Bob and his favorite cousin, Bill were looking for something to do on a hot summer day in Brooklyn. Bill suggested they go to the St George Hotel, both the bar and the pool were open for a small fee. "what are we going to do? Swim BA?" Bob asked His cousin assured him they could rent suits at the hotel and within a short time were drinking at the bar in itchy maroon wool bathing suits.
Hazel and her skating friend decided it was too hot to go to the rink, in the days before AC was a regular thing. The friend suggested swimming at the St George "what are we going to do? Swim BA?" ( see there's theme here?) The friend assured Hazel of the suit rental and off they went.
Bob spotted a cute girl, in an itchy maroon rented bathing suit, walking next to the pool and walked up to her, He said "You could use a swim" and pushed her in. It took him a moment to realize SHE COULD'NT SWIM and went in after her and pulled her out.
They exchanged phone numbers.
And THAT, my friends, is how my parents met.
If it had been ME he pushed in, he would have come with me and there MIGHT have been blood, but then I am as much his daughter as I am hers.
I once asked her why she didn't punch his lights out. She said "Oh I thought he was cute" Paused a beat and said "And if I HAD, YOU wouldn't be here" Good Point, Mom.
Happy 68th wedding anniversary, Bob and Hazel Myers. Can you GUESS where they spent their wedding night?
That's right.
What my father referred to as "the scene of the crime" The St George Hotel in Brooklyn.
Tuesday, March 13, 2018
Saturday, March 10, 2018
Inheritance
I've been thinking a lot about the subject lately. a former family member is constantly berating another about doing what they demand or "you won't get your inheritance" This person is totally clueless about the fact that the person they are "threatening" has zero interest in what money may be left over. They have figured out that there probably won't be much left and whatever the money, it is not worth their soul. I have watched this former family member sell off their own dreams to dance to the tune of the parent who has the money and has forced them into an ill-fitting mold. To say that this person is unhappy, with all the trappings of success, is an understatement.
It makes me glad my great-grandfather, "Good Time Charlie" Myers, blew his portion of the family fortune, reportedly on "wine women and song' I hope he had fun with it. His son, my grandfather Robert, had even less desire for inheritance. There's a family story that his was displeasing his great-aunt, who had pots of money. She told him "I'm going to cut you out of my will" He replied "Good. I've been sitting up nights, trying to figure out what I'm going to do with those two bags of horseshit you're going to leave me."
When my mother died, this money-loving former family member DEMANDED to know ( as if it were any of their business) just WHAT my mother had left me. I gently pointed out that my FATHER was still alive. She sniffed and said that there is ALWAYS something left.
The thought rankled me then as it does now, so I have been thinking about it. Just what DID my mother leave me?
I inherited her maternal instincts. Come to my house and I will become my mother, offering you food and drink and kissing you on the cheek. I am, as most people who know me will tell you, a mother to everyone. At work, the people I work with are all my kids. I care, probably far too much, how things are going. I can't help it. It is who I am and I got that from her.
I wish I had gotten the math skills, but noooooo
She was a better housekeeper than me, but I always say my house is clean enough to be healthy and messy enough to be happy.
If I am half the woman she was, I am lucky.
Since we are talking inheritance, I am thinking about what I got from my Dad. I got his cooking gene, for sure. I got his hands, square fingers and a bit of his sense of humor. He encouraged me to be fearless in the kitchen, to start with good food and you will probably get something good. Otherwise, he would assure me with a wink "there's always pizza"
I wish I had his dancing skills, my two left feet are a disaster on the dance floor, but I have fun.
My parents left me a memory of love, loving me and my sister and loving each other. They left me the bond of family and a faith that tough times don't last but tough people do. Money comes, money goes. It's who you are through it all that counts the most.
That's my "inheritance"
It makes me glad my great-grandfather, "Good Time Charlie" Myers, blew his portion of the family fortune, reportedly on "wine women and song' I hope he had fun with it. His son, my grandfather Robert, had even less desire for inheritance. There's a family story that his was displeasing his great-aunt, who had pots of money. She told him "I'm going to cut you out of my will" He replied "Good. I've been sitting up nights, trying to figure out what I'm going to do with those two bags of horseshit you're going to leave me."
When my mother died, this money-loving former family member DEMANDED to know ( as if it were any of their business) just WHAT my mother had left me. I gently pointed out that my FATHER was still alive. She sniffed and said that there is ALWAYS something left.
The thought rankled me then as it does now, so I have been thinking about it. Just what DID my mother leave me?
I inherited her maternal instincts. Come to my house and I will become my mother, offering you food and drink and kissing you on the cheek. I am, as most people who know me will tell you, a mother to everyone. At work, the people I work with are all my kids. I care, probably far too much, how things are going. I can't help it. It is who I am and I got that from her.
