Imagine that once a year there is a special ice cream produced with the richest cream and eggs of the season. People plan each year for the big event. Well, for a few years for many sorted reasons you did not purchase the ice cream and then finally after five years you have a chance to purchase not a quart but a gallon of this special ice cream.
One couple takes home the ice cream but the man of the house finds the ice cream too rich, too much of a change to the diet and is very uncomfortable about this food. Day after day, he sampling from the gallon of delightful ice cream but it is becoming very clear he is getting sick from the ice cream. Now his wife is growing more concern each day and decides come what may, to throw out the ice cream. They simply have to go back to their routine diet.
This is what happened to John on this trip. The adjustments were overwhelming and the stateroom to far away for him to find.
We came home. Now that we are back to our routine things are improving day by day.
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label travel. Show all posts
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Friday, January 15, 2010
Millie
Since I met Millie, I have like that name.
She was about twenty years older than me when I met her in the early '90's on a group tour of Costa Rica. Actually, it was her husband that first caught my attention. As Bob read each page of his paperback book, he torn off the page. I was sitting on the bus across the aisle from him and I could not believe what I was seeing. This couple were unique in many ways this being the less of them.
Millie explain to me in a boring factual manner, "Oh, Bob, never feels the need to pass on books and he is eliminating the weight of the book as he read it."
If I have met anyone person in my life that embodied wisdom and fun, openness and self acceptance, it was Millie. She was so full of life and yet she had a heart condition, had challenges and blessings of both extremes. Many of things she told during that tour are precious sentences that have stayed with me.
On fashion, "I would not know where to start in a department store, it is too confusing and time consuming. I go to the local village woman's shop. The lady there teaches me how to tie a bow, what necklace to wear with each dress. "
On retirement, "We seriously look at different spots and honestly we could have settled anywhere there was a college. In the end, we stayed in our home, because our only grandchild lives a block away. "
Bob and Millie had two children, Bob ran a Wall Street large investment fund and Millie started a reading clinic in Harlem in the late sixties after her younger one was settled in boarding school. Those were the years after Harlem had the riots. I asked her if she had any incidences where she was frightened. She answered twice.
"Once sitting on the empty subway late in the evening, the door open and a gang of kids, loud and running, came on the car. I realize my mistake by sitting at the end of the car instead of the middle and became conscious of being totally alone in the subway car. They were coming toward me when suddenly, a girl spoke, 'Miss Millie, remember me, I am Emmy, I was in your school.' Oh, was I happy to see her!"
The other time involved a her battery of her car was dead and she walking in a bar about 10 clock, explained to the bartender while a full bar of black men looked on. He and a couple men arranged everything for her. Needless, to say her husband was panic that night waiting for her.
Two of the volunteers at her reading clinic were John and Caroline. Millie liked both of them and said they always introduced themselves by using only their first name.
The other political story she told involved Clinton. They did not contribute to campaigns. At first, she said they did not have that kind of money, then she said, well, maybe it has more to do with choice where to spend money. One of Millie's neighbor's was hosting a fund raiser for the Clinton's for his first run and it was turning out to be the party of the year. She still declined on the principle of not being a political donor. In the end, Millie was asked to host at the front door. The neighbor wanted them there money or no money.
As the evening processed Bill asked Millie where she was from and she replied with her slight southern accent West Memphis. Clinton said he could not believe that because that was all black share cropping country. Millie explained that her father, a young lawyer died leaving his wife and three daughters with only one asset, some land. Millie's mother was determine to learn to grow cotton so they moved to West Memphis . All the daughters went to Vassar on scholarship. Millie said the magic of Clinton is simply that, when he speaks to a person, the rest of the room no longer exists.
A couple years after our trip. John and I spent an evening with Millie and Bob at their home. I sensed something had happened because our corresponds dropped off for no reason. Millie explained the joy of their daughter's marriage had followed a year later with a deformed, mentally handicap child. The next year her pregnancy was terminated after they realized the fetus had no brain.
