I’ve always believed life to be an adventure.  With happiness and sorrow in equal measure.  I couldn’t understand the concept of the term “bitter sweet”.  Now, much of life resonates with it.  Time goes on and I see the younger generation maturing and going through life’s phases.  I want to tell them to slow down and focus more on the here and now.  Each stage of life has its own lesson.  Try and embrace it before it slips away.

POLITICAL CORRECTNESS ALERT

My oldest brother and I spoke frequently on the phone (his home is in Atlanta, my on the east coast tri state area)  At any rate, we each collected examples of what we liked to term the “fun with hearing loss” part of the conversation.  We would both collect examples of mishearing things.  He was in Viet Nam, and they were bombed frequently from the time it got dark until sunrise. With me, it’s just the passage of time and all that LOUD rock and roll music.

One Christmas Eve at our house, he called to me from the dining room.  I heard “Dan, where could the puppy be?”  We had neither a puppy or a Dan.  When I walked out of the kitchen to find out what he really said, it was “Can I have a cup of tea?”

Now please understand I don’t want to offend people with varying degrees of hearing difficulties.  At this stage of my life I take my laughs where I find them.  Goodnight, all.

It’s been a hot and sticky week, but not a bad one.  Got to spend time with 3 of the women folk, thus saving what is left of my sanity.  A sister, another sister and a sister-in-law.  We vent, we laugh, and we touch base.  And of course, there’s my partner in crime, lo these many years:  Colleen..  She’s always a phone call away.

Speaking of my PIC, our road trip grows closer.  In mid September, we’re celebrating the 40th anniversary of our friend ship.  She’s done the arranging with the bed and breakfast, set up a couple of tours, investigated some restaurants for dinners.  That girl has got great organizational skills.  We are each spending a night in the haunted bedroom.  Did I mention there is a haunted bedroom?  Can’t wait!  More later.

Back from a road trip with fellow car club enthusiasts. It’s a Model A Ford Club that my husband and I have belonged to for years.  Great people and good times, despite that fact that our various men folk seem to believe women pee simply to annoy them.  Have you experienced this?  I mean the deep sighs and eye rolls that accompany every quest for a “potty stop”?  Do they really believe we take pleasure from getting up front and personal with various public restrooms? Good grief.

But it was a lot of fun and funny as well. We all know that men love their gadgets  Woman also, I suppose. But GPS?   No thank you. I’m confused enough behind the wheel without some mechanical device telling me where to go.  Any way, we were looking for the Hotel we had reservations at.  The road got more narrow and we went over a set of railroad tracks onto a dirt road.  A Mennonite family came out of the farm house, greeted us enthusiastically and asked us in. After thanking them, we  turned around and left, warning us that there could be a number of vehicles stopping in.  I swear I heard the GPS laughing at us as we resumed our search for the hotel. Damn thing.

Let’s all be a bit more polite in our day to day interactions with others.  We are all stressed out but that is no excuse for rude behavior.  The one finger salute, and it’s four letter counterpart are a case in point.  So let’s wave with our entire hand and give the offender a huge smile.  Trust me, the person will be more annoyed by the wide grin and friendly smile than they would be by the other gesture.  As for the f word, just phrase it differently.  How about a genteel and softly spoken “Well, then I suggest you perform a physically impossible sex act upon yourself” .  By the time he/she figures out what you really said to them, you can be at a distance.