2019
January FROM MY PERSPECTIVE
Wow!! A brand new year which will be filled with
love, family, friends, smiles, frowns, expectations, confirmations, and a host
of all sorts of things. I welcome them
all.
Aint Daisy was
sitting in her living room on the blue over-stuffed, big flower covered
couch. She was working on a quilt made
of scraps of material from clothing she’d made for her, her family, and
friends. I sat down and watched her
stitch each piece together. “Aint Daisy,
you could stitch each piece of material together faster if you used your sewing
machine,” I mentioned. She kept on
stitching, and then raised her head with a smile. “Honey, each stitch of puttin’ the pieces
together helps me to remember what I made from this fabric, who it was for, and
the look on their face when I gave it to them.
I get to relive those moments which are priceless. I don’t mind the time it takes to put these
pieces together and then make a quilt out of the cover. The best things take time and I enjoy
it. Ya see, Honey, you gettin’ here from
when you were conceived to when you were born took a bit over 9 months. You seem to be one of the best things that
took time to make, don’t you agree?” I’d
never thought of my being and arrival that way.
I smiled at her question.
“Besides, I believe one needs to do one thing that makes them happy for
a few hours every day… just one thing.”
This lady is so wise.
There is nothing
more frightful than ignorance in action. -Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, poet,
dramatist, novelist, and philosopher (28 Aug 1749-1832)
Groups of various
animals are called different things. I
find these interesting:
“When
BABOONS congregate, it's called a 'congress.' ... "Now consider a group of baboons. They are the
loudest, most dangerous, most obnoxious, most viciously aggressive and least
intelligent of all primates. And what is the proper collective noun for a group of baboons?” MONKEYS:
barrel; LEOPARDS: leap; CROWS: murder; LOCUSTS: plague; PARROTS: pandemonium;
ELEPHANTS: parade; APES: shrewdness; GIRAFFES: tower; JELLYFISH: smack; RATS:
mischief; UNICORN: a blessing; PORCUPINE; prickle
Have
you ever spent a lot of time writing a grocery list and then get to the store
and find you left it on the counter?
Well, I have more times than I like to count; so I devised a trick for
me. I list the items I need in
alphabetical order. Then, should the
counter still have the list, I have the list in my memory all in alphabetical
order. Of course, I sound and look
rather foolish running all over the store reciting the alphabet over and over.
I
have some former students who keep in touch with me. It thrills me, and they are realizing I am
always here to help them with words, wisdom and encouragement. One particular student wrote to me and told
me of their trials, despair, and hurts.
They had stopped believing in themselves. I wrote to them, “You are so loved.
You have so much to give to others and to be receptive to what is given to you
in love. I recognized your talents and soul a long time ago; you just didn't
know I did. Shadows are peaceful.” They
wrote to me weeks later telling me my words gave them the strength they
needed. Teachers never know just how
much influence they have on a child.
Two
cowboys, Jim and Mack, stopped at a convenience store. Mack got out and asked Jim, “What do you
want?” Jim said, “I want a beer and a
taco with lots of hot peppers.” Mack
returned with an order and gave it to Jim.
“Hey, this is root beer! That’s for immature fools.” “Drink
up,” suggested Mack.
Have
you noticed on an application there is an area about what race you are; Black,
White, Native American, Hispanic, Other?
I checked White and wrote next to it, “Creamy, light-beige peachy-pink”. The person looking over my application glared
at me when they got to that response and drew a line through my written
answer. I told them, “I’m not
white. That door trim is white; a cloud
is white, a chicken egg is white. I am
not any of those colors. I am what Sherwin
Williams’ paint company calls, ‘Casa Blanca Creamy Pale Peach’; and, by the
way, White is NOT a race. It’s a color
or negation of color.” I could tell she
was thinking by watching her eyes roll around.
“All know that the drop merges into the ocean, but few know that the ocean merges into
the drop.” Kabir, reformer, poet (late 15th century). 'Interesting little fact here;
this can lead to a larger and more profound message or action. I think of when I merged
into some rush hour traffic one day. Here I was just one lone vehicle finally finding an
opening in which to move. I was going along when 2 semis came up too close for comfort;
one was beside me and the other was thinking, “This hood ornament would look nice on
my trunk.” I knew enough that one should not put on their brakes to encourage an
18,000 pounder to “BACK OFF, DAMNIT!!!” There was really nothing I could do, but
keep on traveling at the speed I was. This was because the 2 vehicles which were in
front of me REALLY were in front of me now---they’d slowed down to view the scenery!
YEESH! So, this little “drop” merged into the “ocean” of traffic; then, the ocean
seemed to merge into the drop. When I got home, I opened a wine bottle, took a drop
and ended up “merging” the rest of it into me.
This past
September, central Illinois experienced very high temperatures coupled with
high humidity. It was oppressive, to say
the least. At 9:30 it was already 90
degrees with 75% humidity. My daughter
asked me what it was like outside. My
response to her was, “It is keep-your-butt-inside-where-it-is-cool degrees out
at this time.”
A friend of mine showed a ship
cutting through the enormous waves of a storm in the North Sea. Just
looking at the picture made one nauseous and frightful. The picture's
captions said, "Give a response this picture." Her response
was, "Nope...nope...nope.. to the nopest of nopes." It made me
laugh because I know how she feels about going on a cruise in the ocean.On your way up the ladder of success, don’t forget to look back at how far you’ve climbed.
Smiles, peace, and blessings……………..Trudy
