Category Archives: Humor

IN MEMORIAM

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Roxie

Slugs and Validation

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Roxie

As I was tending my garden I realized that I would soon need to start treating it for slugs.  Slugs  are bottom feeders who not only  feed on scraps but  sometimes suck  the life right  out of beautiful plants and flowers.  There are  people like those worms. They  practice “leveling” as a contact sport. The common term for them is “playa haters.”  Such people  use weaponry of harmful words, ‘accidental forgetting,” glances, snickers,  misdirection and direct insult to level the playing field.  They are “jealous spirits” – some with no hope of recovery.   Like many folk, I have on occasion, sought validation from these types,  who depending on their own sense of self at the moment,  might parcel out faint praise or at least be nice to me.  Now as I enter an age of enlightenment and self-worth I chose,  when I can,  to be around people who like themselves and like me genuinely.   Choosing one’s audience is important.  Still it’s not the only course of action against slugs.   Prayer and wishing your enemy the best are good tactics to take out the sting of cruel or lying words or misdeeds.    As misery likes company sometimes you have to stay away from whole groups and institutions.    Some places such as  one’s job are filled with people who have no purpose or sense of self.   There you can just  “grin and bear it” – a trick I learned from my late father  who simply would smile at people spoutting nonsense or exhibiting petty cruelty.  So  next time try a simple smile and/ or even compassion for your “playa hating” enemy or frenemy  – the unfortunate behavior won’t stop but you’ll be able to deal with the situation with grace and gain instant peace of mind.   Playa haters’  jealousy or envy can only bring you down if you let it.  Take a page from Roxie and Jean Claude.  Some would say Roxie is more possessed than self-possessed but then she doesn’t give a juggernaut what is said about her.

Loving Care – New and Improved

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While visiting my mom this Mother’s Day weekend, I am in awe at the loving care she provides my younger sister. Sis has MS and needs a lot of help these days. As I write this from my parents’ home, MSNBC blares loudly on the television, although there appears to be in this  household,  at least a fondness for the “judge” shows, news and information  program reigns supreme.   Growing up,  there were spirited discussions about politics and world events.   We taught to be open to other people’s feelings, kindness was premium.   While I possess my late father’s temperment to some degree less these days , my mother’s way of thinking and doing balances it– and me — out.  Both parents showed my siblings and I that caring and sharing mattered most.  They also showed us that getting older requires even more the need to learn and engage in new things.  My father pursued his college degree in his late 50s.  My mother is  champion bridge player and “business” consultant.   With embracing the new, I don’t mean just  embracing the new technology, social media or different cultural streams although those things can be part of  one’s personal expansion.  It’s about a desire to learn and to grow internally as well as externally.    Last week I witnessed what it’s like to live for years in the world without the will or desire to grow.    One can become a zombie in life and principle without loving care and a willing to be open to new and different things.  Growing older physically but not mentally and emotionally is  imprisonment.  A lot of people will never be free.

May’s in Bloom

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There’s a lot going on at my job now and there are a lot of challenges. Still I’ve been able to have some fun and plan time with family and friends. That includes Roxie, the Japanese bobtail and Jean Claude, the black bombay.  They reside now at CCL’s house which is nearby and I visit them frequently.   They pretty much observe my presence approach me for affection and then go on their merry way.

Beauty Queens

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Roxe, A True Beauty

Drama. Drama. Drama.  With the event of the “Real Housewives,” “Jerseylicious,” “Basketball Wives” and other similarly themed shows the “so called” real lives of selectly cast Americans are on display for the rest of us to see.  Diversions, table turning, eye rolling, hair pulling etc.  all under the watchful and intriqued eyes of us.  And yes, this passes for entertainment, I admit, I watch but just how real is it all.  I’ve met some of the “real housewives,” and “basketball wives,” they have been smart, gracious and glamorous.  Like the rest of us they seek validation beyond their exteriors.  I remember the hit song “Everyone is Beautiful” in his or her own way.  I am blessed to know a lot of beautiful people inside and out and of course Roxie, a true queen.