Teenagers

In these days people complain how much teenagers eat. I remember my son. We joked he will eat us out of the house. In one year he grew eight inches. "He isn't so bad. It's girls." Time to build bones, time to grow muscles. Eat. We have to eat. Copyright (c) Marie Neumann Pottsville, 11/11/2010

Art of shopping

Til' today I was thinking, that shopping is about spending money, killing time, and about getting "five minutes pleasure", when you buy something, what you like, usually clothes, perfume, jewelry, or a nice scarf. I go shopping because I have to, usually with a list of items we need: groceries, detergents and cleaning needs. Of course I forget shopping list at home and have to buy from memory, and I am not talking about coupons, which are still resting in a box on the top of a fridge..\br Today I went to buy a chair for a desk. My idea was to get to the store, grab the chair, pay for it, and get out. Wrong! I found six bars of a soap on a dollar table, and not a single chair suitable for the desk. The soap was for regular price. Somebody just put it there.\br My friend goes shopping every day. She comes home with practical things like economical and highly efficient vacuum cleaner, energy saving bulbs, and the lamps spreading nice, soft circle of a light in the evenings. She knows how to systematically build inviting, cozy, and comfortable home. I don't. I am rumbling about spending money. She just wants to be comfortable.\br My room is a mess. Papers, which should be discarded a long time ago, are lying everywhere, and of course, collect dust. Nobody wants to come to sit in my room. It is not inviting. I create chaos. She builds home.\br Copyright (c) Marie Neumann Pottsville, PA (not that in Texas). 11/9/2012

Celebration

I met them at the meeting: grandmother, mother and daughter with her own children. There were four generations of women coming. Mother was ill and still coming to help others. Mother was dying. There was a funeral. I didn't come, because I overlooked a notice in the paper. I didn't go, because I hate funerals and forgot to come for the living. After the funeral I asked: how was the funeral? "We celebrated her life." Copyright (c) Marie Neumann Pottsville, 11/1/2012