6:48 p.m. - 2003-06-17
Share and Cher Alike
Quiet day at work today. Brought in hard copy newsletters for the student who shares my phone. I get a couple from the university that deal with various legal issues. One of the things it is absolutely critical to do, if one is passionate enough about an issue that they want to wade into a debate, is to know the facts and to understand the positions other people are taking and why. Otherwise you'll just get blown away or aside in the brouhaha. Both publishers have websites and are pretty generous about addressing issues that arise from reader feedback. She can hone her arguments there.
There is one student who is very shy and quiet. He worked for the company last year and I guess he wasn't even able to look at anyone, much less talk to them. He is quite a bit younger than the rest of the students and may just have felt he had nothing to contribute. That's not true of course, but young adults sometimes don't have a very strong sense of their place in a group - tough enough for those of us a lot older. This year he does talk - to me at least. He's been showing me the work he has been doing and it appears he appreciates some feedback. He's personable and thoughtful - just a matter of time before he blossoms, and then I don't think there'll be anything to stop him doing whatever he chooses.
Went and bought tickets to Cher's concert for my Dad at lunch. I had asked one of my sisters if she would mind buying them on-line for me (I've never had a credit card) hoping to get some really good seats and to avoid the risk of the concert being sold out. When I saw her at the picnic on Sunday she said she had decided they were too expensive. I wasn't asking her to make that judgement for me and I was a little frustrated. It isn't as though she couldn't afford to wait until Sunday for me to pay her either. She doesn't work, because it would mean her Hubby's taxes would really go sky high. They have a huge, beautiful home and basically do whatever they want - holidays for four in Hawaii in a month for example. Her hubby has worked as hard as anyone else in the city, so it certainly nice that they've done so well, but ..... Anyway, the seats aren't all that close to the stage but I got the best I could.
I called my Dad to let him know about it tonight, because I didn't want to mention it on the weekend then not be able to follow through if they were sold out. He's going up north this week to visit one his and my Mom's really good friends. She farms north of Edmonton and boards horses - both of which my Dad loves. Her hubby died not long before my Mom - odd, the two of them shared the same birthday.
J has one son who was diagnosed with brain cancer at about the time I was married - decades ago. The struggle and the strength of both of them is a constant source of wonder and inspiration to me. V still works around the farm doing the heavy work, even though his left side has wasted away from the constant surgeries and relapses he has suffered. She has raised three grandchildren and looked after him all the while. Her health is starting to deteriorate too though.
My parents used to travel with her and her hubby as well as three or four other couples every year on breaks. Always once a year to Vegas, of course, but other places too. It was wonderful to watch the group of them have so much fun together year after year. I suggested he might like to ask her to go with him to the concert - she certainly deserves every break that some one could give her. I'm not trying to promote a relationship between them, although I'd have no objection to that at all, but I don't see why they can't still enjoy going places together. Dad said he didn't think she'd accept because V has really lost ground and she's afraid to leave him. He doesn't like people to see him disabled by the cancer or I'd have gotten a ticket for him too in case he was well enough to go. Frustrating when people who really do deserve everyone's respect and admiration are often the ones who never seem to get the breaks. Maybe something will work out, you just never knows.
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