Category Archives: POV

Liberals are taking to battle on the 4th of July, 2018

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Another 4th of July is upon us today, another day to say HAPPY BIRTHDAY, AMERICA! and be grateful that we live in a country where we even have the right to spout differences of opinion about anything. That’s not true in all countries. The trick to it all, then, is remembering that we are still one nation and one people, all of us wanting the best for each other, in the long run. Or, we should be. JS

According to right-wing blabbermouth Alex Jones, the left is planning a civil war today. I didn’t get the memo – just read it on Facebook which, I must say, is rather disappointing. I mean, if it’s a potluck, too, we could bring all of this artichoke dip and watermelon left over from yesterday, but we have guests here, so, I just don’t think we can make it. Still, we’d like to be supportive – can we send a check? JS

After reading a funny facebook post that started with, “In the Civil War today, we lost Commander Betty White…” by Joseph David Dacus, I came up with my own July 4th action post:

STEF (Major Neyhart) CAPTURED A FLAG! I begged her not to go, but it’s hard to call her down when she’s determined.

Through the haze of gun smoke, she raced alongside Lt. Toby to what she thought was the home of a Trump supporter, scaled the back fence and yanked that flag off the pole. Lt. Toby bravely kept their dog in check by peeing numerous times along the fence line and barking at nothing in particular. Although bombs and grenades were bursting all around, they made it back through the smokey, shrapnel-filled night, both of them with big grins on their faces like they’d just won the decathlon.

I could see them running through the smoke and watched in horror as Major Neyhart sustained a wound to the right shoulder. Luckily, her arm was already in a sling from recent shoulder surgery, and, true to form, she shrugged off her injury and asked me for a Band-Aid. Equally lucky, I had swiped some from Walgreen’s earlier in the day’s battle. Imagine our surprise when the flag she stole turned out to be a RAINBOW FLAG! Our street is way cooler than we even knew! Gen. Jodybob

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Unpacking

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Home now. Exhausted. Stef has gone to Canada for her brother’s memorial service up in Squamish, B.C. Traffic was really, REALLY thick and slow getting out of Portland today although I never saw any wrecks or what was causing the delay. The sun was shining, though, and it was a gorgeous day.

I am all unpacked now and that feels good. I used to dread doing that and usually left my suitcase out in the middle of the bedroom floor where I would step over it, in it, and trip over it for a week before I got it all emptied. Then, I read a little book called HOW TO BE YOUR OWN BEST FRIEND. It spoke of going ahead and doing the things you’ve been putting off because the feeling of accomplishment is so much greater than the momentary sense of relief you feel by NOT doing whatever it was that you’d been putting off – again and again. The author was right, too, and that’s when I began unpacking that giant suitcase as soon as I get home each time. As tired as I often am, it just makes me feel better to have it done and not have to think about it again.

So…going to bed soon. Tomorrow will be here quickly. JS

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Piranha-infested waters

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Wow, there’s a real fight going on over the Red Hen Restaurant expulsion of Sarah Sanders. I don’t know what FB page it was on, but, if it shows up and you make a comment, just know that it’s rather like chunking a pot roast into piranha-infested waters. (I’m pretty sure I misspelled that one.) Anyway, be careful. You might lose a hand or an eye. Right-wingers have definitely gotten their knickers in a twist over this one. It appears that the “…strongly-held beliefs...” of the owner of this restaurant don’t count as much as the “…strongly-held beliefs…” of the baker who didn’t want to bake a wedding cake for a gay couple, not to the conservative crowd, anyway.

Personally, I think any business has the right to have the customers they want. Usually, this weeds itself out. If I had gone to a baker who didn’t want to bake a cake for me, I’d just go spend my money someplace else, but that’s just me. People can choose to run their businesses however they want, in my opinion. Giving Sarah Sanders the boot from the Red Hen Restaurant was the owner’s choice and now customers will choose to support her business or not. I don’t think she’s a horrible person for having made the choice she did; I think she was following her own convictions and that is an honorable thing. Oddly enough, I feel the same way about the baker in Colorado. There are plenty of bakers who’d LOVE to bake your cake – go to them.

