Going South in Search of Summer

I've heard tell it's summer somewhere, just not here, not now, not ever it seems. So, we'll show the weather, we're taking a quick trip south to the land of the slots where they seem to have enough money to even influence the weather. I can't wait for even three days of warmth and sunshine. My endorfins are clamoring. My sinuses are elated. My allergies are already breathing easier.

Just one more week and I'll have three whole days of sunny delight! And spend time with family to boot. I am so ready.

Faulty Memory

What do you do when your mom insists her mom is still alive, after her death 24 years ago. She says she sees her periodically and that my dad has just hidden her somewhere? I've tried everything I can think of but she is adamant. They even put flowers on the graves today and she insisted Grammie wasn't in hers. I guess the good news is this is the only dead person she vows is still alive. The way she is talking about her all the time is creeping me out.

I tell myself maybe she just feels her spirit very strongly but her newest one was she said she saw her at a baby shower. I think Mother is living in a different world, even an alternative universe.

Vets

We watched "Brothers" last night. Why is it that we do such a crappy job of supporting our veterans once they're back? In this case, the husband (Toby Maguire) went to Afghanistan, his helicopter crashed and he and one of his fellow Marines were taken as prisoners of war. They were tortured for months and ultimately only one of them came back. In the meantime, the authorities had told his wife and family that he was dead.

So he comes back eventually when he's rescued and he's simply cleaned up and sent home. Hm, what might be wrong with this picture. He becomes delusional, obsessive compulsive, violent, depressed, you name it. Big surprise! But it isn't until he tries to kill himself (and possibly others, I don't know because I was only half listening at that point, not watching) that the authorities take him away and put him in a hospital where he stayed for who knows how long getting psychological care I would presume.

So, his family and friends had been placed in jeopardy, he was a danger to himself, everyone is miserable and they all have the armed forces to thank for it. You and I both know how many times this is happening across the country. We see it in the headlines as these situations play out in a dreadful way again and again.

There is only one excuse I can think of for why something dreadful has to happen before help and support is provided. It would be an admission that war is wrong, that war is unsupportable, that the wars we have been waging are pointless and we aren't and can't win them. All we can do is to continue to throw our young people at them as live test cases or even ammo to see if they might help to advance our questionable objectives.

But is anyone thinking about the ripple effects of the fallout from this stupid process? How do the family members (the ones who survive anyway), especially the children, get beyond the violence they are subjected to upon their vet's return without it causing some harmful character, personality or behavioral defect as they face challenges later in their own lives?

I honestly don't know how anyone could watch this movie and not have the same, exact thoughts. It's going to stick in my mind for awhile.

So Who Do We Thank?

I'm assuming we celebrate Columbus Day as a token of appreciation to Christopher for making that long and perilous journey across the sea from Spain to discover our fair land. However, I'm wondering why we continue to dedicate a day of praise to him when he clearly did not discover North America? In fact, I'm at a loss to tell you who did unless it was those who landed near Plymouth or thereabouts in the 17th century.

The closest Christopher Columbus ever got to what is now the United States during his four voyages was Cuba, then called Hispanola. From there, he proceeded southwards all around the Caribbean and explored both the northern South American coast, Panama and some of the rest of Central America.


Amerigo Vespucci went even further south to the point where he thought the Amazon River was the southern access to the Indian Ocean although he didn't try to get there as far as I know. From there, he mostly revisited the same Caribbean ports that had been visited by Columbus.


So this takes me back even earlier to the 11th century, when it's believed Leif Eriksson and his Vikings landed in Newfoundland in Canada. Although they didn't stay for an extended period of time, I believe it would be much more appropriate for us to celebrate Eriksson Day then what we do now. Granted, Cuba is closer to American soil then Newfoundland but the fact that Leif was actually on the same continent has to count for something.


