Life's ironies

On our way back from Thanksgiving at my son's family's house, we stopped at my wife's brother's family house in the Berkshires.  (Got that?)  Firstly, we could talk about how the navigation system had screwed us up.  If that had worked properly (or maybe it did and we were distracted by trying to get our 'friggin' 'smart'phone to work and missed a crucial turn) there would have been nothing to discuss there.  Secondly, we described how various people weren't talking to each other at different points in the visit and that made everyone feel more relaxed, as if we were sharing a common experience.  Because both of these happenings had made my wife and I rather depressed it gave the others an opportunity to try and make us feel better.  So the visit ended on a kind of high note as we hit the road for home.  Just think if the evening news were all about things that had gone well...after a few days people would probably stop watching.

Morning phone call...

Big D is my granddaughter and Little D my grandson.

Little D:  I like Gwamma,  n', n', n'Bobbie, n', n', (Big D), n',n' Mommie n', n',.....

(Long  pause )

Big D (in her harse voice early in the morning):  Do you jus' like girls (Little D)?

Little D:  n', n',....but I don' like you Pa!

The itty bitty spider....

Alittle spider lives in the corner of my kitchen between the baseboard heater and a 2"x2" side unit that has my TV on top.  Every once in a while I reach down to pick up what looks to me like some lint or a grain of some food, but it turns out to be the spider.  And if I try to catch one of the legs with my fingers,  the spider nimbly escapes into the darkness between the heater and the side unit.  I first started noticing the spider about a month ago.  It seemed to me that it was larger then, or more substantial.  It's body had a little shape to it - now it is just a simple tiny dot.  And its legs are so thin and spindly now that they can hardly be seen.  I wonder  if the thing is getting enough to eat - or if it's getting anything at all.  If I could catch it I wouldn't hurt it.  I'd just put it outside.  But it will probably expire, alone, in the dark corner.  It's funny: when I saw how frail it had become I felt sorry for it.  It seems ridiculous, but I guess every creature, human or otherwise, has a need to feel something for another being.  I remember how my granddaughter S. used to do the 'itsy bitsy spider routine....'

About death....

I just returned from a brisk walk on a stunningly beautiful blue sky day filled with sunlight.  I was in the shower enjoying the warm water when, all of a sudden, I thought of what it will be like to leave all the people I love and never see them again and I felt so sad it was almost like a punch in the stomach.  The mistake I made, of course, is that I will never know what it's like never to be able to see the people I love again, because I'll be dead.  And that means I won't know anything...I won't have the pleasure...but I won't have the any of the pain either.

what can you say?

It must have been about 9:30 in the morning in New Delhi because it was 10:30 p.m. here.  The person speaking with the crisp, ultra-polite Indian accent had just guided me through what to him must have seemed like the absurdly simple task of changing my user name for my credit card website.  He was thanking me for everything: for holding on while he checked my account, for allowing him to proceed
to check with a 'specialist' sine I didn't have a 'security word,' for giving him my credit card number.  It was uncomfortable trying to cope with the undue respect he was offering me.  Shortly, the process was complete and I was relieved that he didn't ask me to 'participate in a brief online survey' to indicate how pleased I was with the experience.  His voice suddenly sounded a little weary.  "Take care, Mr. Star," he said.  "Thank you, you too," I replied.  And then I thought:  "How should I take care?'  Take care for what?  Aren't we all waiting for the same thing, when, free at last, we don't have to 'take care' any more?  It was as if we formed a universal brotherhood where the fate of all beings formed a common bond...

Romney/Ryan: ewwwww!

I love Barack and loathe Mitt.  It's hard for me to understand why the president is only ahead by three points.  Everything about Romney's facial expressions looks insincere: his phony eye contact trained by years of knocking on doors for the Mormons;; his slicked back, probably colored, hair; his tense grin which is really a rictus of condescension.  Who could believe anything he says?  Like he 'knows' how to create jobs.  Hah!  Bad news America....jobs won't be coming back for a long time.  Romney's false promise emends me of Nixon's 'secret' plan to end the Vietnam War in 1968.  After he was elected the war went on for another eight years and thousands more died before Saigon finally fell...

why do I have the same dream?

At least half a dozen times a year I have the same dream: I'm in the same office building, closely, where I worked for almost 13 years from age 27 to 39.5.  I'm frantically going up and down the halls looking for a toilet.  Finally I find one and, naturally, the floor has a huge puddle of water.  I can't sit on the toilet in time so I go all over myself.  While looking for toilet paper (there is usually none) I notice that someone has left the water running in the sink and the drain is disconnected.  I wake up shaking.  Why do I have to keep going through this ordeal?  Does anyone out there experience anything similar?  Help!....

Honestly....

I stayed up until 11:30 p.m. last night watching Bill Clinton give his talk at the Democratic convention. I feel so comfortable with these people.  The Republicans may be physically fit, perfectly coiffed and the right color but they aren't honest, open, transparent and free from ulterior motives the way the Democrats are.  Bill Clinton was terrific in exposing the Republicans for the liars they are:  we ARE better off than we were four years ago!  I hope Obama wins big in November!

The value of Jewish education

My son's two daughters were visiting us in late August.  The parents had left for a few days to travel to Montreal and Quebec so we were alone with them.  They both love to color and draw so when I moaned about not feeling well - not being able to stop coughing - a 'Refuah Shlama' card from Saydee, the oldest, was not long in appearing.  There were many bright colors and hearts and the full lyrics to their 'refuah shlama' song (It means get better quick in Hebrew.)  Then they both came into the kitchen and sang 'refuah shlama' to gather for me.  It was great!...and, sure enough, the next day I was feeling better.