Languishing and Replenishing

By gloria hanson

"Languishing and Replenishing" is one of Gloria Hanson's ten books focusing on the journeys of a lifetime. From "Zora" to "Coping", her characters face challenges of health, losses or travel to a distant planet in "Seeking". They confront the ups and downs, the joys and sorrows of ageing. In this book, Marion, our heroine, responds to change with courage and finally, with acceptance. We can all, regardless of age, benefit from her experiences and lessons learned from living a full life. 

• Language: English
• Publisher: gloria hanson
• Release date: Apr 18, 2022
• ISBN: 9798201850180

gloria hanson

Gloria Hanson has been writing poetry and essays since she was in grade school. As a bookworm and curious teenager, she would indulge in flights of fancy during those long after-school hours without television or computer. Following a career in biology and a long job as wife and mother, she returned to graduate school. During her professional life she devoted herself to writing articles in her field of clinical social work. With the departure of children for their own lives, Gloria returned to her early love affair with writing. Now the passion consumes most of her days, resulting in the publication of eight books.

Book preview

ISBN. 9798440979420

Copyright © 2022 Gloria Hanson

All rights reserved. This material may not be reproduced in whole or in part by any means, electronically or in print without written permission of the author.

Front Cover Attribution: KDP

Acknowledgements: Thanks to all my writing friends at Cape Cod Writers’ Studio for their support and feedback and to my editor, Lisa Peck, for her invaluable editorial suggestions to assist me in enhancing the lives of my characters.

Other Books by Gloria Hanson

Zora, the Life of an Ordinary Girl Living in

             Extraordinary Times

From Seven to Seventies Poetry

A Long Way to Heaven

Musings. . . A Sort of Memoir

Two Guys in America

Seeking

The Secret of the Trunk

Coping . . . Embracing Change and Loss

Motherhood

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TITLE PAGE

COPYRIGHT

GO WITH THE FLOW

PART II

PART III

GO WITH THE FLOW

Languishing and Replenishing

The sunlight streaming through the curtained window woke Marion who had forgotten to don her silk eye mask during her last night-time trip to the bathroom. Usually, she would sleep through the sunrise and awaken at 8AM, drag her legs to the edge of the bed, letting her feet fall right into her fuzzy slippers and greet a new day, Well, I made it through another night. Thank you, Lord.

Marion’s routine followed the days of the week, the months of the year and year after year since her husband Robert McGovern died and was buried in a small cemetery close to their Portland, Maine home. The familiar was her friend; and although these days, it took her longer to do the sequence, she felt re- assured that all was well with her world. The predictable was never dull or tedious–it was confirmation that she was still alive and able to face her days and long nights. Those days needed to be regular and begin with the sun and end with the moon. Sunday would include the morning routine of brushing teeth and hair, dressing in her old pant suit and sitting down to ham and eggs and a Zoom Mass from the local bishop. The rest followed the afternoon routine of lunch, reading, exercise, grazing the cabinet for nuts and crackers and preparation of a light supper followed by her favorite PBS Masterpiece Mystery programs. The nighttime routine followed the morning, but in reverse as far as dressing was concerned. Her warm flannel pajamas welcomed the nightfall.

And with darkness and sleep, Marion dreamed. Her dreams were transitory images or old memories from a book she had read or a movie she had watched. Robert would come and go depending on the year and somewhere between dawn and twilight. The then would become the now.

The youthful husband, Robert, had welcomed his wife and two toddler sons to the Denver house he had rented following his return from basic training in Texas. As a first lieutenant in the United States Army, he won the opportunity to use his science background to avoid active service in Korea and take part in the metabolic research going on in the Fitzsimmons Hospital labs. During the fall and spring, the young family and their faithful mutt, Puli, would pile into the Ford station wagon and set up the tent among the pines, spruces,