Sadly, the young couple had honeymooned in Costa Rica because of the Millie and Bob's review of the country. While on that trip the daughter had pet a wild cat at the B&B infecting herself. She was not capable of having healthy children.
It was a sweet, sad evening. I felt Millie's deep pain. Her daughter-in-law was close by but a workaholic and little interest in her child. Millie was hoping for healthy grandchildren to full her last years.
They lived as any older people often do in two rooms all day, the kitchen and a sitting room with lots of sun for reading and the radio and a little t.v. Millie had no interest in cooking so food was an issue, the deli or a cook on Saturday for a weeks worth of meals prepared. Their world had peeled down to each other and contact with their family. Shortly, after that visit, I knew that our friendship would fade. Ironically, this is the neighborhood where the Clintons now own a home.
Millie is one of the reasons I love to travel.
She was about twenty years older than me when I met her in the early '90's on a group tour of Costa Rica. Actually, it was her husband that first caught my attention. As Bob read each page of his paperback book, he torn off the page. I was sitting on the bus across the aisle from him and I could not believe what I was seeing. This couple were unique in many ways this being the less of them.
Millie explain to me in a boring factual manner, "Oh, Bob, never feels the need to pass on books and he is eliminating the weight of the book as he read it."
If I have met anyone person in my life that embodied wisdom and fun, openness and self acceptance, it was Millie. She was so full of life and yet she had a heart condition, had challenges and blessings of both extremes. Many of things she told during that tour are precious sentences that have stayed with me.
On fashion, "I would not know where to start in a department store, it is too confusing and time consuming. I go to the local village woman's shop. The lady there teaches me how to tie a bow, what necklace to wear with each dress. "
On retirement, "We seriously look at different spots and honestly we could have settled anywhere there was a college. In the end, we stayed in our home, because our only grandchild lives a block away. "
Bob and Millie had two children, Bob ran a Wall Street large investment fund and Millie started a reading clinic in Harlem in the late sixties after her younger one was settled in boarding school. Those were the years after Harlem had the riots. I asked her if she had any incidences where she was frightened. She answered twice.
"Once sitting on the empty subway late in the evening, the door open and a gang of kids, loud and running, came on the car. I realize my mistake by sitting at the end of the car instead of the middle and became conscious of being totally alone in the subway car. They were coming toward me when suddenly, a girl spoke, 'Miss Millie, remember me, I am Emmy, I was in your school.' Oh, was I happy to see her!"
The other time involved a her battery of her car was dead and she walking in a bar about 10 clock, explained to the bartender while a full bar of black men looked on. He and a couple men arranged everything for her. Needless, to say her husband was panic that night waiting for her.
Two of the volunteers at her reading clinic were John and Caroline. Millie liked both of them and said they always introduced themselves by using only their first name.
The other political story she told involved Clinton. They did not contribute to campaigns. At first, she said they did not have that kind of money, then she said, well, maybe it has more to do with choice where to spend money. One of Millie's neighbor's was hosting a fund raiser for the Clinton's for his first run and it was turning out to be the party of the year. She still declined on the principle of not being a political donor. In the end, Millie was asked to host at the front door. The neighbor wanted them there money or no money.
As the evening processed Bill asked Millie where she was from and she replied with her slight southern accent West Memphis. Clinton said he could not believe that because that was all black share cropping country. Millie explained that her father, a young lawyer died leaving his wife and three daughters with only one asset, some land. Millie's mother was determine to learn to grow cotton so they moved to West Memphis . All the daughters went to Vassar on scholarship. Millie said the magic of Clinton is simply that, when he speaks to a person, the rest of the room no longer exists.
A couple years after our trip. John and I spent an evening with Millie and Bob at their home. I sensed something had happened because our corresponds dropped off for no reason. Millie explained the joy of their daughter's marriage had followed a year later with a deformed, mentally handicap child. The next year her pregnancy was terminated after they realized the fetus had no brain.
