"Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin serenely and with too high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense."
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
Do you ever feel like you are walking around, carrying a lamp? I do. Especially in the last week or so. Let me explain...
#1. BART FART
"Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple."
~Dr. Seuss
Lately, there have been little bursts of stress coming at Alan and I. Some of it has to do with the on again, off again, sometimes looming, BART strike. BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit) literally makes the Bay Area go round. So, the freeways, while congested enough, faces the very real threat of becoming significantly worse. There is nothing that can be done. The situation is in the hands of the union, and BART management, who I have NEVER been impressed by. For now, the strike is on hold through this coming work week, as Governor Brown has ordered an investigation into the last 7 days of negotiations. On the one hand... good news... on the other hand... a dark cloud looms, and with it, quick and sudden changes to Alan's schedule.
#2. THE PARENT TRAP
"Monsters are real, and ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes, they win."
~Stephen King
Sigh. Several years ago, I had to gently help my mother come to the understanding that she wasn't physically, mentally or intellectually able to drive a car any longer. I wrote about the situation on my original AOL Ellipsis blog, in a post titled, "Loving Them Through It." I need to do an Ellipsis Flashback post sometime soon, featuring that post, as I think it might have been one of my very best in the entire 10 years I have been blogging.
Anyway, both my parents are gone now, and there is no need to fret and worry about them. But Alan's parents are both still alive, thank God, because I love them both very much, but like my mother, they are facing the time of life when it's time to begin worrying about their health and well being. But the sticky part of the situation is... they don't want us to worry... so they don't tell us when something goes wrong.
I found out over this past weekend that my parent-in-laws lost a significant...
A TRULY SIGNIFICANT sum of money, pretty much their life savings, an amount of money some folks make in a year, when someone that was hired to care for their interests stole it. My Mother-In-Law reported it to the police, a report was taken, but the circumstances are such that it's difficult to prove. I can't say much more than that. But keep in mind, this didn't happen recently, it was almost a year ago, and we just found out this weekend. We found out through a distant relative, that found out a short time ago, and wanted to know if we knew, and see what we could do to help them get it back.
When we found out what happened, Alan and I immediately began Googling agencies and resources, and trying to think of all the possible avenues we could investigate to try and seek both justice, and recoup at least some of the money, but his parents are afraid of retaliation, and therefore will not help in anyway with our efforts. Stress. Age. Frail Health. Need I go on? Mom-In-Law just had surgery for a pacemaker replacement, and will be off her feet for six weeks. Did I mention they live in upstate New York and we live in California? Mom-In-Law called today, crying, and demanding we cease anything we might be doing or try to do to help find the... ahem... asshole skank thief ... who stole their money... as the distant relative calls her.
I have never felt so helpless in my whole life.
Do I honor Mom and Dad or do I go behind their backs and seek justice through the legal system?
I have never felt so helpless in my whole life.
#3. The Traveling Dress
"Good friends, good books, and a sleepy conscience: this is the ideal life."
~Mark Twain
About 3 weeks ago, I found 2 dresses on an online outlet site. I paid a whopping $14.94 for both dresses, including tax and shipping! One of the dresses is a silver animal print tunic dress, the other is a copper sequined dress, with a silk overlay. If I would have paid full price, the two would have cost well over $300! It was an amazing bargain, and no one loves a bargain more than I do, but there is a downside to ordering bargains, like it taking 3 weeks for the dresses to arrive! The waiting is hard, but watching the dresses as they have gallivanted about the country has been very entertaining. I won't go into details of their itinerary now, I am planing to do a follow up on them later this week, but let's just say, I wish the dresses had the ability to take photos of the cities they visited. LOL.
#4. Excuse Me, Have You Met My Penis?
"Reality continues to ruin my life."
~Bill Watterson, The Complete Calvin and Hobbes
If you have known me for any length of time, you know I am a Progressive/Liberal/Democrat/Bleeding Heart/ did I say liberal? LOL. Several years ago, I became impressed with a certain congressman from New York. Let's call him... Wanthony Aeiner. Just try and crack that code. LOL. Anyway, that very same congressman decided one day that it was a nifty idea to send an... ahem... personal message to a woman he met on Twitter, and not just any old message, he decided to message her is DICK. Well a picture of it anyway. But instead of it being a private message, it turns out the genius posted the picture on his Twitter feed for all to see.
His political life exploded. His private life exploded.
I have never believed that sex scandals should ruin any career, let alone political careers. Let's face it, politicians and sex scandals are as old as politics. So, I figured the politician would get out of the spotlight, take some time off to repair his personal life, learn his lesson, and reemerge, ready to get back to work, and that is exactly what happened. And everything was really going well, and he was even the front runner for the Mayor-ship of Metropolis, and then it happened again, and if possible, his latest escapade is worse then the original DICK pic parade. THE DICK.
So now, a promising career, of a truly talented politician, who I still believe is genuinely committed to helping his constituents, is over because he can't stop being stupid! He is like some kind of Idiot/Savant. But clearly the IDIOT is in charge, while the SAVANT is in a self induced shit storm coma. And here is the thing, in the original scandal, he had a lot of women he flirted with, and or had keyboard sex with. Most of which he met on Twitter. I am on Twitter. I was one of his followers. Yet he never engaged with me once, either before or after the original incident!
Should I be insulted? I mean, I am not 20 anymore, but I am not 90 either. Hmmm. But really, all kidding aside, if he had hit on me I would have been flattered, but bottom lining things, I love Alan, and would never jeopardize us, over the likes of a horny politician. The SCHMUCK. And I would have said so had he asked. Who knows why he never hit one me, maybe it was because I was married, and he has a moral code when it comes to marriage. Yeah... that was probably it! All better now!
Schmuck.
#5. Taking The Lamp For A Walk
"Finish each day and be done with it. You have done what you could. Some blunders and absurdities no doubt crept in; forget them as soon as you can. Tomorrow is a new day. You shall begin it serenely and to high a spirit to be encumbered with your old nonsense."
~Ralph Waldo Emerson
The other day, while in San Francisco, I saw a lady walking down the street, carrying a lamp. It didn't look like a special lamp, but she seemed to like it. She was probably on her way to have it repaired or something, but who knows? Maybe she simply went for a walk with her lamp. After all, would you try to rob a woman with a large brass object in her hands? LOL. I thought about all the possibilities. Was it a weapon for self protection? Was it a gift from someone she loved? Was it her favorite lamp to read by? Had that lamp been her favorite source of light, when things in her life seemed dim? This week, more than ever, I get the need for repairing things that are broken, rather than throwing them away.
I have met some lamps I have refused to give up on.
Relationships are difficult.
The key is to not give up.
Sometimes all you can do is take the lamp for a walk, and hope everything can be fixed.
Sigh.
Mood: Reflective
~Me
