2Words4U

Just Relax

Tue, 6 Apr 2021 13:14:04 -0500

I wish I had written this marvelous poem. I return to it often when I feel stressed or confused. Many of the specifics do NOT apply to my life, but they fit.  
Enjoy.

Full Wheelbarrow

Tue, 10 Nov 2020 18:30:59 -0600

Don't pick up other people's rocks. My wheelbarrow is full.

On SmartBandsters, a Yahoo support group, Jesse Ahroni posted the above line which provoked all sorts of thoughts for me today. Her point was that we all have enough of our own baggage to carry, so we don't need to pick up other people's rocks. If we focus on solving our own problems, we won't have time to worry about someone else's issues.

At some level, I'd like to think that my interest in someone else's problems is a sign of an empathic nature, that I am a genuine, caring human. Truth may be that I am perhaps too eager to find weaknesses in others. If they are flawed, it's OK for me to be flawed.

Example Sentences

Mon, 6 Jul 2020 13:50:13 -0500

So, I am looking up the word “juxtaposition” to include a real definition as I set up this website. And Dictionary.com has an exanded view that offers multiple Example Sentences.

Oh my, what fun!

It is a magical fusion, an unexpected juxtaposition that creates an otherworldly moment.
The ironic juxtaposition of pleasure, cruelty, and a rusting tractor adds a distinctive local flourish.
It's the juxtaposition of the nearby meadow flowers or turquoise lake that sets off the mountains' grandeur.
Juxtaposition of widely divergent musical styles and idioms is nothing new.
And the juxtaposition of soul and country makes it particularly memorable.
There's a lot of people pushing and yelling, and it's a strange juxtaposition between the art of acting and the art of fashion.
The installation concludes with an astonishing juxtaposition.
It's a juxtaposition that accurately reflects his personality.
Juxtaposition will take care of the seemingly non-creative bent of machine intelligence.
Linear time disappears in favor of a poetic meditation upon the object, and within it, a curious juxtaposition of imagery.
But it's the juxtaposition of these things that it's got going for it.

Really?

There is also a kind of magical power to visual juxtapositions -- just putting two images next to each other makes a statement.

Photographic juxtapositions are almost a cliché, but they work.

Too Late

Thu, 4 Jun 2020 18:30:09 -0500

After a week of dreary weather, today was wondrous, bright sunshine, no wind. I wanted to go bicycle riding, but I give up a block from home. My bike’s broken, whether it’s the brakes or gears doesn’t matter. Walking it home, I start crying and I can’t stop.

The most tragic words in life are Too Late.
When I had lapband surgery at 54, I feared it was too late to get my life back.
When I did get healthy, it was too late to have a child, but not too late to return to teaching.
Last summer, it was too late for cosmetic surgery to turn me into a hot babe, but not too late to feel comfortable in my own skin.
At 60, if I want to be a ballerina, it’s probably too late.
And, today, it’s too late to ride my bicycle.

My parents, step-parents, and grandparents are all gone and I know each of them died with some things undone -- and it’s too late for them.

Too late is tragic because one recognizes what might have been, because one must acknowledge lost opportunity; one must be profoundly self-aware.

Everything Matters

Fri, 22 May 2020 18:30:07 -0500

So I am watching an old DVR of an In Plain Sight episode and the recurring theme is "Everything matters." My first instinct is to quibble with the assertion. So, not true, does it really matter whether I have real half-and-half in my coffee, or go for the fat free half-and-half (whatever that really is)?

OK, I like cream in my coffee, but I'll settle for half-and-half -- 9 calories versus 20 calories per cup -- three cups a day -- 365 days a year = 12,000 calories. That matters.

My biggest recent indulgence is a sudden craving I have developed for the large cookies-and-cream milkshake from Chick-fil-A (700 calories) and I'm not even going to do that math.

At a recent conference I attended, the organizers handed me a stamped addressed envelope with a reimbursement form inside and reminded me to mail it as soon as I got home. So, I didn't have to locate the form online, download it, print it, find an envelope, address said envelope, stamp it, and dig all my crumpled receipts out of the bottom of my purse. Just put them in the envelope, fill out and sign the form, and voilà I get my money by the end of the month. Three steps, not ten. That matters.