How I appreciate your honesty, and the writers you bring into the conversation. Of course it's not a conversation--i know that, really I do--but you have the gift of making it seem like one. I hope you are not alone now.
A wonderful typo, so many previous to us are now precious to us, this made me smile, not in derision, but in solidarity, been there, done that, but never so effectively
“We live as we dream -alone.” ~Joseph Conrad. While we were dating, my husband told me that was his motto so I wrought it in cross-stitches with floral flourishes of earthy tones, framed it, and gave it to him our first Valentine’s Day together, the only one before he married me. He placed it on the mantle above the fireplace of the house he built by himself where we still live together 34 years later. He left it there the first ten years of our marriage. Guests in our home never failed to comment, some only with their eyes.
We have welcomed your voice into our home for decades. We would love it if you brought your body along. Kentucky isn’t New York, or even Minnesota, but I would feed that body, just like you have fed our souls.
I come from a generattion of men whose mothers imposed different housekeeping standards on girls than on boys. We were raised to live in the past and some of us don't make it into the presentt.
This brought a tear to my eye. Not a tear of sadness, but rather the emotional connection you have with me.... a total stranger, an ex-pat in Mexico who opens your email each morning to enjoy with my coffee as I once opened the newspaper so long ago. Times have changed for the worse as have I, but my love for the written word and your way of penning it have not.
i've been alone most of my life / every woman i've ever known has left me / it's not so bad though / i get sudden bursts of euphoria occasional fits of hilarity and the cereal bowl gets washed twice a week
Carol is 100% correct, you do make this feel like a conversation and you are the only personality I know of that does this or can do this. I think many of us in our older age feel alone too. Our children may love us but have their own life and it's sometimes all they can do to keep up with that life. Parents are often gone, many friends have passed or are like distant memories. Your words are a very welcome gift to us and I hope our very humble gift of the thankfulness of our words can help sustain you for a while longer as your words do make our life a little bit better.
I do also worry every day for the people of Ukraine. I want to go fight on their side. I'd probably be a decent fighter since I can't run very well any more so it reduces my options. I always thought instead of the younger folks having to go to fight wars, I think us older folks should have to do the fighting. After all, we have used up most or our available years already. If we had to fight I figure a war would not last very long either and may never actually get off the ground. We couldn't even start to fight without out glasses, teeth and hearing aids. We would have to stop for naps and we certainly couldn't miss any meals as that's usually the highlights of our day!
Warfare by the elderly is something I never ever considered and I believe there is a novel here waiting to be written. Youth and courage versus wily deception.
Dear Sir - my colleague gifted me the knowledge of your existence, as he thought, from one writer to the next, I would recognize brilliance in your words. He was correct – I look forward to reading your words randomly sent to my email. I am very alone and the pain of aloneness is quite real. There are mornings when I wake up at 2pm and I breathe through this pain as I did many years ago during the labor of childbirth. I have a big family and many friends – but waiting for the one treasure that is mentioned in every line you write – someone to tell me about the cereal dish in the sink.
I've not yet gotten to the point where I care what happens to other people's kids, but they are pleasant enough when they say interesting nonsense on the street at least. Their parents get upset when I pay too much attention so I try not to look up. Do you think the telephone operator you describe is at my stage of life or yours? Kudos!
A lovely piece, this morning, of a peaceful, quiet life with the one you love. Ditto, but I am in a village of 647 people, so my life is a bit smaller. Cozier , to me.
I hear your voice, and I think of you as a friend who does not know me. I am a semi-retired priest who also feels called to write more and write different things from what I write. Several of those books you wrote sit on my shelves and remind me of the unique, wry humor that carried me through the pain of earlier years. My life is easy and good, and I have a house and a wife and a bed and enough food to eat, yet what is happening to Ukraine is unbearable. By praying, giving what we can, letting our hearts go out to them, and hoping the West finds a way to help those brave people, I believe we must be doing something right.
I don't think you can count Ukraine out. Those people love their country. I'm fascinated by the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings and the one hero, in addition to Judge Jackson, is Senator Whitehouse of Rhode Island. His statement this morning is worth looking up and reading.
