Amalia bought me this Grumpy mug at Disneyland -- I can't imagine why!
So while I was running a program on my computer at work I took this photo of myself and the Grumpy mug with my cell phone and sent it to her, saying "I love my Grumpy mug!"
Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Two Grumpy mugs!
Amalia bought me this Grumpy mug at Disneyland -- I can't imagine why!
So while I was running a program on my computer at work I took this photo of myself and the Grumpy mug with my cell phone and sent it to her, saying "I love my Grumpy mug!"
What a day...
My mom had Jordie take her to the walk-in clinic at Internal Medicine Associates Friday morning for bronchitis. Just as luck would have it, the doctor staffing the walk-in was Rebecca Cohen, my mom's new doctor, who she likes very much. Rebecca sent her to the hospital because of an irregular heartbeat. So, Mom was in the hospital all weekend -- they said she had pneumonia and had had a minor heart attack. She got a stent Monday morning.
Jordie was going to stay at the hopital with mom, so I took the opportunity in the late morning to go to work for a couple of hours. As I left, I pulled into Starbucks to get coffee. Flat tire. Really flat. AAA doesn't come unless one is able to be there with the car. And I had to get to the hospital to be with Mom.
So, Jordie came, picked me up and dropped me off at the hospital. (The nice clerk at Starbucks gave me my coffee for free when I explained about the car sitting there.)
The kids have been so great. Amalia calls my mom every day, and calls me to check in. That means a lot. And it cheers my mom up so much to kid around with her.
Then, Adam finished an exam, went to our house to pick up his AAA card, went to Starbucks and hung out until the car was fixed, then came to the hospital and visited, then took me to my car.
Abby got out of school and called me. I explained that I could not pick her up because at the time, I had no car. She said she would figure it out. She took the city bus, got a transfer, and asked what bus to take to get to the hospital. So she walked in and hung out and did her homework while we hung out with Mom.
And Jordie -- well, it's sufficient to say that my mom says about 10 times a day how lucky I am to have a husband like him.
Jordie was going to stay at the hopital with mom, so I took the opportunity in the late morning to go to work for a couple of hours. As I left, I pulled into Starbucks to get coffee. Flat tire. Really flat. AAA doesn't come unless one is able to be there with the car. And I had to get to the hospital to be with Mom.
So, Jordie came, picked me up and dropped me off at the hospital. (The nice clerk at Starbucks gave me my coffee for free when I explained about the car sitting there.)
The kids have been so great. Amalia calls my mom every day, and calls me to check in. That means a lot. And it cheers my mom up so much to kid around with her.
Then, Adam finished an exam, went to our house to pick up his AAA card, went to Starbucks and hung out until the car was fixed, then came to the hospital and visited, then took me to my car.
Abby got out of school and called me. I explained that I could not pick her up because at the time, I had no car. She said she would figure it out. She took the city bus, got a transfer, and asked what bus to take to get to the hospital. So she walked in and hung out and did her homework while we hung out with Mom.
And Jordie -- well, it's sufficient to say that my mom says about 10 times a day how lucky I am to have a husband like him.
Lynne's column about Mary
Two really funny people died recently. Art Buchwald was one. As much as I liked his witty political and social satire, I was really moved by his decision, along with friends Mike Wallace and William Styron, to be public about each of their battles with depression.
The ability to share one’s biggest problems, most threatening experiences, is a gift to others.
Which makes me think of the other funny person – Mary Catherine Webster -- my friend since our freshman days at Forest Quad in 1972. An Irish wit and storyteller, she attracted friends like a magnet.
We took several Religious Studies classes together during our years at IU, each on a quest to find our spiritual home. Eventually, she changed from her childhood Catholicism to Episcopalianism. I converted to Judaism. We often spoke of what a favorite religion professor, Anne Carr, had said: that the kind of questions you’re asking are more important than the answers you think you’ve found at any given time.
I think our friendship endured because we were always asking the same kinds of questions. And, if we had talked a week ago or a month ago, our conversations never failed to illuminate the important things -- where we were going, what we had learned, our goals, our hopes -- sometimes, our weaknesses. And always with laughter.
When I visited Mary last fall, I spent Sunday morning at Grace Church in Colorado Springs, watching her as she worked with teachers and students in her job as Director of Religious Education there. (We joked about how well she had put that degree in Religious Studies to use!)
