Random Thoughts

I have a foggy memory about a lot of things, but one incident I remember clearly: I was in high school.   A friend and I had been talking to an adult, then it was just the two of us chatting.   And my friend said something like, “You TALK differently when you are around adults, it is like you are a different person around different people,” and the tone of her voice made it clear that she meant it as an insult. I thought about it then (after feeling hurt), and I have pondered it since.   Am I a “different person” around different people??   Am I one Susan to some, and a different Susan to others? I have grown a lot since my high school days.   I like to think that over the last decade I have grown tremendously in my self-confidence and desire/ability to live an authentic, THIS IS ME , “open book” life. And yet… Incidents pop up every once in awhile that drive home the point that I do act differently around different people.   And when I notice...

Many people find inspiration and life lessons in songs.   I guess I would say that lots of mine would come from BROADWAY MUSICALS.   I grew up listening to albums of musicals that my mom would play on our furniture-sized living room record player   – Hello Dolly, Fiddler on the Roof… My most recent inspiration from a musical is from Avenue Q – specifically the song “There Is Life Outside Your Apartment…”.   If you haven’t seen Avenue Q, it’s quite funny (don’t let the fact that it has puppets in it scare you away).   David and I went years ago and got last minute rush tickets.   We couldn’t sit together, but at intermission we found one another and gushed over how amazing the show was.   And, like many musicals, when it was over I “needed” the cast recording and I have listened to the CD over and over. Passion flower - I took this photo at the event described below.  Isn't it amazing? Anyway, THERE IS LIFE OUTSIDE YOUR APARTMENT. ...

We had a scare yesterday. Well, WE didn’t exactly, but David did.  And I guess that is what made it so scary.  David is unflappable.  He does not really get frightened.  We can be in the middle of a huge rally or gathering, or a situation that is escalating, where I sense the potential for danger, and David remains calm and collected, never flinching. But yesterday he panicked.  And his reaction has made me reflect. First, the story:  for the last year or so I have wanted to PAINT ROCKS.  It is a trend – people paint rocks and then hide them for unsuspecting strangers to find.  It started as a kindness act – bring a little sunshine into someone’s life.  But it has become a bit of an “in group” thing now – people paint super fancy, beautiful rocks, then give their fellow rock painters hints at where they are hiding them, at which point hordes of collectors descend upon the hinted at location and score pretty treats.  ...

The other day we did something we enjoy doing – danced at the Ormond Beach Senior Center.  The ballroom dance is every Wednesday afternoon from 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm.  It is all very, very structured.  You arrive, pay $5, and find seats along the side of the dance floor.  The live band, The Blue Notes, plays the same songs (as far as we can tell) every week.  They play the classics –“Stardust”, “Fly Me to the Moon”, and for the ever present “line dance” they play “New York, New York” (which, in case you have never line danced (i.e. – done the Electric Slide to it) goes on for an infernally long time.  After each dance you clap a bit and then dutifully return to your seat.  The band starts the next song, and you go back out and fox trot or waltz or what have you.  Cutting a rug at a dance in 2011 Then, exactly halfway through the afternoon, THERE ARE SNACKS.   You line up as if you were in elementary school again and fill your litt...