My Friend Mary

When I'm giving an example of something or making a comment on something, I sometimes use the name Mary as a generic person in that situation. For example:

At the post office when we were renewing Lauren's passport, a college-aged girl came in with a package that she proceeded to wrap at the counter with Scotch tape. She must have ripped 15 pieces of it from the roll, when the postal worker got annoyed enough to say, "I'm sorry, but you can't send anything through the mail that is taped with Scotch tape. It gets dry and cracks and falls apart. The packing tape is over there." She motioned to the packing tape sitting on the next counter.

Well, there was a roll of "Priority Mail" stickers next to the packing tape. This girl taped every seam on the box with a line of individual 2-inch, red white and blue Priority Mail stickers.

Lauren and I exchanged a befuddled glance with the girl in front of us. The passport line girl said, "Wow," and shook her head as we kept watching.

Wow, indeed. We mused that Package Girl was probably a T-sip. Heh.

Anyhoo--- when we were telling the story later, we said something like, "What is the person going to think when they receive that box? 'Geez, Mary! Did you run out of packing tape?!'"

So that's an example of a "Mary comment." I make them frequently enough that Lauren calls her "Mom's friend, Mary."


Patrick's Saturday Six

1. Considering your childhood, do you feel you had it easier or tougher than your parents did when they were children?
Easier in most ways. Parenting was less strict and formal than when they were kids. Less spanking, more hugging, more participation in their kids' lives. Also each generation seems to have more disposable income than the previous one, which makes things easier.

2. Considering your life now, at your current age, how does yours compare to what you know about your parents when they were your age?
When my parents were my age, my mom was working at IBM. She was a single mom with me in college. My Dad was living in New York by that point, with his new wife (not the current one). They had just adopted his wife's three year old grandson, because her daughter was too much of a partier to be a mom to him. Turned out the wife (my dad's high school sweetheart from Germany) had only married my dad to get into the US, where she still is today. My life is going swimmingly, compared to theirs at the same time.

3. What do you miss today most about your childhood?
I miss all the fabulous trips we took, just the three of us, almost always by car. We went to the Grand Canyon, Colorado, New Mexico, Wisconsin... all sorts of places. I remember many moments where my mom or dad would call to me in the back seat, where I was reading or laying in the flat space by the back window (you all did it!), to point out a beautiful scene ahead- mountains or a valley or a city of lights at night. And all those stops by signs and landmarks where that they wanted to take a photo.

The last trip we took together was to Germany my freshman year of high school. We drove all over and stayed in B&Bs. It was wonderful.

4. What percentage of the time during your childhood did you get what you asked for (within reason)?
50%

5. What percentage of the time do you end up getting what you want today (within reason)?
90%

6. Take the quiz: Are You Spoiled?
You Are 8% Spoiled
You are definitely not spoiled. You've worked hard for what you have.
Down to earth and grounded, you don't need a lot to make you happy.