Category: Somewhat Current Events

My plan for this week’s blog was to tell you about my first trip ever to Florida. For the past few months, my BFF Pat and I have made plans to visit Navarre Beach for a get-away during the off season. We were to leave home last Thursday, drive halfway and check in Friday for a week in the sand and the sun.

On Wednesday, we began hearing about a blustery female named Karen, scheduled to blow into town about the time we would be arriving.  Reports were that Karen had a volatile disposition and no one knew quite what to expect of her. We began to think there might not be enough room on that small island for all of us.

We were in a maelstrom of indecision. Should we continue with our plans and risk the onslaught of her tempestuous behavior?  Emotions flooded as we looked at what promised to be a turbulent relationship with this unstable Karen.

Finally, we were advised by the owners of the condo to change our plans. Most people were leaving the island, just to avoid Karen.

We did not want to cancel our vacation all together, so we headed north to Eureka Springs. There was no whirlwind of activity to greet us… just a couple of inches of rain and a gathering of a Corvette club.

Our “plan B” has turned out wonderfully. My BFF and I were able to book the last two rooms at the Writers Colony at Dairy Hollow.  The get-away has been filled with reading, writing, napping, and doing nothing.

By Sunday, Karen was stand-offish and depressed. Probably a little huffy because things worked out so well for us.

Pat called it: Serendipity.

The young adults born between 1980 and 2000 are sometimes called Gen-xers, sometimes Millennials. They are already making their mark in the world. According to the latest census, they out number Boomers by several million.

As generations before have initiated the over-use of the word “like” and “go” and “you know” (expressions that are still around) perhaps the Millennials are responsible for the over-use of “so.” You know, as in “I’m so not going to do that.” Or they go, “I’m looking so forward to that.” Or they are all like, “That is so over.”

The last comment is appropriate, because with this group has also come the electronic age and changes in the way we all live. Just recently, AARP the magazine printed a list of trends that, as the next generation matures, will be so over.

1. Driving – Gen-xers drive about 25% less that their counterparts did 8 years ago. Many who live in cities don’t even own cars. They use public transportation and rent a car for road trips.

2. Using a land line.  Most sleep with their cell phones at their side. When they move away from their parents’ home, they tend to continue to rely on the cell and never invest in a land line. This is a trend I have seen in all demographics. Why pay for two telephones?

3. Eating a drumstick. Quoting AARP, “KFC fears that Generation McNugget doesn’t understand old-school chicken with bones. The fix: buckets of boneless chicken.”

4. Buying a house. Only 18 percent of the 18-34 age group say owning their own home is majorly important to them.

5.  Keeping your salary secret. Millennials ignore the office taboo — or social taboo — of discussing salary. This was considered ill-mannered (still a word) when I was growing up. People thought if you talked about salary you were either bragging or complaining.

6. Taking care of the planet. Sadly many, many millennials do not make any personal effort to help the environment.

Despite the attention given the importance of saving for retirement or a rainy day, most of the younger generation are either not convinced or simply can’t. Median net worth of Americans under 35 is now $3662. That the value of a high-mileage used car.

So, I’ll say to our future leaders and decision makers, “Have fun.”  Just remember, there will always be a new operating system, an upgrade, a later model.  One day your favorite app will go the way of 8-track tapes. A gadget that made your life enjoyable will be so over.

A few years ago I answered a Facebook survey about acting and one of the questions was, “Have you ever had a role written especially for you?” I answered “No”, of course, thinking that was something that would never happen to me in my community theater career.  But, as life has a way of bringing surprises, it has happened.

My friend, Rhonda Roberts, member of my critique group and a regular contributor to Highlights for Children magazine, won Second Place Award in the Center on the Square one-act play contest last May. The award brought with it an invitation to have her play, No, Not Really, be a part of the theater’s Dessert Double Feature, a production of two one-act plays with a dessert bar.

It was then that Rhonda told me, “All the time I was writing this, I was thinking of you … how you would say a particular line.” Then she asked me to play the part of Alice, an aging mom who is showing signs of confusion and instability. When confronted, Alice tries to cover her mistakes by changing the subject, making a smart quip, or telling a long story.

This play is funny, but with some poignant moments. I love this role because it gives me room to stretch.  I’m afraid that as I have aged I have been type-cast as a feisty old lady.  I have loved the roles that gave me an opportunity to be more (The Dining Room, Lost in Yonkers, The Women).

