💞 2024 February FROM MY PERSPECTIVE

 

         💓💝💞 2024 February FROM MY PERSPECTIVE

Brenduhh returned from her trip to Tibet where she’d visited a monastery where small land squirrels were sacred and ran all over the grounds.   It was located on top of a mountain and served delicious food to the tourists.  She ordered some thinly, sliced fried potatoes which were only prepared by one certain monk.  She said they were delicious.  I said, “It sounds like they are more like chips than fried potatoes.”  She said, “Yes that’s true.  I think he was known as the ‘chip monk’.”  I’m sure you’re familiar with the eye rolling some people do.

Memories---they take us back to a time or times which we want to remember.  However, some memories bring tears.  That’s all right because I believe when there are tears at a memory, more than likely it is because it was then you had what is missing now, and you wish then was now.  I’ve had those memory tears, and a bit later a small smile comes.

When I was in my early 30’s I taught swimming to children and adults.  The parents sat in the balcony watching.  I was at the grocery store in line with my toddler son in the seat and a basket full.  A little boy ran up to me and hugged me.  I returned the hug.  I noticed the father was watching, stepped forward and asked how his son knew me that he would hug me and I return the hug.  I smiled and said, “No worries for you.  I’m Trudy, I teach your son swimming at the pool.”  The man smile and said in a rather loud voice, “Oh Trudy!!  I didn’t recognize you with your clothes on.”  You should have seen the looks and heard the snickers. 

Tongue twisters have always been fun and even more fun when they are made up.  Some I’ve had fun with are from my demented mind:  SHIFTS FISH STICKS; WRITE WHITE WRONG; SHIFT FISH; SUE’S SIX SICK SHEEP’S SHEETS; BUSY BOSSY; BEAR BRAYERS; TWIZZLER TWISTERS; DOUBLE DOUBT DOWN; GLUTTON GULP; OOZE OZ’S OHS.  I was mentioning these to a dear friend, Carole.  She said, “Trudy, you’re bored.  Take a nap.”

As I approached the little house with the front porch holding 4 rocking chairs, I noticed Betty Ann coming out the front door.  Aint Daisy was walking close behind her nodding her head while Betty Ann continued to chatter.  “You take care o’ yerself and them young’uns, ya hear,” said Aint Daisy.  She saw me coming up the irregular stones placed for a sidewalk.  I noticed she didn’t say, “Y’ll come back real soon” to Betty Ann as she does to most who visit.   Betty Ann passed me, muttered, “Hi Trudy, how are you?  I have to get going to----”.  I didn’t hear everything after “to”, but I knew there was a lot more.  Aint Daisy greeted me with a smile and a “come on in” wave of her hand.  She didn’t say anything, just motioned for me to sit down at the kitchen table.  “I’ll be right back,” she softly said.  There was time for me to watch the squirrels scamper around the corn cobs on spikes and the different kind of birds come and go at the feeder with favorite seeds.  “How ‘bout some tea an’ cherry pie, Chile?  The pie’s from this mornin’, so’s it’s fresh an’ I got plenty,” she said as she got two dishes and two mugs down from the cupboard.  “Oh Aint Dasiy, you know I’ll never turn down your pie.  Yes, thank you.”  She served us both, sitting down across from me.  She was quiet, and I could tell she was thinking.  “Are you all right, Aint Daisy?  It’s not like you to be this quiet,” I softly inquired.  “Yes, I’m jes fine.  ‘Jes enjoyin’ the quiet and yer comp’ny, Chile.  Betty Ann was here, as ye know.  My oh my, that girl can talk the bark off’n a tree,” she said slowly shaking her head.  “Ya know, the good Lord gave you two ears to larn with an’ one mouth to tell about it. It’s best t’ use ‘em ears more ‘n the mouth if’n ye want people to enjoy yer comp’ny, often,” she said with a sly grin.   Ahh, more wisdom from the Lady of the Holler.

“Schlemiel!  Schlimazel!  Hasenpfeffer Incorporated!”  It was the silly little chant said by the actors Penny Marshall and Cindy Williams at the beginning of their show, LAVERNE & SHIRLEY.  Did you ever wonder what they were saying?  Schlemiel means a clumsy, inept person----like a klutz.  Shlimazel is someone with constant bad luck.  Both words are Yiddish.  Hasenpfeffer is a traditional Dutch and German stew made from marinated rabbit, cut into stewing-meat sized pieces and braised with onions and a marinade made from wine and vinegar.  Now you know.

My daughter Tara was talking about someone we both know who was quite upset about someone’s treatment of another person.  Tara said, “I hope she doesn’t lose her screws.”  The upset person is known to tell another person what is, in no uncertain terms.  Later on, Tara mentioned how she was sad she couldn’t help our friend.  “Mom, do you think you could help her?” she asked.  I said, “Not really, unless I give her a screwdriver.”  Tara laughed out loud.

I have a friend who seems to frequently give a positive response to an insult from another.  I was with her the day a person made a snide remark about, she'd observed my friend wearing the same garment two days in a row.  Had it been directed at me, I probably would not have been as gracious as my friend, Debbie.  She gently smiled at the insulting one and said, "Thank you so much for noticing me."  We walked away.

While talking with a friend’s daughter, she revealed to me her mother was abusive to her.  I let her talk about the abuse and listened carefully.  I didn’t want to smile or scoff at all the “abuse” she told me about:  “making my bed every morning, picking up and putting away the things on my bedroom floor, emptying the dishwasher, putting my dirty dishes IN the dishwasher, doing my laundry, removing my clothing from the washer and dryer in a timely manner, telling where I’m going and calling if I will be later than the set curfew my parents made.” Of course she went on and on.  When she finished she asked me if I thought she was being abused.  I told her, “Not any more than I was or my children were.  I think we have all turned out pretty fine.”  I asked her if she wasn’t “being abused” what she’d be doing with that time.  She told me, “I’d be texting my friends or taking a nap.”  Gods!  Turning into a teenager, I rolled my eyes twice.

The subject of heritage came up in a conversation with my friend.  I told her, “I have so many ethnic groups in my lineage that if I got offended about a snide remark of them, I’d be honked 24/7.  She told me she was talking to one of her grandchildren and told them she was part Blackfoot Indian.  The little fella told her, “Mimi, because I’m just a little guy, I’m a Blacktoe but, when I get grown, I’ll be a whole Blackfoot.”

Smiles and Peace to you until next month.  Always, Trudy J