Do not spoil what you have

by desiring what you have not;

remember that what you now have

was once among the things you only hoped for.

― Epicurus

Have a question I like to ask.

Never stay around for the answer.

Don’t give a shit really.

The answer is yours.

Somebody asked you

when you were seventeen,

would you be happy with this?

You here now.

Would you be happy?

Somebody asked you

when you were fifty,

would you be happy with this?

You here now.

Would you be happy?

When I was seventeen,

me this today,

can’t say

I wouldn’t have wanted

more.  More.

When I was fifty?

Yeah, sure, no problem.

Happy about who I am.

Lucky.  Blessed.  Grateful.

Whatever the age,

Happy Thanksgiving

to you.

ThanksGiving LeftOvers

November 25, 2012  

For Thanksgiving, my wife and I drove to Osprey, a monied suburb south of Sarasota, to have a holiday dinner with my mother.

Mom lives in a stylish studio apartment in a twelve-story-high old folks’ home.  And, boy-howdy, is she old.  Hell, I’m old, so you can just imagine.

But there is so much life in the old girl still.  Her long-time boyfriend recently dumped her and now she’s on the prowl – albeit slowly with her walker – for a replacement.  The nonagenarian bastard – drives a cream-colored Lexus he basically stole from my mother – dumped Mom for somebody more mobile.  Ironic, huh?

Let’s be honest, for the ladies, pickings are pretty slim at the home. Oddly, the criteria is strikingly similar to those of a teenager, i.e., does he have his driver’s license?

She is also feverish to go Christmas shopping. You might say, she has the NEED TO FEEL SOME MERCHANDISE.  I tried to convince her to wait until mid-January, thereabouts. Prices will be lower. She could care less.

And she has a television. A telephone, too.  You should see the packages that show up.

Waiting until the dining room opens, Mom hands Topaz a gift bag. It’s a plastic steamer. Removes wrinkles in clothes. No woman should be without one. Mom is excited by all the many uses. Turns out it was Buy One, Get One free. Turns out – surprise! – Mom has the same steamer.

“It’s a Joy Mangano design,” Mom informs us proudly. “Women fall to their knees in front of Joy because of her labor-saving inventions.”

I nod approvingly. The wife says, “I can just imagine.”

“All my hangers, Joy designed those,” Mom continues. “When you inherit those hangers, they’ll be as good as new.”

My mother thinks the jewelry channel is “educational.”

Home Shopping Network is “entertaining.”

Can’t help wondering, if parents have tools to control TVs and computers so young children can’t access pornography, why can’t adult children have tools to ensure their parents don’t have shopping channels on speed-dial?

And another thing.  If Mom finds a new boyfriend, just what is she going to do with him?

Guessing their first date will involve a trip to the mall.

“Oh, look!  The mailroom is open!  Catalogs!!”

I give thanks to all those I love and care about.

Give thanks, too, for the memories of loved ones gone, still and forever cherished. 

Mom died a couple years later and I miss her so much.

But, gotta tell ya, those are some pretty sweet hangers.

---