BEGINNING AGAIN! AND AGAIN! AND AGAIN!…..

I’m getting tired of being part of another beginning PLUS another major historical event. Another silver lining. Another “pony in a pile of shit”. I am shocked, scared for my family and friends, disgusted, too old to fight the fight it is going to require from my attorney colleagues and friends and family. And I will never forgive or forget the pushers of lies. Lies have consequences. Seriously, I am holding my breath – a lot.

So at night , when I settle in front of the television, I ask myself, “Do I want to watch something or do I watch the News. So, as a result, I have been watching old comedies on my Eurobox under the category “Movies Comedy” for several nights.  Not this week. Only news. So far, I have seen eight of my all-time favorites and Stephen Colbert on YouTube.  Plus I am on the edge of my seat, watching International News. As soon as I go though ones I like, I will move on to Netflix. What have I seen, you ask?  First, a bit of foundation…….

France is still in lockdown with a lot of sick people out there.  My country (USA) is self-sabotaging “in plain sight”!  We have all been worried about my “state of mind”. Myself, included. SO, my friend Cy told me on December 27^th that I need to laugh for mental therapy, and my friend Peggy keeps sending me funnies – some of which, I think, are really funny. I am trying to laugh more.  I am trying to laugh out loud.  I need my brain to have fun.  Seriously, I am working on my brain – as well as my attitude, my depression, my appetite, wine, and on and on. I think it is working!  I am getting thinner, drinking mineral water and lime.  And, I feel better when I start the day. YES!!

I have now seen Birdcage, My Best Friend’s Wedding, Steel Magnolias, When Harry Met Sally, Diary of a Princess, Working Girl, Dead Poet’s Society, and Mrs. Doubtfire.  So, I am now laughing out loud at Stephen Colbert’s jokes. That is progress for me.  I tend to find the pony – BUT, after finding LOTS of shit.  I have a sense of humor, but I think a lot of silliness is stupid and different from laughing at stunts in movies.  I did not like the three stooges or Charlie Chaplin or the Marx Brothers.  Comedies today are offensive and not funny to me.  Most sitcoms are not funny to me.  So, I find myself hard to make laugh without “trying”.  And, it all becomes very “trying”.   

These are my favorites of Peggy’s Funnies:

“Ate salad for dinner. Mostly croutons and tomatoes. Really just one big round crouton covered with tomato sauce, and cheese.  FINE, it was a pizza…. OK, I ate a pizza!  Are you happy now?”

“How to prepare Tofu:

     a. Throw it in the trash
     b. Grill some meat, chicken or fish”

“I don’t mean to brag, but I finished my 14-day diet food supply in 3 hours and 20 minutes.”

“I may not be that funny or athletic or good looking or smart or talented.  I forgot where I was going with this.”

“A thief broke into my house last night.  He started searching for money so I got up and searched with him.”

“Just remember, once you’re over the hill you begin to pick up speed.”

“Having plans sounds like a good idea until you have to put on clothes and leave the house.”

“When I was a kid I wanted to be older…this is not what I expected.”

“If you can’t think of a word say “I forgot the English word for it.”  That way people will think you’re bilingual instead of an idiot.”

“I’m at a place in my life where errands are starting to count as going out.”

“Cronacoaster: noun; the ups and downs of a pandemic.  One day you’re loving your bubble, doing work outs, baking banana bread and going for long walks and the next you’re crying, drinking gin for breakfast and missing people you don’t even like.”

“I don’t always go the extra mile, but when I do it’s because I missed my bus stop.”

“You don’t realize how old you are until you sit on the floor and then try to get back up.”

Then, just some food for thought,

And some images that I can’t get out of my mind:

SO, I have no words of wisdom. Just some things to think about. And a poem I love:

On the day when

The weight deadens

On your shoulders

And you stumble,

May the clay dance

To balance you.

And when your eyes

Freeze behind

The grey window

And the ghost of loss

Gets in to you,

May a flock of colours,

Indigo, red, green,

And azure blue,

Come to awaken in you

A meadow of delight.

When the canvas frays

In the currach of thought

And a stain of ocean

Blackens beneath you,

May there come across the waters

A path of yellow moonlight

To bring you safely home.

May the nourishment of the earth be yours,

May the clarity of light be yours,

May the fluency of the ocean be yours,

May the protection of the ancestors be yours.

And so may a slow

Wind work these words

Of love around you,

An invisible cloak

To mind your life.

By John O’Donohue

Peace, Jay