Rhonda did a great job on this script bringing out the feelings on both sides of the issue. She is playing the part of Alice’s daughter, Katelyn.  Acting opposite a good friend can either cement or destroy a relationship. As to how that is working out, in the words of my character, Alice, “Everything is just fine, thank you very much.”

Three more performances next weekend, July 26, 27, 28. For ticket information visit the theater website www.centeronthesquare.org

Moore, Oklahoma, was my “home town” for 14 years. We moved there in the Sixties, during a housing boom. Just across the Canadian River from Oklahoma City (and into another county), Moore was a small town affected by the white flight and various transitions of that decade. The population rose so rapidly from 1960-1970, that the city fathers called for a special census in order to adjust their school tax base.

The first year we lived in Moore, we bought our children’s text books and the PTA organized a used book program. Those who could afford it were encouraged to donate their used texts to the system.  At one point, the largest employer – the entity that employed the most people – was the Moore Public Schools.  You might say Moore’s GNP was children.

I loved that. And one of the main reasons we moved to Moore was that Moore High School’s Homecoming Queen was not the banker’s daughter or a teacher’s kid (not that there’s anything wrong with that).  But that year Miss MHS’ dad was a school custodian and her mother worked at the Methodist Day Care Center.

Moore, called a blue collar suburb, retained it’s small town charm into the Seventies when it had grown from 2,000 to 25,000. From all reports of the past week, little has changed even now that 55,000 live there.

Yes, there was a tornado in Moore while I lived there. An F1-or-2 hit a mobile home park a couple of miles from our house. A baby died. We suffered broken car windows and found a piece of McDonalds’ sign in our yard. We cried and prayed and did what we could for those who lost their homes.

Last week, May 20, an early post on facebook said “Shelter and help at First United Methodist on Main Street.” Of course. The church I attended. Where I grew as a Christian. Where I worked and where three of my children stood at the altar and accepted Christ. Of course my church family would be some of the first to help.

In January, 1999, a tornado took the house in Beebe, AR that had been my parents’ last home. Memories of Holidays spent there, grandkids picking up pecans under the big tree, enjoying visits with Grammy and Poppy.

Then in May, 1999, a storm took the house in Moore where my children had grown up. Where we hosted ‘afterglow’ for the UMYF, I sewed prom dresses and cheerleaders practiced tumbles.

When I was able to visit these towns, months after the events, I could hardly find the spot where the houses had been because even the landmarks were gone. The tornadoes had taken everything. Or had they?

As we heard repeatedly this week:  We haven’t lost everything. We still have family, friends … and memories.

May is “Motorcycle Awareness Month” in Arkansas. You’ve heard the public service announcement, “Look twice and save a life.”  Then the more graphic one on the radio:

“You look to the right, all clear. You look to the left, all clear. Then you pull out. KAPOW!!  Look twice.”

Ohmigosh. Where did you come from? How did you reach the intersection in the time it took for my head to do a 180?

Now, I am willing to look as many times as needed to avoid hitting a cycle. I had a near miss several years ago and still remember it vividly. It was the late Seventies, but I was driving a 1963 Buick LeSabre. (FYI, those cars were made of steel.)  Cruising through a residential neighborhood looking for an address, I had my eyes off the road occasionally, but was still watchful for the cars parked in the street. As I rounded a sweeping curve, I met a motorcyclist.

Neither of us was traveling very fast, thankyoulord.  His bike ended up under the front end of my car and he on his hands and knees a foot or so away. We were able to extricate his bike and go our separate ways none the worse for wear, other than my heart rate and blood pressure.

Oh yes, I’m in favor of motorcycle awareness and safety and I will do what I can to be a part of that. But can we make a pact? I’ll do my share and  you’ll do yours.  While I watch out for you, snapping my head this way and that as many times as I need to, will you do a couple of solids for me?

1. Wear a helmet. I know it’s all part of the macho scene, riding along with bugs in your face and wind whipping your hair. But, I’ve ridden in the back seat of a convertible and that hair whipping thing isn’t all that much fun. And they make some real cool headgear… Oh, just wear a helmet.

2. Signal when you change lanes. I know this is a lot of trouble when one changes lanes as often as you do but, seriously, I need a little heads up on where you plan to be.

3. Choose an appropriate spot to hang out. Okay. I’m trying to make positive statements here but basically this means: Don’t ride in my blind spot. I know I should check my blind spot before I change lanes but let’s not play hide and seek. Not at 70 mph.

I imagine everyone reading this knows and possibly loves someone who owns a motorcycle. You are wonderful people who do kind things as groups and individually.  We want you to stick around for a long time.