just to clarify about old people, and maybe i should be more ZEN about them.

on the old people thing. i should clarify. i don't hate all old people.

i like nice old people. the kind that smile, and chat, and are nice and flirt with babies.

i like older people that need help walking sometimes, that might need help being taken care of. and old people that give gifts. even old people that are lonely (i am very nice to my weird neighbor lady!).

i REALLY like older people that are nice.

and sometimes i like the older people that are related , and kind of rude just because they are funny. i like it best when they aren't actually rude to me. but other people. i can totally see the humor in that.

~~

NOW my grandpa though was a character. HILARIOUS!

my grandpa was 100. and drove well into his 99th year.

He loved to travel and tour around, and one time he wanted to go on a road trip. he lived in YUMA and he came up and picked me up in Mesa to go with him.(i didn't have a job that summer that i was 19) so i went and toured with him to all of the national parks in Northern AZ and southern UTAH. in 4 days.

and by tour i mean we went, hit the gift shop and bought the book that went with that national park, then we drove around looking at the close view points, and moved on!

his favorite phrase was "we are burning daylight" meaning we had to get up before 7 am . eat instant oatmeal in the hotel room. and get going.

then if i tried to read or nap? on our all day long drives with stops here and there?

he'd say, "you are missing the scenery!"

and i was virtually silent for the whole 4 days. and if you know me that is SAYING SOMETHING. I'm a talker. even if you don't know me in real life you know i have tons to say always. and i was SILENT for 4 days straight.

best part was he slept TOTALLY NUDE! wrinkly OLD 96 year old man NUDE! he'd wear a robe to bed, then strip. but HOLY CRAP! i was naive. and HORRIFIED, and the first time i was writing a letter to a friend, and i was DYING! I'm sure that letter was hilarious. imagine WRINKLY SKINNY OLD MAN NUDE. scarred for life i tell you.

and his driving. that's right, he drove almost the whole time. he was pretty scary. once he backed into a car, then drove away! he was the crazy old fogey! i was horrified. but you couldn't correct him. NO none of that!

i recall holding on for dear life to the oh crap handle, while he's driving 75 on some highway in UT with sheer drops on my side. i'd always mentally take note of where his cell phone was just in case we crashed and i needed to call for help. (this was before Onstar!) and i was LIVING IN FEAR!

HOLY MOLY!

but it was oddly delightful. i learned all sorts of interesting things from him, including but not limited to, the Asian war camps during world war II . Artificial insemination in Cattle, and how to tell if they are pregnant(arm up the A$$). Cotton farming. the change from horse and buggy to cars ,airplanes.(he owned a Model T and sold it to upgrade.he always had to have the latest and greatest) to his obsession with all new technology.

a couple years before this , lightening burned his house down, when a palm tree got hit by lightening.catching fire and spreading to his house.

he rebuilt, and was determined to replace his VAST COLLECTION OF CRAP. i mean collectibles. including fossils, Kachinas, Navajo rugs, and pottery. among other things. and that includes every freaking kitchen appliance available in Yuma AZ. and whatever else he wanted.

he bought me my own chunk of petrified wood, like 11 guide/picture books. a Navajo wedding vase, and some other stuff.

i feel a little bad i made him rush to take me home and missing the other side of the grand canyon on the last day. i had a date, so i wanted to go home instead of staying another night in flagstaff. and then the guy stood me up. but man i was TIRED of being silent. i couldn't get a word in.

but really i'm grateful for the experience, and the time i got to spend with him. the memories and stories will last forever. and the cackles at the family parties when we think about my trip with Grandpa Jones are HILARIOUS!

his little sister is still alive. she's 104.

i told my mom about my day at dinner. still livid. flustered and CRANKY!

then, my liberty told me about this story ...she'd read at grandma's house, about my great aunt.

(my sister posted it today on her private blog, so i snaked it! hee hee)since i couldn't link. here you go!

A story told by My Great Aunt, Lolita Alice Olaine

My Great Aunt is 104 years old. On her birthday my uncle Rolly went to visit her and wrote down what she had to say. This is her story.

"After celebrating my 100th birthday I told God that it was time to take me to heaven. Instead of seeing Heaven when I opened my eyes the next morning I saw my bedroom. God did come to me though. He told me that it wasn't time yet because I still had to do something. God didn't tell me what to do but I knew that He wouldn't take me to heaven until I had fulfilled His wish. What was it that God wanted me to do? I wonder. So, for the next four years I thought of what I might do to please God. What good deed would it be?

My philosophy of life is to be cheerful, not complain about my aches and pains, and pass on to others the joys of living - a "pay it forward" way of looking at life. I'm sure that God approves.

There was a man who sat on a bench in the hallway where I live, at Lytton Gardens, who never smiled. Everyone who walked by this poor man called him Mr. Pickle Puss because he had a pickle puss expression. Mr. Pickle Puss would never acknowledge anyone and never changed his expression. He just sat in the same place and looked sad. One day I walked up to Mr. Pickle Puss and in a cheerful voice said, "Good morning. Isn't this a beautiful day?" Mr. Pickle Puss looked up with a puzzled look on his face, then broke into a little smile, but said nothing. I asked him how he was feeling. With another little smile he softly said that he was fine, but then asked, why did I want to know how he felt. He said that he didn't think anyone cared how he felt. I assured Mr. Pickle Puss that people do care if only he would say "Hello, How are you?"

I said, "Try it." The next time someone passes by, smile, say good morning or good afternoon, and ask how they're feeling. "Someone is coming now, smile, say hello, how are you? - and see what happens." As a man in the hall approached Mr. Pickle Puss he smiled, said good day and how are you. The man paused and said Hello. "I'm Mr. so and so and it's nice to meet you. I'm on my way to do a chore right now, but when I come back I would like to stop and talk. It's nice meeting you."

I said to Mr. Pickle Puss, "See how easy that was? People are friendly and would like to talk to you." "Here comes a lady. Be friendly, say hello and see what happens." Again, the lady stopped, said hello, and told Mr. Pickle Puss that she would very much like to talk to him when she got back from her meeting.

Time after time, Mr. Pickle Puss said hello, shook hands, and got to know the people who walked down the hall every day. In fact Mr. Pickle Puss wasn't a pickle puss at all. After I showed him how to smile and greet people, he was a warm and friendly man.

Was that what God wanted me to do? Obviously He wants me to do more before He will take me to Heaven. I'm now 104 years young and doing all I can to fulfill God's request."

(Lolita told this story to her nephew(my uncle) Dr. R.C. Jones, January 14, 2009)

~~

it leaves me thinking that maybe i need to just be more Zen about things, stop getting so fired up about nothing. and relax. most of the time old people are someones relative. and if they are cranky maybe it's because they feel unloved and uncared for.

~~

and FYI i never want to be that old! 100 or 104? HELL NO!


crap i guess i just don't like rude people. young or old
MEAN PEOPLE SUCK!
especially when they are glaring at my kids. or talking rudely about my family size, or being in public. that pisses me off faster than anything in the WHOLE WORLD!

so maybe i missed my own point. sorry for the novel. take what you can from this post.
and have a fabulous day!

i'm loving having comments back! YAY!
and guess what?

my fabulous neighbor non blogger friend, that sometimes lurks on my blog? she read about my day! and BROUGHT ME A BEVERAGE to cheer me up! she loves me! it made a crappy day 100% better. YAY!
thank you Kathy! you are Awesome!

FABULOUS!