It’s been a slow, summery couple of weeks.  I’ve been holed up in the house, fans blasting 24/7. There’s not been much to write about, except for these random thoughts that keep running through my mind, sometimes in the middle of the night. 

• When did the response for “Thank you” become “No problem”?  I understand what the sentiment is; it’s not a problem to provide you with the service you need, require and deserve. However, it’s become the new “Have a nice day”, everyone says it, except me. If you thank me, I’ll say “You’re welcome”. If I was working at a real job, I might say, “You’re welcome and thank you for shopping with us” or something like that. I guess that’s the big sign that I have now passed into fogeydom; the new-fangled way these whippersnappers speak really riles me up.
• There should be a cosmic law that if you have grey roots, wrinkles and hot flashes, you should not get pimples. It’s just not right. I’m shopping for mature skin cleansers and moisturizers AND buying zit cream? Come on! Really? Give me aging skin or teenager skin, not a mixture of the two.
• Why are people still so hung up on same sex relationships? I fail to see how having two women or two men loving each other impacts your lives. It’s not contagious. They can’t turn you. How does selling a wedding cake to two women wanting to formalize their relationship negatively affect your life and your beliefs? Those same people would never think of withholding their services to an inter-racial couple because that would be discriminatory. Hmm, funny how the same lessons keep coming around until we learn them. And funny how some of the people who claim to love God hate people, but that’s another rant, so I’ll move on.
• I wake up every morning with a song in my head. How does that happen? Often it’s a Broadway song, but this morning it was Journey’s song “Don’t Stop Believin”. Is it a message? Because I’m really hoping for something to happen that doesn’t seem to be happening but I don’t know, it could still happen, so I guess I shouldn’t give up yet.  It’s funny, no, it’s amazing how the mind works. And it’s also amazing how many songs I know the words to, however don’t ask me what that key on the orange ring is for, I haven’t got a clue!
• It’s true, sometimes the simplest of pleasures are the best. Right now most of the summer fruit is in season and sitting with a bowl of cherries on my front deck is a little bit of heaven. We’ve been to resorts around the world but sitting in the river a couple of blocks from our house is just as wonderful as sitting on a beach or by a pool anywhere. I guess your mindset helps and I’ve written about that before, so again, I’ll move on.
• Why did no one ever tell me that while the outside changes as you age, the inside stays pretty much the same? Sure, some interior things do change, thank goodness, but in many ways I’m still the same girl I was when I was 15. Sometimes I’m shocked when I look in the mirror and see this older version staring back at me. Where did I go? And that means that people older than me feel the same way. Those elderly women sitting on the bench in front of my house, with their walkers beside them, feel young inside. They still want to have fun, to be considered beautiful, to love and to be loved. That never changes, no matter how old the girl’s outside looks.
• Finally, think of how great this world would be if we all acted the way we know we should; the way our grandmothers, scout leaders, teachers, pastors, doctors and others told us. If we each changed just one unkind, uninformed, impatient or impolite action, deed or thought, how much would our world change? I think it would change a lot, because we would be better and we are the world (cue music).

These are some of my random thoughts on a Friday afternoon. Now I’m going to make a cup of tea and watch “Coronation Street”, we get the Atlantic feed so I can watch it early. Cheers!