krys

This isn't my favorite Holiday, per se, but it is one of my favorite times of the year because I get the sense of getting a fresh start. So tomorrow is like a "do-over". Every day is really a fresh new beginning if you want it to be, but this time of year adds something extra special as an incentive if there are bridges to burn or things to mend.....you get the idea. But - in the meantime.....let's celebrate! Happy New Year

This is probably extra festive for the holidaze - - I imagine it will be "normal" soon.

Ham: Forgive me for not pay attention before. You have one amazing sense of humor. Why have I not seen this before??? Must be because I've been hanging around with the wrong crowd! btw - hiway29....pleased to be related to ya

I do about the same stuff as the rest of you. I also make it my business to keep up with Strange Tom. He seems to need the added oversight!

He is a funny man! I've never seen him before but I will look for him now.

Sometimes I don't PM ya 'tucket because I have a question that others would probably have too - and I figure you can answer it once and then everybody can read it. But - - I love you anyway! :wub:

That is a wonderful site! Look what happened when I put my screen name in there! Krysilis, your professional wrestling name is now: Brooklyn Piper Having been bred and born and raised in Queens, and since I still at my advanced age retain the Brooklynese accent I was raised with - - this is most appropriate. [talk about personal prophesy - - heh heh]

<_< <_< <_< SHAME ON YOU - - Strange Tom! and BAH HUMBUG too just for good measure!

Charlie Brown here! And since you don't really know me you can't imagine how a pro pro that really is!

Grey Poupon is hoity toidy for Gouldons.

Hope I understand about hospitals. For me, it was just a spur of the moment thing and hospital was the first thing I thought of and also there was one less than 10 minutes away - so that's where I ended up. I was so upset that I took the first thought that came. I know you have some talents that I have no idea about. You will find a place that will suit your need and you will enjoy yourself too. And it's true - firsts do suck. Remind me and I'll tell you how I handled Mother's Day the first one that came about 3 months after my own mother died. This is not the time or the place. I hope you sleep in too. But - they do get better. And as your own life unfolds, they will not be the same but you will grow to enjoy them. For me - it never gets easy on those special times - but it does get easier - and the time you spend missing them gets less intense and shorter in duration. I hope you sleep 'till noon too.

Alas, I have no special lovely pictures or spirited tunes - - but I do wish you all the most blessed Christmas of your lives so far. If you have kids, love 'em up and if you don't have kids, pretend there's a Santa anyway for those of us who still believe........ Enjoy your relatives and friends if you have any. This is a special season. But once we're gathered all together - - it will be like this all the time. What a day! hugs krys

This is my own private pet peeve. Remember the days we used to say.....fewer calories, fewer cavities, fewer of any thing that could be counted as a single unit? And then we'd say less water, less fat and less in general for anything that could not be counted as a single unit? Well now-a-days it doesn't seem to matter and it bothers me. When I hear "less cavities", "less calories" I want to go scream.

......and 3's a crowd. I wouldn't use Miracle Whip to grease my cookie sheet! My mother had a great recipe for dark chocolate cake during the war. Everything was rationed then. Sugar and flour you could get sometimes if you hadn't used the ration for them, and cocoa powder was no problem, but fat of any kind was very hard to get. So there was a recipe developed using mayonaise instead of any other shortening and it was delicious. We used to ask for "mayonaise cake" sometimes but she said she hated the idea of it so that she would never make it again.

George - I really like your style! Love your sense of humor.

I've been there. It seems that the children grew up and were out of the house at about the same time my father died and all of a sudden it was only my husband and I. He is not the "warm and fuzzy holiday"-type. After gifts are exchanged and breakfast and Merry Christmas, he goes about his "stuff". He's always been like that..that's his "way". But I found it very hard to handle once the house was empty. The first holiday I wandered all over the house looking for something to do and I was really down. Really down. A friend of mine suggested I should get out of myself and go take the place of some of the more regular volunteers at a hospital. So I did. I couldn't do this on a regular basis, but on a holiday I could. I enjoyed it. I spent some time reading to a blind man. He thought he was king of the earth because somebody was reading to him. If you think you're "not good company" for somebody, you probably aren't. But when you think that somebody has fewer good things than you do, it's easy to find someplace to spend a little time doing something nice for a stranger. It was fun. I enjoyed it. He was thrilled. I wasn't alone and I didn't waste my time. It doesn't get much better than that. Over the years, things change, children marry and establish other families and now I go out and sometimes I'd rather stay home or go read to a blind man [not really].

I can think of better ways to discourage teenage sex!

Good morning George (LG): Your opening post stunned me and I felt like a deer caught in the headlights last nite so I didn't want to post until I had some of my thoughts together. Like most others who've posted here, I appreciate your posts especially in the Political Forum because I have a very hard time wrapping my brain around all things political. Your posts help me make sense out of what I read over there. And like Simon - I also feel honored that you'd share your thoughts with us now. In my experience, most people in your position tend to keep to themselves rather than discuss what's happening publicly. So I am thankful for your willingness to post and discuss some of what you're dealing with. One of the things I would like to know is how you came to the decision to post this publicly? I'm sure you had concerns about it, but what tipped the scale for you? Also, would you describe a bit more about "making preparation for my death"?

way to go!!!!

Thank you TrustAndObey! I appreciate your point of view. In my heart of hearts, I believe this is the closest thing to God's heart written here on this thread.

My kids did Santa and the Tooth Fairy too way before we were "in". I'm not ashamed of it, and I'm not so sure I'd call it an outright lie. I will always remember the time I figured it out. I guess I was about 8 and I was almost sure about the reality of things but I asked my dad. He said the most remarkable thing....he asked me not to spoil it for my brother by spilling the beans (he was about 4 or 5). He said..."there will always be a Santa Clause". It took me a few minutes before that sunk in - but then I realized that there will always be young children who will believe in the myth. That was a comfort to me then.

If we could have stuff like that - I'd love a sing-along! That was verry funny...and if posting this makes me a sick-o - - not much could make me prouder!

That comment didn't make any sense Pond. What were you thinking about?

I'm not negating anything previously. It's all good. I agree. However I'd like to add something: Sometimes we don't judge people's abilities correctly. I'm a pretty smart person, but I know many who are smarter than I am. I know a lot who aren't as smart. I'm a reasonably verbal person. I can write what I mean most of the time, but I'm not like those with WordWolf's or Raf's skills. People are people. And we have to give them credit for just what they are and what they can do.* *

You all make a lot of sense. I will therefore temper my position. However, just because somebody hurt you very badly, that does not give you the right to do the same. Avoid them and you won't have to deal with them. When you are at the restaurant, you are acting as your brother's agent, so you have to work within that framework if you're going to be ethical. By just acknowledging their presence, you did no harm when you saw them. If that's all you are comfortable doing, that's fine...you don't have to do anything more. However if they try to engage you in conversation you have a choice...engage and be very careful....or don't. I would engage, carefully. Put all the hurt in an sack in your mind and move it to a less prominent place in your thoughts for the time being. Engage as you would any customer...remembering that if you don't like the direction of the conversation you can always excuse yourself because you have work to do. Notice I didn't say "swallow it". Never.....never swallow it. I know what I've suggested is not easy, but I also know it can be done because there were many times when I really did not want to deal with a student assigned to me...but I had to. I absolutely had to. There are times when students can and do hurt their teachers deeply, and as the "adult" I had to "get over it" in the context of teacher-student. Meanwhile, I would operate with extreme caution keeping in mind what the other viewpoints discussed here say. They are all worth considering. .....but you did ask for opinions.....so now you have mine - - though revised.