DID WE LOOK LIKE THAT . . . ?

If you ever want a whirlwind tour of your personal past, I recommend starting with the Stuff stored in your attic, cellar, boxroom, or garage. Or maybe it's in that new shed you put in the back corner of the yard.

My recent safari into that jungle--garage, in my case--led to some interesting encounters. Nothing man-eating, so far. Nothing poisonous. Nothing contagious. (I think. I hope.) But what I found certainly tickled my fancy, made me shake my head, and laugh out loud. Not bad for a morning's foray into the depths.

Here's the scenario:

--My youngest daughter came
to live with me in mid-June; she brought some furniture, household goods (pots/pans, towels, et al.), paper (business files, mainly), and essentials like books, videos, CDs, clothing, and interesting items acquired in her travels. And a car.

--I've lived in this house 35+ years, with miscellaneous furniture, household goods (some of which could be used more often), paper (letters received, receipts, tax returns), and my own collection of the above essentials. And a vehicle.

--In order to get my daughter's Main Stuff into the house, we stored much of it in the garage--nicely arranged, more-or-less organized (my daughter excels at Organization on a Grand Scale), allowing for ease of movement when bringing in groceries or looking for a Certain Something that is probably in that box over there.

--Time passes. My daughter gets a couple of paying jobs. This cuts down on the hours she can spend going through the Stuff in the garage.

--I work best at sorting/discarding/donating when I have encouragement--such as a Sorting Buddy who will give me feedback. "Will we ever use this?" I ask. "Um, maybe. Let's keep it." Or, she says, "Doubt it." I say, "We'll donate it." And it goes into the Donations box. Or, if not donate-able, into the trash bag or recycling box.

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Last Sunday we spent too much time (aching muscles reminded us later) in the garage, but the results were worth it, I think.

My trek through the Jungle of the Past was quite entertaining.

--photos: Did we really wear glasses like that? And those clothes! Oh, it was the 70s, after all.

--old issues of magazines that I was sure, back then, I'd want to keep. Clothing styles not much better in the 80s and 90s. Hair styles, ditto. 

--Envelopes! Greeting cards! Letters! It was like getting a mailbox stuffed full! I looked at the return addresses--family members from Iowa, Illinois; friends from Indiana who went to Ohio or Florida. Throw those away? Never! Well, not right now, anyway. Letters are kept. Greeting cards read again and possibly kept; we'll see.

--Boxes marked "Quilt Stuff" brought surprises. I found brand-new quilt patterns (small projects are often sold as single patterns in a plastic envelope); some I'll probably keep and try. Others I'll share with a friend who likes to make Small Stuff. And a couple of them I've actually used to make wall-hangings for friends or family.

--Besides commercial patterns and magazines, I found patterns for quilts I'd designed myself. Some included colored pencil suggestions for the design. And some of those had also been used--labeled "Donna's quilt," or "Kathy's healing quilt."

--fabrics: a mixed bag--some were scraps from long, long ago projects--not usable in a current quilt and probably not salvageable after being stored in a garage for 35 years. But the other side of that coin was a bag of still usable fabrics in larger yardages. I vividly recall the garments I was going to make with them; I won't make those things now, but I can use the fabrics for other projects, possibly as cushion covers, or sofa throws.

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What I enjoyed most was my 2 1/2-hour trip down memory lane. It was a visit with my past--old friends (people, books, fabrics), old creative endeavors; and reminders that I'd always had ambition to make things, write stories, read interesting books.

Sometimes we need a chance to see our former selves and greet them like friends. Because, after all, they're part of who we are today.

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There's a darker side to that memory walk--we all encounter
reminders that some of the folks we loved most have left us; they moved away or died, going on to a better life, we trust, and we remain here with the ailments of life in 2020. We might even think we'd be better off out of here. But that's hindsight--and that one is always "20-20". We never know what's ahead--could be better than we've ever seen. So our job is to keep on keeping on.

Right now, I'm enchanted by the ways people manage to celebrate life--holidays, special events, former types of entertainment--when they're unable to get together. The Internet and all the social media venues have given us some good gifts.

