2015 January From My Perspective

Have you ever notice that the older you get, the better you used to be?  When I attended the LCI (G) 450 reunions, the ship my father commanded in WWII at Iwo Jima, the crew members would share the stories of their “adventures” over and over.  Each year they fought that war all over, and each year it got better and better.  What living history treasures they are.  Most of them are gone now, including my Daddy, the captain, but their stories live on in my heart and memory.

Sometimes when the kids and I are watching dance programs and/or acrobatic movements by others, I let them know I used to do all that.  You should see the looks I get.  Sometimes I have to turn my head so they don’t see my eye rolls; I, also, hide my crossed fingers.

“Being deeply loved gives you strength; loving deeply gives you courage.” Lao Tzu

I knew they would eventually release the ingredients in Viagra!  • Vitamin E 3% • Aspirin  2% • Ibuprofen  2%
• Vitamin C 1% • Spray Starch 5% • Fix-A-Flat 87%

Don’t you just hate it when you get home and find out the organic veggies you bought are actually cream-filled donuts?  How could I have been so misinformed?  Kroger is going to get a letter from me!

There is no disguise that can for long conceal love where it exists or simulate it where it does not. -Francois, duc de La Rochefoucauld, aphorist (1613-1680)

I sent that ancestry website some information on my husband’s family.  They sent me a statement of, “Here are some seeds.  We suggest he start over.  It seems his ancestry tree goes straight up.”  I couldn’t have agreed more.  I was married to the man of my dreams, but his mother was a nightmare.

One time a person asked me if I worked outside the home.  I told him I did not; I was a stay-at-home mom.  He said, “Oh, then you don’t have a 9-5 job?”  I rolled my eyes and told him, “I have a when-I-open-my-eyes-to-when-I-close-my-eyes job which is 365 days a year and most of the time 24 hours long.  I have no holidays off and the financial part of my job is just about non-existent.  But my life-time salary is all the hugs, kisses, ‘I Love You, Mom’s just about every day and all the memories no one can ever take away.  There is no greater job than being a good mom.”

My Beloved has been in Heaven for a bit over 3 years.  I was talking to someone who knew him before I ever did.  I was mentioning the dreams which he said had come true that he shared with me.  The person had a strange look on their face and said, “Are you sure all those things happened as he said they had?”  I thought for a moment and replied, “Does it really matter at this time whether they all did or not?  I do know for a fact some of the dreams he had DID come true:  He had a college education; a 36 year career he chose and liked very much; he acquired a large, lovely home he shared with people he truly loved and they loved him beyond all his hopes and dreams, and they still do.  But, the one dream he had come true after 47 years of being alone---he married me who adored him. We had a wonderful life together for 24 years, 5 months, and 2 days.  Can you even phantasize what truly mattered in his life?  I can.”

Have you ever been listening to songs and memories come flooding-in?  I have.  I can visualize where I was and with whom; however, there are some songs which bring back a memory, but I can’t identify where or when.  I sometimes replay them hoping to have it jog my memory.  After a few tries I stop knowing, as Tricia Yearwood’s song says, “The Song Remembers When”.

Brenduhh stopped by for tea.  I knew she could keep a secret, so I told her I was having an affair.  She looked at me and said, “Are you having it catered or are you making all the food yourself?  Please do NOT put your beautiful flowered china on a plaid table cloth.  That will look horrid.”  I poured her more tea and took a few swigs myself.

It’s a new year for new thoughts and plans.  I saw this sign the other day.  It makes a lot of good sense.

Never regret anything that has happened in your life.  It can not be changed, undone, or forgotten.  So, take it as a lesson learned and move on.  Of course, I hope you know that lessons learned are called “experience” and experience moves into wisdom.

DID YOU KNOW?  A sign language tongue-twister is called a finger-fumbler. The cowardly lion costume from the Wizard of Oz was made out of real lions. Margherita pizza was named after a Queen of Italy, and is meant to represent the Italian flag - red (tomato), white (mozzarella) and green (basil).  The night before JFK introduced the USA’s trade embargo on Cuba, he ordered 1200 Cuban cigars. It’s good to be President! When surveyed, 1 in 4 Americans said they wanted their state to become independent from the rest of the USA.

An excuse is the skin of a lie wrapped with a reason.

