Tuesday, March 29, 2005

Ten Things...

Lately, some journal writers have been terribly concerned about what their writing has revealed about them.  Whether it has painted a picture of the real person, or only shown one, perhaps not too beautiful, aspect of that person.  I think sometimes my writing paints me as melancholy and "holier than thou."  Though there is a certain amount of truth in this, there is a little more to me than that.  So just to prove that there are aspects of my life with which I am content, I thought I would compose this list of 

Ten Things For Which I Am Eternally Grateful

  1. …that cat puke doesn’t share the olfactory characteristics of human puke, or I would be spending a lot of my time with my head in the toilet.
  2. …that way back in 1981, husband and I had the incredible wisdom to purchase a brand spanking new SR5 Toyota pick-up, which continues to spring to life the minute (almost) you turn the key in the ignition. It looks like hell, but it will never die. That truck will probably transport us to our fiftieth wedding anniversary party.
  3. …that in the fifth house we’ve owned in our married life, I finally struck paydirt, and got my 330-sqare foot master bedroom with a fireplace and a walk-in closet. Notwithstanding the fact that it has become the repository for every piece of furniture that didn’t fit anywhere else in the house, and appears to have been decorated with Antiques Road Show rejects.
  4. …for the set of Corning Ware I received as a wedding gift, of which I still have most of the pieces, and which I still use almost daily. It is totally seventies mushroom print, but short of taking it outside and smashing it on the driveway, I haven’t figured out how to kill it so I could buy something more twenty-first century. So the venerable old mushrooms faithfully ferry my eggbeaters into the microwave every morning.
  5. …for pellet stove "technology," that gives me a warm, cheery, flickering fire without dirt, spiders, mildew, and the general mess of dealing with wood. Not to mention the early morning calisthenics of hacking into the woodpile to turn huge chunks of tree trunks into something fit to use as firewood. Now, all I have to do is rip open a bag of rabbit pellets, pour them in the hopper, and hit the "on" button. Instant fire. Does it get any better than that?
  6. …that I live in the most beautiful state in the country. One hour from the incredible Oregon coast on one side, and the "ring of fire" on the other. Sunsets, pyrotechnics, soaring eagles, snow in summer, paddle-wheel riverboats, dawns, ice cold trout pulled from ice cold water, hermit crabs, dogs on endless beaches, rolling hills upholstered with acres of grapevines, hundred-foot waterfalls, the world’s largest *name the tree*, hummingbirds, rose gardens, sandhill cranes and whistling swans, rain forest and high desert, and on and on and on…
  7. …music. Symphonies, "mid-century" oldies, new age classical, big band swing, Broadway or Hollywood musicals, native American flute… I don’t believe the minds and hands of mere humans are responsible for the glory of music. It is the one nearly undeniable proof of a Great Spirit.
  8. …that television remote controls include a "mute" button. And an "off" button.
  9. …that somewhere, somehow, in some long ago, far away desert dwelling, some human being looked into the beautiful, inscrutable eyes of a cat, and felt compelled to extend that marvelous animal the hospitality of sharing his abode.
  10. …that thirty years ago, less a couple of months, a nineteen-year-old mustachioed, mutton-chopped hottie with aviator glasses and long straight brown bangs hanging over one eye, sauntered up to me and handed me those spectacles, saying, "Hold these for me, will ya?" before bravely (drunkenly?) sallying forth onto the volleyball court at a K-Mart company picnic at Fort Sheridan, Illinois… And all that came after.

10 comments:

  1. I love your list.

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  2. Beautiful, although I think it was the other way around for #9

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  3. "the world’s largest *name the tree*"
    Western Red Cedar?

    :)

    wil

    <wiseass mode=off>

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  4. Ah, I like your list of thing to be grateful for! Made me smile.

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  5. When I worked at Sears in 1979-80, everyone who came into the Housewares department (where I worked) was looking for the Corning Ware with the mushrooms or the frogs.  The whole set sold like hotcakes.

    Lisa, I know you have to pull your trailer with your van.  I understand that, and it is as valid as valid can get.  I have a problem with people who claim their vehicle is for work, yet it is not.  There are far more who claim it is for work than people who are actually using it for work.  One example, construction workers who have big trucks because they are construction workers, yet they do not own the construction company, they do not haul anything in their trucks for the construction company but they simply have one, because that is the image of the construction worker.  It is absurd.  The same as the military people around me.  The government would never allow them to use their P.O.V. for government business, but they have one anyway and cite the military as the reason.

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  6. Those Toyotas sure are something.  I remember my mom having that corningware, have no clue where it is today...  nodding in agreement about the remote... hope things are good with you today!  Kristi

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  7. I am inspired to create my own list...love the tribute to your husband.
    Marti

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  8. We have the corning ware daisies. I don't think I seen the mushrooms. They are indestructible. Yes on the cats. I can't imagine our world without them. Oregon, yeah, Just about everything you could want and it's all about an hour away.Great list. :-)
    Jackie

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  9. Chasingmoska,

    I loved your comment. I'm a carpenter and it amuses me to no end the way my co-workers just all have to have the biggest truck out there. The crazy thing is that we commute so damn much that it's just crazy to even want some big gas guzzling behemoth like that, but they just keep buying them. Currently I'm driving about 150 miles round trip to my job. I drive my little honda civic that gets over 35 mpg. I'm looking to buy something that gets even better mpg. In defense of some of the guys, many of them do side work and do need a truck to  haul material etc. They don't own a company but doing remodel work on someone's home or any small job does require a truck.

    Lisa,

    I loved the entry. I just might steal the idea and do it on mine. I never thought you were melancholy or holier than though.

    dave,

    http://journals.aol.com/ibspiccoli4life/RandomThoughtsfromaProgressiveMi

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  10. Great list!  I am very concerned with how I am perceived because journalers think they KNOW me from reading what I write and they are wrong--they only know what I reveal to them.  Unfortunately for the journal world, I seem to want to write when I'm pissed...

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