Anyway, the obvious first settlers were the Plymouth Rock crowd in 1620 but that leaves about 100 or so years when nothing was happening, or at least nothing that has been passed on in our limited, skewed American History classes. I think this would be a great subject for a thesis, too bad that's not how I choose to spend my time and energy. I guess that means we'll never know and Mr. Columbus will continue to get the credit every October, at least by government employees.

Road Rage

So, I have a chicken and egg question. Is it the driving itself that makes people so angry or are they angry in general and just take it out on other drivers?

I had to laugh tonight when I was driving home because I was in the far left lane when a car just started to drift over into my lane next to me, not in front of me, besie me. In other words, if I hadn't honked he would have hit me. So of course, I honked, immediately after which he flipped me off. So would he have been a much happier man if I had simply let him hit me?

It doesn't really matter since that would not have made me happier so hence the honk. And yes, I'd do it again.

So there.

Precious Moments

No, I'm not talking about cutesy Hallmark figurines, I'm talking about what can daily be taken away without warning, without notice, without reason, without fairness, without justification; specifically I'm talking about your life. It can happen walking across the street, it can happen in a plane, it can happen on vacation, it can happen in a supermarket, it can happen at work, it can happen at school, it can happen in your home and it can happen in your sleep.


I don't know if studies have ever been done around the odds of knowing in advance you're dying vs. it just happening out of the blue. It isn't that I want to dwell on a sad subject, it's just that my stepdaughter's dad and her husband are going through a very tough time right now and their situation brought all this home to me...again. Her father-in-law's mom died about 7-9 months ago rather suddenly. His sister just died in her sleep a week ago, suddenly.



Last night he had to rush his wife to the hospital because she couldn't breathe. She is in ICU, she was diagnosed with ARDS and they are giving her a 50/50 chance of survival, especially because she has this condition in both lungs. She is in our thoughts as she struggles with the sudden onset of this disease.



None of us can see around the corner to know what will happen to us next week let alone tomorrow. This is not only a reminder to be kind to each other, it is also another reminder not to waste any time doing what you don't want to do and to spend it with whom you want, every minute of every day. Every moment is indeed precious, you'll never get it back.

Another Measurement of the Current Economy

You have to admit, once Sunday Morning is over (8:30 AM) there's not much on television unless you like stinking sports (the word "stinking" is your clue here). Well, awhile back I ran across a show called "Chasing Classic Cars" that literally travels all over the world in pursuit of buying and selling truly classic cars. I'm no special exotic car afficianado but even I can be amazed at some of what I see.


I'm especially interested when they open up a decrepit barn or garage where the classic car has been sitting for the last 30-40 years and someone has just died so they decide they are going to do something about it. Kind of like the unsuspecting elderly person who brings in their great-aunt Mabel's antique dish to the "Antique Roadshow" and finds out it's Fabrege or Tiffany and worth tens of thousands of dollars.


Anyway, on this show they bring in a gentleman named Wayne Carini who is a decided expert on classic cars and actually owns an operation where they will give the cars an overhaul either for the client or for their own investment/subsequent sale. I can't imagine the crazy fool who would ever try to put anything over on Wayne. (In the photo here, Wayne is the one without the hat.)


Anyway, I just watched him trying to sell his client's Cobra Roadster 427SC, which he had valued at $1.5MM (they call this "the reserve")at a huge Mekum auction in Indiana. This is probably the 30th time we've watched one of these events in the last year and a half where they are adamant they need to make a certain amount of money on the car of the moment but they don't come close. In this case the bidding went over a million then dropped off. It was driven off the stage as a "no sale".


Prior to this car, the Auction tried to sell a Shelby Cobra Daytona coupe that was a world champion race car. It had been valued at a minimum of $8MM. The couldn't get the bidding any higher than $6.8MM. So it also was driven off as a "no sale".


I just have to wonder what planet they're on to think someone is going to pay full price for anything right now, including an exotic collector car. There are little segments of the population that just refuse to face the fact that we are in a depressed economy...HELLO! Earth to car collectors! My heart bleeds peanut butter.