Memory Lane

Caution: If you are offended by 'the finger' read no further.....I don't want to offend anyone.




It's no secret that I get lost easily. Something today reminded me of one of my adventures where I got lost in a forest, so thought I'd share the highlights here on my blog.

I like to hike (weather permitting) alone because it centers me. Sometimes that gets me in trouble, because I seem to be missing that 'sense of danger' gene....

Ready?

La-dee-da... a beautiful day in the forest





What to do? Hmmmm, I think I'll go right..





So glad I went this way, beautiful creek.





This tree in the trail won't stop me. I climbed through it. (yeah, I'm smart like that)




Ummm, the trail stopped here. Everywhere I looked, looked just like this. So, I had to retrace my steps. Blahh..



I looked to my left and saw this mossy covered stump. Made me gasp. Scared the heck out of me. Yeah, I wonder why!




Ahhh, there is life here....

(that's a slug, in case you're wondering)

Stupid map.....




So yeah, I obviously found my way out. But this folks, is what it's like to have NO sense of direction. What should have been a one(ish) hour hike ended up being a four hour hike. Trust me, I'm not in shape for four hour hikes.

My dad is a republican, through and through. Me? Not so much. I'm not entirely sure that I'm a democrat either, but I lean that way. Anyway, this isn't a political blog so on I go with the purpose of this post.

Dad likes to poke at me about my political leanings now and again. I received this email from him shortly after I'd received a huge promotion and raise:

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Hi [RisibleGirl],

I just had a brilliant thought. Of course that happens often every day.

Now that you are making a large salary, you really should be voting Republican. It only makes sense. All rich and/or intelligent people vote Republican. What do you think?

Love,
Dad (your political advisor)
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My dad, he's a funny one. Yep.

Understandably, I'm not feeling particularly creative these days, so rather than leave you with nothing I've decided to go through saved letters I've written and post them here.

This one is from January 6, 2003:

I decided to join a chorale group that performs to benefit a local food bank and the first rehearsal was tonight. It was being held at "Our Saviour's" Lutheran Church. I got the directions off the site, so knew that I wasn't relying on my own resources and probably wouldn't get lost. Probably. OK, if you know my reputation for getting lost, I think you'll know where this is headed....

Well, the directions weren't so great. In fact, they were horrible. So, I drove around and found a Lutheran church that was close to the address that was on the site. There were cars parked around the church, so I figured that I had found it. Never mind that the name of this particular Lutheran church was different. I believe this one was called "Hope" Lutheran Church. I assumed it was just under new ownership (I have no idea how the Lutheran church works....)

I didn't see anyone going into the building, but I was early so didn't think much of it. At least I was smart enough to leave myself a LOT of time. I went to the door and opened it. I heard voices, so I just followed until I found a group of people (I visualized the hairs on the back my mother's neck standing up. She doesn't much care for this sort of bold behavior....)

They were sitting in a big circle, which I found to be rather suspicious. They also looked a little ummmm, serious. I stood at the doorway and tried to listen in to see if I was indeed in the right place before barging in. I still had hope that maybe they were just discussing the piece or something. I did get some "don't be shy, come on in..." type of looks, but I held my ground (thankfully.) I couldn't hear what they were talking about because they were awfully quiet. Quiet and serious (get a clue, Lori..)

I felt that turning around and walking out might have been insulting at this point, so continued to stand there and look stupid. Shortly, someone got up and walked over to me. I said, "this isn't a choir rehearsal, is it..." Nope. Come to find out, it was an AA meeting. I scurried out of there.

I did find the right church eventually. Maybe I'm just sick in the head- but I love it that this stuff happens to me. It sure makes for a funny story...

First of all, thank you everyone for your kind words and thoughts. I've read some of your comments to my husband and he also really appreciates the support from everyone.

As would be expected, this experience has make me think about my own father. My dad has an odd sense of humor. Hmmmm.... makes ya wonder how far this apple fell, eh? Actually, our humor is different. He's the one quip wonder, where I'm one that likes to set up the scene.

I think I'm going to post some of our correspondence every now and again, because I find it so funny to look back on. Hopefully, you'll find it to be as funny as I do.

Setup (remember, I'm the one who likes to set up the scene...)
When I was single, I used to have two phone lines going into my house, one for me and one for the boys. That meant that some of the phone jacks were active under one phone line, and others under the other line. When I got my cell phone, I canceled my land line since I had cable internet. My plan was to also use my cell phone for work, but that got expensive. So, I decided to keep the boys line after the youngest moved out and use it for work. This meant that I'd have to activate that particular number on all the jacks in the house.

My dad used to be a phone man, so I asked him how to switch around the wiring. Dad wrote back what seemed like explicit instructions, that included going outside into the phone box and switching around the wires. Electrical wires.

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Date: 1-17-2003
Subject Line: Little miss "do-it- herselfer" learned a bit about electricity today.

Dear Dad,

Today I followed your instructions on switching around the wires and, let's just say, it was a BAD time for someone to give me a jingle.

You guessed it. I got a really nice shock out of it. Half an hour later and my hand is STILL tingling (but nothing dramatic...) I'll admit being a bit stupid about this. I was barefoot on wet cement at the time. My bad.....

I do want you to know that I AM tenacious. I wasn't done with the job, so I bit the bullet and finished (praying the entire time that nobody would call me.) As you've explained, there is no way to cut the current going to the wires unless I want to climb a pole to do it. There are just some things I will not do.

Love,
[RisibleGirl]

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Reply from Dad:

Did I forget to mention I always use insulated needle nose pliers to move the wires around? Oops.

Love Dad

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...and here's proof. BJ loves repeating this story, so it must be a good one.

Like most little girls, when I was young I played Barbies with my friends. I probably wasn't much fun to play with though, because playing Barbies with me went something like this:

Little RisibleGirl: "Ok, now you make your Barbie say this..."
Little RisibleGirl: "Ok, now make your Barbie do this...."

Eventually, nobody wanted to play Barbies with me anymore. But that was OK with me, because that meant that nobody'd give me ANY lip on what I wanted the Barbie's to say or do.