Merry Christmas From The Family

Christmas was fast and a blur. I always marvel at the time taken to prepare for Christmas---writing cards, making plans with loved ones, cleaning and decorating the house, grocery shopping, shopping for gifts, baking, attending various social functions. Then 12/24/2009 arrives. There is still lots to do. Church services, build a fire in the fireplace, prepare Christmas Eve dinner, maybe open some presents, travel. Most women are tired when Christmas morning breaks. There is still so much to do. Family traditions are observed--we must have Aunt Sue's Breakfast Strata and Mimosas! Christmas dinner must be prepared and there are gifts to open and admire.

All things Christmas are memorable, whether positive or negative. And to ensure that we don't forget, cameras are clicked hundreds of times.

I hope we all keep one point in focus. Christmas is LOVE. Whether we say it to others or just share a moment. it is still about love. Even when we are at our worst, love still is paramount. Christmas Season brings stresses to us all, but how we choose to remember THIS Christmas is what matters.

I love my family---each member is very dear and each person brings a different set of positive attributes to the collective group. There are times...there are times, when things go awry, but for each and every one of us, the collective WE is what matters the most. We continue to cement our love in the here and now, never forgetting those cherished moments in the past when we had fun, when we had sadness, when we overcame our troubles, when we revelled in one's successes.

Truly, God's gifts to us include our families, for no others will be there with us for each important moment in our lives. There is unconditional understanding and an ability to give each other what we need. Count your blessings, hug those you love and remember...there's no place like home.

Merry Christmas.

Zoom Zoom

I bought a new vehicle today. There has been contemplation for several months. I needed better gas mileage and a smaller car.

I drove a Mazda 3 rental while in Baltimore and loved it.

Switching makes of cars is a big deal to some (me) people. I have driven Jeeps for nine years...and other Dodge/Chrysler products for 14-15 years prior to that.

But the biggest deal about all this is that I bought my first foreign-built and designed car today.

"American-made is better made."

"Buy American."

"Support industry here at home." I believe all those things...but, the time has come in the auto industry that one cannot make a major purchase like a car on honor and allegiance alone.

Clu Flu would never buy anything but a Ford/Mercury or Dodge/Chrysler product (American). But, he was a very intelligent and rationale man....and I think if he were alive today, he would probably see there are valid reasons to buy a foreign-built vehicle. Anyway, I guess I hope he would see that...

On to the fun part---I bought a 5-door Mazda CX 7 i Sport; "Stormy Blue" with a 2.5 cu. engine with variable valve timing. It's a good looking crossover and I enjoy driving it. The Commander was just cumbersome and had limited maneuverability.

The dealership was easy to work with and I feel like they were fair/honest.

The only drawback is that the car has a rear DVD player that will never be used, but since it was on the lot, they dropped the price.

ZOOM-ZOOM!

YGTBK

"You've got to be kidding!" This is what my brain said to me this evening when I scanned FB (Facebook). I found a poll that asked if our schoolchildren should be allowed to watch a Presidential address to the nation's schoolchildren. Apparently schools are sending permission slips home for parents to allow their children to watch the address at school. Results of the poll earlier tonight showed about 2/3 of the people taking the poll voting "NO."

YGTBK.....

Points: Our schoolchildren have watched live coverage of September 11, 2001 devastation. They have watched "The Bachelor/Bachelorette" learning that true love may be found by going on a TV show and being in a contest to find a life-partner. (Where is the sanctity of marriage in that, I ask of the religious right wing and Sarah Palin???)

Do those in opposition fear their children may become thinkers in their own right? Under the Third Reich in Nazi Germany school content was censored and programmed to show that the Arians were supreme over all other races. Books were banned. How will our children learn about our democratic process and be able to DECIDE FOR THEMSELVES later in life if we don't allow them to have access to our President. It is all about our freedoms, people. One may argue that there should be the freedom to prevent them from watching this. With no disrespect...that is Neanderthal thinking.

