17 August

Good News Alert: Connie May Be Back At The Mansion Soon. Holy Joy.

by Jon Katz
Looking For Connie

Every time Red comes into the Mansion, he goes straight to Connie’s room. Sometimes the door is closed, usually he can nose it open. Sometimes i open it, to check on Connie’s things for her. Today Red went straight to her chair and waited a bit, and then lay down on the floor, as he usually does in her room.

Red is very connected to Connie, he always looks for her.

I spoke with Connie this afternoon, and she misses him too. But she tells me she is walking again, working hard at her physical therapy and trying different foods. She says she feels better every day. “I want to come home,” she said.

There is more good news to report about Connie, whose yarn and books (that many of you sent her) sit in baskets and on tables by her reclining chair, waiting for her return. The Mansion staff tells me that if she continues to work as hard as she is, and improve at the steady rate at which she is improving, she could be back in her room in two weeks or less.

I admit it was grim there for a bit, I was not sure Connie would be coming back. But she is tough, strong and determined, and much joyed by the letters of the Army Of Good. It really makes a difference when you know people care.

She is now at the Wesley Health Center in Saratoga Springs,131 Lawrence Street, Room 212, Saratoga Springs, 12866. Wesley officials report to the staff at the Mansion that Connie is walking about 80 feet a day, and she is trying to eat more and move around more. Her back pain is still sometimes severe, but generally much better.

They are optimistic that she can recover further and return to the Mansion.  At the Mansion you have to be able to move about on your own or with the help of a single aide. That looks increasingly possible.

This is great news. If you wish to write to her, you can write c/o the above address as the Wesley Health Center. You can also write to Connie c/o the Mansion, 11 S. Union Avenue, Cambridge, N.Y., 12816 and she’ll get your letters when she returns. She reads every one. The books she request arrived, and are with her at the Wesley, thanks.

She asked if it might be possible for Red to come and visit here, I said we would do our best. We can’t depend on their news to understand our world, we often make our own news. This news is the song of the soul, the song of the nation, the song of humanity, the song of the cosmos- resounding together, blending in harmony, circulating the sap of life, the sound of holy joy.

2 Comments

  1. Thank you so much for updating us on Connie. I wanted to ask you about her but I was afraid you might get angry. We miss her and it looks like Red does too.

    1. I wouldn’t get angry Patsy, you should always feel free to ask a question. I get testy sometimes, but get over it quickly. I can’t update everyone all the time,a nd I can never update anyone who doesn’t give me explicit permission so that’s why I get tight about it sometimes. There’s a lot going on and I do feel pressured with this, but it’s a joy and a gift for me, the problem is if you had asked I couldn’t have answered unless Connie told me I could. And I could update it because I visited her and got her permission. Just so you know, it isn’t usually up to me.

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