Falling Down

 

Each year, about 350,000 Americans fall and break a hip.  Of those, 40 percent end up in a nursing home, and 20 percent are never able to walk again.  The three primary risk factors for falling are poor balance, taking more than four prescription medications, and muscle weakness.  Elderly people without these risk factors have a 12 percent chance of falling in a year.  Those with all three risk factors have almost a 100 percent chance. - Atul Gawande, "Being Mortal"

For older people, men and women, falling is a big deal.  My good friend, Trish, who is agile, strong, healthy and beautiful, fell recently on the last two steps of her stair case. Trish went home a couple of days ago after a month of intense pain in the hospital.

This was a big reminder to me of how important it is not to fall. And I enjoy telling people not to get on ladders or walk on dark streets, etc.   

So, on Saturday morning, while Dave and I were taking our regular three-mile walk - I fell!  Not badly hurt at all but I did have to get a bunch of stitches on my face and I have a sprained wrist.  

We're currently in Naples, Florida.  One of the most beautiful places on earth.  It's the kind of building and landscaping that God would do if God had the money.  Also the people look perfect.  Old but perfect.  

We're here to visit with Dave's old friends from his former life - all good friends of his first wife, who, by the way, was stunningly beautiful.  So, naturally, I wanted to look marvelous.  But, instead I have stitches and a black eye.  

So even if a fall doesn't kill you or put you in the hospital for a month - it can be extremely inconvenient - so don't fall down.  

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Grace

Grace - God's goodness toward those who have no claim on, or reason to expect, divine favor.

The film "Three Billboards in Ebbing, Missouri, is one of the nine films nominated for an Academy Award.  It's about a bunch of gritty, miserable, foulmouthed, grotesque,  hurting people.  (I wrote a review on January 13, 2018 titled Three Billboards.)

In one of the first scenes, when the lead character goes to an office to rent the three billboards, the young man who helps her is reading "A Good Man is Hard to Find" by Flannery O'Connor.  (I wrote a review about this story on October 21, 2017 titled "A Good Man is Hard to Find.")

So when I saw what the man was reading I thought, "Humm!"

But the O'Conner story was never referred to in the film.  However they both contain the same kind of reprehensible, messed up characters who seemingly have no redeeming qualities whatsoever.  And, to me, the point of both of them was receiving God's unmerited grace.

I did some research and found that a handful of reviewers have seen a connection.  Flannery O'Conner was a devout Catholic who wrote about really, really flawed people.  To me grace came at the end of "A Good Man is Hard to Find"  when grandma is about to be killed by the Misfit and his two henchmen.  Grandma is a narcissistic, hateful old woman but at the very end she catches a glimpse of who she and the Misfit really are.

In the "Three Billboards" film, grace is found in the unlikely words of the sheriff.


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Valentines

Card from Dave

Happy Valentine's Day.

This is the Valentine card I woke up to this morning.  I'm a lucky girl.  What did I give Dave?  Nothing.

He's a much more romantic person than I am.  Sometimes when I'm overcome with love for him I shake his hand.  I'm much more comfortable speaking from my head than from my heart.

One of the best things about great literature is that it speaks for us when we don't have the words.  I love the play "The Rainmaker" by Richard Nash.  In it is a famous monologue the character Lizzie shares about her father.  I know it by heart.

It's not exactly about Dave and me.  For instance, Lizzie's speaking about her father not her husband.  She's doing the dishes. Dave does the dishes at our house.  Neither of us is middle-aged.

Nevertheless, this is my valentine to Dave:  I want him to know that I see him and I know him.

Lizzie's Monologue - The Rainmaker by Richard Nash

Some nights I'm in the kitchen washing dishes and pop's playing poker with the boys.  Well I'll watch him real close.  And at first I see an ordinary middle-aged man - not very interesting to look at.  And then, minute by minute, I'll see little things I never saw in him before.  Good things and bad things - queer little habits I never noticed he had.  And suddenly I know who he is!  - And I love him so much I could cry!  And I want to thank God I took the time to see him real. 


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3rd Rock From the Sun

Is Starman really missing Orange
County school board member?

Do you ever think about how real life sometimes mirrors pop culture?  Remember the 1996 TV show "3rd Rock From the Sun which starred the great John Lithgow?"

Last Tuesday it kind of became  reality when Elon Musk's SpaceX company sent a beautiful red 2008 Tesla Roadster into space where it will orbit between Earth and Mars, possibility throughout eternity.

One of the perks of living in Central Florida is to get to experience the launching of "the most powerful rocket in the world."  It was perfect.  We saw it from home but my friend, Julia, and her family drove to the Cape at daybreak and waited five or six hours with 100,000 other folks to watch it up close and personal.

Julia got to see this!

There are loads of pop culture references to this launch.  What about the bright red Tesla convertible with a manikin named Starman at the wheel?  For the last few days, Jim Philips, a popular Florida talk show host, has been talking about the mysterious disappearance of a local school board member.  Jim's latest theory, on Thursday, was that he's actually behind the wheel of the Tesla in space.

And what about that sign on the Tesla's dashboard?  "Don't Panic."  This is the most popular quote from Douglas Adam's wildly popular "Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy."

Starman IS a hitchhicker in the galaxy.


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Why I Love Florida Beaches

We Floridans love our beaches and, from what I've seen, do a good job of keeping them clean.  But I have observed, over the years, some weird things that have washed up.  I've also seen some questionable sand sculptures.  (Use your imagination.)

Today our Orlando Sentinel columnist, Scott Maxwell, lists -

The Ten Weirdest Things to Wash Up on Florida's Beaches

10.  Drugs - While this is sad and scary, to me it's not weird.  I once saw a couple of baggies of white stuff on the beach but it turned out to be sand.  Why would anybody have a baggie of sand on the beach?  That's weird!

9.  Military Ordnance - This is stuff like weapons, ammunition, Jeeps, etc.

8.  Dead People 

7.  Severed Limbs

Siesta Key

6.  Wildlife - like crocodiles and thousands of dead bees.

5.  A Big Blue Eyeball

4.  Cafe Cubano - this is a Cuban coffee made with cream and strong espresso.  So what gets washed up?  Coffee cups?  Expresso machines?

3.  Tires

2.  8-Foot-Tall LEGO Men - In 2011 a mysterious 8 foot tall, 100 piece fiberglass LEGO man was discovered bobbling in the surf near Siesta Key.  LEGOLAND, our Florida resort for kids, knew nothing about this guy.  But we then learned that, earlier, in 2008, he was spotted off the shores of Brighton England.

1.  Refugees -  I don't think this one is weird.  I feel a combination of sadness and pride regarding most of the refugees that have arrived on our shores.  And, especially, the 50,000 Puerto Ricans who have come to Central Florida (although they didn't wash up on the shore) since the devastating Hurricane Maria.  However, Puerto Ricans aren't refugees.  They are Americans.


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