She called me a half hour later, sheepish and tipsy.
Where are you, I said, not a little crossly.
"I'm on my way to see you."
Where have you been?
"I was at the Pitstop." Singing Karoke with her goofy, crazy friends.
When she got here I was mad for a moment and then relented. We talked a little and had sex in the shower.
"I don't mind if you want to see your friends and sing Karoke," I told her. "But you have to call me and tell me where you are and what time you'll be home. It's a matter of respect and fundamental courtesy."
"Okay. I'm sorry."
I'm really not a jealous or possessive person. I just think there should be ground rules and communication.
I think we worked that out. Our drama ended as our drama often does, with passion and tenderness. A normal life might be neater and cleaner, I suppose. But then we wouldn't be us, would we? We'd be some staid middle-aged couple watching Wheel of Fortune and eating chicken nuggets, and I'm not cut out for that. Thank God.
Marie just left for work. It's 5:45 in the morning. I hate that part of her job, the oh dark thirty oh my god it's early Good Morning Vietnam inconvenience of it. I'm going back to bed for a couple of hours, and then I'll see about renting a UHaul and signing up for wireless internet.
I feel like Ricky Ricardo: "LUCY, you got some 'splainin' to do." She'd come clean with her madcap explanation of her latest scheme or misadventure, and he'd always forgive her.
The world is full of Fred and Ethels, but there is only one Ricky and Lucy. And that's us. Stay tuned.
Saturday, December 13, 2008
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This is the Way the Transformation Begins
"Some men see things as they are and say why? I dream things that never were and say "Why not?"
George Bernard Shaw, Robert F. Kennedy
This is the way the transformation begins.
It begins in me.
It begins now.
It begins with small incremental changes and shifts in attitude
it begins with positive action
failing forward
and suddenly I start looking at the world and my place in it in a new way. I speak differently and dress differently and project a different energy, and the world opens up like a glorious pink azalea bush, eight feet tall and blooming like mad.
photo by Kajo123 from the website flickr.com
Good morning!
An engineer builds a bridge and every bolt and weld has to be exactly right; every measure has to be perfect, or the bridge collapses or fails to take its place. Fantastically detailed blueprints have to be laid out. Impact statements have to be filed, sediment has to be studied, years of effort, months of planning, and a man-made marvel rises in the sky. Park somewhere and take a good look at a bridge, and think of all the skill and knowledge and hard honest work it took to create it. Consider how a few thousand years ago we were living in caves.
It is not so with a dream. Some people are remarkable dreamers and dreams spring whole from them, or they can leap up from bed and pages of creative genius flow out of their pen, intricate and perfect. Most of us though are baby dreamers, new at it and tentative to the trust the power of what we wish for.
Start the dream! Whether you want to go to nursing school or college or learn to play the guitar, take a first step, now, even in the wrong direction. Don't wait for the blueprint to come to you, the environmental impact statement, the permits and the 200-page budget and legislative dream approval. Rough it out, sketch it on a napkin, tell a friend, and take action. Your dream begins the moment you step out in first moment of believing, and the result can touch a thousand souls. Listen to Jim Valvano: never give up, never surrender. Believe in the audacity of action and your fantastic potential for change and new opportunity.
It is not so with a dream. Some people are remarkable dreamers and dreams spring whole from them, or they can leap up from bed and pages of creative genius flow out of their pen, intricate and perfect. Most of us though are baby dreamers, new at it and tentative to the trust the power of what we wish for.
Start the dream! Whether you want to go to nursing school or college or learn to play the guitar, take a first step, now, even in the wrong direction. Don't wait for the blueprint to come to you, the environmental impact statement, the permits and the 200-page budget and legislative dream approval. Rough it out, sketch it on a napkin, tell a friend, and take action. Your dream begins the moment you step out in first moment of believing, and the result can touch a thousand souls. Listen to Jim Valvano: never give up, never surrender. Believe in the audacity of action and your fantastic potential for change and new opportunity.
The Hawthorne Bridge at sunrise, Portland Oregon. Photo by Joe Collver, from flickr.com
Genuine happiness and success start with an attitude of abundance
Make it a daily practice to begin your day with five minutes of thankfulness. You can even do it in your car on the way to work. Do it in your own way, whether it's thoughtful reflection or a prayer or singing out loud, but focus on your rich, amazing, abundant life.
Feeling grumpy or resentful or worried instead of thankful? Change direction! Consider the incredible gifts you have--mind, body, spirit, senses, your family, your friends, your clothes, your car, and the breakfast you enjoyed this morning. By the standards of 99% of the world, Americans are incredibly, amazingly rich. You truly have no idea how richly blessed you are until you start thinking about it. Even the heart that beats within you and the lungs that breathe your air are an intricate and amazing miracle.
Some of my favorite movies are ones that feature a once-defeated character waking up to an absolutely new day: "It's A Wonderful Life," the various versions of Dicken's "Christmas Carol" and "Groundhog Day." How exhilarating it is for George Bailey to wake up and realize his life isn't over, it's just beginning, and that today truly is a brand new day.
"It's a Wonderful Life"
George returns home to everything he ever wanted.
2 comments:
Tom and I watch Wheel of Fortune almost every night for the record, he wins. Then Alex Trebek, I win. Being old and homey together isn't always a bad thing. I think maybe you two might want to try it once in a while, because what you have done in the past doesn't always seem to work well for you. And be careful setting your groundrules, she may see it as telling her what to do and for an independent girl like Marie she may end up pulling away out of spite. Just a thought. And quit talking about the sex it makes me gross. I wouldn't blog about it if you were gonna read it, one more post and I'm gonna share some stories so you can see how it feels. YUCK!!!!!
Me
Dale, I truly like your daughter it seems to me she has her head on straight, I would take her advice if I was you. she's got a point about your track record maybe do something different.
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