I Was Thinking

Now I Lay me down to sleep I pray the Lord my soul to keep, and if I die before I wake...SCREECH - wait a minute! This is a child's bedtime prayer? 5 year olds are suppose to kneel by their beds & say "if I die before I wake." What is wrong with this picture? No wonder millions of people have sleep disorders. Should a 5 year old think about dying right before bed or anytime for that matter? I picture a little girl lying in bed, forcing her eyes to remain open for fear she will die should she fall asleep! How did such a prayer even come to pass - and why would we teach it to children? Goodness, this is just wrong. Don't all children go to heaven? If I watch CSPAN am I a nerd? Does this mean I am old? Is there something wrong with watching CSPAN? When you get into it, it is quite fascinating - and oft times frustrating. You'd be amazed at how many Senators don't show up for votes. Some senators rattle on for hours about obscure bills they would like to get passed. Did you know there is a sub-committe studyiIng whether or not people want clean drinking water? Duh, "No thank you, I would like dirty water to drink." that Obamacare health plan - it is for healthy people. Don't get sick or become old - if you do you are screwed. Sure they can't deny you health insurance if you have a pre-existing condition...the catch - Drs. don't have to accept you. So you can have health insurance, good luck finding a Dr. Who will treat you. The Senator from Idaho wants the Federal Government to subsidize potato priced. Shocking isn't it? The Senator from NC would like to see less regulations for growing & selling tobacco. Last week the Senator from RI rattled on about taxing tourist more than residents of the state. Can you guess the #1 industry in RI? Everyone has an agenda. A bill regarding updating aquatic reservoirs also has a ride-along bill to enforce the cost of parking meters in Nevada. Go figure. And what is this "Wait for the other shoe to drop?" Do shoes drop? The stock market drops, rain drops, Walmart has price drops...but shoes? Does the first shoe dropping have no significance? Why is that? And how do I know which shoe is " the other shoe?" should I be alarmed when the "first" shoe drops? Is the 1st shoe different from the "other" shoe? Do you know how to tell them apart? What kind of shoe is it? Tennis shoe, running shoe, high heels? If its a boot does that count? What of sandals or flip flops? Where does the shoe come from? It is a very odd expression. Baseball players catch " A can of corn." Why? There is no corn on a baseball diamond. The expression means the ball is easy to catch-would a can of corn hit at 90 MPH be easy to catch? I think not! That would hurt, & the can would bust. Corn would be every where. Catching a box of rice would be easier-a can of corn/how silly is that! Yesterday I bought a moped. 50CC Frank says his weed whacker has a bigger motor. Reckon an expert bike rider could beat me in a 50 yard dash. No matter, I am not wanting to go fast-I can go as slow as I please...isn't that beautiful? I need to make a basket on the back for Zuko. What a hoot. Now I will be the crazy hair cat lady with a dog on a moped. Excellent fodder for the gossip hungry porch sitters. Last week someone asked Eileen if I was her mother. Ouch! That hurts. We are the same age. Her mother for goodness sakes-I would Definetely take that person off my Christmas card list if I had a Christmas card list! Perhaps I will make a Christmas card list just to take this person off of it. Is it me or is the general population just lost their manners? What happened to common courtesy? When did we stop respecting our elders? Is it now wrong to address people as "sir" or "mam?" However, people who still write checks need a checkout isle of their own. Stores don't even keep the check. They scan it then the buyer has to sign on that gray pad & press enter and the money is automatically taken from your account then they give you back the check you just wrote. It takes too long! Yes, check writers need their own checout lane. Woke up @ 2:31 am with an ice pick headache its 6:20 now. Reckon I will try to go to sleep. Good morning-night John Boy.

It's the change-up

Everyone must contact the members of the senate, congress, all the way to the president if need be! They wasted millions of taxpayer dollars investigating the use of steroids in baseball - overlapping MLB's own investigation...while our soldiers died on foreign soil & the rate of unemployment skyrocketed - they were more interested in whether Jose Canseco injected fellow players in the backside! It was embarrassing. This though, this is important! See we have frequently heard the expression, "sometimes life throws you a curve ball." However, coming out of the pitcher's hand, the curve ball has a distinct spin. With practice and experience a batter can identify the spin on the ball and not swing. If the pitcher throws it for a strike, you tip your cap. If he misses you have gained the advantage. Now you sit "dead red!" A fastball is a coming! However, the change-up, leaves the pitchers hand looking like a cookie. A fastball headed right for your sweet spot. You twist your back toe just a little deeper into the dirt - Oh yeah, this baby is all yours! Thus you swing, and think "WOW" the ball was so sweet coming off my bat I didn't even feel it. Then just as you begin looking up, looking for your "home run" you hear the ball THUD into the catchers mitt! There you stand, feeling so foolish, the change up messed you up. Now when the pitcher throws his fastball, you swing late - THUD again. Might as well head back to the bench! It is life's change ups that leave us befuddled. What we believed we saw did not jive at all with reality...so there we stand having taken our best cut only to strike out. Experience teaches us, that yes life can throw us curve balls - it also teaches us to recognize the rotation, or the next turn in the road, even when to just let it go. Can't hit the darn thing so just let it go! Most of us have a difficult time letting things go. It erodes our sense of control. It engages our minds in doubt and suspicion. When we don't let the curve ball go, we our bound to hit and miss. Identifying the spin of all things & those who encompass our lives becomes an adaptive, adjusting, & moving on, which we learn everyday. When we believe what we see, the baseball, ergo life - when we believe we have whittled away at many of our weak spots - this is when life throws the change up! Just as we have begun to amass some confidence and understanding regarding the people in our lives, just when we gain a bit of confidence in our ability to see people and events with a clear filter...the dreaded change up comes at us, leaving us feeling naked & most vulnerable in front of 50,000 people. It is when we truly believe we know someone, when we think we might have a few things figured out - there is never a good time for life's "change up." With one swing, everything we believed as reality, well, it gets foggy. Back to T'ball and training wheels. You may see the change up coming - yet it so appears a fastball, a much easier pitch to hit, imagine our utter dismay at failure yet again. When we miss the change up we doubt everything we have ever thought as truth. Literally, we must reevaluate a Our relationships, a job choice, even the cereal we bought. Doubts become larger, we become smaller. For if we learned as we lived we would not be so easily fooled or duped! Not to mention most of us have a difficult time with change. Consistency and structure, this serves best. You know your friends, your family, your work, perhaps, you even know your "calling." The "change up," when life throws us a change up it can drop us to our knees. If you ever watch baseball you have heard the expression, "corkscrewed." This is when the batter has dug that back foot in so deep...when he believes he can trust his knowledge and experience, when he truly feels confident and peaceful..."THUD" into the catcher's mitt goes the ball & in that single moment everything we thought we knew we now must question. Back to square one! This is why we must correct the metaphor (it is a metaphor isn't it?)Why we should notify news outlets and computer media, Anderson Cooper (he is such a handsome man) should do a twelve part series: "Change ups: How they have stolen our confidence & eroded our trust!" He'll report, we'll decide. Yes, life throws us curve balls, and lemons - I like lemonade. I can see the spin on a curve ball, it is the change up that forces me back to life's classroom, for I really don't know anything at all.