That Evil Steamroller Called Time

Received word last night that the father of a lady I went to high school with passed away.  So sad.  My own mother passed away in June so I can definitely empathize.  I guess now that I crossed that threshold that is 50 years old, this is going to be the exception rather than the norm anymore.  I still live in the town in which I graduated high school and so do most of the parents of those 48 other "kids" I graduated all those years ago.  I used to measure the movement of time by watching my children grow and move from grade to grade. 

Now that they are adults, I guess this is my new time piece.  The ticking of the hands on this clock, marking the reduction of those that knew me when I was just a gawky kid who worked at her father's grocery store...  My paternal grandmother lived until she was 92 in her own home and ultimately passed away at the age of 96 while in a nursing facility.  She burried her husband and 14 of her 15 siblings...  I wonder if it ever crossed her mind that the people who probably knew her best, were no longer here to mourn her passing?  Is this the price we will all pay for living a longer life?

No one is "Always"

There is not much that annoys me more about living in a rural area than the concept of labels.  My particular communities thrive on them.  No label is more annoying than the one of "always right" and "always wrong".  For years I watched my former in-laws live within these labels - she being the one wearing the "always wrong" label and he, the "always right".  At least in my community, 9 times out of the 10, that is the order of the wearing. 

Last night, I went to a movie with a friend of mine that I had not seen in a while.  We wanted to see the movie in IMAX so the drive was longer than usual.  In the drive to and from that movie, I was "always wrong" no less than 4 times.  I am no rocket scientist by any means, but the only things I could seem to get right were the times I agreed with his position on the topic we were discussing.  HE continued to harp on every topic I was "wrong" about until I just stopped disagreeing.  I wasn't agreeing; I just went silent.  I guess, in a way, silence was giving in to his "right" but I just could not argue with him when there was no rational or concrete backing to his opinion.  He just stated the same thought over and over.  It reminds me of when I was a kid and my mother's answer to my question of "why?" was answered with "because I said so!"  I love a good "discussion" and he knows I hear and consider his side of the story.  I just get frustrated when others do not show me the same courtesy. 

This frustration is, in part, the catalyst to my blog.  I'm not "always right" but neither am I "always wrong".  I enjoy hearing other sides to the story and who knows, I may be wrong on a particular point and cuddos to you.  But then again, I could also be right.  I promise to listen... do you?