I wish I had gotten the math skills, but noooooo
She was a better housekeeper than me, but I always say my house is clean enough to be healthy and messy enough to be happy.
If I am half the woman she was, I am lucky.
Since we are talking inheritance, I am thinking about what I got from my Dad. I got his cooking gene, for sure. I got his hands, square fingers and a bit of his sense of humor. He encouraged me to be fearless in the kitchen, to start with good food and you will probably get something good. Otherwise, he would assure me with a wink "there's always pizza"
I wish I had his dancing skills, my two left feet are a disaster on the dance floor, but I have fun.
My parents left me a memory of love, loving me and my sister and loving each other. They left me the bond of family and a faith that tough times don't last but tough people do. Money comes, money goes. It's who you are through it all that counts the most.
That's my "inheritance"
Tuesday, March 6, 2018
Oscars, movies and politics
I didn't watch the awards, not because I was boycotting, I just got busy. I don't actually GO to the movies all that much, it seems to be an ordeal for me to go. Once I am there, I am usually ok, but the mechanics of going out to the movies just has NO appeal to me. Ok I don't watch them in my jammies in the living room much either, as much as Chris wishes I would. He LOVES movies. I just don't sit still for that long anymore. I think I need to work on stillness.
I saw that a lot of ultra conservatives were boycotting the ceremony from the comfort of their own living room. Too political. Get real LIFE is political, and these days it IS too political. If you buy gas, you complain about the taxes- politics. If you have a dangerous street corner that needs a light or a stop sign, politics. Food prices? GMOs? Yeah get real. Small Government is wishful thinking. They TELL you they like small government, until it impacts their bottom line or enables them to have control over YOU because of what they believe.
I am having a hard time with two schools of thought that I came up against recently ( fasten your seat-belts, I'm about to hit turbulence) Flat- Earthers . Seriously. People who SO deny science that they believe the earth is flat. Think about that. They deny the pictures from space as "fake news" and have all kinds of cockamamie arguments about how they can PROVE the earth is flat. Chris has got into it with one of them, whose spelling is so atrocious it takes five minutes to decipher the point, which is so convoluted even after the translation ( and the guy is an native English speaker) Science deniers blow my mind. I know why the 1% advance the theory; so they can continue to devastate the Earth's resources for their own gain, but they have convinces a good number of people who did NOT pay attention in 8th grade- or even 6th grade- to the teachers who talked about ecology and natural resources.
Sigh.
The other group I shake my head at at the Ultra Religious Right. I have NO problem with people who practice a religion, that guides them to interact with their fellow planet dwellers in a compassionate and thoughtful manner. I HAVE A PROBLEM with the "God said it I believe it that settles it, you Godless Heathen" sort of person. People who believe, for instance that Trump was sent here by God. People who believe prayer- but only THEIR style of prayer-should be compulsory in schools. I shake my head at all the hand wringing that "if we only let God into school, we wouldn't have the shootings" Tell THAT to the congregation in Texas or the prayer group in South Carolina. Now, I follow a faith. I don't wave it in anyone's face, but I do pray and I do try to follow what I believe on a day to day basis. It's personal and will remain so unless we sit down to talk about ideas. So many on the far sides have minds like a steel trap. Rusted shut.
Things seem to be moving, as the pendulum shifts as it will. I am hopeful we can get our country moving forward, together. These past few years, there has been such a divide and conquer mentality, we forget we are two halves of the same coin.
I saw that a lot of ultra conservatives were boycotting the ceremony from the comfort of their own living room. Too political. Get real LIFE is political, and these days it IS too political. If you buy gas, you complain about the taxes- politics. If you have a dangerous street corner that needs a light or a stop sign, politics. Food prices? GMOs? Yeah get real. Small Government is wishful thinking. They TELL you they like small government, until it impacts their bottom line or enables them to have control over YOU because of what they believe.
I am having a hard time with two schools of thought that I came up against recently ( fasten your seat-belts, I'm about to hit turbulence) Flat- Earthers . Seriously. People who SO deny science that they believe the earth is flat. Think about that. They deny the pictures from space as "fake news" and have all kinds of cockamamie arguments about how they can PROVE the earth is flat. Chris has got into it with one of them, whose spelling is so atrocious it takes five minutes to decipher the point, which is so convoluted even after the translation ( and the guy is an native English speaker) Science deniers blow my mind. I know why the 1% advance the theory; so they can continue to devastate the Earth's resources for their own gain, but they have convinces a good number of people who did NOT pay attention in 8th grade- or even 6th grade- to the teachers who talked about ecology and natural resources.
Sigh.
