Rally for Sanity

I loved looking at youtube this morning...checking out the interviews from the rally.
All the young people, where do they come from?
From hippie parents, woodstock loving parents who let materialism and their own self-importance carry them away from an ideological base that would have/could have changed the world! These older generation types turned into a self-righteous generation that speaks of having "made it on their own" all the while having had social security and medicare pay for their own parents' care ...those same parents who put them through colleges at a new rate unheard of before. They dsreguard the student loans, va loans, free education, park systems they vacationed in...man, need I go on?
We messed up. Our kids have a chance to fix it. But we sure didn't provide much leadership in the stand up and do what is right department much past 30 years of age. We witnessed civil rights, we benefited from medicare and social security as we left our parents to the "political machinery" and took care of ourselves. Do our children have the moxie to do it right? Or is 30 the new age to forget others? Or have we been doing it a lot longer than we think?

The Speed of Light

AHHH, the speed of light. I contemplated it as I walked home Friday night. IF I was light rather than chubby, the walk would have been faster and easier. Because it was a long walk, faster and easier both appealed to me like apple pie and ice cream use to...as of Friday.
Then, as I neared mile 3, I realized that the speed of light does not apply to those of us heavy in the family department either. My billfold is full of old pictures. Showcases of my daughters as children, as high school graduates, my grandchildren as toddlers and infants. My billfold is not light. My droid's picture gallery displays all the heaviness of a large extended family. Inside my purse I also carry my camera complete with battery charger, "Just in Case". Alas, the weight of memory needs for those blessed with family heaviness.
I watched cars zip by, trucks surge through, four trains toot along slowly as I trudged towards the tracks. People traveling the speed of light don't notice a walker, or more to the point of my blog, each other. Ipods plugged into ears, cellphones up against faces, eyes down on technological games on their laps and oh so many dvd screens flashing movies to buckled in toddlers. We all know the speed of light is faster than the speed of sound. So it is no surprise actually that no one talks to one another. They all get into their spots and connect with a world outside the realness of one another.
When people talk about life moving too fast, I wonder, how can they tell? It seems that the speed of light has already taken them away from the reality of one another. Bless my weighty family and the body that shows I sit and eat and visit and enjoy those closest to me. Close to me inn ways real, and all the ways I carry on the long walks home to them.

driving

My oldest is learning to drive in Singapore. I am having troubles with drivers in Nebraska. THIS is my question, when did stop signs develop a new definition. Someone will be sitting at a four way stop and turn right...no matter when...like right turns don't count...even if that is the way I want to turn. Or when did it become, "If I go very fast, it is a two for one sale...just sneak by really fast with the guy who has the right of way. Or when the blinker says they are turning and the front of the car indicates it's turning...when did that become a clue for a straight away drive? Laurel, Singapore at least has the regulations of the left side. I think stop's regulation means do whatever you want. No wonder life seems confused.

Life's Turns

Big, BIG, Biggest month ever. I'm not sure my life could be more dwarfed as the days roll over me.
My first born daughter moved a half of a world away...great joy in the opportunities for her young family in their potential growth and for me in travels! "Roll with it Baby."
My eldest brother become so ill that he thought it was a heart attack! Instead, it was "only" the stresses of life and work. He was too busy to be sure he was taking his high blood pressure and high cholestrol pills and he became very low. Spent 7 days at home...unheard of behavior and has worked almost 7 hours in the last two days. I have never known life without him. I can't even contemplate it.
My busiest brother has pneumonia. His stress with his former business partners and continuing lawsuits won over his good spirits. He wouldn't know Stevie Winwood to roll with it anymore than I would know some rap star. He also wouldn't know how to slow down and enjoy it. He was named after a cartoon character - Tom Terrific - who flew everywhere and tried to fix everything with many misadventures. Very apt.
I miss Evelyn. I even miss my other siblings. It is hard to have them dead to you over stupid things. Irreversible events. Family dysfunction. But I get lonely for what should have been.
Today, the daughter of an old friend tracked me down to say her mother asked to find me so she could say thank you for our friendship. Gail developed MS the year after she was crowned MIss North Platte and was the runner up for Miss Nebraska. She fought it forty years. In rest homes the last 15. I kissed her cheek, wished her a peaceful journey and she smiled in her semi-conscious state.
Life is so big. So without road maps. Completely unpredictable.
But God is good. When it seems tough, He reminds you of what is important. He shows how people are more meaningful and love is big, bigger, Best!