Till next time, keep on celebrating life. 

 TAKING IT FOR GRANTED

We may have explored this subject before . . . for someone who likes systems and keeping track of what's around, I've been lax in categorizing my blog post topics. So, yes, we may have been here before.

But we haven't been here--on the subject of taking things for granted--since COVID-19 entered our collective lives. Now, we're finding, all the old rules and assumptions and things we counted on may--or may not--be valid. So let's look at some areas in our lives.

We take it for granted that:

#1 - tomorrow's a new day--another day in which to get things done, make plans, work toward a goal.

Really? For some people--those facing life-changing illnesses and possibly death, there is only a "perhaps" about tomorrow. Never mind doing stuff, making plans, working to meet a goal.

#2 - the sun will rise and set, never mind clouds or rain or thunderstorms or whatever meteorological phenomena come our way.

Nope. For some folks, the sun will neither rise nor set. Weather has practically nothing to do with it. Health has just about everything to do with it.

#3 - God will provide.

Yes, indeed. But keep in mind--God may not provide what I want or what you want. Our prayers and petitions and wailings don't guarantee the result we seek. The point is, keep praying, keep seeking.

#4 - life will resume as it was before we had a virus, and restrictions; before businesses closed and jobs were lost; the assumption is: one day we'll wake up and it'll be sometime in 2019.

Lotsa luck with that one. If we haven't figured out this many months into COVID-driven life that some of these changes are permanent, we better wake up and smell the coffee. Take the temperature of life. Examine the signs of change that have come about in our lives.

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I'd love to think the changes aren't drastic, that much of our previous lives will be preserved, that we'll "come out on the other side" of the pandemic in better shape than when we "went in."

I desperately, some days, want to take it for granted that life is good . . . that yes, we're all suffering to one extent or another, but it's all for a good cause . . . that all I have to do is pray harder, help others, follow the restrictions set up by people who know more than I do about how to keep from spreading the virus . . . promise to be a better person . . . .

But I have no special access to the future, no sense that what I'm doing is "the answer," no better vision of what's going to happen, or even might happen. About the best I can offer--what any of us can expect--is that the virus will one day be at an end. How? I don't know--wear itself out, find a new place to invade (Mars, maybe?), be conquered by our health workers. (That's a  prayer that has a good chance of being answered as we want it to be. So keep on praying, keep on seeking.)

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Thursday's Child was founded on the premise that there's always something to celebrate--something that needs to be recognized and appreciated. Could be large, could be so tiny no one else will recognize it but you. 

With COVID-19, we're finding it hard to celebrate anything large. Virtual presentations help, but after a while, some of us find they don't. So I offer some of the tiny things in my life that hardly anyone else might see:

--a neighbor followed around by his two very small grandsons; they "work" together in the yard

--a friend who has been through a double mastectomy, had treatments, and is now again working in her home-based business, keeping her family together, and enjoying life

--church members keeping in touch with each other; the elderlies mostly by phone or email

--library services! Being able to actually pick up and leaf through a book--ordering a set of DVDs from the Evergreen service--having auto-renewal for the items we don't return to the library on time (only works if no one has it on hold)

--services willing to do phone conferences (haven't worked out how to get my teeth cleaned by phone or my hair cut--still working on those)

--rediscovering recipes I used to make; having time to try new gluten-free recipes (GF chicken pot pie at right--mmm!)

--playing the organ for my own enjoyment (I still make as many mistakes, but they don't bother me now)

These are small things I can take for granted. Maybe for only a short time, but I accept them and give thanks for them for as long as they last.

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Make a list for yourself. See how many ways you can celebrate during a dark time. Or maybe you don't see it as a dark time--celebrate that. Write somebody a note--email counts--telling them you appreciate them. Or call up, if you're a phone-body. Give a hug--real or virtual, depending on who it is on the other end of the hug--just because you're happy someone is in your life.

See? Celebration is still possible! Just don't take it for granted that we've lost so much--we may have gained as much (or more), if we look for it.