Sadly, the young couple had honeymooned in Costa Rica because of the Millie and Bob's review of the country. While on that trip the daughter had pet a wild cat at the B&B infecting herself. She was not capable of having healthy children.
It was a sweet, sad evening. I felt Millie's deep pain. Her daughter-in-law was close by but a workaholic and little interest in her child. Millie was hoping for healthy grandchildren to full her last years.
They lived as any older people often do in two rooms all day, the kitchen and a sitting room with lots of sun for reading and the radio and a little t.v. Millie had no interest in cooking so food was an issue, the deli or a cook on Saturday for a weeks worth of meals prepared. Their world had peeled down to each other and contact with their family. Shortly, after that visit, I knew that our friendship would fade. Ironically, this is the neighborhood where the Clintons now own a home.
Millie is one of the reasons I love to travel.
Friday, June 5, 2009
living in the right time to explore
I realize, what a fortunate time, I have been living in after reading Jeff Rubin new book WHY YOUR WORLD IS ABOUT TO GET A WHOLE LOT SMALLER. So much changed in my generation for the better. Now it seems, many of these things are coming to an end. This book discusses energy in a detailed manner by an expert in the field.
I will explain why I feel very lucky to have been born in 1943.
When I started college in 1961 it cost $97 for tuition and books at a state school in Wisconsin. My room cost around $250 a semester. These facts are important because my family was poor but viewed as average income family during my years of growing up. It is a fact that if you have the ambition to go to college, the opportunity was there for about anyone. My generation of women were probably the last one to think in terms of becoming a teacher, a nurse or working in an office. We all thought it was a natural path that after marriage we would most likely stay home and for a number of years raising our children.
Three major social events during the sixties changed the United States for my generation. The first was the war in Vietnam. The draft affected every neighborhood in American. Families were watching television seeing the war daily in their homes in a places few could find on a map. The movies had made war romantic or heroic but the tragedy of this war was playing daily for us to view, put that notion to death. People were shocked at the killing from the air, seeing children and women mixed in the middle of the fighting and the young faces of our soldiers. Questioning the sense of the politics of the war started to be expressed first on college campuses and then a few brave media people and then a movement started to question the authority of our government. Well, we know the history of this one.
On a parallel track the slow train of recognizing black people as full citizens in the United States was coming to ahead. A few court cases, a new outspoken leader name Martin Luther King and the restless of this nation was in the streets again covered for the first time daily on television for all to see. This movement divided people, tore towns apart and was painful death of an old lifestyle that the South and large Northern cities had known for all the history of our country. It open up discussions for all of us to understand our guiding religious views, how had our church leaders ignored this for centuries? How could they have got this so wrong for so long, was the question.
The third event in the sixties that changed our society was the birth control pill. For the first time it was not the fate of woman to follow the historical path of human race and take nature in its fullest or stay celibate. Woman had the physical freedoms that males had experienced for all of history, being married did not necessarily mean you devoted your life to young members of the family giving up all personal ambitions. Women had choices and had to figure this out.
These events affected all of us in this country and they rapidly changed out society. Living in the richest country in the world with opportunity unknown before for women was not a conscious, big shift. The change happened slowly, personally as each woman figured out her place.
Results are in for me. I had many short careers, all interesting to me. I have traveled 30 years around the world viewing places I was curious to see and or cultures to understand. Tasted food, had conversations with strangers that touched my life, and developed a conviction along the way that guides me was the result. All along being parent to two wonderful children.
After reading this book, I do believe that type of travel will probably not be available for my grandchildren. The cost of energy for jet planes will end it as the book clearly explains. The world will go back the old way that only the leisure class will travel. Other energies will be developed for many of our daily needs but flying is particularly expensive and unique. The book also suggested that we will become local in the manner of my childhood where vacation was spent nearby at a lake or resort. The way it was done, except for the jet flying period, for generations.
