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Ideas, and accounts of life from my perspective, but no honking
Wednesday, August 27, 2003
J and I travel to New York, and then I go on alone to my home town of Oswego, NY to attend a memorial art show for my father. I've been helping organize this show, and I'll say a few words at the opening. Plenty to say, I'm not worried. I'll jot some notes the days before so I don't run-on too long.
My Home Town: My old kindergarten teacher Mrs. H, 93 years old, died around the same time my father died. She was pretty old when I was in kindergarten 33 years ago!
Mr.s H taught me the alphabet and how to write each letter. I remember her pointing with ther pointer to the 26 capital and small letters posted in a line above the chalkboard. She taught us a song:
I can spell cat, c-a-t
I can spell mat, m-a-t
I can spell h, h-a-t
but I can't spell hippopotamus.
Of course, she made sure we could spell hippopotamus, too.
She smacked me and my best friend Jeff with a yardstick for running ahead of the class coming back from lunch.
So, here's to you Ms. H - you spanked me, you gave me power to understand and use the English language and all the joys and that have come from that. Me and hundreds if not thousands of others. Thank you so much. Good job. Well done. Rest in Peace.
My Home Town: My old kindergarten teacher Mrs. H, 93 years old, died around the same time my father died. She was pretty old when I was in kindergarten 33 years ago!
Mr.s H taught me the alphabet and how to write each letter. I remember her pointing with ther pointer to the 26 capital and small letters posted in a line above the chalkboard. She taught us a song:
I can spell cat, c-a-t
I can spell mat, m-a-t
I can spell h, h-a-t
but I can't spell hippopotamus.
Of course, she made sure we could spell hippopotamus, too.
She smacked me and my best friend Jeff with a yardstick for running ahead of the class coming back from lunch.
So, here's to you Ms. H - you spanked me, you gave me power to understand and use the English language and all the joys and that have come from that. Me and hundreds if not thousands of others. Thank you so much. Good job. Well done. Rest in Peace.
Okay, it's been months since I posted anything. Has my stream of conciousness stopped flowing? No, Life itself has merely swept me away in its own ranging waters, tossing and tumbling me like a cork so I don't know which way is up. Now I pause in a momentary eddy of calm and reflect.
For two months J and shopped for a house to buy, which has been a painful confrontation with our financial and spiritual values. Much lesiure time and energy gone in this endevore, many gallons of sweat sweated out. We finally decided to look for a larger apartment to rent instead, which was a huge relief. Now we've cooled on that idea to the extent that we just want to clean and organize our current apartment before we do anything. I am deleriously relieved, I can't tell you. We had put in a bid on a place and it was accepted, and then we painfully decided to withdraw our offer because we can't really aford it. That would have been so hard, to take on a $2300.00 + monthly mortgage. We would have been anxious and poor for the rest of our working lives. I feel we have dodge a bullet from a gun we pointed at our own brains.
What were we thinking? Was it like being under the kind of delusion that allows people to bomb abortion clinics or vote Republican? It was such a hard lesson for us, and we had to fight about it to clear the air. Our relationship is stronger now, but we're frazzled. Money is hard, hard thing to disagree about, especially most of the money you'll ever have for the rest of your life. We did not agree what would be a good and prident use of that money, and that was hard. I thank God right now that we worked through it.
Now we are taking avacation to New York City! And I'm reveling in the fact that we have extra money to spend of hotel and travel expenses! Money that would not be availble if we had bought a house or condo! WE'RE FREE! FREE TO LIVE DECENTLY! THE WORLD IS OURS! (-;
As Elton John sang: "Someone saved my life tonight...I'm a butterfly. And butterflies are free to fly, fly away, high away." B'bye!
For two months J and shopped for a house to buy, which has been a painful confrontation with our financial and spiritual values. Much lesiure time and energy gone in this endevore, many gallons of sweat sweated out. We finally decided to look for a larger apartment to rent instead, which was a huge relief. Now we've cooled on that idea to the extent that we just want to clean and organize our current apartment before we do anything. I am deleriously relieved, I can't tell you. We had put in a bid on a place and it was accepted, and then we painfully decided to withdraw our offer because we can't really aford it. That would have been so hard, to take on a $2300.00 + monthly mortgage. We would have been anxious and poor for the rest of our working lives. I feel we have dodge a bullet from a gun we pointed at our own brains.
What were we thinking? Was it like being under the kind of delusion that allows people to bomb abortion clinics or vote Republican? It was such a hard lesson for us, and we had to fight about it to clear the air. Our relationship is stronger now, but we're frazzled. Money is hard, hard thing to disagree about, especially most of the money you'll ever have for the rest of your life. We did not agree what would be a good and prident use of that money, and that was hard. I thank God right now that we worked through it.
Now we are taking avacation to New York City! And I'm reveling in the fact that we have extra money to spend of hotel and travel expenses! Money that would not be availble if we had bought a house or condo! WE'RE FREE! FREE TO LIVE DECENTLY! THE WORLD IS OURS! (-;
As Elton John sang: "Someone saved my life tonight...I'm a butterfly. And butterflies are free to fly, fly away, high away." B'bye!
