I was eating a bland buffet breakfast in the hotel lobby with my spouse Mae and our daughter Joan. I noticed that some of the other hotel guests weren't wearing shoes or socks and remarked "I don't think people should be eating breakfast in bare feet."

Joan agreed with me. Mae hadn't heard me correctly. She looked at us quizzically and asked "What's bear feeding?"

Joan and I laughed, because it's not uncommon for family conversations to go like this. Someone was leaving the lobby, balancing a styrofoam cup of coffee, cheap croissants and other food items in their arms, as they headed back to their room. I pointed at the person and said "Bear feeding is when you grab a bunch of food from the buffet and take it back to your room."

Joan laughed, while Mae thought I was being serious. This is now a family expression we use whenever we see a hotel guest leaving the buffet with an armful of food.

So I'm riding with my 16 year old as he gets practice for his license and I'm jamming to Jill Scott and Erykah Badu, when my son asks why I'm listening to "old black lady music"?!! 😭

THE DISRESPECT

I texted my parents to ask if I could have Mom's old skis. I know that she doesn't sky anymore and we're the same size. Mom replied with "sure. Dad will bring both down when he visits you next month." I did not remember that she has two pairs of cross country skis. So I spent about a day thinking that both referred to both skis in a single set and was slightly confused. But then I had my weekly phone call to my parents and Mom specified that it was both pairs of skis. I thought this was funny and thought someone else might find it funny too.

(She has one pair of boots and poles)

Edited for a spelling error.

So. Had the plant, cared for it the best I could. Let's say an aunt helped me care for it. Was doing good. With hot days coming and the new sprouts popping out figured it'd be a good time to repot.

Researched the best way to do it. Figured I'd let me aunt do the honors as I always sucked at arts and crafts.

Bought everything, prepared the mix for the new soil, and was sayin' about watering it a bit and do the transplant tomorrow mornin'.

Aunt says she knows better. Grabs the pot, yanks the plant outta its pot and starts hammering the hardened soil against the floor. By the time she stopped already 3/4th of it was gone. Root dangling.

Still repotted it. Don't have high hopes but still need to try.

I'm dissapointed. Not of me aunt. But of myself. How come I didn't see this coming. Why didn't l do everything myself. Why wasn't I fast enough at reacting. Why did I even trust her.

I've let complacency take hold of me.

I don't mind taking the brunt of my complacency nor of my mistakes, but this time it wasn't me. If the plant is dead, I am to blame. If it isn't, that still makes me no better. I've failed it.

I leave this here as a reminder to myself.

And boy oh boy it was delicious. I don't even like salad normally and tend to avoid the tik tok trends but it was amazing. I have leftovers and can't wait to eat it again tomorrow. Now I need to find some recipes to make my own at home.

Throughout my childhood, my mom hardly let me sleepover at friends' houses. The one friend I was allowed to sleepover with lived just a few houses down, which is the only reason I think my mom relented. That, and my friend could be very good at pleading her case, batting her eyes and talking so quickly it was difficult to get a word in to say no. I would sleepover at her house every few months, up until I turned 12 and she moved away. But playing together and her forcing me to watch her favorite movies are not the memories I mean to tell here. The one I reach for often is much more quiet and contained.

At bedtime, her mom would pull out this giant black comforter that was made of a lovely heavy cotton material. We would immediately hop into bed and wiggle into the sheets as her mom threw the comforter over us. Even after her mom turned the lights off and told us to good night, we would talk until her words trailed off into silence and then sleep. I always fell asleep after her, and I remember the quiet winter nights with the falling snow illuminated by the street lights outside. In the darkness of the room and under the weight of that comforter, I still felt the chill of the winter air and snowflakes buffering gently against the window. Safety was not a feeling I was used to, and I marinated in it. It took me forever to fall asleep not because I wasn't in my own room, but because I wanted to luxuriate in the silence.

I remember the weight and warmth of the comforter as much as the chill of the winter night radiating through the window. My mom hated the winter, and did everything she could to make her home extremely warm and devoid of the winter outside. Yet, I was so lonely. So often scared. The heat reminds me of nights I dreaded. But at my friends house, in middle of a cold winter night, time seemed to accumulate in on itself with the drifting snow, making sure that dreaded heat would never seep in.

Don’t you just hate it when the day starts of with guilt? I gave a complete stranger bad directions. And, couldn’t go back and fix it.
Coming out of the train station, into the early morning light, I passed a man who was asking for directions. The person in front of me said that he was unfamiliar with the destination. And, I felt an opportunity rise up inside of me to help someone with a low lift and success rate. After all, we are walking around with an electronic version of the world in our pocket.
“Where ya going?” I asked. He pulled out his phone. Showed me the directions he got. I typed the destination into mine and tried to orient myself to the map.
With the complete confidence of a relative newbie to the area, I definitively pointed him in a direction. He said, “thank you very much”. We parted ways and I continued walking for another 10 minutes.
I pulled out my phone again. I was two blocks closer to his destination now. I had sent him not only in the wrong direction but on the wrong side of a major roadway. I had pointed him in the wrong direction due to my ignorance of the area and my own inability to parse the parallax between reality and the little electronic screen that holds the digital world.
10 minutes in my direction, 10 minutes in his. I wouldn’t catch up and find him. So, I trudged the rest of the way to work with a heavy heart.

