Happy Together

I had a great time last night at the fabulous Seminole Hard Rock Hollywood, almost walking distance from our house.  For a little while I was back in the 60s, back in the Summers of Love, the greatest time ever to be young, to look forward to the future, to listen to music on the AM radio or on little plastic records, to hang with friends and flirt those oh-so-handsome young men. 

People say it was a simpler time and it must be true if the music of those days tells the story: silly songs of love (yummy, yummy, yummy, I have love in my tummy) to songs of deep relationship heartache (kind of a drag when your baby don't love you).

Where did the years go?  I had them back for a few hours last night...

Dose of Happiness

My late BFF had a niece, Lindsay.  I babysat for her once ;-)  but only through Facebook have I come to feel I actually know this amazing young woman.  Her blog, "Dose of Happiness" is terrific.  I hope this recent college graduate can soon find meaningful work in her chosen field, Communications and Media, because she certainly has the talent, beauty and drive to succeed in it.

This is a screenprint of her blog.  Do you think I am slightly prejudiced because she is a dead ringer for my angel Sheryl?  Nahhhhh!

Go Lindsay!

Wedding Album

I am so proud of myself!  I made a photobook!  Not as easy as it sounds when you have an old wedding album - almost 43 years - with 85 yellowing 4x6 pictures in jackets encased in plastic.

I had to dig the pictures out, scan them into the computer, try to edit the yellow out with Photoshop, crop the junk like the lamps and wall sockets out (the photographer was not the best I guess) and use the really cool features of the online software to artfully arrange the photos and include meaningful captions and quotes and "stickers".  I also added new pictures of our Ketubah and the wedding invitation.

What a trip down memory lane!  Seeing my Canadian relatives minus 43 years, my Mom and Dad, old friends, and sadly, folks that are no longer with us.

Can't wait to see the finished product when it arrives in a couple of weeks!   

The Butterfly Effect

Ray Bradbury, science fiction author (and predictor of the future?) died this week at 91.  He is responsible for the term “butterfly effect” which was coined from his novel The Sound of Thunder in which a man on a safari steps on and crushes a butterfly thus causing a drastic change on the future.

How serendipitous that I am reading (listening to) Stephen King's latest opus, "11/22/63".  It has a similar theme - how a well-meaning time traveler drastically distorts the future by performing a seemingly "good" act, in this case averting the assassination of JFK.

So do bad things really happen for a reason that is beyond our understanding?  When calamity strikes good people does it mean the way has been paved for something better? 

Luckily our only way of altering the future is to make the best choices we can today...

The Dissertation

For several years I worked diligently for beaucoup hours on nights and weekends assisting hubby on The Dissertation.  I learned about constructs, sampling sizes, constructural frameworks, relationships between variables, data analysis methodologies, test design, confounding variables, box plots, histograms and P-P plots. 

The result for hubby was a solid career doing something he always wanted to do - teaching college - with hopefully many more years of rewarding work ahead.

And for me?  I am the recipient of a handsome engraved plaque, one of the very nicest gifts I've ever received.  It reads:

EVELYN GOLD

for outstanding service

in support of her

husband Stuart Gold while

completing his doctorate

You've gone above and

beyond, given your best

and provided love

support and assistance

without which a PhD

would still be a dream and

not a reality for Dr. Gold



Grief

Sheryl's yartzeit was yesterday, June 5th.  I plugged in the little memorial light into the electric socket, I said Kaddish for her last Friday night, I posted our pictures on Facebook with a message to the world that I still missed her and always would.  I called her widower and thought of her throughout the day. 

There is so little we can do to assuage our grief for a lost loved one.  We can give to charities or form a new one in their honor.  Put a plaque up on the Shul wall or buy a brick with their name.  Dedicate our next big accomplishment to them or tattoo their name on our body.  Make a pile of teddy bears and candles by the roadside or in front of their house.  Write a eulogy or a song or a poem. Go to grief counseling sessions with other bereaved folks.  Cry.

In our lives there will be times of profound sadness.  But I believe each of these times will be balanced by times of white-light joy and blessings bordering on miracles.

Thanks Sheryl, for the miracle of my 40 years with you.

Treasures

I ventured a little further from home and checked out the newer, bigger, better Goodwill store in Pembroke Pines today.  Their stenciled window signs promise a "treasure trove" of great stuff with "new treasures arriving daily".  Of course, today was the perfect day for this small adventure as it is 15% off senior citizen Tuesday.  I, of course, qualify.

Unlike the other Goodwill and the nearby Salvation Army (which has a musty smell) this newer, bigger and better Goodwill has oodles of new merchandise with the original store tags.  I scored a pair of cute shorts (not too short, not too long, with nice deep pockets like I like), brand new sunglasses and a brand new Hanes-Her-Way bra.  Wonderful stuff for only $6.74 including tax.

The moral?  It pays to venture a little farther?  I had forgotten the simple pleasure of the big score?  I've been overpaying for stuff lately?

I think I'll choose "new treasures arrive daily". 

;-)

God Save The Queen

The world is celebrating the 60th anniversary of the reign of Queen Elizabeth.  It is good to see that grand old lady - 86 and counting - and her 91 year old Prince Charming still so vibrant and regal and beloved.              

So what does this momentous occasion mean to me?  Well, after her coronation, the Queen made the rounds of ummm, the Entire World, and included a brief visit to Chicago.  My father, considering this a not-to-be-missed opportunity, let me play hooky for a day and see the Queen presented with the Key to the City by Mayor Daley (the original) at the Grant Park amphitheatre.  Since I remember the event, it had to be a few years after the actual coronation - I had to be at least 8 years old. This lovely souvenir of the day was available, and as you can see, it is not some shlocky plastic doo-dad that would be an acceptable souvenir if such pageantry were held today.

Thank you Dad, for the souvenir and for the day downtown with my Dad. You were The Best.



. 

Field Trip

Today will include a pleasant visit to the Boca Raton Museum of Art and lunch at one of the quaint outdoor cafes at Mizner park, home of upscale shopping, dining and entertainment. How genteel! How civilized! The "good life"! 

Or at least that's how I always pictured the good life.  Yep, ever since I was a small child I equated the many Chicago museums to magical kingdoms (forget Disneyland) filled with exotic treasures beyond my imagination.  The Field Museum of Natural History!  The Chicago Art Institute!  The Museum of Science and Industry!  Even the Shedd Aquarium.  I would get on the CTA and take myself to those places even without a friend to accompany me.  An unheard of expedition for a child in this day and age!  I'd even save on a transfer fare by walking from downtown, through Grant Park, to the Field Museum (my favorite).

I dreamt of an uber-sophisticated future where I'd be able to go as often as I wished and have lunch at an "artistic" cafe with congenial companions.  And today is the day!

;-)

11/22/63

I'm reading (listening to) Stephen King's  new novel 11/22/63.  The premise: A secret portal to September 9, 1958 exists.  You can go and stay there as long as you want and return to the exact same time you left.  But you will age if you stay there.  An erstwhile time traveler stays four years in the hope of making it to 11/22/63 and diverting the assassination of JFK.  But he comes down with terminal lung cancer while he is living in the past.  He returns to the present to convince a young English teacher to go back in time to complete the mission. 

If this was your mission would you choose to accept it?  I certainly would if I could go back and stop Hitler and World War Two or if I could avert the Viet Nam war or 9/11/2001. 

And while I was there doing whatever needed to be done to save the world I'd buy a few shares of IBM, Coca-Cola and McDonalds!