The Anecdotal Life Part. 100 !!!

Well, whatdya know! I made it to one hundred blogs and my intention is to print it all out (which ought to blow my ink cartridge), edit it all, and see if it makes a book or not. If not, well no. 200 here I come.
Someone, probably good ol Will Shakespeare, said "life creeps on in a petty pace from day to day". Lord, I'd like to know where that place is. I took off to the Easton Academy of the Arts Museum (couldn't they have shortened the title a little? It's not all that big for pete's sake, though for what it does, they deserve a paragraph). Anyway I took off for the Academy to recover my right brain which had taken a beating as I worked for the Census Bureau. Don't get me wrong, I love the Census Bureau, but they don't get right-brained, visual learners. The entire training is done for good auditory learners and at a ferocious clip. Tuning up my hearing aides did not help. If you need a change, do the Census and meet the world. I loved it.

I am now in reentry mode, picking up the pieces in my forgotten house, wondering however did the laundry get this high, the dust so deep etc. AND IMMEDIATELY it seemed, I needed brake pads for the car, batteries for the boat, and my glasses fell apart. The Blue Angels were coming right on down in a straight trajectory over my roof and I don't know where the cats split for but I wished I was with them. Last year I ran out and waved when they came rolling through on one of those dives. I could see them in the cockpit and they waggled their wings, but all this stuff was engulfing me on my first day back. My cats had no idea what to do with me being home so much, except to beg for more food of course, so I whistled off to Firestone, got the brake pads fixed first and then raced for Pier 7 Marina and my boat. When I lifted the lid to the hatch I could feel an unusual amount of heat. It was a good thing I had stopped for a bathroom break before I climbed aboard. The battery was boiling hot. I slammed off the charger and prayed the battery wouldn't blow up or melt down, sat and shook for a few minutes and then took off for Ginger Yacht Marina to get new batteries. They took the whole thing rather calmly I thought. I described the situation in lurid terms and they said , (referring to the batteries), yeah, they do that; they can explode you know. Oh please. Then naturally, they asked what size is it? Did you measure it?..... "MEASURE IT!!! I CAN'T EVEN TOUCH IT!" So I had to go home, get a ruler, fly back over the South River Bridge and work hard not to fry my fingers. It is not easy to measure a battery any way you try. It is down in a box and has bumps sticking out on the sides. Then back over the bridge again. But I had managed well enough so that the yard manager knew I needed a 24 and a 27, both of which are riding around in the back seat of my car looking rather green and spiffy. In a more peaceful moment I wondered why can't they make batteries with a pop-up button like they have on turkeys when they are done. Seems like engineers who design this stuff like living on the edge or maliciously, like us living on the edge. In the meantime I am fervently praying the one good battery currently in the boat will continue pumping out water til tomorrow morning when the new ones are to be installed. Naturally we are in for a ton of rain.
There are people who can ride the waves in life, but I suspect they know where to buy some sort of ticket or something. I am often ticketless. My family has another word for it. They would be wise not to bring it up in any commentary right now.
Ordinarily, I would wish you some happy wish for any upcoming holiday , but not this one. It is not in me to do so on Memorial Day. There is too much and too many to remember. God go with them all.

The Anecdotal Life Part. 93

Since I was missing Blog no. 93 for some frail and obscure reason, I am tucking it in now. I have a sliver of time between Census runs and Mother's Day happy appointments so it's "grab it and run" for the computer. Hopefully, I can make some sense given the "diffugleties" as gramps used to say.

Yesterday afternoon I climbed into my best secondhand store dress...an original Ralph Lauren , no less, for $37.00, no more. I frequent only the very best second hand stores mind you. Then I took off over the Bay Bridge in gale force winds. The intrepid bride and groom chose to duke it out with the elements by remaining with the plan to be married facing the Chesapeake and even though it nearly blew the little bride away...I don't think she -or he noticed. It helped to remember she was a fiercesome soccer player. The bridesmaid was one big goose bump, but bore a beatific and determined "this is my very best friend" look on her face as she stood or sat like a soldier in front of me. Why was I up front like that? Obtuse as usual, I had wandered into the Mahoney family enclave and was swept up into their row before I realized what was going on. If you knew this dynamic bunch you'd understand being swept up by them. Just try not being swept up by them. I was the only one wearing a hat or spring white coat but you see, I had been in the Marina next to the Chesapeake Bay Beach Club and knew it's predilection for receiving driving and overwhelming winds.

The cake was a triumph of little boat decorations and there was enough booze flowing to knock down the Irish contingent if they had wished. The Pennsylvania crowd was the group to sit and talk to if you wanted comfort and sensibility. They are so incredibly genuine. Still, I had my best three conversations with the peripatetic Irish as they schmoozed and charmed those seated. One with a struggling fellow artist trying to break into the New York musical world, who was so completely and blissfully happy with the whole business , the city, his friends and all, so much that I could only be happy with and for him and say, in so many words, "Go for it". I simply understood.
The other conversation was with "a person of interest" in the financial world. I don't mean any nefarious reference by that , just that he was more thoughtful than I expected and I would have liked to have had the time to debate his statement that " in the end what do we have but family and values?" . I agreed, but inwardly I knew it wasn't enough for me. One thing my counselor in therapy had said was, " Do you realize how much you are for the underdog?" After this first week of the Census job, I still am. My summation would have gone ," in the end what do we have but family, values and the satisfaction that we have truly helped the world in some measure."

My third conversation was with one of the most beautiful women that Ohio can boast of. Besides that she has the big heart to go with it. She makes me smile just being around her.
I had some of the best Mahi-Mahi I've ever had , but missed eating a piece of the cake. I was having a post Census ,exhaustion crash and needed to get home. I left so many wonderful and dear connections behind. That is always the hardest part.

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY TO ALL THE CHILDREN OF GREAT MOTHERS AND THOSE MOTHERS THEMSELVES.

Copyright: May 9, 2010.