Just Rannin' Around

Wednesday, May 24, 2006

Tiny and new

 

We had a new addition to our growing family last night!  My sister had a little baby boy at 11:47 pm.   I am so excited to go home this weekend and meet him.  It also is a great opportunity to start reminding him that I am the favorite aunt!  It has worked with all my other nieces and nephews so far and I don't foresee ever letting that position being filled by anyone else!  Happy day!

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

There is much to be said about being a gentleman.

 

A few months ago I was out with my brother and my two-year-old nephew.  We were going to pick my baby sister up to take her to lunch for her birthday.   My brother was driving.  When we arrived at the mall he walked around the car and opened my door and then the back door to get my nephew out of his car seat.   After getting him out of his car seat, I took my nephew by the hand and we all headed across the street to the mall.  Now most malls have two sets of doors that must be gone through in order to enter the stores.   This mall was no different. 

 

My brother opened the first door for me and would have usually opened the second, but he continued to hold the door for some ladies that were walking in behind us.   However, he looked in and said to my nephew calling him by name, "You hold the door open for your Aunt JRA."  At which my nephew let go of my hand and with all of his two-year-old might tried to open the next door so that I could go through it.   Of course I had to assist in opening the door, but then he leaned his entire body against it and not only held it open for me, but for the ladies behind us.  

 

A few weeks later we were out for my birthday dinner.   We had to wait an hour and a half to be seated at an extremely busy restaurant.   All three of my brothers stood the entire time because they wanted to make sure that any of the women that were waiting had a place to sit.

 

Maybe I am just hyper-sensitive when it comes to noticing when a man treats a woman like a lady, but I find it a very enduring quality and one that either heightens or dashes my opinion of a man.   Women are not completely out of this either because I watch to see how women treat situations when it would be compassionate to hold the door for someone or give up the comfort of her seat for say an elderly person or a pregnant woman.  

 

This is something that I constantly observe, most of the time without really realizing that I am, but that was front and center this last weekend.   Jeje and I had been lucky enough to obtain tickets to see Wicked (which is fabulous beyond words and blogs are in the works) for Friday night.  So we got all dressed up and headed to the subway.  We boarded a crowded train in the T with only standing room available.  Being in dress shoes is not the most comfortable, nor the most convenient way to ride the train standing.   The seats were full of men.  Not one got up to offer a seat to us nor the older people or the pregnant woman that entered later.   I was disgusted.  I couldn't believe that they were either not taught or didn't bother to be gentlemen (again the women were just as bad when it came to letting the latter two have their seats).  

 

My faith was then renewed when we boarded the train later that night on the return home.  The train wasn't nearly as full and we could have found seats if we sat separately, but that would not be necessary.   As we boarded the train six teenage boys immediately stood up and made room for us to sit.  These boys were not wearing sweater vests and carrying their daily planners, they were in jeans riding off their hips that were in danger of falling right off, chains hanging from the pockets, dyed hair and jewelry.   These were boys from which most of society wouldn't expect much, but who knew better than any business man how to be gentlemen in a situation.  They won my respect, admiration, a huge smile and several times a "thank you". 

 

So I just want to repeat to the men that are gentlemen, thank you!  Thank you for holding our doors.  Thank you for giving up your seats.   Thank you letting us feel like we are ladies.  It means the world to most of us.  On a side note, don't let those witches that think that they are too good or above you being polite and a gentlemen make you stop acting in such kind ways, most of us truly appreciate it and you become more attractive to us when we see you do such acts.

Sunday, May 14, 2006

I have been asked several times already if I had a good time in Boston. Let me recap and then each can decide independently.

I got through a bunch of work on Wednesday that I had to complete before taking off for an extended weekend. As the clock ticked down I finally got a second around 12:30 pm to check in on-line with the respective airline upon which I would be flying at 4:30 that same afternoon. I then cleaned up the additional loose ends and at 2:45 headed to the airport. I arrived at the airport around 3:20 and was surprised to find massive amounts of people that I wasn’t expecting and a wait at the security check point. After finally being herded through that entire process I headed to the closest set of monitors to find from which gate I would be leaving. To my dread, my flight that I had just three hours earlier checked in on was showing cancelled.