The other group I shake my head at at the Ultra Religious Right. I have NO problem with people who practice a religion, that guides them to interact with their fellow planet dwellers in a compassionate and thoughtful manner. I HAVE A PROBLEM with the "God said it I believe it that settles it, you Godless Heathen" sort of person. People who believe, for instance that Trump was sent here by God. People who believe prayer- but only THEIR style of prayer-should be compulsory in schools. I shake my head at all the hand wringing that "if we only let God into school, we wouldn't have the shootings" Tell THAT to the congregation in Texas or the prayer group in South Carolina. Now, I follow a faith. I don't wave it in anyone's face, but I do pray and I do try to follow what I believe on a day to day basis. It's personal and will remain so unless we sit down to talk about ideas. So many on the far sides have minds like a steel trap. Rusted shut.
Things seem to be moving, as the pendulum shifts as it will. I am hopeful we can get our country moving forward, together. These past few years, there has been such a divide and conquer mentality, we forget we are two halves of the same coin.
Friday, March 2, 2018
You've gotta Hope...
white lie
ˈˌ(h)wīt ˈlī/
noun
plural noun: white lies
- a harmless or trivial lie, especially one told to avoid hurting someone's feelings
So, Ms Hicks only told "white lies" for Donald Trump? Did that include telling a journalist their hair looked nice when it looked like they styled it with a weed-whacker? Telling Melania that her souffle was superb? In the words of Emma Gonzales, I CALL BS.
I wonder what will become of Ms. Hicks, now that she's shot herself in the PR foot. I don't feel sorry for her, there's an old saying "If you lie down with dogs, you wake up with fleas"
It's hard not to be a bit gleeful as you watch the wheels come off the Trump bus, but at the same time, I am afraid of the other shoe dropping. Apparently, we can't just toss the lot of them out on their ear, there is some sort of rule of law. Mike Pence is crazy. There, I've said it. He scares me. I don't see humanity in his eyes. His stated feelings toward women will put us all back in the Dark Ages.
I don't know what the world is coming to. Seriously. I actually viewed a conversation where someone I work with, someone I heretofore considered sane but deluded ACTUALLY SAY that "You don't understand Trumpspeak. He didn't mean what he said" in response to the statement that Trump made about taking away weapons from people they THINK are dangerous and giving them due process of the law AFTER. Can you IMAGINE if Barrack Obama had said this? There would be a mad rush on the sale of rope and pitchforks, but NO.. There are actually people in this world who support the Dorito Despot to the point where he can say something so ANTI our laws and everyone applauds. I am horrified. When I see this coworker, I probably will just wave and keep going. If that is his belief system, I am not engaging, not even to talk about the weather.
I find it ironic. After EIGHT YEARS of "Obama is coming for your guns", it appears that TRUMP actually IS.
I hope Mueller gets all his legal ducks in a row soon. He's gunning for the kids now. In what world would Jared Kushner and Ivanka the handbag saleswoman ( she does not, as far as I can tell DO the actual design work, but approves the work of others) be advisers to a President. Oh yeah DADDY LAND. Kushner ,at the very least, is going to jail. Maybe he can share a cell with his own father who went to jail already (wonder if he's still in the pokey)
Still I have to hope- and not Hope Hicks- that balance will be restored. Lately life in this country had been like being on one of those playground merry-go rounds. People outside are spinning it as fast as they can. We just have to hold on to the bars and wait for it to stop.
I don't know what the world is coming to. Seriously. I actually viewed a conversation where someone I work with, someone I heretofore considered sane but deluded ACTUALLY SAY that "You don't understand Trumpspeak. He didn't mean what he said" in response to the statement that Trump made about taking away weapons from people they THINK are dangerous and giving them due process of the law AFTER. Can you IMAGINE if Barrack Obama had said this? There would be a mad rush on the sale of rope and pitchforks, but NO.. There are actually people in this world who support the Dorito Despot to the point where he can say something so ANTI our laws and everyone applauds. I am horrified. When I see this coworker, I probably will just wave and keep going. If that is his belief system, I am not engaging, not even to talk about the weather.
I find it ironic. After EIGHT YEARS of "Obama is coming for your guns", it appears that TRUMP actually IS.
I hope Mueller gets all his legal ducks in a row soon. He's gunning for the kids now. In what world would Jared Kushner and Ivanka the handbag saleswoman ( she does not, as far as I can tell DO the actual design work, but approves the work of others) be advisers to a President. Oh yeah DADDY LAND. Kushner ,at the very least, is going to jail. Maybe he can share a cell with his own father who went to jail already (wonder if he's still in the pokey)
Still I have to hope- and not Hope Hicks- that balance will be restored. Lately life in this country had been like being on one of those playground merry-go rounds. People outside are spinning it as fast as they can. We just have to hold on to the bars and wait for it to stop.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)