5/28/26

And so this week’s moment of happiness despite the news.

Immersed in a week of multiple offers to bring over a truckload of bubble wrap for me to wear, warnings that I should just stay inside my house and not venture out (“But you have those stairs, Kathie! You have those stairs!”), so really, I’d better just stay in one spot in my home, hopefully in a chair in an otherwise vacant room, and make sure the chair doesn’t have wheels…well, yes, there’s still a bright spot. In fact, there’s a few!

So first off…my car. My poor 2018 Chrysler 300S named Barry. He has been official declared a total loss, and it about killed me to sign the “JUNKED” form today. The car was an absolute mess. The driver who ran the stop sign has been given the dreaded “at fault” condemnation, though from the police report, he tried to say that he did stop, but thought he could get across before I got there, but then, he said, “She accelerated!”

No, I did not accelerate. Please.

I am still incredibly bruised, with more bruises surfacing each day, even today, when it’s been a week and two days. If I was rolled up in bubble wrap, even that would hurt, pressing against me.

To add insult to injury, we suddenly had a heat wave, with our temps climbing to the upper eighties and low nineties for two days. This, after we just had a freeze warning a week ago. And of course, my AC caused trouble. Late at night, I suddenly began to smell bleach. I asked Olivia if she was painting, and she wasn’t, but she smelled it too. I shut the AC off, the smell cleared, and so…today, right now, I have an AC repairman looking at it. The HVAC unit is 20 years old. Sigh…we’ll see.

On Wednesday afternoon, when I walked in to my classroom to teach my workshop, I found a bright red velvet bag by my seat. Inside, a pretty little ornament in red and gold. A horse pranced at the top, and then there was a vertical banner with Chinese symbols on it. “It’s the Year of the Fire Horse,” one of my students said. “This will bring you luck.”

Let’s hope for GOOD luck. I’ve had enough of the other kind.

Later, I looked it up. The Year of the Fire Horse, I read, represents a rare convergence of bold momentum, passion, and transformation. It only happens once every 60 years. It combines the horse’s energetic, independent spirit with the fire element, amplifying traits like ambition, creativity, and a drive for rapid progress.

I could handle that. So I hung it up on my 3^rd floor, an open space that houses my bedroom and my writing space, as well as where I teach when I’m on Zoom.

And then…things happened.

First, right before I went to bed, a Google alert went off on my phone. There was a link to Jim Higgins’, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel books editor, column. My poetry collection, The Birth Of A Widow, was included in a list of his must-reads for this summer.

Yes! The more people read it, the more I can help.

But there was a second Google alert right after it. There was an article with the headline, “Wisconsin Poet Kathie Giorgio Turns Grief Into Action”. It talked about the book, and it also announced my appearance at the Vision Zero Summit on Wednesday, June 10. It’s being held in the Centennial Hall in downtown Milwaukee. I will be offering up a few poems at the convocation at 9:00 a.m., signing books at 5:00 p.m., and participating in a panel with two other authors, Anna Zivarts and Jonathan Stalls, at 6:30 p.m. Vision Zero is a worldwide initiative seeking to eliminate pedestrian deaths by 2035.

Turning grief into action. I’m trying.

So those were the first and second good things. Then came the police report, which found the other driver at fault. It even called me “appearing normal” (I now have it in writing!). This was followed quickly by a call from my insurance agent. We’d been waiting for the police report to come out, and then the payout for Barry could be complete. She said, “I’m so glad you told me about how pristine Barry was! You were right!” Then she went on to list all of the positive aspects of Barry, which added dollars to his worth. “In all my years,” she said, “I’ve never seen a payout this large.”

I’d already done my due diligence, looking up Barry’s CarFax report, and running him through worth estimators. I had my responses up and ready, if I was given a lowball amount more appropriate for a car that was not treated like a member of the family who happened to be a king.

That wouldn’t be Barry…or Semi, or any of my previous cars.

I was braced when she named the amount. And then I relaxed. It was exactly what I wanted. And not only that, it was only a couple dollars shy of being exactly what Barry’s replacement, who is on his way to me from Utah right now, will cost. I will not be returning to a car loan. The new car will be wholly mine.

I found Barry’s “little brother”, my third Chrysler 300 (I had Hemi before I had Barry). He’s a year younger, has about the same amount of mileage, is a stunning bright blue, and has all of Barry’s bells and whistles, as well as some extra bells and whistles. He’s supposed to arrive here between June 1 and 7.

All good things. After getting off the phone call with my insurance agent, I went to look at the little Chinese ornament, and stroked the red tassel that hung from the bottom. “You’re helping,” I whispered to it. “Thanks for reminding me that there is always good in my life. There always is.”

Well…

The AC guy is done. I have to replace my HVAC.

I looked back at the little ornament. “Well, you’re keeping me real too. That’s all right.”

And it will be. Which just made me realize that I finished reading a novel today, while I was eating lunch. The final line: “It’s okay.”

And it is.

And yes, that helps. Despite. Anyway.

Here’s where you can see the list: https://www.jsonline.com/story/entertainment/books/2026/05/27/38-new-books-for-summer-reading-in-2026/89741342007/

And here’s the other piece: https://www.prlog.org/13148370-wisconsin-poet-kathie-giorgio-turns-grief-into-action.html