Word Association

This morning I found myself in the fellowship hall having coffee (which I rarely do) and eating a doughnut (something else I rarely do) talking and laughing with a lady whom I rarely talk to.

I had asked her how things were going where she works (the Hall County Board of Education). She spoke of the furloughs that they are required to have this year after Christmas, which led to Christmas gifts and my sister playing a card game of Hand and Foot, to my sister not being able to drive anymore. She commented that some people never learn to drive. I told her that my mother was one of those and how it came about. My oldest sister who was around 17 was attempting to teach her how to drive way back in 1926. I am sure of the date as I was a baby at the time and I was asleep in the back seat of that black, ford, T model car.

As with most new drivers of that era, the gas pedal, clutch and brakes were all difficult concepts to store mentally and activate into their proper functions. Modern cars would have been much easier for my mother. As confusing what to do with her feet caused my mother to suddenly jam on the brakes. I was abruptly awakened in the back seat as I rolled onto the floor and landed on a bed of glass milk bottles. I did not suffer any permanent damage (as far as I know !!!!) but damage did occur as my father was not at all happy with my mother for this incident. He expressed his displeasure by not speaking to her for some days hence. This was discouragement enough for her and also I can image that he kept the car keys in his pocket after that.!!

The laughing with my friend and I came about when I told her that my father had presented my mother with a new car at Christmas !! My friend asked me how she could enjoy that since she did not drive
and I said, "she got to ride in the passenger seat".

It seems true that we tend to give gift to others which we would like to receive. I have to be mindful of that as I tend to want to share my jams and jellies and pickles each year !!

Others at our table had been in the same adult class which we had just left.and We were discussing the conditions under which Joshua and the Israelites possessed the promised land. Someone offered the "eye for an eye" philosophy of the Old Testament. Which made me think that at that time of rugged living perhaps it was the best thing for them to have the rules that they followed. One comment was that "survival of the fittest" perhaps was an unspoken but applicable idea of that time. Someone else said "like the health plan now being considered". This was in reference to negative things being said in the press. Well, it is a good idea to be in charge of one's own health . I believe our government and the health insurance companies are promoting healthy lifestyles for all of us, and the earlier we start the better.

This beings me to a cartoon that came to me via an email. It showed a very old lady sitting in front of a birthday cake with numbered candles on it. The numbers were 101 and each was lit. The lady was bending over to light her cigar on the candles.

So, perhaps living healthy has its own rewards. When you live to a really ripe old age you are free to do whatever the heck you want to do !!!!!