Arenacross

My horizons were broadened last night. I was invited to an Arenacross Event at our local Resch Center.

What fun! In my seventy years, I had never seen anything like this in person. Even though I have a son who did some motorcycle racing, this was like flying through the air on a motorcycle. There was speed and noise and exhaust fumes hanging in the air. There were crashes. One cycle after the other formed an arc, as they flew through the air.

A heat for the seven to eleven year olds was heart warming. I loved the little girl on the pink cycle with a matching helmut.

Each day is an adventure. It is always nice to do something new.

Wholeness

I have spent a great deal of my life being the "other half" of somebody else. It probably comes from being a follower rather than a leader. It may come from a message given to the females of my generation.

"You are the weaker sex. You need an escort. Don't go anywhere alone."

It is actually a fear message. It tells females they are in danger. It keeps me dependent, afraid, and isolated. It keeps me powerless.

Now I certainly do not want to dominate anyone, or give them orders, or see them as less than me. But I do want to be able to step outside and enjoy life. I want to be able to go somewhere when I cannot find another person to go with me.

Perhaps it is my age, or my small town, or my trust in a Power Greater Than Myself and the genuine goodness of my fellow man. Whatever it is, it is truly a freedom to live without fear.

And I cannot help but notice that Wholeness and Holiness are spelled different but have much in common.

It's Not Your Fault

I have a friend who died recently. He died sober.

He was a kind and gentle man who had a deep understanding of what's important.

His gift to me was one short sentence. He didn't even say the words to me. He said them to students who were in tears over the excessive drinking of a parent , brother/sister, or boy/girlfriend. Each out-of-control drinker/user is affecting, at least, four other people.

My friend Mike said, "It's not your fault."

What a gift. What a healing gift he was giving. Spouses/Children/Siblings/Lovers of excessive drinkers/users enter adulthood too early. They have some common characteristics.

"We become isolated and afraid of people and authority figures.

We become approval seekers and lose our identity in the process.

We are frightened by angry people and any personal criticism.

We either become alcoholics, marry them, or both, or find another compulsive personality , such as a workaholic, to fulfill our sick abandonment needs.

We live life from the viewpoint of victims and are attracted by that weakness in our love and friendship relationships.

We have an overdeveloped sense of responsibility and it is easier for us to be concerned with others rather than ourselves. This enables us not to look too closely at our own faults.We get guilt feelings when we stand up for ourselves instead of giving in to others.

We become addicted to excitement.

We confuse love with pity and tend to "love" people who we can "pity" and "rescue".

We have stuffed our feelings from our traumatic childhoods and have lost the ability to feel or express our feelings because it hurts so much (denial).

We judge ourselves harshly and have a very low sense of self-esteem.

We are dependent personalities who are terrified of abandonment and will do anything to hold on to a relationship in order not to experience painful abandonment feelings which we received from living with sick people who were never there emotionally for us.

Alcoholism is a family disease. We become para-alcoholics and take on the characteristics of the disease even though we do not pick up the drink.

Para-alcoholics are reactors rather than actors."

My friend, Mike, had eighteen years of sobriety.

Travian

Has anyone else found the Travian Game? It's played on line against real people. I found it yesterday and started a village. I had to get up once in the middle of the night to see if I had enough wood to build another wheat field to feed my villagers.

I'm a PC Playin' Grannie. I love Age of Empires, The Sims, Stronghold Crusader, Etc. I'm not so much in favor of the "shoot-em-up" stuff. I like the strategy games.

Anyway, Wikipedia tells me this is a German browser-based game. In 2006, it was ranked first with over 10,000 players. Today, it has been translated into thirty plus languages and has over three million players. It was the first game of its type to be played by mobile phone.

The graphics tell me I'm in a fantasy game. I'm not likely to run into the real world and punch a real person in the nose.

Hope to run into you on the playing field. Please let me know what you think.

The Hotel Robbery

Being a police dispatcher was the hardest job I've ever loved. There was generally balance. As many funny/humorous things happened as serious things. One of my favorites was the hotel robbery.

We are coming to the end of a Saturday night shift. It is now about 5 a.m. Sunday morning, and the shift ends at 6 a.m. for the officers, 6:30 a.m. for the dispatcher. That overlap helps with a smooth transition of pending calls. The Sergeant, a young officer, and I are the only people in the station. There are three more officers on the road.

Ours is a small town and our police department doesn't even look like a police department. In fact, it had originally been a medical clinic. There are wash basins still in place in the offices for the Detectives.

So when the phone rings, I pick it up on the first ring. An elderly male, in a shaking voice, says:

"Robbery (location given) Hotel."

Holding my hand over the phone receiver, I relay that information to the young officer. He leaves the station.

"Tell me what the robber looks like.", I say.

"He's a man from India, wearing a long Army coat, and a blue stocking cap."

"Does he have a weapon?"

"He hit me on the head with the phone receiver. He took it with him when he left. He stole money, rolled coins, and cigars from the display case. It took me a while to find another phone."

"Did you see a car?"

"No."

I key the mic, transmitting to all squads that we have a strong-arm robbery, (location given), and the suspect is a "Man from India, wearing a long Army coat, and a blue stocking cap. Vehicle unknown."

About this time, the Sergeant is standing at the Dispatch office window. He's pointing to the lobby. Walking into our small police department lobby was "A man from India, wearing a long Army coat, with a blue stocking cap."

"Whadda you want?", says the Sergeant to the man.

"Gotta match?", was the reply.

"Wait right here." says the Sergeant. (The Sergeant, who had removed his gun belt because the shift was ending now heads to his office to put it back on.)

In the meantime, I am discreetly broadcasting:

"All squads, I believe the suspect is in our station lobby."

And, sure enough, here comes the young officer walking into the door right behind the suspect. This officer had passed the suspect as he left the station. However, at that time he didn't have a description. He had traveled a short distance before the broadcast went out. He threw the squad into reverse and backed up to the station. He's saying:

"Put your hands on the counter where I can see them."

This man, under the influence of alcohol and drugs, stole money and cigars from the hotel. He had the cash and rolled coins in his pocket. He wanted to smoke one of the cigars he stole, but he didn't have a match.

We were one of the few places open at 5:30 a.m. on a Sunday morning. And we didn't look like a police station.

New Family Member

I have a new Great-Grandpuppy. He arrived this week after much negotiation between father and daughter.

My son writes: "His name is Taz, as in Tazmanian Devil. He's nine months old. He's a Puggle - 1/2 Pug and 1/2 Beagle. He was supposed to be house trained, but he must have forgotten his training on the way home. He's had a couple of accidents in the house already. We picked him up on Friday and we've had a steady stream of visitors ever since. Other than the accidents he's been very good. He doesn't bark, doesn't chew the furniture and listens pretty well. You'll have to come and see him soon!"

So I haven't met the little guy yet, but think he's adorable. My granddaughter has a smile that measures from ear to ear. Did you ever notice how happiness spreads?

Welcome, Taz!

Yoga

I'm home this morning from my one hour "Silver Sneakers" Yoga Class. It's held at a local fitness center.

I'm a member of the fitness center at no cost to me because I have a very wise insurance company. They provide a free membership to the insured.

I think this insurance company is very smart. Certainly it must pay off for them in the long run to have me stay healthy.

My hat is off to my Humana Insurance Company. How long is it going to take for other insurance companies to get this smart?