I was in the fourth grade when John F. Kennedy was sworn in as President. My teacher walked her whole class to her nearby home so that we could watch live coverage of the Inauguration. My parents did not have to send a permission slip to school to allow this. My parents did not vote for JFK, but they sure did not raise a ruckus when I went home to tell them that I watched that special day on television. I still remember the sense of being pleased that I was able to witness a historic event. We discussed the election process, the formality and the responsibility of the Oath of Office. I felt like I was part of something that impacted all of America.

We have become a nation of self-satisfying and self-protecting people. Where is our concern for our fellow man? I think we have forgotten just how great our American way of life is...that was prescribed by the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution.

Think about it in a global way...outside your own little individual domain. If not for yourself, then for your children and theirs.

Living The Good Life

"Bless me , Father, for I have sinned"....no, I'm not making a public confession here. That's just an opening to the content I want to write about. Here is where this thought originated:

If you know me, you know that I don't experience loss very well. As we build our lives in younger years, we accumulate. We gain friendships, experience, knowledge, income, possessions; and we grow in love for significant persons. We find our way, stumble a little, but generally make PROGRESS. But, as we age, we lose parts of what we build. General principles of life here...and I have no regrets, for if I made mistakes along the way, I gained knowledge and experience. The knowledge may be "Don't do that again!"

Back to loss. And mind you, this is just an editorial piece. I don't want to change anyone's beliefs or standards. But, it's my perception that over a period of a few years, there has been a direct opposition to "Christian belief" and a general consenus of thinking that we are right and everyone else is wrong. Is it right for a group of people to have their "inalienable rights" condemned? Is it right to turn away from someone in need, just because they didn't have the same opportunities as us, or because there was no one to guide them in a certain way? Is it right to shun another human being because they sinned? For all our Sunday morning teachings of tolerance and lending a helping hand, we sure as rain do not practice those teachings.

We are hateful and do not try to understand another belief, idea, or practice. We do not respect our leaders, and we only see how things will affect self. There is something greater in all of us than there is in any one of us.

Why is it that one person cannot accept the other for having a different viewpoint or philosophy? We don't have to agree on everything, but goodness, let there be understanding and acceptance of those differences.

We're never going to get out of the muck, and we will never live our earthly lives in the warmth of our Creator's intentions for us as long as we fail in tolerance, acceptance, love, honor, and respect for every human being on this Earth.

That is the greatest loss.

Rule of Forty

As I remembered earlier this year that it has been 40 years since I graduated from high school (good grief!), I also thought about some other things from 40 years ago.

1. Neil Armstrong's small step on the moon

2. 40th anniversary of Peter Fonda's Easy Rider

3. 40 years since the Tate-La Bianca murders..Helter Skelter/Charles Manson

4. Vietnam Protest--Washington DC---250,000 protesters converged

5. Richard Nixon is sworn in as President

6. Teddy Kennedy---Chappaquiddick

7. Woodstock---350K bodies and various drugs are essentially rain-soaked and in the mud (08/15-17/1969)

But there is more:

--1969 was the year the US government instituted the draft lottery system to supply troops in VietNam;

--PBS is begun and Sesame Street debuted the same year;

--Sam Walton incorporated Wal-Mart;

--Beatles' Abbey Road album was recorded---there were rumors that Paul had died because he was the only Beatle walking barefoot across the street in the album cover photo--there was hysteria on the radio

--John and Yoko Lennon posed for the cover of "Two Virgins" album in full-frontal nudity. The album was consficated in a US airport

I have nothing profound or even interesting to say about these events except that I can only count two things that occurred for the greater good: Neil Armstrong's walk on the moon, and the inception of the Public Broadcasting System (Sesame Street).

A Blast From The Past

I may be the last person in the lower 48 to become acquainted with the AMC drama series Mad Men. This series has been nominated for many Emmys this year. My daughter suggested that I catch up to the upcoming third season by renting Seasons 1 and 2 DVDs.

Just let me say that it is like going back in time to watch these shows. The show's premise concerns life in the very urbane and sophisticated Manhattan advertising world circa 1960. Even though I was only 9 years old in 1960, I recognize the time period portrayed. There is a sense of authentic surrealism in watching a reflective time piece like this. The clothes, the habits, the homes, the food and drink are on-spot. The characters' dialogue, mannerisms, etiquette are portrayed in an uncanny manner.

