This is a letter I wrote to my dear friend last December 15th, 2008. I knew he was getting close to transitioning - 90 years on a body is quite the achievement. He died on April 24th from heart failure while reading.
Dear Don and Linda,
Another year has passed and we are all still alive and healthy, it appears. Don, you will be 90 next year, I think? Amazing. What is the secret to long life, my friend? You must tell us in the Rejoinder - each month another tidbit about your life and how you have lived it so well.
Michael and I are living a good life in these mountains close to Tularosa. I have many friends in that area and often think of you when I visit them. I often think of you anyway, as I rummage through all the old writings and lessons from your English classes years ago. My collection of songs, articles, stories, poems and ramblings keeps growing. Lots of fodder for a big fire one day. I’ve been writing for the internet of late. Do you have a computer yet, or still holding out? Would love to correspond via email, but I understand why you choose to stay out of cyberspace. It is addicting. I’m in it constantly, developing various sites and posting articles about this and that. So why don’t I write you more often. Dunno. Really.
I’ve had a book on my shelf for a year that I finally read. It is Daughter of Fortune by Isabel Allende. I love her work. It is laced with history, magic, folklore, deep insights about the human condition and heroic characters who bubble up from her spicy soup. Daughter describes the unlikely life of Eliza Sommers, adopted child of a wealthy brother and sister household where she learns to be a Lady and a great cook in the kitchen of her nanny, Mama Fresia. She grows up too fast and follows a lover to the Gold Rush mania in northern CA. We discover much about the years of insatiable greed that permeated the newly acquired American soil from a Latino viewpoint, and also Chinese, as Eliza and Tao Chi’en, her surprise companion, become very close. I thought often of where this country is today, and the institution of Greed that has corrupted every facet of government and corporate operations since America’s inception. There is a very visible line from then to now, and the collapses of today’s institutions were inevitable given the fractional reserve lending practices made legal with the Federal Reserve Banking system in 1913. I stray from the book - it is very timely reading; a historical fiction that keeps one turning the pages.
I look forward to my Rejoinders, so many snippets of wit and wonder. I appreciate the article about “to vet” and how its meaning has morphed with the times. I wonder how “guys” came to mean a group of men and women. Even the president-elect uses “guys” to describe his girls, and crowds. It still irks me to hear it used like that. I was severely reprimanded for addressing a group as “guys” when I first started waiting tables 20 years ago. It was not polite. It is so prevalent now the jabs in my side are lessening - but it just doesn’t seem right!
Do have a most wonderful Holiday Season. You are forever in my heart.
Love, Health and Happiness, Susan
Friday, May 29, 2009
Thursday, December 18, 2008
Monday, November 3, 2008
Monday, October 6, 2008
Wednesday, August 27, 2008
Friday, February 8, 2008
Chinese New Year of the Rat
I receive a DailyOm Message and am inspired every time. Here is today's entry, enjoy and go to their site to sign up and be uplifted every day, too.
February 8, 2008
Promise Of Prosperity
Chinese Year Of The Rat
Chinese New Year this time around is the Year of the Rat, which brings with it the promise of prosperity. The Chinese admire the rat for its quick mind and ability to gather valuables and save them for the future. Since 2008 is the Year of the Rat, the year ahead should offer many opportunities to acquire wealth, as well as the ability to make choices that enable us to provide comfort for a long time to come.
Since the rat sign is the first in the Chinese zodiac calendar, we may feel the energy of a cycle beginning. We may also feel a pioneering spirit that helps us to forge ahead with a completely new endeavor. Looking beyond Western culture’s distaste for rats, we may be able to appreciate their ability to thrive in less than ideal conditions. This quality might offer us hope that whatever challenges we may face will only serve to make us stronger and more able. The rat’s ability to solve problems is well-known, so we can choose to enjoy any challenge that helps us keep our minds sharp while also making life more of a game. A competitive nature may develop within us, leading us to use the rat’s ability to focus on priorities. The rat can also remind us to be less worried about pleasing everyone we meet and more focused on our goals.
We should be aware of the rat’s habit for collecting and not allow ourselves to become so focused that we neglect those around us. Being constantly on the alert for opportunity can be stressful, so we can make the decision to balance our pursuit of prosperity with the enjoyment of good food and atmosphere and the people we trust to offer us both support and space. With the energy of challenge and possibility, the year is likely to be exciting without being explosive. The Year of the Rat is sure to offer the type of enjoyable challenges that will enable us to become all we can possibly be.
February 8, 2008
Promise Of Prosperity
Chinese Year Of The Rat
Chinese New Year this time around is the Year of the Rat, which brings with it the promise of prosperity. The Chinese admire the rat for its quick mind and ability to gather valuables and save them for the future. Since 2008 is the Year of the Rat, the year ahead should offer many opportunities to acquire wealth, as well as the ability to make choices that enable us to provide comfort for a long time to come.
Since the rat sign is the first in the Chinese zodiac calendar, we may feel the energy of a cycle beginning. We may also feel a pioneering spirit that helps us to forge ahead with a completely new endeavor. Looking beyond Western culture’s distaste for rats, we may be able to appreciate their ability to thrive in less than ideal conditions. This quality might offer us hope that whatever challenges we may face will only serve to make us stronger and more able. The rat’s ability to solve problems is well-known, so we can choose to enjoy any challenge that helps us keep our minds sharp while also making life more of a game. A competitive nature may develop within us, leading us to use the rat’s ability to focus on priorities. The rat can also remind us to be less worried about pleasing everyone we meet and more focused on our goals.
We should be aware of the rat’s habit for collecting and not allow ourselves to become so focused that we neglect those around us. Being constantly on the alert for opportunity can be stressful, so we can make the decision to balance our pursuit of prosperity with the enjoyment of good food and atmosphere and the people we trust to offer us both support and space. With the energy of challenge and possibility, the year is likely to be exciting without being explosive. The Year of the Rat is sure to offer the type of enjoyable challenges that will enable us to become all we can possibly be.
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