On very rare occasions over the past 38 years, I have had to send clients on to other practitioners, or just send them away from me and hope for the best for everyone. The reasons have varied but, most often, it has boiled down to the fact that this person and I just didn’t like each other and needed to be away from each other. I am okay with that, and it has NEVER been over politics, either, just in case you are wondering.

I rolf in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Chances are, 80% of the people who lie down on my rolfing table are more conservative than I’ll ever be, so, I have to figure out something else about them to love. And, I do. I am also smart enough to know when someone is trying to bait me into a political discussion or some sort of verbal volleyball match and I just won’t play the game because it will be of no good purpose. We will only wind up mad at or frustrated with each other, which really defeats the purpose of our work together, and I’d rather honor the work I am blessed to do than win a political argument. In the long run, that’s way more fulfilling.

Well, it’s time to start the day, and I’d rather do that by thinking about someone other than Sarah Huckabee Sanders, whose left eyebrow is probably stuck to the back of her head by now. JS

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The suitcase I lug across country is heavy

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The suitcase I lug across the country and back every 4 to 6 weeks is bulky and heavy. This past week, as my buddy Catherine was throwing that big thing into the back of her car to take me to the airport, she said, “I think this thing is heavier this time.” It wasn’t; actually, it only weighed 39 lbs. this time. Usually, it’s 42. One time, years ago, when I was checking in, I put my bag up on the scale at the ticket counter. I said to the woman, “I don’t know why I’m doing this – it always weighs 42 pounds. It doesn’t matter what I put in it or take out of it, it always weighs 42 pounds.” She said, “Well, let’s just check,” and we put it onto the scale. It weighed 41 pounds. We stared at each other. Finally, she said, “So, what did you forget?” And, I must say, it was plenty to fret about for the next 3-plus hours as I flew to Dallas.

I tend to pack for all the things that might happen, as well as for those that probably won’t, although, at this time of year in Dallas and Tulsa, chances are I won’t need my boots or a turtleneck anything of any sort. I will, however, need some sort of mosquito repellent, since I just noticed that itchy thing I’ve been clawing at on my leg is a mosquito bite. Clearly, the mosquitoes did not read the same thing I read on the internet about how much they hate vitamin B-1.

So, I don’t know what I forgot this time that weighs 3 pounds and haven’t spent any time going, “Damn! where’s my proton weapon? I ALWAYS pack that thing,,,” And, since I can’t find whatever it is that I’m missing, the only logical conclusion is that it was my cares & woes. Lucky me. JS

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Physical Therapy… ohhhh, I needed that

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My PT worked me REALLY HARD yesterday and I was worried I’d be pretty sore this morning, but it’s not the case, which is a big relief. I’m thinking I might get back behind the wheel of my car today and cruise slowly around the neighborhood, maybe even go to the grocery store.

Being incapacitated and dependent upon other people is so boring to me that I can hardly stand it. I remember when I had my other knee replaced and had been unable to drive for about 3 weeks. One day, I was at home by myself and thought: I’M SICK OF THIS. Grabbed my cane, toddled out to the car, wedged myself in and drove to Blockbuster and to Safeway. Came home with 3 movies and some broccoli – which, I’m fairly certain, I didn’t even need – BUT, I felt like I’d just vaulted over the prison wall! It was so empowering!

Stef’s not so sure I’m ready to do this, but she might not get a vote. She’s shooting a wedding today and my adventure might happen while she is gone. Stay tuned. JS

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I am thankful…

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I am thankful that the person I love the most is also the best person I know.

I am thankful that we have a dog who is still grateful to have been rescued from doom and dropped into paradise.

I am thankful that I have friends who make me laugh and make me think.

