Black and White
(Under age 40? You won't understand.)
I saw this email awhile ago but just got it today again. Lots of memories of all the fun things we did way back when. And we're all OK today. So here goes.
You could hardly see for all the snow, Spread the rabbit ears as far as they go. Pull a chair up to the TV set,
'Good Night, David. Good Night, Chet.'
My Mom used to cut chicken, chop eggs and spread mayo on the same cutting board with the same knife and no bleach, but we didn't seem to get food poisoning. My Mom used to defrost hamburger on the counter AND I used to eat it raw sometimes, too. Our school sandwiches were wrapped in wax paper in a brown paper bag, not in ice-pack coolers, but I can't remember getting e.coli.
Almost all of us would have rather gone swimming in the lake instead of a pristine pool (talk about boring), no beach closures then.
The term cell phone would have conjured up a phone in a jail cell, and a pager was the school PA system. We all took gym, not PE .. and risked permanent injury with a pair of high top Ked's (only worn in gym) instead of having cross-training athletic shoes with air cushion soles and built in light reflectors. I can't recall any injuries but they must have happened because they tell us how much safer we are now. Flunking gym was not an option .. even for stupid kids! I guess PE must be much harder than gym.
Speaking of school, we all said prayers and sang the national anthem, and staying in detention after school caught all sorts of negative attention. We must have had horribly damaged psyches. What an archaic health system we had then. Remember school nurses? Ours wore a hat and everything. I thought that I was supposed to accomplish something before I was allowed to be proud of myself...
I just can't recall how bored we were without computers, Play Station, Nintendo, X-box or 270 digital TV cable stations.
Oh yeah ... and where was the Benadryl and sterilization kit when I got that bee sting? I could have been killed!
We played 'king of the hill' on piles of gravel left on vacant construction sites, and when we got hurt, Mom pulled out the 48-cent bottle of Mercurochrome (kids liked it better because it didn't sting like iodine did) and then we got our butt spanked.
Now it's a trip to the emergency room, followed by a 10-day dose of a $49 bottle of antibiotics, and then Mom calls the attorney to sue the contractor for leaving a horribly vicious pile of gravel where it was such a threat.
We didn't act up at the neighbor's house either because if we did, we got our butt spanked there and then we got butt spanked again when we got home. I recall Donny Reynolds from next door coming over and doing his tricks on the front stoop, just before he fell off. Little did his Mom know that she could have owned our house. Instead, she picked him up and swatted him for being such a goof. It was a neighborhood run amuck. To top it off, not a single person I knew had ever been told that they were from a dysfunctional family..
How could we possibly have known we needed to get into group therapy and anger management classes? We were obviously so duped by so many societal ills that we didn't even notice that the entire country wasn't taking Prozac! How did we ever survive?
LOVE TO ALL OF US WHO SHARED THIS ERA, AND TO ALL WHO DIDN'T. SORRY FOR WHAT YOU MISSED. I WOULDN'T TRADE IT FOR ANYTHING.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Sage Advice
Laundry List for Life
Written By Regina Brett of The Plain Dealer, Cleveland , Ohio to celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me. It is the most-requested column I've ever written. My odometer rolls over to 90 in August, so here goes:
1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.
2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.
3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
4. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
5. Pay off your credit cards every month.
6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone
8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.
9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.
10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.
12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.
13. Don't compare your life to others'. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.
15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; God never blinks.
16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.
17. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.
18. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.
19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.
20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.
21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.
22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.
23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.
24. The most important sex organ is the brain.
25. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words: 'In five years, will this matter?'
27. Always choose life.
28. Forgive everyone everything.
29. What other people think of you is none of your business.
30. Time heals almost everything. Give time.
31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
32. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and family will. Stay in touch.
33. Believe in miracles.
34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.
35. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.
36. Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.
37. Your children get only one childhood. Make it memorable.
38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.
39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.
40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.
41. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
42. The best is yet to come.
43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
44. Yield.
45. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift.
Written By Regina Brett of The Plain Dealer, Cleveland , Ohio to celebrate growing older, I once wrote the 45 lessons life taught me. It is the most-requested column I've ever written. My odometer rolls over to 90 in August, so here goes:
1. Life isn't fair, but it's still good.
2. When in doubt, just take the next small step.
3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone.
