Regrets

I really only have two things I regret in my Life: Years ago I dated a multimillionaire who kept begging me to marry him and if I had, we could have bought my son and his family a big beautiful house. Much of my boyfriend's wealth came from real estate and he would have been all for that idea.Also, I was planning to buy my Special Guy a leather bomber jacket "some day", but they were expensive and I thought we would be together the rest of our lives and there would be time enough. Then all of a sudden he was gone, looking for new experiences, not realizing he had had what other men would give their left nut for. Sometimes people do stupid things.

1:28:00

44 Eggs

I was babysitting Luke, 4 years old, the other night while his parents went out for dinner to celebrate his father's birthday. Before they left, they said, we could sample the birthday cake which Luke had helped make. While we ate a delicious slice of carrotcake, I asked Luke what they had put in it? Butter, eggs, flour and LOTS of carrots. How many eggs did you use? 44, he blustered, then noticing my sceptical look, he added with a little twinkle in his eye, "Maybe that's too many."

Different strokes....

My sister told me today over the phone, she is buying herself a new furcoat. "Why shouldn't she?" Yes, why not. She has never been married, has no kids or grandkids. My youngest grandson, Luke, a lively 4-year old, is wearing my furcoat: I am contributing to his pre-school each month, so he can go an extra day a week.

Garage Sale

It seems so sad to me when someone in the neighborhood dies and the heirs put everything out on the lawn and sell it at an estate sale. All the things that person treasured, used or collected for sale piecemeal for a few bucks.

Half a gallon of icecream

When did a half a gallon of icecream become 1.5 quarts?

Like grieving....

My father-in-law is 88 and just the other day he received a letter from his insurance company, they no longer will insure him. It looks like his driving days may be over and we the young ones, who are not so young anymore, are scrambling to see how we can help him continue his life without any one of us being on call 24/7. He is going through all the stages of grief, the initial numbness followed by denial, anger, occasional acceptance and back to square one. The simplest solution would be for him to hire a driver, but he is a child of the depression and spending money frivolously is impossible for him. Maybe it is better the insurance company told him than one of his own kids.

Blessed Rain

We had the first rain since April, a whole inch of rain in my backyard where the grass and the trees gratefully soaked it up. I have not watered my backyard the whole summer, because there has been a water shortage in Los Angeles county. Already this afternoon the backyard looked greener.

The Internet

Is the Internet pushing intelligence toward the lowest common denominator? I decided to join one of the Google groups, chose a women's group in a foreign country. The next day I received 36 e-mails from the group. One welcomed me, the other 35 were jokes and cutesy pictures from the Internet, what I call "second-hand material."
I had checked off the box that said "only 2 e-mails per day". What happened to that choice? I unsubscribed to the group.

Joining a group

I thought I would try joining a group, chose a group of Danish women since I still speak Danish fluently after 50 years in the U.S. and the next day I had 32 e-mails in my mailbox about nothing much. One of the women asked me to acknowledge her e-mail, which I did, telling her, that is just too overwhelming. I had checked off the box with "no more than 2 e-mail per day".
Well Retirement is a time for trying new things. Who says they all have to be succesful.
Now I have to figure out how to get out of a group.

Two aspirin and a glass of water

My husband and I were at the movies and no sooner had we sat down, than he said, he had a headache. I offered him a couple of Tylenol, but nothing but Aspirin would do. So I got up, went to the Ladies Room and asked out loud, "Is there anyone who has 2 asperins?" Six women opened their purse, I got my asperins, picked up a glass of water at the snackbar and was back in my seat in no time flat. Honey, whether you knew it or not, I was good to you.

The long-lost slippers

My father-in-law is getting old and forgetful. This morning he could not find his 50 year old fur-lined slippers. I promised him, as soon as I was done with his bookkeeping, I would look for them. Armed with a flashlight I found them hiding under a chair. You don't have to be all that pretty, as long as you can find a guy's slippers.

History

When I went to school, History was taught country by country from the early days to the present with a lot of emphasis on War and battles. History should really be taught laterally, as in: What happened in the 18th Centure in various countries and how did that affect literature, art and social conditions?

Burka

There is a young woman in my neighborhood who walks her little girl to school, both dressed in full burka. Being a stay-at-home mom with young kids can be lonely. I think about how isolated this woman must feel and greeted her this morning as we passed in the street.


Betty's son is dying. They say the hardest thing is losing a child.