A LEARNING EXPERIENCE

People are always telling me how easy it is to do something which I don’t understand so I really have to rely on cheat-sheets. For the past ten months, I’ve posted my blog following such a method and now can almost function on my own.

One thing that has bothered me immensely is the fact that when I reread my past blogs, I discover mistakes in my grammar and spelling or in all the endless words I should have edited out but didn’t know how to change. Chris showed me the simple process and I have taken advantage of that and fixed some recent problems.

I had sharpened up my favorite piece and sent it to the food editor of our newspaper. She really liked it and asked for my blog address. Not being able to publish a first person story in the food section, she forwarded it to the Senior Section of the Times, but I don’t have much hope that they will use it. I hope if you haven’t seen the revised version of “My Obsession with Television Cooking Shows” you will reread it now.

PS: I purposely didn’t go to my first posts to change them because I think those past mistakes, of which there were many, were part of my growing process and clearly show my evolvement into a more capable storyteller.

A SAD CALL

 We received a call telling us our good friend Jan had died suddenly, a real shock to everyone who knew and loved her. She was a vital part of our club as well as one of our bridge players.

At the hospital the doctor told her she had no chance of survival following emergency surgery. She had gone into the hospital on Tuesday and died peacefully Wednesday morning with a friend and a grief counselor holding her hands. The grief counselor, called by the hospital, was actually one of our new bridge players who knew Jan only a short time.

I had called Jan on Monday morning about a meeting she might want to attend. She told me she couldn’t make it but to call her later with all the latest information, which I did. At the end of that conversation, we talked about her recent vacation up North and she said she’d see me next Tuesday for breakfast. She also said she missed seeing me and I told her the same.

I remember thinking that was a nice thing for her to say. I’m so glad for that sweet final memory of her.

SOMETIMES LIFE ISN’T EASY

After spending a great deal of money (almost $900) repairing our car, more lights came on the dashboard and the repair shop said we needed to spend $300 more in additional work. We took the car to the dealer for an appraisal to see if we should buy a new one or pay to have more new parts installed. They told us the work we had paid for hadn’t been done.

Turns out that the dealer’s mechanics were totally wrong which was proved to us by the repair shop owner the next day. He drove with us to the dealer to refute the charges they made against him. This was after I had earlier talked to our lawyer’s office, the police department and the clerk of court’s office. Fortunately for me and everyone else, I got no satisfaction from any of those offices. Before we went to small claims court, we found out we had been misled by the dealer’s mechanics, who didn’t understand the emission system in our car which might have been installed in California.

So what happened? The auto repair shop owner assured us that because of our ordeal that any more parts needed would be at their cost and we wouldn’t have to pay for labor. He understood the pain and anguish we had gone through.

It turns out that we had better response from our local repair garage than we had from the dealer who never sent us an apology for the enormous crisis they caused in our lives. We had even paid them for doing a brake job the same day they checked out the car, which they said we needed.

I did receive to a courtesy call from the auto dealer about our experience but it’s doubtful they’ll respond to my complaint.

INFORMAL POLLS

I’ve taken polls of family, friends and absolute strangers who say Casey is totally guilty. Everyone says she’s guilty but some say the prosecution has not proved their case because there is no physical evidence. I think they totally proved their case. I hope the jury of her peers find that she is guilty of killing her daughter which we all know for a fact that she did.

Verdict just in  NOT GUILTY! The jury couldn’t find fingerprints on anything.

LEAVING HOME

I just finished watching a charming movie starring English actress Pauline Collins about a 40ish wife and mother who goes to Greece and ultimately finds her true self. The title is “Shirley Valentine” and I guess you could rate it “R” because of several situations. But Shirley is such a delightful person, who speaks directly to the audience in much of the movie that you enjoy enormously those aspects which are portrayed with great humor. I found none of it offensive, just surprising.

When Shirley makes plans with a female friend to spend two weeks at a Greek Island resort leaving her husband and grown children at home, I started to remember going away with three of my friends for a golfing weekend.

I was probably 50 years old and it was my first time away for an outing that had nothing to do with visiting my mother, father or children.

My friends and I took advantage of a discounted package at a well-known golf resort about four hours from home.

What did four women do on a trip like that? Of course we played golf for two days, ate out and visited famous historical places. However, the things that stick out in my memory are that the end of the first night there was much drinking, so much so that on the second day of golfing, I played spectacularly. This upset my friends who were better golfers than I but were too hung over to beat me.  I had only one drink the previous evening.

Three of us were smokers, which we did all day long and well into the night. The next morning, I felt I never wanted to smoke another cigarette. When I returned home, that’s when I really decided to quit smoking because we were going to have our first grandchild and I wanted to be around to see that person grow up. It took awhile but I finally succeeded by only smoking cigarettes I bummed from others, which in reality can be totally embarrassing. I’ve always told people that I enjoyed every cigarette I ever smoked, but I’m glad I stopped and think of all the money I’ve saved through twenty nine years.

I think “Shirley Valentine” is a film that will be especially enjoyable for the ladies.

THE FIRST TRIAL

He got away with it. Unbelievable! We all knew he did it, but why did the jury find him not guilty?

The prosecution attorneys had the mistaken idea that because so many black women had been in abusive relationships, they would convict a black man for beating up and killing his wife. The majority of the jury was made up of black women so they would conclude he was guilty of murder. But they found him not guilty in spite of the evidence.

Here’s why! His ex-wife was a blond white woman.

Black men playing on major sports teams make oodles of money. I’ve noticed that even in college the black football and basketball players have the white groupies all around them which carries over when they are paid millions in bonuses for signing on with pro teams. It’s understandable that black women are resentful and I don’t blame them for being so. Take a look at the Kardashians.

My point of view is not racist, just that I truly understand the black woman’s point of view.

At least the murderer finally got jail time, although it was for another crime. Before being found guilty of that crime, he was accused of being abusive to another white woman. 

MOTHER’S  DAY

I had a wonderful Mother’s Day. In the morning my son came with a breakfast for us.  We ate muffins and fresh fruit salad on our porch and talked for several hours about his work and family. I was so glad for this opportunity.  Then in the afternoon Melissa and Chris came for tacos. There was more conversation on the porch, then help with the 550 piece jigsaw puzzle which is still unfinished on the dining room table. Later we had a long phone visit with Lynn, culminating with lunch on Tuesday with Jennifer.

I did get many presents, but the best part of the celebration was having special time with each of my five accomplished children of whom I am so proud.

(I wrote this the Wednesday following Mom’s Day when I was filled with happiness. Then in my doddering old age I forgot to post it on my blog.)