4. Don't take yourself so seriously. No one else does.
5. Pay off your credit cards every month.
6. You don't have to win every argument. Agree to disagree.
7. Cry with someone. It's more healing than crying alone
8. It's OK to get angry with God. He can take it.
9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck.
10. When it comes to chocolate, resistance is futile.
11. Make peace with your past so it won't screw up the present.
12. It's OK to let your children see you cry.
13. Don't compare your life to others'. You have no idea what their journey is all about.
14. If a relationship has to be a secret, you shouldn't be in it.
15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye. But don't worry; God never blinks.
16. Take a deep breath. It calms the mind.
17. Get rid of anything that isn't useful, beautiful or joyful.
18. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger.
19. It's never too late to have a happy childhood. But the second one is up to you and no one else.
20. When it comes to going after what you love in life, don't take no for an answer.
21. Burn the candles, use the nice sheets, wear the fancy lingerie. Don't save it for a special occasion. Today is special.
22. Over prepare, then go with the flow.
23. Be eccentric now. Don't wait for old age to wear purple.
24. The most important sex organ is the brain.
25. No one is in charge of your happiness except you.
26. Frame every so-called disaster with these words: 'In five years, will this matter?'
27. Always choose life.
28. Forgive everyone everything.
29. What other people think of you is none of your business.
30. Time heals almost everything. Give time.
31. However good or bad a situation is, it will change.
32. Your job won't take care of you when you are sick. Your friends and family will. Stay in touch.
33. Believe in miracles.
34. God loves you because of who God is, not because of anything you did or didn't do.
35. Don't audit life. Show up and make the most of it now.
36. Growing old beats the alternative -- dying young.
37. Your children get only one childhood. Make it memorable.
38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved.
39. Get outside every day. Miracles are waiting everywhere.
40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's, we'd grab ours back.
41. Envy is a waste of time. You already have all you need.
42. The best is yet to come.
43. No matter how you feel, get up, dress up and show up.
44. Yield.
45. Life isn't tied with a bow, but it's still a gift.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Full Moon
I'm not sure it's a full moon today, but it could have been. Either that or there's something funky with karma going on. Uneventful awakening, but glad I did, given the alternative. I had a nice breakfast with Joe while reading the idiotic stories that make up the news these days, and I'm not even talking about politics. It was then my intention to read my lesson for tonight's class. Well, I couldn't find my notebook - it's large and impossible to hide, but I apparently did. Then Joe wanted to see my Kindle - could I find it . . . no. Somewhere there's a brain that fits inside my head, but it's missing also.
I finished reading through the 5th crusade when a friend in need called. She has suffered a family tragedy and needed help. She and I went grocery shopping and while she organized her list, I volunteered to buy us something to drink. Now, I gave up diet sodas and artificial sweeteners on the cruise. I still don't know why. I do know, however, that I crave something sweet mid-day and rather than a diet Dr Pepper, I'm choosing chocolate and candy. II was already feeling a little nauseous because the only thing that got me through the crusades was a pack of peanut butter Girl Scout cookies. I got her a hot chocolate, and I got a milkshake. Nothing artificial about that.
So then, we went to her house where our friend Barb met us. It was Barb's and my task to make two recipes so Patty could finish up some other work. Barb is a master cooker; I'm a slug. We laid out the ingredients for the crockpot beef and everything went fairly smoothly til Barb broke (temporarily) the pepper grinder and the peppercorns went everywhere. Have you ever tried to vacuum them. If you can get them picked up, the vacuum grinds them and spits them out the back as ground pepper, which means you have to start over. It was perpetual motion because those that didn't get ground up went flying everywhere. Do you remember the old videos of a room full of mousetraps with ping pong balls on them, and you trigger one and they all go? Well, it works with peppercorns as well. So there we were, Barb and I trying to clean while keeping it from Patty so she wouldn't worry. OK, the beef is ready and we put it in a plastic bag in the fridge. Only to find out in a bit that it's leaked all over the eggs in the refrigerator. And, these are pasteurized eggs to prevent salmonella. Nothing we can't fix.
Then, we move on to an extraordinary dessert. It requires beating egg whites into stiff peaks. Do you think two women with master's degrees could get the beaters into the hand mixer? How about separating the yolks and whites? Not easy. We finally finish up by pouring the batter into a flat jelly roll pan and down my pant leg. Not to worry, I have to go to church in about 45 minutes, but Baxter (the dog) licks it off my leg so I'm good to go.
