I was speaking to a friend in the park the other day and we were lamenting the inability of another friend’s foibles – I said, by now don’t you think she should grow up? And my friend said, “None of us are growing up, we are just growing old.” I always believed I was an aware person, but truthfully the only way you can be aware is to walk in the shoes of another. After…
My brother sends me photos of his perfect menorah (no candles) and dog with yamulka – happy chihuanaka to everyone from Chico:
The last nights of Hanukkah, I spent one night cursing the Jews who made the cheap menorah candles and then the next night cursing the gentiles who made fancy menorahs that cheap Jewish candles don’t fit in. In the end, it doesn’t matter because once you light the menorahs, the candles all burn the same and they are bright, and cheerful, and Hanukkah is about bringing light in, no matter who is responsible.
Today Amazon sent “It’s All Good Hair: The Guide to Styling and Grooming Black Children’s Hair” since that might be something we need to know very soon. Just this moment, I ordered The Baby Whisperer but in a DVD so that we can watch it together – a friend recommended it after her third child and told me she wished she’d have had it when her first was born. We’ve been trying to figure out…
We’re having a little last day of Hanukkah, 73rd birthday celebration for mom here tonight, only she won’t be here. She refuses to leave the house with two teeth missing and the remnants of a black eye. We went over to her apartment today with a miniature chocolate cake that had 2009 written across it, three candles, a birthday card, ground beef because that’s all she says she can eat, four cans of Tecate, white…
I’m keeping a book of lessons learned and I thank every love who has taught me one of the lessons entered in that book – even the lesser lovers. Before I went to sleep the other night, I read from Mark Strand’s Man and Camel and the poem that struck a nerve was Black Sea – my thoughts were on Turkey, and the Black Sea, and things that are foreignly familiar and yet puzzling by…
The Bean perked up around morning after getting a good night’s sleep due to her anxiety medication and today has seemed more like part of the family than she has in a long time. She cruised by for a scritch while I was having my morning coffee and she doesn’t seem so crazed to find an obstacle to trip over or a corner to bump into. The meds are a patch nonetheless – they just…
We went to see Milk last night and Sean Penn was awesome. It was incredible to be watching this movie based on a true life story of a man who fought for gay rights in the late 70s – can this be true? That in 1978, politicians were trying to outlaw gays working in schools? It sounds so bizarre – almost like Civil Rights (1964) had to be fought for for a black person to…
I had a virus and then a relapse and then a relapse and then another relapse and thought I was just going to go insane or sink into depression until I went online and found a medical website that said a virus can turn into a fungus and that you have to make an inhospitable home to both by either inhaling hydrogen peroxide or taking a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar three times a day.…
We’re in our usual end of the year downward spiral – the one that starts around Thanksgiving for mom and circles downward till well after the new year. There’s the black eye, the missing two teeth, and now the cold. There’s also the denial that her $10K dental work can be covered some by Medicare if she works it right but NO she doesn’t want that and she doesn’t have $10K. A perplexing dilemma. Much…