There is no profanity, there is eluded sexual activity, and there are a lot of martinis being drunk and everyone smokes like cigarettes are a life-sustaining force. Women have perfect nails/hair/makeup. Men wear great suits with long-sleeved white shirts with cuff links....and the main male character (a very attractive man) wears long-sleeved pajamas. His wife wears sheer nightgowns with matching peignoirs. She is Barbie come alive.

Even with all that going for it, the story line is dynamic, the mores of the time accurate. There is a true portrayal of male (dominate)/female (submissive) interaction. Even though the brainy, smart, business-minded men show great etiquette towards women, they have no respect for their women. It is understood that a wife is supposed to spend money, run a tight ship at home, be able to feed the boss at a moment's notice, and have well-behaved children who eat supper early and are in bed before Daddy comes home. And there are many sexual innuendos thrown out there toward the lowly women in the office. The men leer, make jokes, drink hard liquor, and generally play in the office.

A very significant interaction in the first episode centered around the steno pool/secretarial supervisor (part Madame/Mom/Shark) who was orienting a new "girl" to the work area. As she showed her the IBM Selectric typewriter, she assured the young girl that it may look intimidating, "but the men who developed it made it simple enough so that a woman could use it."

Also, a newly-divorced woman with two children move into the neighborhood. This causes a new dynamic that must be approached with caution and reserve. She is attractive and of the same social stature as the wives, but she is a very real threat to the neighborhood's monogamous setting.

I can't say enough great things about this show. If you are curious, watch it.

May I Buy You A Drink?

Time is fluid. We have many things to remember. We have many memories.

Once in a great while, something will happen as a direct result of some action or event that you have long past forgotten. That something happened for me today.

There was an 11X14 white envelope in the mailbox today. I recognized the sender's logo for a catalogue I receive frequently. I opened the envelope to find the latest catalogue from The Vermont Country Store, a merchandiser that sells household products, clothing, toiletries, and foodstuffs that some of us remember from childhood or our parents remember. They even purvey toys of yesteryear. Every so often, I have purchased items from them. A box of "Goo Goo Clusters" and soft peppermint sticks for the kids would be delivered at Christmas. I buy shower curtain liners and crisp white bedlinens (hospital crisp) from them.

My husband had favorite drinking tumblers we called "barrel glasses." Perhaps your parents remember them. They became very hard to find. The old hardware store on the square in Denton sold them, but at some point they told me they couldn't find them anymore. One year, this catalogue listed the barrel glasses and I bought 24 for Clu Flu as a Christmas present. Even so, The Vermont Country Store only listed them that one time.

About five years ago, I sent an e-mail to them, requesting that they attempt to look for these tumblers (they would honor customer requests for specific items and prided themselves on hunting items down and listing them in the catalogue). And then, I proceeded to forget all about it.

Before Clu Flu died last year, we were down to our last two barrel glasses. We both thought that we would never be able to get them again.

Back to today...also in the envelope was a letter addressed to me stating that because of my request "some time back", they wanted to let me know that they were offering the tumblers on page 86 of the current catalogue! And even better was the fact that these tumblers were 9 ounce capacity compared to the 6 ounce size we had. The letter went on to say that because they found the tumblers; were offering them again; and to thank me for the suggestion...they were sending me a "redeemable purchase code" for $25.00 toward the purchase of any item in the catalogue. Looking at page 86, I found them...with the notation at the top: "Recommended by Diane Lusk, Arlington, Texas."

Clu Flu would be so pleased....

I Remember That I Was.....When I Heard The News That ......

Regarding Michael Jackson's sudden death on 06/25/2009... One of my daughter's friends posted on her blog yesterday that she wondered if after many years, she will remember what she was doing when she heard the news of Michael Jackson's death.

After living "several" years, witnessing/hearing many significant events; and going down Memory Lane, I was amazed at what I remembered. (Please forgive the previous run-on sentence.)

1. Adolph Eichmann was a Nazi who was responsible for the deaths of millions of Jews during the Holocaust. He was abducted in 1960 from Buenos Aires where he lived in isolation. He was taken to Israel where he was tried for 15 counts of war crimes in May, 1960. He was sentenced to death and was hanged in 1962. I remember this because the trial was televised. It was the first time I knew about bullet-proof glass. He sat in a glassed-in box during the entire trial.

