"When I tell you something is dangerous, I mean it. And, I never forget the Victims"
T.J. Hooker
"Everyone can master a Grief but he who has it”
William Shakespeare
”I had given him a life not worth living, but I had also given him an iron will to live. This was a common combination on the planet Earth”
Kurt Vonnegut about his character, Kilgore Trout.

Saturday, February 27, 2021

Sunday Stealing: Traveling far and wide... Senior Life

 

 

Hi! I'm your host Bev Sykes of the blog "Funny the World". . Welcome to Sunday Stealing. This feature originated and published on WTIT: The Blog. Here we will steal all types of questions from every corner of the blogosphere. Our promise to you is that we will work hard to find the most interesting and intelligent questions. Cheers to all of us thieves!

 From Senior Life

 

 1. What is the farthest you have ever traveled?  To Lake Eerie when I was a tot.  My Grandfather's family had a house on the shore of the lake and we went there one summer during world war two.

2. Who did you date while in high school?  No. Never had a boyfriend. Most of my crowd didn't.

3. What is one of the worst trips you've ever taken? What went wrong?  Trying to be honest here and not too transparent... It was a trip with my dad - the paternal unit, as my brother nicknamed him, when "dad" decided to "tour" the Western States.  It was part fun and part terror.  My dad was what the criminal justice system called, a "perp'.  Horrid man.

4. How do you like to spend a lazy day? I read, knit and watch old mysteries or movies while I knit.

5. How old were you when you found out that JFK had been assassinated? How did it affect you?  I was 20.  It made me into a political tiger!

6. Who has been one of the most important people in your life?  My mother was until I met my husband.  Mr.Z is like a miracle for me, one who saved my life.

Mother was moral, kind and had a will of iron, but she believed in her wedding vows.  She passed her grit to me.  She was a highly qualified Secretary Steno.  At the end of her life, she counseled other families who were being abused by people like my paternal unit.  If I had been her, I would have trashed my dad and raised my kids on my own. She said as much shortly before she died.

7. What is one trait you would most like to improve in yourself?   I'm old and there's just nothing left.  I'm a lot kinder than I used to be and have forgiven nearly all the things that have happened to me. My kids, is a different story.  I'd like to be able to forgive the things done to my children by cluelessness, exclusion, and deliberate cruelty.

8. Did you date someone in college? No.  I was there to learn and knew it was not going to help me to form boy girl relationships or to date.  So, I didn't.

9. What was your dream car? I'd still like a Chevy Corvette.  One of the older ones would suit me fine. 

10. Did you have a family member you wish you'd gotten to know better?  My grandparents on my mother's side.  I would have liked to ask them about their own parents, what they remembered of them.  The last time I saw either of them I was five. 

11. Tell me about your greatest gardening success.  It was the garden I put together under the shade patio.  It was beautiful, and full of bromeliads, epiphyllum, orchids and ferns and two or three dozen tadiscantia and other succulents.  The doves used to nest in one of my Staghorn Ferns every year.  I was just outside putting yarn snippets out for the nesting finch, and saw my one, sad little hanger on from that garden.  It's actually thrived in the corner of the house where it landed.  

 

Yep, that old thing fell and it's all dead




12. What was your Dad like when you were a child?  He was as mean as a rattlesnake and had no morals. He beat us, beat my mother, and fooled everyone else.  He was a horrid man. He never changed.

13. What is the best job you've ever had?  Working at the schools as an aide.

14. What are your favorite songs?  The only song form I do not like at ALL is Rap, it's just not a music genre to me.  I like everything from Operatic Arias to Hip hop songs, Country Western and Folk Rock.  My favorite songs are ballads from Scotland via the Old Timey music from Hill Country in the Eastern USA.  What my Grandpa and Grandma used to sing.

15. If you could choose any talents to have, what would they be?  Art.  Commercial Art.  It's fun, and it actually PAYS regularly. 

 
 Here is a link  to the rest of the participants in Sunday Stealing for this week.  

Thanks Bev for all your years of hosting this fun meme...

10 comments:

  1. Your garden was beautiful!

    I'm so sorry for the pain you went through with your paternal unit. I have a lot of bad memories of my father, but nothing that bad. My mother let him know early in their marriage that if ever hit her, she would leave, so he just yelled and went into long stony silences.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you Bev. Your mother had a strong sense of self. Though my mother was a strong gal, she was totally isolated out here in California.
      Usually I don't go too deeply into life with the paternal unit, but it has become easier to talk about most of it now that I'm nearly 80 years old. Women should never put up with what my mother or I went through with that odious man. He should have gone to prison.

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  2. I am sorry to read about your dad. My cousin was married to a man like that. I was one of the women that helped her get a way from him. His kids still have issues because of Him. My dad was loving. I did not know you were almost 80. So nice to see you here blogging. My mom died at 75 from Alzheimers and by the time we figured out she had it, it was to late to ask a lot of questions. I like your garden and your honesty!

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    Replies
    1. Thank you, Susan. I hope you have a great week, and enough sunshine 🌞 and Beauty all around you.
      Blogging is a good tool for being able to work things out.
      I’m glad your sister could get away from an abusive husband. Sometimes it takes a village.. (entire family)
      My mom was so isolated, over 2,000 miles away from her sisters and parents, all of whom would have helped her, if they could have.
      I really miss my garden, but sometimes we must accept what we cannot change. It’s gone forever but the pictures are a comfort.

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  3. What a gorgeous garden! That makes me so jealous. Maybe one day I will get it right.
    I agree with you about rap music! Loved your answers! Have a nice day!

    https://lorisbusylife.blogspot.com/

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    Replies
    1. Thanks Lori. I’ll be around soon to read your blog....
      Life is lived one day at a time, and keep working on letting your green thumb carry you through to a great garden one day. I feel you will be able to build one.

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  4. Replies
    1. Love you back!
      Have a great Sunday evening/afternoon, knitting and watching old dramas, with me?

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  5. Beautiful flowers. I have long been aware of your issues with your paternal unit, similar to my own, unfortunately. People like us become resilient because we have to, not because we are. I'm glad you made it so I could meet you!

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    Replies
    1. Thanks about the the begone garden flowers. I really miss that garden. And, yes, we have had this..connection... you and I. True it is that such a thing makes you more resilient once you have your own head on your shoulders again, rather than some Frankenstein Nob put there by abuse and worse.
      I am really glad that we met up. We are cousins through our mothers' line. I'm more convinced of it all the time.
      The Garden: It might happen again in a scaled back way, but it will take some serious "cattle prodding". heehee
      I haven't the muscle mass anymore. I want a builder to come in and put something up. Mr. Z and I are in serious negotiations on that matter.... stay tuned..

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I’m going through some stuff but I will peek in now and then and will be back when it’s over..