My Side of the Senior Street: July 2014

Sunday, July 27, 2014

MY BUCKET LIST

We never run out of conversation when we're all together; one of my

grandchildren is entering college, one is graduating, another just had her

first child... etc.

Tonight, I was the object of interest as I had a birthday coming up.

"So Grandma, what's on your bucket list?" asked 19 year-old Lenny.

"What is that?" asked Neil.

"It's a list," I said, "that a person, usually an older person, makes of

things they wish that they had done when they were younger but still

want to do before they, uh...uh, go."

"Go where?" he asked; no one answered.

"So, what's on it?" asked Emily.

"Hmm, I don't have one," I said, "but I know what I wouldn't

put on my bucket list that everybody loves to."

"Tell us."

"One. Sky Diving, a fancy way to say, jump out of a plane. I wouldn't

do that if the plane was standing on the ground, no less in the air!

Two. I have no wish to go down Niagara Falls in a barrel, I've seen

the Falls, they are awesome...from the shore."

Three. I know people are making reservations with Richard Branson, signing

up for the rocket ship to outer space, maybe the moon someday ..."

"I heard that Justin Bieber signed up for it," said Emily,"I'm putting

my name on that list."

"And so did Brad Pitt," said Lenny.

"He did?" I said. "With that adorable face of his?" They all burst out laughing,

loved it when I talked that way.

"Would you sign up for it?" asked Lenny.

"Hmmm," I said, "but is she going too?"

"She?" they asked.

I nodded, "You know who."

" Ma, you would go into space? You don't even like to sit on the

balcony any more..." said Debbie.

"Well, I wouldn't go. Maybe I would just meet him at the space station,

before he went. But not if she..."

Debbie rolled her eyes. "Ma, be serious...the kids really want to know."

"Hey," shouted Neil, holding up his i-Pad, "here are websites for

bucket list ideas, this one is called: Ten Thousand Ideas!!"

"Ten thousand! How long did it take to think of them all!"

"Wait, here's a list of 100 ideas, I'll read some to Grandma; Feed

the sharks. Swim with the crocodiles.Wrestle a bear."

"Not quite my style," I said, laughing with them.

"Here's one," said Allison."Going in a gondola down the

Grand Canal in Venice."

"Ha! Did it! It was wonderful!" I said.

"I found another good list," said Allison,"Learn a language. Write a song.

Start a collection. Start a blog. Learn to play the guitar..."

"Wait!' I called, "That's it! For my bucket list!"

"Which one?" asked Debbie,"Learn a language...the guitar... a collection...?"

"Start a blog!" I exclaimed.

"A blog?" asked Debbie, coming closer to me. "What about?"

I waved my arms around the room, "About you! All of you. US!"

"Ma, no, you wouldn't," said Debbie.

"I would."

"You wouldn't! " she said again.

"I'll change the names," I said, even as my mind was already writing my first one.

THE END

Saturday, July 12, 2014

I had resolved after a few good 'lectures' from my daughter Debbie to try and not say everything that came into my head. But I forgot it from time to time, most recently,the day that we were all sitting around after our meeting at the senior center and the conversation went naturally to our children and grandchildren.

Debbie had just come to pick me up and take me to my doctor's visit. I knew how busy she was with her home,children and job. That she managed to fit my appointment in with her heavy schedule, I appreciated more than I could say. I gave her a hug and announced to the room in general, "I have the best kids!"

It was not met with the pleased look from her that I expected, but with more of a frown."Ma" she whispered, "Don't do that."

"Don't do what?" I asked, puzzled

"You know," she hissed between her teeth, " brag, boast...like you used to tell us!"

'Like you used tell us' Her words struck me like lightening, Life. The Turning Of The Wheel. Now they are teaching me!
"But it's about you and your brother," I said, "how wonderful you are...don't you like it when I say that?"
"Sure," she pointed into the room, "but they think they have the 'best kids' too!"
I just stared at her, she sounded so mature. Just as I was starting to give myself credit for that she went on... "And you did it last week too. You told everybody that living at the ocean was so special..."
as though it made you better than everyone else...!"
"It is special." I exclaimed, starting to get defensive. "All my adult life I have lived on ' Ocean Parkway' in Brooklyn," Beach Channel Drive in Belle Harbor, Long Beach Road, in Oceanside, here on Long Island. Why shouldn't I brag about it?"
"Yeah, well your new neighbor Gloria didn't love it!"
"Can you imagine, Deb, she had never even seen the ocean until now and she in her sixties!"
"So Ma, you made her feel bad? Is that what you wanted ?"
"Not at all, she told me how she grew up in the mid -west on the banks of a river, "a big river",and how exciting that was."
"And what did you say Ma?" asked Debbie.
"Well, I suppose I could have been more polite..."
"Yeah, so what did you say!"
"I told her, ' a river is nice but a river is not an ocean! Our majestic sea touches continents, explorers crossed it and discovered our country...of course there were people here already" I hastened to add.
Her eye rolling began..."And...then what happened?"
"Well, she didn't answer, she walked away...to the other end of the room..."
"Nice way to make new friends, Ma."
I shrugged,"I really didn't mean to hurt her feelings. But I can fix it!"
"How?"
"I'll her that her river is just as great as my ocean... how's that?
"Also," I was excited, "I'll tell that her kids are the best too...if she has any..."
"You don't know?"
"I just met her."
"Oh," said Debbie, "but if she does have kids, maybe hers are not 'the best' like yours are...and mine," she added, laughing.
"That's right, they could be the worst!"
"Mmmm, maybe it's better not to mention them."
We both laughed.
I loved it when we agreed on something.

THE END