Day Ten - Evening

Today was an interesting day. My husband called me at work, just to see how I was doing. Tentatively, he said, "Your son's okay, just a little slap." Baffled, I thought, "What is he talking about?" Evidently my fourteen year old was called into the disciplinarian's office for inflicting a "purple-nurple" - also known as a "titty-twister" on another child. At first the child laughed - ha, ha. But then my son persisted. Thus, the slap across his face and probably cafeteria duty.

Shortly after, my oldest son (twenty seven) called. "Mom, I need your advise. This lady that was riding in front of me, started slowing down and uhhhhhh, I ran into her. I already called Dad. There wasn't much damage to her car, she just told me to give her $400 and call it even. What should I do?"

So, this is the day and the life of me.....and all of us. Circumstances happen to all of us, whether they are a fault of our own or others. We suffer consequences all the time for others. This is life. How good or bad it is depends upon you.

I was on my way home from, yes you guessed it, another football game, when I passed by a church marquee. Posted on the marquee was a quote from "The Talmud" although in reality it is an undisclosed source. It has been attributed to John F. Kennedy, however, that is not verified. It doesn't matter who said it, it's the message that counts. Posted on the marquee were the following words:

"If not you, who? If not now, when?"

I am reminded of a quote my older brother gave me, when six years ago, I was struggling through this horror trying to figure out if what I was doing was right. He reminded me of British philosopher Edmond Burke's quote:"All that is necessary for evil to succeed is that good men do nothing. "

It is with these two reminders that I proceed. God help me.

There are a few stories that I referenced before that need to be shared. Okay, I already told you about the Old Women Who Lived Under the Street. That's pretty funny. I still think about that when I see reflectors on the street - And you thought I didn't know.

The other memory I have is about driving around at night on the island. The one time I really remember driving around at night was when we went to an INCREDIBLE barbecue on the beach. The first time I ever had escargot was during this barbecue. Why does a word that is pronounced "ESS CAR GO" have a "T" at the end? Try living in Louisiana!!

Anyway, we went to this really cool barbecue on the beach, Jack and all his groupies. There were many Japanese men on the beach. We ate wonderful food and had a great time. One of my friends was fortunate (or unfortunate) enough to acquire a bottle of Suntory whiskey. Well, the rest was history. At least for me. And to this day, I won't touch whiskey, scotch or anything that reminds me of that. But, what I found out later was that since we got drunk, the Japanese men on the beach were not able to do anything to us.  

© Copyright 2009 Janet Calcote Simmons All rights reserved.