Loyalty to a petrified opinion never yet broke a chain or freed a human soul. -Mark Twain, author and humorist (1835-1910)                                                                                     

THE GROCERY STORE:  Checking out at the store, the young cashier suggested to the much older lady that she should bring her own grocery bags, because plastic bags are not good for the environment.  The woman apologized to the young girl and explained, "We didn't have this 'green thing' back in my earlier days."  The young clerk responded, "That's our problem today.  Your generation did not care enough to save our environment for future generations."   The older lady said that she was right -- our generation didn't have the "green thing" in its day. The older lady went on to explain:  Back then, we returned milk bottles, soda bottles and beer bottles to the store. The store sent them back to the plant to be washed and sterilized and refilled them, so it could use the same bottles over and over. So they really were recycled. But we didn't have the "green thing" back in our day.  Grocery stores bagged our groceries in brown paper bags that we reused for numerous things. Most memorable---besides household garbage bags was the use of brown paper bags as book covers for our school books. This was to ensure that public property (the books provided for our use by the school) was not defaced by our scribbling. Then we were able to personalize our books on the brown paper bags. But, too bad we didn't do have "green thing" back then.   We walked up stairs because we didn't have an escalator in every store and office building. We walked to the grocery store and didn't climb into a 300-horsepower machine every time we had to go two blocks.  But she was right. We didn't have the "green thing" in our day.  Back then we washed the baby's diapers because we didn't have the throw away kind. We dried clothes on a line, not in an energy-gobbling machine burning up 220 volts. Wind and solar power really did dry our clothes back in our early days. Kids got hand-me-down clothes from their brothers or sisters, not always brand-new clothing.  But that young lady is right; we didn't have the "green thing" back in our day.    Back then we had one TV, or radio, in the house - not a TV in every room. And the TV had a small screen the size of a handkerchief (remember them?), not a screen the size of the state of Montana. In the kitchen we blended and stirred by hand because we didn't have electric machines to do everything for us. When we packaged a fragile item to send in the mail, we used wadded up old newspapers to cushion it, not Styrofoam or plastic bubble wrap. Back then, we didn't fire up an engine and burn gasoline just to cut the lawn. We used a push mower that ran on human power. We exercised by working so we didn't need to go to a health club to run on treadmills that operate on electricity.  But she's right; we didn't have the "green thing" back then.  We drank from a fountain when we were thirsty instead of using a cup or a plastic bottle every time we had a drink of water. We refilled writing pens with ink instead of buying a new pen, and we replaced the razor blade in a razor instead of throwing away the whole razor just because the blade got dull.  But we didn't have the "green thing" back then.  Back then, people took the streetcar or a bus and kids rode their bikes to school or walked instead of turning their moms into a 24-hour taxi service in the family's $45,000 SUV or van, which cost what a whole house did before the "green thing". We had one electrical outlet in a room, not an entire bank of sockets to power a dozen appliances. And we didn't need a computerized gadget to receive a signal beamed from satellites 23,000 miles out in space in order to find the nearest burger joint.  But, isn't it sad the current generation laments how wasteful we old folks were just because we didn't have the "green thing" back then?  We don't like being old in the first place, so it doesn't take much to honk us off - especially from a tattooed, multiple pierced, smarty pants, who can't make change without the cash register telling him/her how much.  I remember a lot of all these “recycled” items/usages.  I still like to drain fried foods on brown paper bags, but I have very few since plastic ones are predominant, now.  My 18 year old daughter has a cell phone with texting, voice mail, and all sorts of “APS”. I tried to use it one day.  I got lost on the second button!!!  My cell phone is old and not complicated.  The Verizon Company wants me to change to a newer model.  I tell them, “This does all I want it to do:  rings, I answer by flipping it open, end the call by closing it, and that’s all I want.”  “Don’t you want to text or have voice-mail?” he inquired.  “NOPE.  I can have that with this one, but I don’t want it.  If you need to send me a voice mail, call my house and talk to the answering machine.  Sometimes, I just don’t want to be bothered by all this electronic communication.  Would you write me a letter, please?” I asked him.  He went to the computer and started.  I said, “No, use a pen, paper, stamp, and envelope.”  You should have seen the quizzical look on his face.

"Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is always to try just one more time."  Thomas A. Edison - Inventor (1847 - 1931)

When I was a kid my parents taught me so much.  Here are some examples:  My mother taught me RELIGION.  "You better pray that will come out of the carpet."  My father taught me about TIME TRAVEL.  "If you don't straighten up, I'm going to knock you into the middle of next week!" They both taught me LOGIC.  "Because I said so, that's why."   My mother taught me about the science of OSMOSIS .  "Shut your mouth and eat your supper." My mother taught me about WEATHER.  "This room of yours looks as if a tornado went through it." My mother taught me MEDICAL SCIENCE.  "If you don't stop crossing your eyes, they are going to get stuck that way."  My father taught me VISUAL HUMOR.  "When that lawn mower cuts off your toes, don't come running to me." My mother taught me WISDOM. "When you get to be my age, you'll understand.” My father taught me about JUSTICE .  "One day you'll have kids, and I hope they turn out just like you !" I heard them all.  The one which drove me wild was, “Because I said so, that’s why?”  I vowed NEVER to say that to my children.  Why is it my children believe it is their profound and explicit duty/job to make me eat my “NEVER”????

Have you ever thought about where that $1 or $5 bill has been?  Perhaps it’s been in a place underwear or toilet paper has been. This is why one should NEVER put money in their mouth, even if the saying says, "Put your money where your mouth is." 

Be glad about your struggles, because without them you’d never have known your strength?  You’re welcome.

 As always, Trudy J