Amen, Amen, Amen! I heard Senator Whitehouse's statement this morning, and like you, our Politically Perceptive Host, it was like manna from Heaven! I cried out "Tell it Like it IS! Go, Man, Go!"
I've been tuned in to the radio fairly consistently in these days of the hearing. It surprised me, in the beginning, how many times that the Senators' "Questions" were actually something else. The chairman seems to be using his time as "Brag Rights" - "I did so and so: Look at me! Ain't I the Cat's Meow?" And the "negatives" seem to have combed her decisions to try and put her in a poor light, even when her record shows she's right in the middle of the field in terms of sentencing length, etc.
Personally, I wonder, if, back when the previous individual in the White House pushed through his picks, if the "alternative party" had been as robust in their opposition, if we'd have the present "Picked (by Big Money, etc) Court" that we're dealing with today. "The Case of Citizens United..." and all that!
I'm hearing a lot of Sound and Fury about the "Constitutionality" of this or that decision of hers. It seems to me, "corporations" such as the East India Company or the Hudson's Bay Company didn't exist in 1776. In some respects, referring to a 250 year old document as the sole guide is like trying to use "Horse and Buggy" Rules of the Road today. How well can these principles deal with Interstate Super Highways, speeding railway trains, or "Draw Bridges Over Troubled Waters?"
I like the way that Justice Barrett turns to Senators and points out "It's not up to justices to create the laws. We only look at individual cases, with respect to the laws on the books. If you (Senators) want changes made - you need to do something about it yourselves." Go, Amy, Go!
A spoiler received - there's grand sex scene at the conclusion of Boom Town - did you tell your beloved, or did she help you write it? Lake Wobegon on fire.
Hang in there.
How I appreciate your honesty, and the writers you bring into the conversation. Of course it's not a conversation--i know that, really I do--but you have the gift of making it seem like one. I hope you are not alone now.
For what it's worth, I love you and you are precious to me, too.
A wonderful typo, so many previous to us are now precious to us, this made me smile, not in derision, but in solidarity, been there, done that, but never so effectively
Thanks for your gracious comment.
“We live as we dream -alone.” ~Joseph Conrad. While we were dating, my husband told me that was his motto so I wrought it in cross-stitches with floral flourishes of earthy tones, framed it, and gave it to him our first Valentine’s Day together, the only one before he married me. He placed it on the mantle above the fireplace of the house he built by himself where we still live together 34 years later. He left it there the first ten years of our marriage. Guests in our home never failed to comment, some only with their eyes.
Had I been a guest, I would've given it a good long look and then not said anything.
We have welcomed your voice into our home for decades. We would love it if you brought your body along. Kentucky isn’t New York, or even Minnesota, but I would feed that body, just like you have fed our souls.
Did you know they did a study that proved most divorces are caused by men not putting the cereal bowl in the sink? Let alone the dishwasher!
I come from a generattion of men whose mothers imposed different housekeeping standards on girls than on boys. We were raised to live in the past and some of us don't make it into the presentt.
This brought a tear to my eye. Not a tear of sadness, but rather the emotional connection you have with me.... a total stranger, an ex-pat in Mexico who opens your email each morning to enjoy with my coffee as I once opened the newspaper so long ago. Times have changed for the worse as have I, but my love for the written word and your way of penning it have not.
Mexico, eh? This is hard to imagine, looking out at Hennepin Avenue in Minneapolis, but here you are.
i've been alone most of my life / every woman i've ever known has left me / it's not so bad though / i get sudden bursts of euphoria occasional fits of hilarity and the cereal bowl gets washed twice a week
Carol is 100% correct, you do make this feel like a conversation and you are the only personality I know of that does this or can do this. I think many of us in our older age feel alone too. Our children may love us but have their own life and it's sometimes all they can do to keep up with that life. Parents are often gone, many friends have passed or are like distant memories. Your words are a very welcome gift to us and I hope our very humble gift of the thankfulness of our words can help sustain you for a while longer as your words do make our life a little bit better.