In January, as she began a workshop for her Sunday School teachers, she prayed: “Thine is the kingdom and the power and glory” before she became too short of breath to continue. She did not survive a massive heart attack that day.
For Mary, interest in politics and thoughtfulness about material goods and charitable giving was a natural extension of her spiritual life. To observe her 50th birthday a couple of years ago, she wrote a letter to women friends asking them to contribute to charity instead of a gift; and began a course of study which would have resulted in her becoming a lay deacon of the Episcopal Church, a role in which ministering individually to people plays a big part.
How does thinking of Mary Catherine Webster connect to Art Buchwald, besides their ability to make life more colorful by the stories they told?
During our sophomore year in college, I was very, very depressed – enough to skip a couple weeks of class, weeping, feeling sorry for myself, wrapped in my wounded pride.
Mary was the friend who called and said “I love you and I want to be friends forever. But if you don’t call today and get yourself into some counseling, our friendship is over.”
I got the counseling. It changed my thinking. It gave me the tools to recognize, later in life, when I again needed some help.
Just as Art Buchwald called Mike Wallace every night when Wallace was on the road, helping him to make it through his depression, Mary was the one who gave me the push to make it through mine.
She would have made a great deacon.
Lynne Foster Shifriss is assistant to the editor of The Herald-Times.
Note: A favorite book of mine is “Seems Like Yesterday,” by Ann McGarry Buchwald, about their romance and lives together in Paris in the ’50s. You can find used copies on Amazon.
The ability to share one’s biggest problems, most threatening experiences, is a gift to others.
Which makes me think of the other funny person – Mary Catherine Webster -- my friend since our freshman days at Forest Quad in 1972. An Irish wit and storyteller, she attracted friends like a magnet.
We took several Religious Studies classes together during our years at IU, each on a quest to find our spiritual home. Eventually, she changed from her childhood Catholicism to Episcopalianism. I converted to Judaism. We often spoke of what a favorite religion professor, Anne Carr, had said: that the kind of questions you’re asking are more important than the answers you think you’ve found at any given time.
I think our friendship endured because we were always asking the same kinds of questions. And, if we had talked a week ago or a month ago, our conversations never failed to illuminate the important things -- where we were going, what we had learned, our goals, our hopes -- sometimes, our weaknesses. And always with laughter.
When I visited Mary last fall, I spent Sunday morning at Grace Church in Colorado Springs, watching her as she worked with teachers and students in her job as Director of Religious Education there. (We joked about how well she had put that degree in Religious Studies to use!)
In January, as she began a workshop for her Sunday School teachers, she prayed: “Thine is the kingdom and the power and glory” before she became too short of breath to continue. She did not survive a massive heart attack that day.
For Mary, interest in politics and thoughtfulness about material goods and charitable giving was a natural extension of her spiritual life. To observe her 50th birthday a couple of years ago, she wrote a letter to women friends asking them to contribute to charity instead of a gift; and began a course of study which would have resulted in her becoming a lay deacon of the Episcopal Church, a role in which ministering individually to people plays a big part.
How does thinking of Mary Catherine Webster connect to Art Buchwald, besides their ability to make life more colorful by the stories they told?
During our sophomore year in college, I was very, very depressed – enough to skip a couple weeks of class, weeping, feeling sorry for myself, wrapped in my wounded pride.
Mary was the friend who called and said “I love you and I want to be friends forever. But if you don’t call today and get yourself into some counseling, our friendship is over.”
I got the counseling. It changed my thinking. It gave me the tools to recognize, later in life, when I again needed some help.
Just as Art Buchwald called Mike Wallace every night when Wallace was on the road, helping him to make it through his depression, Mary was the one who gave me the push to make it through mine.
She would have made a great deacon.
Lynne Foster Shifriss is assistant to the editor of The Herald-Times.
Note: A favorite book of mine is “Seems Like Yesterday,” by Ann McGarry Buchwald, about their romance and lives together in Paris in the ’50s. You can find used copies on Amazon.
Wednesday, February 14, 2007
Just life
Fairyland: the ice sparkling in treetops
View from Lynne's window at home
New blouse, bought last week at Chico's at the outlet mall north of Malibu -- originally $88, and I got it for $8.95, and it perfectly goes with my rust tank dress!
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