Month: November 2012

Requiem For Larry Hagman

The television show Dallas was on in the hospital room while I was laboring with my second child, and my husband and the doc were engrossed in it while I pushed, shoved, and said lots of bad things.

My daughter was born on a  Friday night, and, except for this night when I was a little distracted,  Dallas was my Friday night ritual for the astonishing 13 years  (1978-1991) it was on TV.

And who was the pivotal character in this soap of soaps, and the first on prime time? J.R. Ewing, aka Larry Hagman.

Dallas was a Baby Boomer creation, and for those fabulous 13 years, Larry was an iconic symbol of Baby Boomer life, good and bad.

Now Larry is gone, and for some reason, his passing has struck me intensely. It is the end of an era – the end of a hard-drinking, chain-smoking, wild partying time where we did all bad things to our bodies but had a hell of a time in the process.

The healthy ways came too late for you, Larry. Now it’s done. Rest in peace. You will be missed…

A Robin in the Road on Thanksgiving Day!

I am thankful.

I am thankful for this spectacularly warm and sunny day!

I am thankful that my daughter has healed.

I am thankful that my son perseveres despite a challenging business environment – J. D. – you will overcome!

I am thankful for my partner, who through his deafness has taught me to communicate in ways I never thought possible. I am thankful to have him next to me each night. I am not thankful for his snoring!

I am thankful that my “sort-of-stepson” is now finding his way.

I am thankful for friends – new and old.

I am thankful that as I sit here typing away, my cockatiels happily flap their wings and sing “Yankee Doodle” in rhythm to the clicking keys.

I am thankful for the rambunctious, never-ending joy brought to me by my three Boston Terriers who are actually asleep at my feet as I write.

I am thankful for my dear old, reliable steed, Buzzy who takes good care of me as we amble about through country fields and woods, just the two of us.

I am thankful!

Bell Phones, Cell Phones, Lock Me Up In Jail Phones

I have this “thing” about cell phones and when I came upon this article where the author discusses her “love-hate” relationship with cell phones and her disdain for the 24/7 connection thing, I had to share it.

Unless I am going out at night, or driving in winter or other bad conditions, I often “forget” or leave my cell phone at home. I am not a “texter,” and I just don’t like talking on the phone – be it land, cell, or otherwise.  My kids can’t imagine how anyone could be without their cell phone, and even my 88 year old father gets snarky when he can’t reach me – but this is a broader tale for another day.

Anyway, I go back to the times when the phone was this black thing sans dial that you picked up, pressed down on the cradle a few times until an operator came on and asked for the number you were trying to call. If you didn’t know it, no problem, who were you trying to reach? This was all a bit intimating for a 5-year-old, and soon after, the technology evolved to the rotary dials, and then you know the rest of it.

This is how I feel about it: my life belongs to me, not to a serenading, tweeting, whistling device that is with me 24/7. (Yes, my daughter even takes hers to bed with her).  When I want to speak with someone (text them – not), I will. Otherwise, I won’t.

I guess I wonder how this permanent tethering will affect us all. I think of the movie “Wall-E” where the humans talk 24/7 on video-phones with bodies that have become so atrophied they can’t even walk, all the while missing everything and anything around them.