CBQ#332

 Did you or someone you know ever talk a police officer out of writing a ticket?

Richard likes to share a memory of a time when his mother was driving.  She had been pulled over and did not know why.  The officer told her that she was being charged for speeding.

“In this old thing?” she asked and was serious.

The officer was laughing so hard that he did not issue her a citation but did give a warning.

CBQ#560

Which is greater, love of one’s parents, one’s children, one’s spouse, or one’s friend?

Love comes in various sizes and definitions.  Unfortunately we do not all define love the same way when it comes to relationships.  My initial response was the parents’ love toward their children but I know for a fact that not all “parents” feel the same way about their children that they would make the ultimate sacrifice for them – even if that means teaching them with “tough love” which is often harder on the parent than the child.

 Some people may have children but have absolutely no parenting skills or feel positive emotions toward their children.  Some people don’t know how as they were never taught themselves.  That goes the same for spouses.  Some will make small sacrifices for the other – such as cleaning the floor or ironing their shirts – it’s a sacrifice when one person does it not because of obligation but out of respect and love for the other. Of course those are just examples of small sacrifices.  Rallying around a person who has changed either mentally or physically due to an injury or aging - one spouse doting on the other.  I have seen several examples of that from both spouses and parents.

So many relationships start based on physical appearance or attraction. That doesn’t mean the relationship won’t turn into a strong love for one another.  I love Ben Wilcox explanations of love and affection found in this video.

 There are obviously different degrees of love.  Your love for your parents or children is not going to be the same as the love you have toward your spouse.  Nor is your love for pizza going to amount to what you may feel toward a person.  Hopefully your spouse is your best friend though you will have so many others that you can call friend.  You may love them all – but still different degrees of love toward each person.  Love is more than affection.  Love takes work on both sides.

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2019/
feb/11/what-is-love-and-is-it-all-in-the-mind

CBQ#559

 What’s the best way to resist peer pressure?

I have never been one to give into peer pressure.  I spent far too much of my life feeling sad or discouraged.  I never had the confidence that I tried so hard to instill in Jaime.  She is good at avoiding negative peer pressure, but does seem to give in to positive peer pressure.  An example of that would be whenever she follows suit when youth in our ward tend to challenge one another to bear their testimonies every fast Sunday. 

Best way to resist?  Live for God and for yourself.  It doesn’t matter what your peers think. Peers should encourage not discourage. 

https://www.verywellfamily.com/negative-and-
positive-peer-pressure-differences-2606643

Home

 Richard did not return last night as planned.  He is currently somewhere in the sky or at an airport waiting to be flown.  He says he’ll be in at noon.  Theoretically I could go get him, but my car is currently with a couple who graciously said that they would go pick him up since I do not drive at night.

He has gone a few days without meds before and has been okay.  He has diabetes.  But he will be okay.  He is probably in better shape than either Jai or I right now.  She is staying home from school for the first time this year.  We won’t be going to the airport.  I am so grateful to the couple who have agreed to collect him.  I think it will be good for them to bond.

Disconnected

         At the end of last month/start of this month, Richard’s only living sister said she had been wanting to go to South Carolina to see their mom.  Richard has too and thought that perhaps they could go together – or else at least meet up.  His sister Jean feels somewhat in the dark because of a feud that has taken place between her and the youngest brother – who has taken it upon himself to become mom’s caretaker – although I think more responsibility has fallen upon his wife.  I don’t know if it’s something she has dealt with before, but Richard’s sister does not understand.  She believes that the youngest brother and his wife are preventing phone calls and supervision.  What a mess.  It doesn’t sound to me as if Jean has ever dealt with dementia.  That’s where there mom is at.

        Last week Richard heard from Jean’s husband. They were in the process of traveling to North Carolina where Al has a relative who had been given two weeks to live.  They figured they would go and see their mom on the same trip as North Carolina and South Carolina are not that far apart.  It was a random decision on Richard’s part, but he decided he would go and join them right then.  Thus we picked up Jai from school last week and headed to the airport to drop off Roland who may be returning home today but may not return until tomorrow. We don’t know.

        Thus Jaime and I have had a reign on the house without Richard’s presence.  No cowboys or Sci-Fi.  Hardly any TV at all (I did watch a few recordings when I had been alert enough to do so) ironically Richard and I have both had colds or allergies or perhaps even COVID – though I don’t know how I would have contracted the latter.

        We’ve both been taking medicines – though I think I have taken more.  I have definitely slept more.  I’ve had tea with honey and am frankly tired of all the liquids that I’ve been sending through myself.  They all come out.  Usually whenever I cough.  I’d rather be asleep.

        I debated on whether to even go to Church on Sunday.  I wish I hadn’t gone.  I wore a mask.  I got so little out of the services.  I got even less out of the training meeting that I needed to attend.  I’ll probably mask up for the meeting that may or may not be held at 4:00 this evening.  Thus far I am feeling better.  I don’t remember ever having recouped this quickly from whatever – but I also have never been so doped up with over-the-counter and home remedies every four hours.

        I’m in a fog as I type this.  My head seems disconnected to the rest of my body.  I don’t even know if any of it makes sense or not.  I guess I can delete it once I have it figured out.

CBQ#324

 Can you remember the address of one of your childhood homes?

         I lived at only one address for the majority of my life.  Just so happens the home where I spent my childhood is also the same as the one my mom had to leave when we put her in assisted living.  She, herself, had lived in that home for over 50 years.  

As I mentioned in this post the streets in Salt Lake are numbered around the temple.  We lived in a non-incorporated area.  Our street number was 6850 South which apparently some neighbors knew as the name “Twin Peaks Drive” though I remember mom telling me she knew of only one family who addressed their mail with the “Twin Peaks” caption.  6850 is going to be so much easier to find than “Twin Peaks”. 

Twenty or thirty years later we were incorporated into the city. New street signs were installed all over the neighborhood.  Our street was marked “6850 South” – it was right after that installation that all business computers received the message that “this landline belongs to a resident living on “Twin Peaks Street” – not the “Drive” that I had grown up with.

It was frustrating ordering things and having the orders delayed because drivers could not find “Twin Peaks” anything.  Oh, duh, city.  If you’re going to enter that street into the computers as Twin Peaks, than why not mark the street itself as "Twin Peaks" instead of 6850 South?  We would tell people “It is 6850 – there is no sign anywhere indicating that it is Twin Peaks.  PLEASE RELATE THIS INFORMATION TO YOUR DRIVERS.  It seldom ever got related. Whenever the drivers did finally show, they were even more frustrated about it than we were.

 

 

 

 

CBQ#193

 How much of a people watcher are you?

 When we lived in Salt Lake I watched people all the time.  Mostly while waiting for the bus or the train.  I would watch people in cars – observe their expressions.  Share emotions with those around me – seeing the looks they would give to one another or to the surroundings.  

https://www.sltrib.com/news/politics/2021/02/25/lawmakers-unveil-massive/

I’ve also observed patrons at a mall.  I’ve never done it to be nosy – only to make the time pass.  It is often fun to pick up an expression of disbelief or wonderment.  I don’t seem to do it so much since I’ve lived in Oregon.  I think because I’m observing nature.