Welcome to the Only Child Diaries podcast. I'm your host, Tracy Wallace. Have you ever felt like you didn't receive the how-to brochure on life, that you didn't get enough guidance about major life issues? So did I. You don't have to be an only child to feel this way. In my podcast, we'll explore some of the best ways to better navigate adulting, while doing so with humor and light. Welcome everyone to the Only Child Diaries podcast.

Today I'm going to talk about last week I took a break. I took a break from my podcasting, which is a pretty rare occurrence. If you've been a regular listener, you know that I've well, I think I've only taken maybe one week off, maybe two weeks. I've released the Drunk Driver episode every year, but I've done an extra introduction for those, so really, the only week I can remember taking off was after my horse, dallas, passed away Two weeks ago. If you listened to that episode, you know that my friend, gina my friend for 32 years who passed away in 2018, her mom had gone into the hospital and I'm very grateful that the day she went in, she went in through the ER. I went to be with her during that time so that she wasn't by herself, and I spent about five hours with her. The next day she was still cognizant, but two days later she didn't know who anyone was. She was still awake and by the third day she was in a coma, still awake, and by the third day she was in a coma. She died last Sunday, about a week and two days after she went into the hospital Neliya or Maureen, depending on who you talk to and what day of the week it was and which way the wind was blowing. She had several names, but I knew her, as Neliya Was like a second mom to me in a lot of ways.

Bill and I spent a lot of time with her, especially after my friend Gina passed away, and she was a character, she was fun, she had a lot of energy and the thing about her was that she lived her life really independently up until the day she went into the hospital. She didn't linger, she didn't have a lung illness, she had liver failure and we don't really know why she had liver failure, but that's what happened to her and they tell us that she wasn't in any pain. I was with her, along with my brother-in-law and a couple of friends and her daughter when she passed away, and it was very peaceful. It was a lot like when my dad passed away. It was very peaceful, but it was faster than my dad's passing, I would say. She was in the hospital and we were with her, and the nurses were great. The nurses were fantastic.

At the same time, that weekend, our dog had to go in to see the vet on rather an urgent matter. On rather an urgent matter, that was the day before Neliya passed away, and the day after she passed away I had an appointment, a follow-up appointment for our cat. You might remember that I had an event back in May for work that took a lot of my time and energy, and my cat Bobby's follow-up was one of the last things that I was trying to catch up on. The other thing was taking my car in for service, which was long overdue, I might add. So I did that the day before, the same day that I took the dog in to the vet, and while I was waiting for my car to be serviced, I'll tell you that if the chair that I was sitting in was a little bit more comfortable, I would have fallen asleep. Now, I'm not the kind of person that falls asleep in public, but it would have happened? It definitely would have happened that day, because I was pretty tired.

In addition to doing all the things that I normally do and trying to get some work in, in addition, I was going to the hospital as much as I possibly could, and being at the hospital in any case is always exhausting. It's mentally exhausting which turns out to be physically exhausting. So when it came time to do the episode for last week and, yes, I'll admit I'm not ahead at this point I decided to give myself a break. Now am I an overachiever? Yes, I am. Did I think about just signing on and saying look, I'm having a tough week, I'm tired, I wish you all a happy 4th of July and that's it? Yes, but in the end I was pretty tired, I was pretty emotionally overwhelmed as well and I was sad. Sad for another loss and, frankly, losing Neliya was hard, but it was also like losing my friend Gina, again Not entirely 100%, but losing her mom. Well, her mom was part of Gina, she was part of the institutional memory and I could still go to her and ask her questions, like did Gina do this or what was this, or who was this to Gina? Like did Gina do this or what was this or who was this to Gina, and maybe she wasn't always right, but she always had an answer, and so losing her was like losing another link to my friend, and that link is gone.

Nealia actually lived a very long life colorful life, if you will. She was runner up to Miss Universe back in the 50s. She was a beautiful woman and she came to Hollywood and acted in some small parts in movies, including the King and I and I. She ended up marrying Gina's dad, mario Zamparelli, who was an artist. He went on to work with people like Howard Hughes and had a very colorful life. They had a colorful life together. Together they had three daughters and Neliya always had a lot of spirit. She had a lot of energy. She really did. She was 88, almost 88 and a half, when she passed away.

She lived independently and I think that that is to be commended. In this day and age, I'd be happy to live independently up until the end. I mean, who wants to be a burden, right? I mean, sure she needed things. She needed help sometimes with projects around the house, what have you? But for the most part she lived independently and that's a good thing. She hadn't been feeling well that last week, and so her daughter especially, and the rest of us questioned what would have happened if she had said something earlier, if she had got medical attention earlier, and I guess we'll never really know, right. I think part of Nelia, or Maureen, which is her other name, will always live in my heart and will always be with me.

She did things for me like well, when we had a yard sale here I had a couple friends over and she came and helped as well. She was, like I said, she always had a lot of energy. Like I said, she always had a lot of energy. And again, I do consider myself an overachiever. But I think last week I just had to tell myself that the podcast episode was not going to get done. It just wasn't. Sometimes you just have to give into that, right? No matter how ambitious you might be.

So we had a pretty quiet 4th of July weekend. I was happy for the extra day off from work and myself and another friend helped her daughter. We're trying to help and pitch in as much as we can. And then yesterday I finally got to work in my garden. There's always lots to do and I hadn't really been out there in a couple of weeks, but I did what I could because it was very hot and that really limits, even in the shade limits, what you can accomplish, but I got there. I got there, I did some stuff and then I was hot and then I came in and took a shower. So that's the update. I hope that everyone is doing well and that you had a good holiday. If you're here in the States Now, I want to remind you that my interview, my podcast interview, where I'm actually interviewed, is going to be coming out the beginning of August, and I will be telling you more about that, about the specifics in social media.

I'll tell you more about that as we get a little bit closer. It's only July 6th now, so we have about a month, but I'm really excited to hear it. It's been a while now. I think it was in the middle of June, so it seems like so much has happened since then, but I think it's going to be really fun to hear. I want you all to hear it, and the gal that does the podcast is great, so I know you'll enjoy it.

Right now I'm going to relax and watch some TV, stream some old movies or something, and next week we'll tackle another topic together. I hope you'll join me If you like this episode. Please follow the Only Child Diaries podcast on Apple Podcasts or other platforms you might listen on and consider rating Only Child Diaries podcast on Apple Podcasts or other platforms. You might listen on and consider rating Only Child Diaries and writing a review. It helps others to find us. Please share it with a friend you think might like it as well. Visit my Instagram page Only Child Diaries or Facebook Only Child Diaries podcast. Thanks for listening. I'm Tracy Wallace and these are the Only Child Diaries.