@Gloria Mitchell Truly a reminiscence worth sharing! I enjoyed it greatly, and laughed heartily over the "A-hole" who so reminded me of my own similar experiences! In 1992, we lived in Phoenix, and I had been writing to my Dad's kid brother, my Uncle Jim, who was the last surviving of the five; he lived up in Wisconsin. I flew to Chicago Midway Airport, intending to go see my sister, who lived in nearby Brookfield, and drive up to Wisconsin. Upon landing, I called her from the airport; we had not seen each other since our mother died in 1986. Surprised to hear my voice, she said, "Where are you?" I told her, Midway. Next words out of her mouth, I could not believe! "How many n**gers do you see?" I could not answer at all. Frank
Have had many thoughts today about the past, unfortunately the noise from upstairs is driving me crazy - maybe later.
I woke up this morning thinking about the thread I started, and it reminded me of a a not so distance past. I miss the past from on the forum, when there felt like there was more happiness being spread around. The Good Morning thread, to name one. Many of us miss some of the people who use to be on the forum, that we lost for one reason or the other. Maybe they were the spreaders of joy in the forum? I just remember being eager to hop on the forum and read all the thread titles, and felt more compelled to put in my two cents worth. You could feel the compassion and happiness with the words they shred with each of us everyday. Yes, there were some anger moments, and hurt feelings but always seemed to clear up quickly. Just not getting that warm and fuzzy feeling from the forum lately. Please do not beat me up for sharing how I feel about the forum now. I am not the only one who feels this way. How do we fix this? I do not know, but I will be trying myself to spread a bit more cheer. Maybe there is just so much that has happened in the world and our own lives over the last few years that we have forgotten how to be happy with what good there is left.
I think it's the world we live in today. Just a few years ago there was still some positive things to talk about, now not so much. I guess we just have to try harder. I say I'm staying away from politics then I go right back into them.. I'm working on it but its not working, yet.
I do not want to be too chirpy as a lot of people on here are having such difficulties. I see humor in most things and I have been enjoying the cute pix and memes and posts about personal stuff... I am not sure what joy was spread in the past. Haven't been here that long. The country is hitting a speed bump and the future is uncertain. But good things are where one finds them. The weather, cute animals and our pets, projects we are doing. I know I stop by many times a day just to get a fix.
I have seen an increase of these giant swallowtails around my house on my red monarda. They are very noticeable because they flutter their wings while on the flowers. Most of the butterflies we have just sit their and drink. There ARE some wonderful things going on in the world now too. But we don't see them for all the fear. When I was down in the middle of nowhere Ohio for our family reunion last week, we went to a park of caves and it was just after a rain. The place was INFESTED with butterflies, mostly yellow tigers. It was as if we were in an old Disney movie. Wonderful.
I've noticed several here also. nNot sure what kind because they won't stop fluttering long enough for me to zoom in. They are very big butterflies though. And of course, we have the solid yellow ones all the time although not quite as many as last year. Is that the Uncle Remus movie with the butterfly's , singing Zippidy Do Dah? I love that movie.
G--it seems like the whole world is angry and rude these days, so it just bleeds over into our everyday lives. At this stage of life it's hard to resist looking back and reminiscing about how things used to be, in so many things. I'll admit that I don't feel as good physically anymore; too many aches and pains and physical limitations make me crabby and resentful. My patience with things is very limited and I don't bother tempering my speech much anymore. When I consider it, I don't believe people in general have changed much at all. We just get to see it and hear it now that the entire world is "online".
Beth there seems to be more violence and anger now though. I don't recall any time in my life where there were so many arrows pointed at the typical American conservatives. I sure have not witnessed so much blatant crime and destruction like the burning, killing and looting going on past couple years. Much less seen law enforcement being made to just stand and watch. Many cops are leaving the force and recruitment is lowest ever now. And like you insinuated, seems nothing we can do about it.