I do also worry every day for the people of Ukraine. I want to go fight on their side. I'd probably be a decent fighter since I can't run very well any more so it reduces my options. I always thought instead of the younger folks having to go to fight wars, I think us older folks should have to do the fighting. After all, we have used up most or our available years already. If we had to fight I figure a war would not last very long either and may never actually get off the ground. We couldn't even start to fight without out glasses, teeth and hearing aids. We would have to stop for naps and we certainly couldn't miss any meals as that's usually the highlights of our day!
Warfare by the elderly is something I never ever considered and I believe there is a novel here waiting to be written. Youth and courage versus wily deception.
Dear Sir - my colleague gifted me the knowledge of your existence, as he thought, from one writer to the next, I would recognize brilliance in your words. He was correct – I look forward to reading your words randomly sent to my email. I am very alone and the pain of aloneness is quite real. There are mornings when I wake up at 2pm and I breathe through this pain as I did many years ago during the labor of childbirth. I have a big family and many friends – but waiting for the one treasure that is mentioned in every line you write – someone to tell me about the cereal dish in the sink.
Aloneness – thank you for telling about it.
I've not yet gotten to the point where I care what happens to other people's kids, but they are pleasant enough when they say interesting nonsense on the street at least. Their parents get upset when I pay too much attention so I try not to look up. Do you think the telephone operator you describe is at my stage of life or yours? Kudos!
Your stage, definitely.
i'll keep working on it as your comments have much the same effect and more generally effective.
A lovely piece, this morning, of a peaceful, quiet life with the one you love. Ditto, but I am in a village of 647 people, so my life is a bit smaller. Cozier , to me.
Prayers for Ukraine.
So poignant.
I hear your voice, and I think of you as a friend who does not know me. I am a semi-retired priest who also feels called to write more and write different things from what I write. Several of those books you wrote sit on my shelves and remind me of the unique, wry humor that carried me through the pain of earlier years. My life is easy and good, and I have a house and a wife and a bed and enough food to eat, yet what is happening to Ukraine is unbearable. By praying, giving what we can, letting our hearts go out to them, and hoping the West finds a way to help those brave people, I believe we must be doing something right.
I don't think you can count Ukraine out. Those people love their country. I'm fascinated by the Senate Judiciary Committee hearings and the one hero, in addition to Judge Jackson, is Senator Whitehouse of Rhode Island. His statement this morning is worth looking up and reading.
Amen, Amen, Amen! I heard Senator Whitehouse's statement this morning, and like you, our Politically Perceptive Host, it was like manna from Heaven! I cried out "Tell it Like it IS! Go, Man, Go!"
I've been tuned in to the radio fairly consistently in these days of the hearing. It surprised me, in the beginning, how many times that the Senators' "Questions" were actually something else. The chairman seems to be using his time as "Brag Rights" - "I did so and so: Look at me! Ain't I the Cat's Meow?" And the "negatives" seem to have combed her decisions to try and put her in a poor light, even when her record shows she's right in the middle of the field in terms of sentencing length, etc.
Personally, I wonder, if, back when the previous individual in the White House pushed through his picks, if the "alternative party" had been as robust in their opposition, if we'd have the present "Picked (by Big Money, etc) Court" that we're dealing with today. "The Case of Citizens United..." and all that!
I'm hearing a lot of Sound and Fury about the "Constitutionality" of this or that decision of hers. It seems to me, "corporations" such as the East India Company or the Hudson's Bay Company didn't exist in 1776. In some respects, referring to a 250 year old document as the sole guide is like trying to use "Horse and Buggy" Rules of the Road today. How well can these principles deal with Interstate Super Highways, speeding railway trains, or "Draw Bridges Over Troubled Waters?"
I like the way that Justice Barrett turns to Senators and points out "It's not up to justices to create the laws. We only look at individual cases, with respect to the laws on the books. If you (Senators) want changes made - you need to do something about it yourselves." Go, Amy, Go!
A spoiler received - there's grand sex scene at the conclusion of Boom Town - did you tell your beloved, or did she help you write it? Lake Wobegon on fire.
I read it aloud to her and she was amused.
I was touched at the thought of you feeling alone in a big city, missing your beloved. All of us are vulnerable, more so as we grow old.