Kenneth Hahn Park, Los Angeles, 2013
Musings
This page is devoted to thoughts that come to me during every day experiences. These brief sentences will, I hope, lead me to expand these ideas into fully developed essays in the near future. Perhaps there will be an Eclectic Letters Volume II.
1. Losing a sister is losing a slice of life. In the summer of 2013, my older sister died. Today I sold the land on which she had lived for so many years. This severed my ties to the her community and I struggle to hold on to her memory. (2014)
2. I encountered a woman who was about to lose her lodging and possibly her child due to her inability to pay the rent. Moved by her story, I gave her all the money I had with me....and books.....and a large shopping bag to carry her possessions. (2014)
3. Of late, I have been meeting forty-year old folk who refer to me as "ma'am." They say I remind them of their mothers. I guess I have to admit to getting older.(2015)
4. I am a member of a minority group (10%) but I am 100% human---capable, talented. (2015)
5. I was standing on the platform at the end of the newly opened Expo line when my shoulder was rudely brushed by another commuter. "Excuse me," I said in a not too friendly tone. "I'm sorry," the young woman replied. "I just got fired." I apologized to her and wished her well. I wanted to give her some money but only had my credit card with me. I have decided to always have cash on hand to reach out to people like her if only to say good luck. (2016)
6. This year Lemmle Theatre is celebrating its beginnings 78 years ago. The chain was launched the same year I was. I was at the Santa Monica theater and was surprised and delighted to see how it has been upgraded, with lounge theatre seating among other improvements. If it needed upgrading, so do I. Time to get down to work. (2016)
7. A friend looked in my closet the other day and said, "What a lot of costumes you have." "No," I replied. Those are my dress up clothes. Actually he had it right. There were clothes I wear to disguise the real me, just like the masks I wear and that many people wear to put on a brave front. We actually walk through life alone, with only our baggage, costumes and masks. We might meet someone along the way that appreciates our disguise or shares our baggage. And we might walk along together for a while. But basically, it is a solo trip, and the most we can do is stick it out and make the best of it. (2019)