Barb runs me home while the cake is baking for ten minutes and I rush into the house to fix Joe something to eat before I go to church. My dog attempts further cleaning efforts on my pant leg while I fix Joe a dragon roll. I just hate those little packages of soy sauce. They just won't open and they're slippery. I finally get it open, so I think, and pour it on the dragon bites. What I don't immediately recognize is that it's spraying my shirt in the process in quite an artistic design. Urghhh. I'm trying to get to the church on time. So, I peel off my light pink shirt and begin to spray it. The spray bottle isn't working, and I'm really quite frustrated as I toss the bottle in the garbage. It's at that point I realize that it's a bottle of Febreeze, not the OxyClean bottle.
Well, the story is nearing it's end. I go to my class at church and when we finish it's hailing. San Antonio is in a drought and it decides to pelt us with hail as well.
All I can say is I wouldn't trade my friends for anything. The sisterhood simply can't be replaced. I know if something were to befall me tomorrow, my girlfriends would be there, no matter what was happening in their lives. I am blessed.
I finished reading through the 5th crusade when a friend in need called. She has suffered a family tragedy and needed help. She and I went grocery shopping and while she organized her list, I volunteered to buy us something to drink. Now, I gave up diet sodas and artificial sweeteners on the cruise. I still don't know why. I do know, however, that I crave something sweet mid-day and rather than a diet Dr Pepper, I'm choosing chocolate and candy. II was already feeling a little nauseous because the only thing that got me through the crusades was a pack of peanut butter Girl Scout cookies. I got her a hot chocolate, and I got a milkshake. Nothing artificial about that.
So then, we went to her house where our friend Barb met us. It was Barb's and my task to make two recipes so Patty could finish up some other work. Barb is a master cooker; I'm a slug. We laid out the ingredients for the crockpot beef and everything went fairly smoothly til Barb broke (temporarily) the pepper grinder and the peppercorns went everywhere. Have you ever tried to vacuum them. If you can get them picked up, the vacuum grinds them and spits them out the back as ground pepper, which means you have to start over. It was perpetual motion because those that didn't get ground up went flying everywhere. Do you remember the old videos of a room full of mousetraps with ping pong balls on them, and you trigger one and they all go? Well, it works with peppercorns as well. So there we were, Barb and I trying to clean while keeping it from Patty so she wouldn't worry. OK, the beef is ready and we put it in a plastic bag in the fridge. Only to find out in a bit that it's leaked all over the eggs in the refrigerator. And, these are pasteurized eggs to prevent salmonella. Nothing we can't fix.
Then, we move on to an extraordinary dessert. It requires beating egg whites into stiff peaks. Do you think two women with master's degrees could get the beaters into the hand mixer? How about separating the yolks and whites? Not easy. We finally finish up by pouring the batter into a flat jelly roll pan and down my pant leg. Not to worry, I have to go to church in about 45 minutes, but Baxter (the dog) licks it off my leg so I'm good to go.
Barb runs me home while the cake is baking for ten minutes and I rush into the house to fix Joe something to eat before I go to church. My dog attempts further cleaning efforts on my pant leg while I fix Joe a dragon roll. I just hate those little packages of soy sauce. They just won't open and they're slippery. I finally get it open, so I think, and pour it on the dragon bites. What I don't immediately recognize is that it's spraying my shirt in the process in quite an artistic design. Urghhh. I'm trying to get to the church on time. So, I peel off my light pink shirt and begin to spray it. The spray bottle isn't working, and I'm really quite frustrated as I toss the bottle in the garbage. It's at that point I realize that it's a bottle of Febreeze, not the OxyClean bottle.
Well, the story is nearing it's end. I go to my class at church and when we finish it's hailing. San Antonio is in a drought and it decides to pelt us with hail as well.
All I can say is I wouldn't trade my friends for anything. The sisterhood simply can't be replaced. I know if something were to befall me tomorrow, my girlfriends would be there, no matter what was happening in their lives. I am blessed.