2. John F. Kennedy recited the oath of office as President of the United States on January 20, 1961. Male dignitaries wore top hats and formal morning coats. The day was cold, clear and newly-fallen snow blanketed the ground. The inauguration was televised live; I was in the fourth grade. My teacher walked us to her house about 3 blocks away so that we could watch the inauguration. I'll never forget that day..."Let the word go forth...that the torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans."

3. I was in 7th grade gym class on Friday, November 22, 1963 when the announcement was made that President Kennedy had been shot. School let out after we learned that he had died.

4. I was watching live TV coverage of the Kennedy assassination on Sunday, November 24, 1963 with my parents (as most people did). We saw Jack Ruby walk up to Oswald as he was being escorted by Dallas PD and shoot him point-blank in the abdomen. There was utter chaos at that moment as deputies/guards wrestled Jack Ruby to the floor.

5. On Sunday, 02/09/1964, I watched TV, eagerly awaiting the Fab Four as they walked onto the stage of the Ed Sullivan Show---again, live TV. Life in the US was never the same.

6. I was baby-sitting neighbor children on June 4, 1968. I had put them to bed and watched live coverage of the Democratic primary in Los Angeles. Bobby Kennedy was ahead in the votes. When I woke up the next morning, my mother told me that Bobby had been assassinated in the kitchen of the L. A. hotel immediately following his televised speech.

7. I watched live coverage of Neil Armstrong's walk on the moon on July 20, 1969. I don't think I realized the magnitude of this at the time.

8. The bells of peace rang in January, 1973 for the coming end of the Vietnam War. I was lying in my dorm room bed at Denton campus, TWU. My roommate and I cried as we heard the bells toll repeatedly over the radio at midnight.

9. I was in college in the Texas Medical Center, Houston during the Watergate "incident." I remember walking through the lobby of the dorm where people were watching Tricky Dick talk about the tapes, his advisors, etc. I saw/heard him say "I am not a crook!"

10. Ruth was 19 days old when she woke up around 6:00 AM on August 17, 1977. As I changed her diaper and prepared to feed her, the radio played Elvis songs and reported that he had died on August 16, 1977 at the age of 42.

11. Diana Spencer married Prince Charles on July 29, 1981. Even though it was the middle of the night here in Texas, I saw them marry live on TV. I was awake and sitting in the recliner with false labor. Zack was born 20 days later on August 18, 1981---two days before my 3oth birthday.

Other events that stand out: The day of the ATF siege on Mount Carmel in Waco---1993. Clu Flu came home from church where he learned of the ATF attack that day.

Oklahoma City bombing--April 19, 1995. I was a hospice nurse at the time...I had been to two funerals that morning and was speaking at a Minister's group over lunch. One of the ministers came in to the luncheon, reporting the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. It is one of the most horrendous crimes I have ever know.

O. J. Simpson verdict of "not guilty." Three of us went to a co-worker's home for lunch and to watch the expected verdict on TV. (October, 1995)

Columbine, 1999: I was driving home from the law firm and heard the announcement on the radio. It was devastating. I had to pull over, gain my composure before continuing my way home. It is one of the most horrendous crimes I have ever known.

September 11, 2001.....Driving into work at the law firm that morning, hearing that a plane had "crashed into the side of one of the Towers", then continuing to hear about the other crashes. I was on a phone conference with a potential client, when he told me that he was worried about his wife who was a flight attendant. He didn't know where she was flying that day...she had been in the Northeast for two days. He was crying when his cell phone rang...It was his wife saying she was okay, the flight she was on was in Chicago and they were preparing to land. She resigned that day.

More significant events will come to pass. We will remember them and remark about them at different times. These events impact all our lives---that is why we remember them. Our history prepares our future.

First Of All

Hello, Everyone---When I changed my e-mail address, something happened to "presently, said irene." I haven't had the chance to figure out what transpired, but I will. Maybe "Irene" is kaput.

But here is my fresh, new blog. Let me know what you think. Time spent formatting this blog used my available time for a post.

Stay loose,
D