Have a blessed week! (And while you're at it, take a look at the colorful trees!)

 BACK IN THE DAY . . .

(getting information)

In the mid-to-late 1950s--which are now, I believe, considered "back in the day," I was enamored with the idea of being a journalist. 

I didn't know the career choice was called journalist--I just wanted to write for newspapers. Did it in high school, worked a little with the college newspaper staff (but not as a writer), and loved to read newspapers.

One of my regular reads was the Chicago Daily News (and later its sister paper, The Sun-Times) because it was a daily paper in the household of my boyfriend's family, where I usually stopped for breakfast before heading off for college classes. (My dad didn't see the sense of having a daily newspaper.)

Like most newspaper readers, I had my preferences--comics, of course (everybody needed a dose of fun first thing, as good as a shot of espresso in later years), and then the Syd Harris column, Strictly Personal.

Sydney J. Harris had been born in England but his parents came to the U.S. when he was quite young, and he grew up in Chicago where he began working for newspapers in his late teens. His columns dealt with many issues--both of that day and what would turn out to be latter days. He was considered a liberal, and that explained to me why he was read by the Palmer family.

One of my favorite recurring columns was called something like "Things I Learned While Looking Up Something Else." (I couldn't find a good reference on that, so take my word for it--the title may not be correct but the paraphrase gives you the idea.)

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Years later, when my children were old enough to read and ask questions, especially about how to spell/punctuate/express an idea, my standard response was: "Look it up." (As an aside--they remember that response well, and they have told me how helpful it was to have to look things up because they still know how. Just saying.)

Thus, looking things up was totally ingrained in my family--a family trait, you might say--and I wasn't surprised to discover as the children grew older that we all had the same affliction: looking up one word in the dictionary led to at least a half-hour's stroll through other words.

I tell you this to give some background to yesterday's activities. My day started out pretty normally--journaling with coffee, then breakfast, then starting a load of laundry. So far, so good. Then--song lyrics that had been driving me crazy for several days couldn't be ignored any longer. I had to look them up! 

The song was "A Nightingale Sang in Berkeley Square"--a WW II song, performed by a number of bands and vocalists, including Glenn Miller. So after I read the lyrics of Nightingale, I segued to the biographical writings on Glenn Miller--he was only 40 when his small plane disappeared while taking him from England to Paris in 1944. The article on Miller was really long--and I was caught up in the kind of music he played, how it was different from other big bands of that era, how it continues to be a musical presence in the 21st Century . . . . If the clothes dryer hadn't buzzed at that moment, I'd probably still be chasing down references--names of musicians I either grew up with or remember from listening to my mother's 78s. Names like Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey, Gene Krupa; vocalists Frank Sinatra, Jo Stafford, Rosemary Clooney . . . .

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What would we do without the Internet? "Look it up" is no big deal nowadays. I stand in my kitchen, trying to remember what all goes into a frittata, and the answer is: look it up. There must be millions of recipes on the Internet--there are certainly dozens upon dozens about frittatas. And I'm pleased to learn that an omelet, with which I've been acquainted since, oh, nearly 60 years ago, is a cousin to the frittata, and I can easily adapt one from the other. Quiche is, in case you're interested, another eggy cousin--most often baked in a pie shell. (But I've had good luck with crustless--fewer calories, and I don't have to consider making a gluten-free crust.)

Or I finally give in to the urge to track down song lyrics that have eluded me for most of my life. Or I get to read the first pages--or selected pages--of a book I'm considering buying. Or, instead of the book, I search for the author, find the home page, read the bio, make a list of books I'd like to read (library is another favorite place) . . . .

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You see how this goes--there's no good stopping place. You have to exercise the will to stop looking things up. Or you have to remember that you have an appointment you can't possibly miss. Or there's a quiche (or something) in the oven, and when the timer goes off, you better be out there to rescue tonight's dinner.

I wish you well, during our time of uncertainty. My hope is to inspire you to pass the time in a way that entertains you, or educates you, or merely satisfies your quest for information.

And if you have a question . . . look it up!

