I thought about fostering kitties, which reminds me of animals in general, which makes me think about how agriculture has done a great job of telling its story in social media, which reminds me to connect with someone on twitter, which leads me to thinking about the state of now conference where I met someone who told me yoga was good for back pain, which reminds me of a writer I met at a conference who also collects vintage linens, which reminds me to buy more spray starch, which reminds me of grocery shopping, which reminds me I’m hungry
3:57 a.m. wonder what could possibly be keeping me from sleeping like normal people do

In the Dark

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Epitaphs for Patsy

In a document she left behind for a good friend, Patsy listed five possible epitaphs that could be used at the time of her passing.

  • ‘Lived Fully. Laughed Loudly. Gave generously. Gone.’
  • ‘Lived, Laughed and Loved. Continuing that elsewhere.’
  • ‘Lived fully every day. No regrets now.’
  • ‘The journey continues It has been magical.’
  • ‘A magical journey so far no regrets.’

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An Editorial Tribute

Image courtesy of Richard Crowson

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In memory of Patsy Terrell • Curated by Greg Holmes • Website by Rosemary Miller

 

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