The other part that will return to my parents' generation will be the issue of food. Salmon from Alaska or the Atlantic, avocado from California and mango from Chile and blueberries from Maine will be for special occasions. Locally grown food will become the daily diet. People will grow gardens and probably live healthier. Cost of transportation will end cheap food.
One other foot note to the week. Afghanistan has played a key role in the history of the world. Before the fall of empires, that of China, England and Russia, they invaded the far off country. None of the countries ever ruled Afghanistan and all the countries faded from power shortly after. History books are sometimes not read.
I was born at just the right time to explore my world. I am very lucky.
I will explain why I feel very lucky to have been born in 1943.
When I started college in 1961 it cost $97 for tuition and books at a state school in Wisconsin. My room cost around $250 a semester. These facts are important because my family was poor but viewed as average income family during my years of growing up. It is a fact that if you have the ambition to go to college, the opportunity was there for about anyone. My generation of women were probably the last one to think in terms of becoming a teacher, a nurse or working in an office. We all thought it was a natural path that after marriage we would most likely stay home and for a number of years raising our children.
Three major social events during the sixties changed the United States for my generation. The first was the war in Vietnam. The draft affected every neighborhood in American. Families were watching television seeing the war daily in their homes in a places few could find on a map. The movies had made war romantic or heroic but the tragedy of this war was playing daily for us to view, put that notion to death. People were shocked at the killing from the air, seeing children and women mixed in the middle of the fighting and the young faces of our soldiers. Questioning the sense of the politics of the war started to be expressed first on college campuses and then a few brave media people and then a movement started to question the authority of our government. Well, we know the history of this one.
On a parallel track the slow train of recognizing black people as full citizens in the United States was coming to ahead. A few court cases, a new outspoken leader name Martin Luther King and the restless of this nation was in the streets again covered for the first time daily on television for all to see. This movement divided people, tore towns apart and was painful death of an old lifestyle that the South and large Northern cities had known for all the history of our country. It open up discussions for all of us to understand our guiding religious views, how had our church leaders ignored this for centuries? How could they have got this so wrong for so long, was the question.
The third event in the sixties that changed our society was the birth control pill. For the first time it was not the fate of woman to follow the historical path of human race and take nature in its fullest or stay celibate. Woman had the physical freedoms that males had experienced for all of history, being married did not necessarily mean you devoted your life to young members of the family giving up all personal ambitions. Women had choices and had to figure this out.
These events affected all of us in this country and they rapidly changed out society. Living in the richest country in the world with opportunity unknown before for women was not a conscious, big shift. The change happened slowly, personally as each woman figured out her place.
Results are in for me. I had many short careers, all interesting to me. I have traveled 30 years around the world viewing places I was curious to see and or cultures to understand. Tasted food, had conversations with strangers that touched my life, and developed a conviction along the way that guides me was the result. All along being parent to two wonderful children.
After reading this book, I do believe that type of travel will probably not be available for my grandchildren. The cost of energy for jet planes will end it as the book clearly explains. The world will go back the old way that only the leisure class will travel. Other energies will be developed for many of our daily needs but flying is particularly expensive and unique. The book also suggested that we will become local in the manner of my childhood where vacation was spent nearby at a lake or resort. The way it was done, except for the jet flying period, for generations.
The other part that will return to my parents' generation will be the issue of food. Salmon from Alaska or the Atlantic, avocado from California and mango from Chile and blueberries from Maine will be for special occasions. Locally grown food will become the daily diet. People will grow gardens and probably live healthier. Cost of transportation will end cheap food.
One other foot note to the week. Afghanistan has played a key role in the history of the world. Before the fall of empires, that of China, England and Russia, they invaded the far off country. None of the countries ever ruled Afghanistan and all the countries faded from power shortly after. History books are sometimes not read.
I was born at just the right time to explore my world. I am very lucky.
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