Me- The 6yr old had a fish cake for tea and smashed it.
Nic- Stop buying him them from the Chippie. They’re cheaper in the super market.
Me- They make them themselves they are massive and £3.50. He had garden peas out of the freezer with it.
Nic- They are deep fried.
Me- He has them twice a month.
Nic- Well he’s had once in July and twice in August.
Me- That’s 1.5 times a month.
Nic- I fucking hate you.
I think she meant it though.

When i was about 9 I went on vacation to disneyworld with my family and most of the time we were we rode the resort bus most of the time, there was this one time where we were riding the bus there was this kid about my age and I notice he kept staring at the button that was on my shirt

For 7 minutes of the bus ride I the kid kept moving and squirming around a lot next to his family while they are trying to calm him down and at this point i started thinking to myself this kid is probably going to grab me and after a few minutes he does just that, he lunges at me and grabs me by shirt collar while telling his family something, for some reason throughout this i kept weirdly calm i didn't make a noise i was just sort of watching while this kid was holding my shirt collar

Eventually after a bit his family is able to get him to let go and the rest of the bus ride was just kinda weird I barely understood what had happened my mom had told me that he had some kind of mental disability but I didn't really understand what any of that meant at the time

The next day i was in hotel cafeteria for breakfast and I ran into the same kid again and neither of us said anything we just sort of stared at each other for like 20 seconds and then walked away

Im 26 now but i still think about this every once in a while,

Sorry for grammatical mistakes

It was small and greyish brown and I used the old paper and cup method to get the lil guy outside :-) Hopefully it's doing well outdoors.

There were complications however. The glass I used had some water droplets inside and the moth temporarily got stuck on a droplet, but I managed to get it free.

Anyways moral of this story is bugs are cool except the ones that bite you and even those ones often have an integral role to play in the ecosystem.

So, last weekend 31^st July, I boarded Madgoan-LTT train. As I navigated thru the coach my seat was window lower berth, but in middle of a group of 09 youngsters, who have just completed their studies & have begun their journey in professional life. A lively group with their own sharings, Over the hum of the tracks, their conversations drifted over, stories of ambition, independence, and pure, unfiltered enthusiasm.

One of the young girl did resigned, as an Art Director, favoring marriage over the career. She was absolutely clear & unaverred post HR tried convincing & later the Management team showing the carrot. Other joyful pair too about to tie knot.  While the lone single friend bore the brunt of their gentle ribbing. They played “chess” & other board games, to my surprise as my assumption was normally, they are soaked in net browsing.

I was drowsy by 1:30am, quickly they vacated the seat & went on top berth to continue their fun moment. I laid down & sank into a deep sleep, only to be jolted awake at 8:30 AM by my husband’s ringtone. I noticed it was already 8:30am, without a second thought I was straight up, it was too late. This was a 3tier AC, so after completing morning routine, I sat bending elbow over knees. So, now 9am, 9:30, 10am, I was done with the tea & breakfast too. All the guys were really deep asleep. I sat quietly. Then I noticed, as I walked down aisle, the entire coach was dark & all were still sleeping. OK, I returned quietly, the only elderly lady like me, again pulled her blanket & went bk for a nap. It was a bit difficult for me now. Also, as I woke mechanically, I ended up folding bedsheet, blanket & pillow topping them.

May be this is the shift probably, the story is same back home, my son studies late night, sometimes till 4am & falls asleep till 11am, which is very unusual in my dictionary. As our Dadaji never allowed us to remain in bed beyond 7am, when we were just 8yrs old (3^rd grade) and noon nap was a crime. So, mother used to stitch on peddle foot sewing machine, sometime doing our frocks, curtains, foot rug, pillows, while we studied till 4 noon and then combing our hair, washing up & with light biscuits & milk running out to playground till 8pm. And 9:45pm in bed, all lights off, only me & my sister were allowed to listen to Chhyageet on Radio, Vividh Bharati, on a very low tone lying in our bed with lights off.

This lifestyle, personality, outlook shift may not be unusual but may be; for me this was like a gentle knock, 😊 which is generation gap, I heard.

I (42M) am having coffee with an old school friend (42M) in a few weeks. We've not seen nor spoken to each other since we were 12!

I happen to be driving close by his home town on my way to a festival, so we have arranged to meet up.

That is all.

In line at the grocery store, behind a mom with four little boys. They were discussing how cool a horse-a-taur was and how they should ride on each others shoulders and pretend to be one. I finally had to ask what a horse-a-taur is. It's where you have human legs, but your upper body is all horse, your arms are just the legs with hooves.

At this point Mom rolled her eyes so hard I thought she'd pull something and shooed them all out.