I usedacould

An old friend said to me when I told him (i.e. kiddingly) that he knows everything—He said—It’s cause I’m soooo old; I knew most of the stuff before you were even born! But the problem is now no one pays any attention to me! I usedathink I was important!

It has been said that Simon Peter was always putting his foot in his mouth. He was eager for the important things but often acted on impulse. Ouchy ouchy, that sounds like me sometimes. Abraham Lincoln said—It’s better to keep my mouth shut and have folks think I’m a fool instead of opening it and remove all doubt! GeorgeTheCrook says—I usedabe better at keeping my mouth shut but now that I’m old, I seem to think I know more soooo I open it more! But it seems like no one listens to me anyway!

“It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but in ourselves.” ~ William Shakespeare  I know/knew 5 generations of a family and I see similar traits in the folks in all 5 generations. Wow! you say! Dr.J says—"We often hear the expression, “Like father, like son”—and similar expressions: “Like mother, like daughter,” “the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree,” and “chip off the old block.” We know the meaning of all these proverbs: The traits and appearance of a mother or father are often replicated in their children. Traits are not perfectly passed on, but seeing parent and child together makes us think, “Oh, I’m not surprised!” AverageJoe says—I usedawanttobe different than my parents but now I'm more like them; why did I change? A company rep many years ago told me—erv, when we are young and not liberal, we have no heart but when we get older and we aren’t conservative we have no brain! Do you think that is true?

Soooo how do we pick good folks to be around? Look at the folks you have decided to be around. Why do you want to be around them; how did you decide? Are we much like our long-time friends? How about our short-term friends? Do the type of folks we hang around with change as we get older? Do we think about the type of folks we want to be around? Are we happier when around certain types of folks? Should we be concerned about the type of folks we spend a lot of time with? ItchieBitchie says—I usedahave different types of friends than I do now but I don’t know why!

No smoke and mirrors! JoeBlow says--I like the concept of being a team in many situations instead of being all about me,me,me (e.g. like it is written in the book--“That there may be no division in the body, but that the members may have the same care for one another. If one member suffers, all suffer together; if one member is honored, all rejoice together.”) It appears that we see a lot of me,me,me in our culture we life in. My Daddy, Chester, would say to me—erv, if you are good, you don’t have to tell anyone, they will know! HotShotMary says—I usedaremember being that way but now I have changed and have a huge massive ego! Wintering in a 55+ community, because of age, we see many HotShotMarys get humbled by illness, accident, and limitations including ageing. WorldClassLarry says-It appears that the general population don’t care much for the HotShotMarys!

I usedanotcare but now I do.  A new acquaintance down here in the Valley of the Sun said to me—I spent 15 minutes doing something that was useless (i.e. his opinion)—Now that is 15 minutes that I can’t get back. I asked what he thought was the 15 minutes that was useless. It was waiting for his wife and another lady looking at purses that were way over priced and soooo they didn’t buy one. But they looked at all of them and touched them all and unzipped them all!

MissPerfect says--I usedahavetoalwayshavetoprovemypoint (i.e. get the last word in) but not soooo much anymore. I usedatoalways have to be right! At times, I still act that way even when I don’t want to act that way. It’s hard to change; I’ve done it for soooo long; I’m used to running the show! I like to be around folks who I can be the alpha dog, no question. BUT the question is MissPerfect, do others like to be around you!

In the Butler County area where I spent much of my life, there was a family that moved from Germany probably in the early 1900s or late 1800s. They had large families and many named their sons John. As a result, there were a lot of Johns with the same last name. Soooo to distinguish which John they were talking about they useda give them nicknames like Creamery John, Railroad John, John T, Potato Nose John etc. Some families still do name their children after some past family members as a memory.  Do any of you have a given name or middle name of a past or current family member? I think that’s pretty neat! I read that the most popular town name in the United Sates is Washington?  It said there are 89 Washingtons. There aren’t any towns called Mellema!

I usedaget all excited about disappointments and all excited about positive situations. Not soooo much anymore.  I take things more now just as they come. Of course I do like positive situations better; who wouldn’t! Our lives are sorta kinda A to Z and we are somewhere in the middle. As we get closer to the Z somethings don’t look soooo important anymore and some things look more important. Da!  I still play pickle ball but every year I can’t play as well. I don’t like it; I admit it! It is rather hard on my ego; I admit it. I’m even more careful when I play so that I don’t fall and get hurt, an injury would limit myself doing other activities (i.e. seniors get hurt playing pb let me tell ya)! Some folks say to me—erv, you still play well for your age! That doesn’t make me feel any better.

A snowbird friend showed some emotion that we never saw before; she is typically stoic. We mentioned this to mutual friends. Their response was--She’s had a lot on her plate lately and before. And our emotions are more on the surface when we get old.

Comedian Milton Berle said, “Laughter is an instant vacation.” We have really enjoyed this past Christmas season; it was good. We had a lot of good laughter because of fun and fellowship. We really did enjoy it. We all probably go through periods of our life that are more fun than others which is probably natural as we all have events and circumstances that are more pleasant than others. We are no different than anyone else. Sooooo was your Christmas season this year a more pleasant one or more unpleasant one?  One to ten, tell me! And tell me why. I’m interested in your life.

“Wisdom doesn’t come from experience. It comes from reflecting on experiences. Between ages 25 and 75, the correlation between age and wisdom is zero. Gaining insight and perspective is not about the number of years we've lived. It's about the number of lessons we've learned.” — Adam Grant  You think that is true? I wonder how many lessons I have learned! It seems like I useda know more! This quote is rather scary to me—“To live is the rarest thing in the world. Most people exist, that is all.” ~  Oscar Wilde. You think that is true? I’m scratching my head about that!

Have any of you folks gained any weight between Thanksgiving and the New Years?  Here is a suggestion, don't worry so much about the food you ate during the holidays but be more concern what you eat between New Years and Thanksgiving in 2025!

Dr. J says--There’s not a better plan than recording your thoughts in the form of a prayer as the old goes out and the new comes in. Ireallybelievethat!

Have a FUN day my friends unless you have other plans. (-:

erv

MyDeceasedFriendJean said--Laughter is the sunlight of the soul.