Small World

In a way,  it is a small world.  I often think of  how we find  we are connected in a Six Degrees of Separation kind of way.  For example, this year I found out that a lady I exercise with was a secretary at the elementary school I attended at the same time I was a young student there.  Another lady I exercise with was my Home Economics teacher when I was in junior high school.  A lady who grew up on the same street I did was added to the church recently.  I remember her as a little girl, trying to keep up with the older children.  Now she is a wife and mother.  I am in a book club  with a retired teacher who was one of my mentors on my first teaching assignment.   I was fresh out of college and she taught me some refinement in the school culture.  While at the grocery store  this weekend, I was able to introduce my teen to one of my former students.  I taught him when he was a third grader and now this young man works at the store.  Last week, I visited a  dear friend I met in junior high school  who was visiting at the lovely home of another  friend I met in high school.  I  went to this home with a friend I met in kindergarten. We shared lots of memories.  We are thankful we are still able to do so.
When you stop to think about it, you probably can make many similar connections.
Take care,
Sylvia

Cough Drops

When I find a product that works for me, I stick with the product until I find something better.
I like to have something to refresh my mouth and cool my nasal passages, especially during allergy season.  My latest find is a version of a cough drop with the brand name that starts with an H.   These individually-wrapped drops have a menthol shell.   Inside is a lemony flavored syrup.  It is sugar free.  The taste is cooling and soothing and tart at the same time.  When I can find this product,  I can only find it at dollar stores. I wonder why this is so.  Maybe major companies send different versions of their products to different regional markets.  Maybe dollar stores buy surplus product and what they stock is what is available at the time from the surplus market.
Anyway, the expiration date on my bag of cough drops passed last week, and I want to find some more of them.  I plan to keep searching, and I also plan to enjoy the remainder of my expired cough drops.
Smiles,
Sylvia

Grown Folks

Some life lessons are truly worth learning.  One of them is :  Grown folks are going to do what grown folks are going to do.  You can give an adult  sage advice about a decision he or she will make, but the final decision will be made by the adult.  I guess that is why parents, parent figures, and guardians try so hard to shape their children and help them learn how to make sound choices.  Decisions are inevitable in life.
When I finally learned that grown folks are going to do what grown folks are going to do, this part of life became easier.  When asked my opinion, I give it with prayer, some life experience, and a caring spirit.  To keep me from agonizing when I see a friend about to make an unwise decision, I offer a gentle suggestion.  Then I pray for that friend, because I know he/she is grown and will make his/her own choice. I pray for the right decision, because it will bring the right outcome.
Take care,
Sylvia

Wet Streets

Someone submitted a question to a magazine's expert columnist.  The questioner wanted to know why television and movie programs always have the streets wet.  I never noticed that the streets in tv shows and movies were wet.   The expert explained that wet streets interest the eyes of the viewers because they add reflection and drama to the scenes, and make the scenes more intense.
I guess I was not paying close attention.   I plan to check for wet streets in the next  tv show or  movie I watch.  Even though I am pretty observant, I wonder how many other small things I miss on a regular basis.  Do you?
Smiles,
Sylvia

Bleeps

 I check out current  entertainment because I taught children in public school and still work with them now.  I like to know what is going on with children, so I  follow their entertainment interests. I admit that I do not always like their entertainment, but that's another topic for another day.
 I  recently watched a musical performance that was constantly interrupted by what we used to call bleeps.  Except there was a slice of dead air instead of the bleep sound.  I knew the performer was still singing or rapping because I saw his lips moving and I heard the background music.  I also read the performer's lips and could make out the words he spoke. Some were profane.  Some were misogynistic.  I guess it is against the broadcast rules to let these words go out over the television and some radio airwaves, but they must be acceptable on the CDs and video downloads that are purchased.   This is why I am thrilled when parents tell me they monitor what music their young children listen to and the videos they watch.  It is a good practice.

P.S. I appreciate those of you who follow this nikolisthoughts blog, and I give thanks to all of you who read here.  Just thought I would let you know that!
Take care,
Sylvia

Lies Are Lies

"If you repeat a lie enough times,  it becomes the truth."
"If you tell the same lie long enough,  it becomes the truth."
For a long time, I have heard these statements and other versions of them.  I disagree with these statements.  Perhaps if a person repeats a lie over and over, it may become the truth to the lie repeater.  It won't, however, become the truth in fact.
For example, no matter how many times I repeat, "I am the same size I was on the day I was graduated from  high school,"  it will not become the truth.  Unfortunately.
Smiles,
Sylvia
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Respect For Parents

I listened to a talk radio segment today; the topic: children who get into physical fights with their parents.  The topic was lifted from a  news story in which a teen had a fight with his mother and attempted to strangle her with a car seat belt.  This was a strange concept for me, because such a thought was unheard of when I was growing up. Have a physical fight with our parents?  No way!  We could not even talk back to our parents without repercussions and consequences.  In fact, we learned to watch our facial expressions and body language to make sure we showed proper respect for our parents.  Back then, our parents were not obsessed with trying to be our friends.   They made it clear to us that they loved us by the way they provided for us and guided us.  The child who sassed  a parent or guardian was considered troubled and  not good friend material.   In fact, I had a childhood acquaintance who regularly talked back to her caretaker grandmother, and  it was not comfortable for me to witness, so that relationship faded.
Children and parents engaged in physical combat is not in the divine plan.
Take care,
Sylvia