Friday, February 6, 2009
The Value of Women Friends
If you haven't checked out "Girlfriendology.com," you really must. It's an interactive website, filled with "all things girlfriend." I'm back from my cruise, still haven't fully unpacked and am feeling the stress of cooking. My friend, Patty, told me last Tues, when I picked up Daisy, to save this Friday morning. She had booked us a "chocolate" manicure and pedicure that was just heavenly. The scrub and moisturizer were some magic formula of chocolate. I can still smell it. After three hours of pampering, she took me to lunch. Both of us get too wrapped up in doing stuff. This "forced" relaxation was heaven and I stlll smell like chocolate. We've made another appointment for next month. Yayyy!!!!
Then, I checked out Girlfriendology and found the following excerpt from an article: Reducing Stress for Women.
10 Great Ways for a Woman to Manage Stress - By Spending Time with Her Girlfriends!
Here are 10 ways women can reduce stress, with their girlfriends:
Volunteer with a friend. Animal shelter or senior center, through a church or a neighborhood organization - wherever you prefer, volunteering together makes it more fun. Knowing that you’re helping others takes your mind off your own stress. In addition to doing something helpful for others, you and your girlfriend will have the wonderful experience of being thankful for all the blessings in your life.
Simplify your lives - together. Take turns helping each other organize closets. Help the other with household projects or cleaning out the basement. Make it your goal to organize, de-clutter and to trust your girlfriend to help you make good choices in what to keep and what to donate or toss.
Phone a friend. Sure, we send a quick email or forward a funny joke, but you need personal communication to connect with another indivdual. Give her a call to catch up. Plan a phone date at a time that’s good for both of you. I’ve had coffee phone dates with a long-distance girlfriend. We plan a time to talk on the weekend when the free minutes are rolling, and call each other from home or the corner place over a good cup of coffee. A few minutes on the phone together can totally erase the worries of the day simply through a caring conversation between girlfriends.
Start a girlfriend group, and don’t make it a one-time thing. Gather friends and start a book club, running club, mommies’ group or gourmet club. Having a plan to get together with several girlfriends on a regular basis is like having an upcoming vacation - it gives you something fun to look forward to.
Make plans to do dinner or lunch. Make it an adventure and try a new restaurant or share appetizers for a girlfriend catch-up happy hour of your own.
Take a yoga or Pilates class with a girlfriend. The exercise will help you physically, the girlfriend will help you emotionally - both wonderful outcomes for an hour of your time. Plus, you’re bound to find things to giggle about in class, which is worth the effort simply for the comic relief.
Try some animal therapy. Pets, like girlfriends, are a proven source of stress relief. Join the two and visit a dog park with a girlfriend. You’ll laugh at the dog antics and all the kinds of creatures and their personalities. Or, take a dog for a walk together. That combines exercise, animals and friendship - add a nice day and you’re set for a super stress-relieving session.
Be creative. Enjoy time together and forget about the stress in your lives by getting creative. Take a knitting class, plan a day to scrapbook, make cards, bead or try a new craft together. Crafting is also a wonderful way to get your mind thinking creatively which can lead to new solutions for your stressful life. There’s a reason women are so passionate about their pastimes - find your passion and some girlfriends who share that hobby with you and you’re on your way to happiness. And, you can make gifts for your girlfriends!
Pamper thine self. This could mean shoe shopping or a new haircut, a massage or a cup of fancy organic tea. Allow yourself some time together to take care of your inner girlie girl.
Get healthy - together. Weight gain or unhealthy eating often accompanies stress. Find an approach that works for both of you to be healthier - be it a diet or exercise plan, or perhaps by joining Weight Watchers or a boot camp class. Work together to eat right, exercise together, encourage each other and celebrate your successes. Stress diminishes when you’re healthy, happy and beautiful!
In one fell swoop Patty took care of half the list. God bless her.
Then, I checked out Girlfriendology and found the following excerpt from an article: Reducing Stress for Women.
10 Great Ways for a Woman to Manage Stress - By Spending Time with Her Girlfriends!
Here are 10 ways women can reduce stress, with their girlfriends:
Volunteer with a friend. Animal shelter or senior center, through a church or a neighborhood organization - wherever you prefer, volunteering together makes it more fun. Knowing that you’re helping others takes your mind off your own stress. In addition to doing something helpful for others, you and your girlfriend will have the wonderful experience of being thankful for all the blessings in your life.
Simplify your lives - together. Take turns helping each other organize closets. Help the other with household projects or cleaning out the basement. Make it your goal to organize, de-clutter and to trust your girlfriend to help you make good choices in what to keep and what to donate or toss.
