The nest is NOT empty

 Up early with a nice cup of coffee -- yesterday was an awesome day -- after 2 weekends of serious shopping, hubby and I finally found just the right set of tables for our living room.

Couple of weeks ago, youngest son (nearly 20 now) moved out of the nest.  I was a little at odds with myself wondering what to make of this new phase of life, and frankly, I was feeling rather sad and possibly useless.  I've been raising children quite a while, you see.  That job is now finished.  They all are grown, and nice young men, and God is good; but what do I do now, I wondered.

Well, as life would have it, I stumbled upon the answer.  After-the-fact, as usual LOL.  (I believe I have mentioned before that I always know exactly what to do -- ten years after any given life cycle challenge I am going through.)

Well, it just hit me when I woke up happy this morning:  Nesting is something you do with your mate... not your offspring.

My father-in-law said

"Een lopende hond 

vindt altijd een bot." *

* loose translation: "A walking dog always finds a bone."

You are on LinkedIn

The contraction for you are is you're. 

 

This public service announcement is for my highly-educated, extremely articulate friends and colleagues on the LinkedIn professional networking site.

Variations on a Theme

Follow-up to my recent post, "Heads up, Writers":

Five or six people in each age of men  
Express something true with the brush or the pen 
And others repeat it, again and again.

And falsehood, if clothed in a nice-enough rhyme 
Is also inscribed in the marble of time.

Poem by Rani Kaye - All rights reserved.

Heads Up, Writers!

Heads up, Writers! 

It’s time to save the world! We need a Charles Dickens, to show us what the census numbers really look like walking; we need a Thomas Paine to tell us just what might really work; we need a Rachel Carson to bring us to our senses; we need a Martin Luther, to bring us back to God.

We’ve had plenty of minor players.  Who’s going to write the story that brings us fully back to center?

People who are great in their various professions, skills, and callings think profoundly but narrowly.

Only writers think of all the connections and the what-ifs; and some of you must wrap your imaginations around all our ideas, events, and characters, and write the words that will save the world.

You know who you are.  Heads up!

Health Care Bill

Some of my Christian friends are glad that the health bill passed.  

Some of the glad friends are glad for altruistic reasons, or at least they think so -- they work with people who are very poor, and they empathize; perhaps they think, "but for the grace of God, that would be me."  

Some of the glad friends are glad for personal reasons -- they have lost their jobs, or lost their spouses, and find themselves without medical insurance.

Some of my Christian friends are mad that the health bill passed.

And some of my Christian friends are not vocal on the matter.  Most of the time, that includes me.  Since I am a member of a very conservative Christian congregation, my silence implies solidarity with the vocal ones who opposed the bill.  I realize this.  I see that they are SO angry, so I don't want to discuss the matter with them, because I suspect they will transfer their anger to me.

I have heard and understand their reasons.  I have sensed the extremity of their emotion on the matter.  I realize they think they have the mind of God.

I think they don't.

Someone is pulling their chain, I think.  Someone is pushing their buttons.  They are not opposed to citizens forming governments to oversee the roads we all use; and they do not judge public road-use as "entitlement mentality," nor do they see it as socialism, nor do they realize that once-upon-a-time roads were private property and private enterprise.

Some of my Christian friends think that the passage of this health care bill equates with Biblical Armageddon.

Car Karma

"Varoooom! Purrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr"  That's the sound my '96 Saturn has made every morning M-F for the past 6 years, since we bought it in '04.

"Varoo ~ pfft, pfft, pfft, puh :-( "  That's the sound it made this morning.




Try again?  "varoo? ~ pfft, pfft, pfft, puh :-( "

And again? "~ pfft, pfft, pfft, puh :-( "

Okay.  No problem.  Number 4 Son, recently returned from an early-abort Navy stint (entry level medical discharge, not disabling) is sleeping in his room (he works 2nd shift through Manpower making parts for the Toyota recall -- grateful to have found work in Michigan in this economy).

Wake up son, describe Saturn's sound, and he dresses military-muster speed and is in the driveway with a socket set before I've even got my coat off.

Diagnosis?  Blown head gasket.  Son seizes a "teaching moment" and explains to mom in exquisite detail exactly how he is going to repair this; and he cannot contain his delight, his utter delight, that something on Mom's car needs his attention.

Okay, so I still have to get to work.  But no problem!  Husband also works 2nd shift and he says I can take his truck for my 9-to-noon job.  (2001 Chevy S10)

Grab his keys and head out to the street behind us, where that vehicle is parked.  Unlock the door and loose the latch ...

"Salaaap!  Sproinnnnng!  Chunk."  The door FLIES full open, and a rather large spring ejects itself onto the road.

I pick up the spring, and try to close the door.  Nope, won't budge.  Door stands open.

Can you even believe this?  What must be the odds?

(Photo is the Saturn, and also Number 4 Son, taken last summer, on a better day for Car Karma.)