 CERTAINTIES

Unless you've been out of touch with the world for the past seven months, you know that practically every other article/broadcast/podcast mentions our current time as one of Uncertainty.

All right, I've heard it, you've heard it, probably we've even said it. So why am I writing today about Certainty? Well, why not? It's much more positive than Un-certainty.

And yet--speaking or writing about Certainties always contains the opposite, or, if not opposite, then at least some of the "dark side." For example, one of our certainties is that change is upon us, and in us, and around us; the un-certain part is not knowing what our world, our individual lives, will look like when we get out on the "other side."

Do we ever know the outcome? Did we ever know--for certain--that choices/decisions we made would turn out as they have?

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Let's look at some Certainties:

--seasons changing--with their temperature changes--amount of daylight waxing/waning

--time passing--people aging, kids growing up--buildings being demolished, new homes being built

--societal definitions shifting--what is a family, for example

Can you do anything about any of those? Can I?

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Here are some other Certainties:

--loyalty

--friendship

--compassion

--love

--honor

--integrity

What changes is perspective--how each of us interprets these qualities, based on our upbringing, our experiences in later life.

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For some folks, God is a Certainty. Some people say "Supreme Being" or "Higher Power"--but I'm comfortable talking about God. For me, God is a Certainty. Never mind unanswered prayers, or injuries to my ego; or the times I walked away from God. Nothing, and no one, can convince me that God abandoned me, or punished me, or deliberately injured me or allowed something dire to happen in my life. God is love. For me, that's certain. Call it faith, if you prefer. For me--it's a Certainty.

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We live in "uncertain times"--ask anybody. We're surrounded by disappointment and sadness, by lack of supplies and by disturbing news; we work at jobs we'd never consider if life was "normal" and we take wages we know will barely cover what we owe. We watch people die because they're old, or young, or vulnerable, or because they're compassionate and work in the very midst of a medical calamity.

The only way to cope, it seems to me, is to find some Certainty in our lives--then hold onto that as our life raft while we're tossed in the strong current of Un-certainty. Then we can give thanks that there is one thing we can cling to, one thing we can count on.

For some people that one thing is music--or art--or poetry--or woodworking, sewing, knitting, cooking--reading to a beloved child or a blind person who loves to hear a story.

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When you find your Certainty, share it with someone else. You never know who needs a good word.

Blessings!

PROVERBIAL WISDOM

Nearly everyone grew up with proverbs. They might have been old sayings, or folk wisdom, or a family proverb, but they fit into Aldous Huxley's definition:  Proverbs are always platitudes until you have personally experienced the truth of them.

 I grew up with a whole boatload of cultural proverbs, such as:

--Haste makes waste.

--A stitch in time saves nine.

--Ignorance is bliss.

--Don't cry over spilt milk.

--You can catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.

--You can lead a horse to water, but you can't make him drink.

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Some of these were meant to make me feel better about something I'd experienced in my young life, like crying over spilt milk. (I don't remember spilling any, but probably did.)

I liked the concept of a stitch in time saving nine. Prevention was better than extra work.

Others didn't make sense--and still don't, such as ignorance is bliss. Nope. Don't get it.

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For your enjoyment, I've collected a handful of proverbs from other cultures:

It’s in the shelter of each other that the people live.

                IRISH PROVERB

 

Never mind snows and storms for the sake of a friend.

                AZERBAIJANI PROVERB

 

One minute of patience, ten years of peace.

                GREEK PROVERB

 

Deeds are fruits. Words are leaves.

                ENGLISH PROVERB

 

If someone sweats for you, you change his shirt.

                HAITIAN PROVERB

Four eyes see more than two.

                ENGLISH PROVERB

 

Deal with the faults of others as gently as your own.

                CHINESE PROVERB

If you want to go fast, go alone. If you want to go far, go together.

                AFRICAN PROVERB

 

If the wind will not serve, take the oars.

                LATIN PROVERB

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In our current pandemic climate, may we find wisdom, and encouragement, and perhaps even a little diversion in the words and thoughts of other cultures.

Until next time . . . be safe, be kind to one another, be at peace.