You Can't Buy My Love

Actually,John answered the puzzle in 20 seconds. And as simple as it is, I was going to renege and not run the list, but I do get some international readers for whom English is a second language. So:
Startling
Starting
Staring
String
Sting
Sing
Sin
In
I

Easy--but still fun. Riddles don't have to be portencious.
***

My father taught me well.

Today is Valentine's Day, largely considered by males to be a commercial extravaganza to eke money out of men. My dad saw it differently, and indeed, lived in a different era.

I've heard a lot of ads for jewelry. Ha! Of course, cards. All for the females.

My dad celebrated any day that encouraged a special expression of love for my mother and me. My mother reciprocated. I am puzzled by the female only drift of today's advertising, because it wasn't that way at home.

Yeah, men sometimes need a little goose to do something romantic. I would say especially in Texas, but that isn't so. Maybe women do, too. But as a child, I didn't feel left out when my dad got Mother a box of chocolates. I did understand the hierchy when I got a bag of heart-shaped redhots as my due. Mom would always share at least one piece. And she did, indeed, LOVE chocolate. Her eyes would dance and her smile was sweet at breakfast when we exchanged cards and gifts. She always had something for him, too. My dad, living in a dress-tie world, loved bowties, the kind you tie yourself. She often would give him one,which he would wear to the office that day. He always tied them a little off-plumb, which he insisted gave them individuality. He gave her mushy Valentine cards, and she returned the favor. And I gave cards to both.

A couple of days ago, I gave cheap, pretty boxes of Valentine chocolates to my granddaughters, and they actually were excited. I got spontaneous "Thank you, Grandma!" responses. That made me feel really good. And made my heart swell. Which I think was the original purpose for Valentine's Day--simply to take a day to do a little something special to make the love swell.

In February, we need it.

Move Evokes Nostalgia

My wrist is healed and I have moved. Lots of changes. I moved across town. I think of good friends who moved last year from Texas to Oregon, and I am awed. They are my age--mid-sixties--and say they are glad they moved when they did. They aren't sure they could have made it if they had made the move in another few years.

I think at my age a lot of people upsize to their dream house, or they start downsizing as I have done. Of course, there are the folks who simply stay put and will for the next 20 years or more, or move laterally, to another location with about the same space/cost.

More about that later.

One of the items I moved is a cheap, scruffy pottery plate which currently is sitting under my ficus plant in the window. But I smile when I look at it, because it came into my possession on New Year's Eve, 78/79, with the remains of the evening's baked Alaska on it. That was quite an evening. Beef tournedoes. Pouilly fuisse wine. dancing. and one whale of an ice storm. Memorable. and when I see or handle that plate, I remember it. Actually, the plant resting on it is from a farewell brunch at my old office. The brunch was a surprise, and I understand the food was great, but I missed it because my car caught fire on the way home and I was busy shopping for a replacement. 1)I learned that antifreeze thrown on an engine fire will put the fire out. 2)I learned car dealers will send a car to pick you up when you tell them you have to buy TODAY. A bedraggled ficus on a scruffy plate. See what rich memories they evoke! I could do complete and lengthy blogs on both stories, and probably I will later.

I've divested myself of a large number of personal belongings, sometimes painfully. I don't have much at this point, but there are memories associated with every single thing I have. My sons and daughter-in-law did the packing and moving (I was still exhausted when we were finished)and we all enjoyed looking at some of the photographs. I have some that go back three generations. Maybe more. We showed my son's 5-year-old daughter a picture of her daddy at about her age and told her it was him. She examined the picture thoroughly, then said decisively, "No, it's not."

This place is smaller than my last, and I am determined to keep every thing I brought somehow. I still have unpacked boxes and it has been more than a week. (sigh) But I can't unpack right now--I have to go exercise, and then a neighbor is coming over and then I have to fix supper, and I have to read sometime, don't I?

more later. FYI, the best keepsake from this move is the love my family has shown me, and I don't have to store that anywhere. I just keep giving it back, getting it back, and giving it again.

This 'N' That

This will be a mish-mash of thoughts and experiences.

Yesterday I went to the store about mid-afternoon while the Cowboy game and several bowl games were televised, I giggled to myself, as traffic was almost as light as Christmas morning. Anyone ever heard Texas is a football state? Actually, I woulda been watching too if I had an aerial. I don't, and the landlady forbids satellite. I refuse to pay cable. So-no football. Considering how the game went, I am just as glad I missed it.

Two weeks before Christmas, I had an emergency and had to call my oldest son, who in turn called my youngest son. Moms are supposed to give help, not ask for it. I really, really hated that. But a funny thing happened. I knew my sons loved me, but I didn't really know how much. And I was expecting them to go all bossy and tell me what to do. They didn't. They were very loving, and we sat down as a family and decided how I would proceed with me getting a full vote. It was a wonderful gift. Presents? Faugh! I got pure, undiluted love for Christmas. What is better than that? And I got the frills, too. I am a very lucky woman.

I usually make my goals and resolutions on my birthday, but this year, I will make some resolutions for tomorrow. I hate whiners, but realize I haven't been meeting some goals because I snivel "it's too hard." I will work on this. Another flaw is my prayers each day for blessings, but when extras come along, I tend to say, "no thank you, I have a plateful and I don't need seconds." How stupid is that? For 2008, I vow to say yes more often than no. And I've always had trouble asking for help. I've worked on this for years and will continue to do so. And I look forward to a happy year. That most of all.

Happy New Year!