Phone a friend. Sure, we send a quick email or forward a funny joke, but you need personal communication to connect with another indivdual. Give her a call to catch up. Plan a phone date at a time that’s good for both of you. I’ve had coffee phone dates with a long-distance girlfriend. We plan a time to talk on the weekend when the free minutes are rolling, and call each other from home or the corner place over a good cup of coffee. A few minutes on the phone together can totally erase the worries of the day simply through a caring conversation between girlfriends.
Start a girlfriend group, and don’t make it a one-time thing. Gather friends and start a book club, running club, mommies’ group or gourmet club. Having a plan to get together with several girlfriends on a regular basis is like having an upcoming vacation - it gives you something fun to look forward to.
Make plans to do dinner or lunch. Make it an adventure and try a new restaurant or share appetizers for a girlfriend catch-up happy hour of your own.
Take a yoga or Pilates class with a girlfriend. The exercise will help you physically, the girlfriend will help you emotionally - both wonderful outcomes for an hour of your time. Plus, you’re bound to find things to giggle about in class, which is worth the effort simply for the comic relief.
Try some animal therapy. Pets, like girlfriends, are a proven source of stress relief. Join the two and visit a dog park with a girlfriend. You’ll laugh at the dog antics and all the kinds of creatures and their personalities. Or, take a dog for a walk together. That combines exercise, animals and friendship - add a nice day and you’re set for a super stress-relieving session.
Be creative. Enjoy time together and forget about the stress in your lives by getting creative. Take a knitting class, plan a day to scrapbook, make cards, bead or try a new craft together. Crafting is also a wonderful way to get your mind thinking creatively which can lead to new solutions for your stressful life. There’s a reason women are so passionate about their pastimes - find your passion and some girlfriends who share that hobby with you and you’re on your way to happiness. And, you can make gifts for your girlfriends!
Pamper thine self. This could mean shoe shopping or a new haircut, a massage or a cup of fancy organic tea. Allow yourself some time together to take care of your inner girlie girl.
Get healthy - together. Weight gain or unhealthy eating often accompanies stress. Find an approach that works for both of you to be healthier - be it a diet or exercise plan, or perhaps by joining Weight Watchers or a boot camp class. Work together to eat right, exercise together, encourage each other and celebrate your successes. Stress diminishes when you’re healthy, happy and beautiful!
In one fell swoop Patty took care of half the list. God bless her.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Home again, home again.
Ahhh. It's quiet in the house. Joe has taken Daisy out for a run, no TV, no sound. . . How often do we have the time to enjoy silence? How often do we fill the silence with list-making or busywork? I vote for silence. Finding a quiet niche each day and fill it with nothing. And then, slowly transition into prayer or meditation or just breathing deeply. There is an exercise in Breathwalking where you walk while concentrating on one sense at a time. First seeing, looking intensely at your surroundings, then hearing - tuning everything else out, then smelling, then tasting. I usually close my eyes as much as I can without walking into a tree. At the very end, you open your eyes and tune in all your senses and it's just like an explosion. Ahhhh.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
End of the Cruise
Here's a toast from Punta Arenas, Chile. Aural Patagona beer is something to export. At the end of a cruise, I always am torn. Wanting to stay and explore further and wanting to go home. Most of my laundry is done so I won't have tons when I get home. It's been glorious. What stands out? Being on the Falklands, walking on the beach with penguins, cruising Antarctica, unbelievable ice flows and mountains (I never really pictured mountains, just ice), walking all over Punta Arenas in search of a rosary for a friend, laying in the sun today so I'd have a little tan, reading on the 5th deck (I've read three books and run out of any more on my Kindle), loving Joe's company, eating ice cream with abandon, and just "being." There are 44 different nationalities of passengers - 42 different nationalities of cruise personnel. And, a large contingent of transvestites. Who knew, no pun intended? I think working on a cruise ship would have been fun just out of college. Save your money, work hard, visit the world. There are many young Japanese passengers, who have been traveling the world for 1-2 years, each by her/himself. Most are in their late 20s and have been staying in hostels, using rail passes, hitchhiking. The food on the ship is nirvana for them. They were sad to be returning to "on-the-road" food - meaning meager and not much. Ahh, the joys of wanderlust.
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