I am thankful that I have been able to be a rolfer for over 35 years, and for my clients who are more spectacular than they yet know.

I am thankful that I have been given a gift of being able to write and tell stories that, hopefully, mean something to someone besides me alone.

I am thankful that our mean cat is no longer a kitten.

And, horses, of course, I am always grateful for horses. Their power and beauty make my soul flutter.

You?

JS

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Eldon on Thanksgiving

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Our 84 yr. old neighbor, Eldon, is a very active man, always working on his house or yard, and plays golf like I think we all wish we could. He loves it that we keep our yard nice and that we don’t back down from big tasks.

When he first met Stef, she had just moved into this house and was taking down a dying GIGANTIC oak tree in the front yard, pulling the rotting roots out with ropes attached to the bumper of her Volvo. “I’ve never seen a woman take on the projects that Stef has,” he told me. Of course, necessity is the mother of invention, and, when you’re raising 3 kids on your own, there’s very little money left over to hire someone to fall a tree for you so, with the help of friends, she took that big thing down without professional help. Eldon was impressed.

He and I are buddies. It distresses him, I think, to know that I am sick or hurt. When he came over the other day, my new knee still had the price tag on it, it was so new. Eldon looked at me. “So, how long you think you’ll be down?” he asked, “a week, maybe?”

I shook my ahead. “Not sure, Eldon,” I said, “It’s a whole new knee.”

He looked down at my leg all covered in bandages and ice packs. “Okay,” he said, “ten days, then.” I think it makes his world feel safer to know that we are on the road to recovery and not getting out of his sight for too long. He is a very dear man.

So, on this Thanksgiving, as I think back through all the memories of the Thanksgivings of my life and remember who and what I am thankful for, I want to say that I am also thankful for the older friends in my life – people like Eldon and Joanie, like my friend Marjorie who just left us – people who are kind enough to lend their wisdom and experience to me as I bumble and hobble along on this journey.

If you have older people still in your life, give thanks for them on this Thanksgiving Day, and give them a hug for me, too. JS

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Like Chester’s on GUNSMOKE?

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Going through my fears this morning. I have had many, many knee surgeries over the years, mostly cartilage repairs, debridements, stuff like that, after the first major knee surgery in 1975 which left me crippled. However, in searching for the golden nugget in it all one time, I realized that, without having had my entire leg lock up like Chester’s on GUNSMOKE from that rebuilding of my right knee, I might never have discovered Rolfing which not only changed my leg, but my life, as well. Given that, it’s difficult to be anything other than grateful for however it all worked out.

My left knee was replaced 12 yrs. ago. It was an intense process, although not as painful as I’d anticipated, which was weeks and weeks of unending, tooth-grinding, gut-wrenching pain. It just wasn’t that at all, so I’m not really sure what it is I’m so afraid of today, except being incapacitated, something I can’t stand being. I’m not afraid of the pain; there is medicine to help with all of that, if I need it. Oh. I just figured it out. Nothing like doing therapy with all your FB friends and acquaintances early in the day.

I’m afraid I’m not strong enough anymore to do the rehab I will need to do to make it work the best that it can. THAT’S my big, fat fear this morning. In 2003, I rehabbed the daylights out of my left leg. I had a great PT who knew I was an old jock and would challenge me, really push me, making me do stuff with my new knee I don’t think I would ever have done, even if my knees had ever been good (which they weren’t.) Well, thanks, everybody for the therapy session. Clearly, I have to go now and do some exercises. Hugs. JS

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What would I do with $600,000

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I saw a sign that read, “I’m in the mood to receive a check for $600,000.”

Yes. After taxes, even. I’d buy an adult tricycle and cruise around the neighborhood and Toby would trot along beside me. We would both smile in the sunshine. Our vitamin D levels would soar. Stef would take our picture and post it on Facebook. We would win a contest for “Cuteness.” I love it when my imagination runs away with me. JS

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