That wasn’t a huge deal until I checked the time of the next flight going into the connecting city I needed to be at only to discover that it left the airport in which I was standing the exact time that I would have needed to be boarding my connecting flight. Frantically I searched (there are no ticket agents once past security.....a little fact of which I wasn’t aware until that very moment) until I found one lady working to board another flight. I waited patiently until she was finished and then told her my dilemma. I couldn’t help but smile when she knew exactly who I was and said she had been trying to get a hold of me. She then promptly exchanged my ticket for another airline with a non-stop flight that left in 20 minutes. There was nothing but happiness over the excellent service that I received, not to mention that it got me into Boston an hour earlier to boot!

Then the fun began……or at least that is what I thought!

Jeje picked me up on the street corner and only slowed while she hollered for me to get in if I could. I somehow managed to slip into her car and the drive to her residence began. We were talking when we ended up at a street light. I would soon find out that this was no ordinary street light at a T-intersection. My belief on this matter was that the only two logical choices were right or left. The light had a totally different interpretation and when it came on Jeje looked over with a grin and told me to “go to hell”. I was a little shocked at her brashness until I looked at the arrow on the street light that was pointing straight down. I guess she has a certain connection with the city of Boston and rigged the entire thing so that she could finally tell me what she had been feeling for the two years that I have known her.

But oh, it didn’t end there. Since I had been to work all that day and then went straight to the airport only to run into that small problem, I had yet to eat that day. Since my stomach isn’t one to keep quiet about such matters she became aware that I was in need of some nourishment. We were sitting around talking and then around 3:00 am she sent me to bed without dinner right after explaining that she had to go to class that next morning and giving me directions on how to find her the next day for not breakfast, but lunch (did I mention that she sent me in the wrong direction so that I ended up walking twice the distance that I should have in my famished state….well it is true).

The next day after lunch, which I gratefully inhaled, she took me for a walk. This wasn’t any ordinary, just seeing what we find. She had a destination she wanted to show me. It was a cemetery. Not just any cemetery, but a garden cemetery that was absolutely breathtaking in beauty. She took me here so that she could show me that I would never be allowed to be buried in such a place because I was going to hell.

Then……okay, okay so this wasn’t exactly how it all happened and most won’t find it as humorous as the two of us did as one-liners kept coming out of our mouths and this story kept growing larger and larger of her saying and doing really mean things. We honestly had an excellent time and it was really good to see her. We ate amazing food, laughed and talked until way too late, saw an incredible Broadway show, talked to great people and had just an overall fantastic weekend.

Thanks for coming and letting me play!!

Wednesday, May 10, 2006

T minus 4 hours……

 

Boston here I come!

Friday, May 05, 2006

Did you know…….

 

There has been studies done that prove that when you flush the toilet that germs spray about 3 feet.  Either we need to stop flushing or use the safety of that 10-foot pole.   To think that some people don't wash their hands!

Tuesday, May 02, 2006

I haven’t ever been able to get it right.

It is amazing the skills that one can learn just by watching. Never has anyone ever taken me into the kitchen and taught me how to cook. Never has anyone sat down and said taste this and then tell me what ingredients are included. The only thing that I have been able to conclude is that I picked it up by watching women in my life that I truly admire while sitting on the counter discussing life and concerns with them while they were busily involved in preparing meals and treats.

There were so many skills that I learned at the feet of my mom, my grandmothers, my dad, my grandfathers. I watched them work. I watched them play. I watched them love. I took mental notes of the things that I wanted and things that I never wanted to duplicate. I have been enriched through the things that they taught me through observation. There is much to be said about being an example all the time for one can never be sure when one is being watching and by whom.

Realization that there are things that I have now not only observed in the generations preceding me, but in my own siblings which I have yet to accomplish is sometimes extremely discouraging. With every try I give it all that I know how. With every failure, I step back and try to determine which ingredients I am missing in obtaining the right mixture. I have taken out some things and added a little more of this and a dash of that, but still to no avail and I still don’t know what I am missing. I think that I am slowly coming to the conclusion that this is just something that I can’t do right and it is time to stop trying.


 

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