Gift

I tried thinking of all the G words I could.


 I didn't write them, just thought them.


The best of them was Gift.


We all receive gifts every day.

A kiss from a loved one. A note from someone we had not heard from in a while.


A smile from someone you see in the store when your feet hurt and you have to hurry home to make dinner and the sky just let loose with rain.


The best of these is the one least expected.


May you have the best of all gifts today.

Friendship

Friendships come in all shapes, sizes, endurance and depth. You can have a friendship since babyhood and enjoy it everyday of the endurance of it. And you can want it to be different at different times.


We usually find friends at a mutual point. Meaning at something we obviously both enjoy. Sometimes that something is a one time thing for one of you and a long time thing for the other. I have met people at social functions and had great time with them there and exchanged numbers and it has continued into something special.


I have also met people that I thought would be fun to know, but they didn't share that thought.
What makes a friend a friend?
Mutual likes or dislikes. Sympathy for your sorrows, whether major or minor. Involvement in your life.
There are immediate friends . There are works in progress friends. And there are longtime friends.


Immediate friends are those that when you meet you have camaraderie with that rivals friendship from the cradle.


Works in progress friends are the ones you meet and like, but time intervenes and you lose contact, and then there they are again. And this time you work a little harder staying in contact and the relationship deepens a bit into a friendship that is close.


The longtime friends are the ones you usually meet when you are young or you children are young and as parents you have a mutual ground to work from.


And sometimes you make friends and never meet. I have several friends that I have never met in person, but have met online. I have some of those from a group of writers that met through the group 500 Words a Day.


No matter where you meet, it seems the same thing is true of all friendships: they fill a space in your heart and life that needed an oomph and a love.


Here's to all my friends: Thanks for being there.

Election Day

In my area it is Municipal election day this upcoming Tuesday. That means cities elect mayors and school boards are elected.


It is not a very well-known election time, seemingly. Perhaps I should say it is a low key time for voters but for  those involved  it is important. School boards are the people who overlook the education of our children and this is the time we get to have a say in who these people are. We should take advantage of this freedom. It is a freedom that we should participate in and take pride in.
There are places that don't have that option.


This is getting a little heavier than the rest of my A to Z posts, so will lighten it up by saying that the election could be like the small town of Dorset, Minnesota where they elect their mayor every year for Dorset Days by selling votes for a dollar a piece.  Two years they  elected a three years old and boy. I think he is going to try again in August when they hold Dorset Days. Sounds like a real bargain at a dollar a vote. The voter has to pay the buck.


Come to think of it, that may not be a whole different from the real thing.

D Words

Do you know how many 'd' words there are when you try to pick one to write about?


There is drivel.  Which can be nothing or drool. Nothing if you are being silly and drool if you are smelling a really divine meal.


Dash. Means to shatter, or run, or bespatter, which is to throw roughly such as paint on canvas or water from a spill.


Dash. Hum. Yesterday I spent some time with a friend shopping, dining and chatting. During all this we had to dash. Very quickly because a rainstorm came up while we were shopping for some of our favorite things and had gotten caught up in conversation over our mutual love: card making, with the person at the store.


It banged and drenched the world with water.
It was still drenching when we left, so we had
 to dash when it was less threatening.


We dashed and discovered she had left her window down more than normal.
We now had to dash the water from her seat with whatever we had at hand.


Tissues. 


Enjoy. I have to dash.  

C is for Computer

If you have been reading my blog, you may know that I know just enough about a computer to be dangerous.


You turn it on, um, boot it up by going to the start button.


You close it down by...going to the start button. I really have that one down.


Then there is the paste/copy/cut or vice versa thing. Have had several people tell me what to do. Still haven't quite figured that one out, as you can see, below.
When I did my blog the other day someone suggested I do something about the word thingy you have to do to leave a comment.


She was kind enough to tell me what to do. I finally found the settings and comments and the word verification button to change. I did it. So proud.
And I have another question: I was supposed to put a badge on my blog to indicate that I was participating in the A to Z challenge. How
Now, back to the cut and paste/copy.


In an e-mail you are told to cut and paste or copy and paste. Which scissors do I use?


What paste will survive the internet?


Oh, wait. Computers + Liquid= Disaster


Whew! Disaster avoided.




I am learning.

Babies

Babies are always a popular thing to talk about or write about.


I birthed three babies and they have each birthed some of their own.


It is always a happy event when you find you are having a baby or your baby is having a baby.


You wait in high anticipation for the birth and the growing of the baby. You plan, and plan. Then the baby comes and they have their own plans. They don't like to sleep at night.


You do.


It sets up as a battle of wills. You figure you are bigger, you win.


They are smaller and louder. They win.


Then they walk. Yea! Now you don't have to carry them everywhere. They can go anywhere.
And they do. Whether you are there or not, they go.


Then they drive. Yea! No more late night waits at the school after basketball games.


Now, there are late night waits at home, with frown on face and grudge in heart.
Then they call and there is a problem. The car ran out of gas. You take the gas can and go find them and get them home.


Home. Where you will ground them and not worry about anymore late nights. Ever. You will lock them up and home school them until they are 25.


Two days later of home schooling, meaning you got their homework from teacher and you tell them you will gladly take them and pick them up from school. And no, they may not have their iPhone back.


Two days later....they have the iPhone and the car.


A year later, they are packing to go off to college.


Two years later, they are back. For the summer.


Two years and graduation.


Home for a while till they get a job.


And now you retire and they work.


" Mom, where are you going?"


" Out."


And that is babies.

Ageing

Ageing is not something you think about.


 It just happens.






Wrinkles also just happen. Some of us think of our aging as something to brag about. Or at least to talk about.




When you are young you don't think of getting older as ageing. You think of it as getting to do...
walk to school by yourself, staying up till ten, getting to drive.




Then when you are older still, you  go to college, have your first alcoholic drink, and move out on your own.


After a time, you pass all the important ages like 16, 21 and 30.
 Thirty is a big one, because lots of younger ones think you have gone over the hill.




Suddenly, it is forty, fifty, sixty, and seventy.




Where did the time go?




A better question is what did we do with it?




We played ball.



We studied for tests.
 And passed them.




We went out with boys to find the right one to marry.




We married the right one. Some of us only thought he was the right one, and went on to others until we found the right one, or decided that we didn't need the right one to be happy.




We had children.




Some of us lost them.




We were happy, and we were sad.




 We celebrated and enjoyed.




So, here we sit at whatever age are and decide that it was worth it and let's get to the next birthday.