Uses, Excuses, Ruses and Muses

USES
I now have in my possession a Theracane. I didn't know what a Theracane was until j introduced me to hers. One night when the Bethel Valley Girls were hanging out at her house I grimaced because of some back pain. She asked, "Don't you have a Theracane?" and I asked, "What's a Theracane?" It turns out both j and Cool have one, and since they work together, they also have one at work. Too bad Elletu doesn't have one yet. We should add that to the BVG Demographics:

75% of the BVG's have a Theracane
25% of the BVG's do not have a Theracane

Anyway, although it sounds like a flu medication, it is actually a device that takes the place of my husband's elbow, freeing him up to do other things with his spare time. You see, for a long time I have been plagued with intense upper back/shoulder pain when certain muscles tense up, and the only way I could get any relief was to have my husband dig his pointed elbow in to the muscle and move it around for as long as he could stand it. He's a good sport, but his elbow gets tired. With the Theracane, I can reach it behind me from the front, and the round end can do the digging into the painful muscle. To try and describe the Theracane, it looks like a green cane for a dwarf, with some extra little thingies sticking out of it that serve as massagers.There is a pamplet that came with it that describes and illustrates the USES for the Theracane. I discovered another USE for it on my own and want to post it here: The Theracane is a perfect cane for walking upstairs, and in this house, our bedroom is upstairs. That makes this a multi-tasking device and well worth the $35 I spent on it.

EXCUSES
Elletu was supposed to have surgery last Thursday. It had been postpone by her doctor before and then rescheduled for that date. I was ready to be her ride to the hospital and friend-in-waiting, as in the waiting room, and then I agreed to sit with her in recovery and to go so far as to hold the turquoise kidney-shaped bowl for her should she become nauseated post-surgery (hence the Barf Subway Art in a previous post). But the surgery didn't happen. Elletu fell the Friday night before and cracked her ribs, and the doctor can't operate until she is healed. Of course all the BVG's were anxious to hear what happened with the fall---Where? When? How? Why? (Sorry if that's not in the right order, but it's been over 40 years since I studied journalism and I'm a bit rusty with the rules and formulas.) She would not tell me until we got together in person. We did, and she did, and now she doesn't want me to tell the real story. After a few tries she came up with something worthy of being published. So here is her EXCUSE for the fall the last time I asked her:

You don’t want to hear THAT story again!? OK – I was dressed up and en route to the gala. I was a little preoccupied with my handsome escort (should have been paying more attention to my surroundings) and as I was getting out of the limo, I caught my toe. Luckily, my date caught me in time but I hit the Bentley’s door. It was all so quick…thankfully none of my expensive jewelry broke or anything. The flash of all the paparazzi slightly dazed me - - but you know how THAT is!! J

 

 RUSES

 

That's a RUSE if I've ever seen one!!!!! But I'm printing it here for her benefit. Now we have to wait many weeks for the surgery. However, I printed up the Barf Subway Art on premium matte paper and framed it in a beautiful rich dark wood 11"X14" frame with gold edging. Presumably it is now hanging over her toilet, ready to encourage her if and when that surgery finally happens. Remember Elletu, "You'll Never Barf Alone"! 

 

MUSES

 

In Greek mythology, The MUSES were the goddesses who were the inspiration of literature, science and the arts. They were the daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne. We Bethel Valley Girls often refer to ourselves as being a Sorority, and as most people know, in North America Fraternities (for guys) and Sororities (for girls) are social organizations that bear names made up of two or three Greek letters, often the initials of a Greek motto. When naming our Sorority we thought of Beta Veta Gamma to go with BVG, but then found out there is no V in the Greek alphabet, so the V translates to a B. Thus we went with Beta Beta Gamma, BBG. When I researched that, I found there was actually a Sorority with that name at the University of Hawaii of all places, and it was established in 1948, the year I was born. Both of my sons graduated from UH during the nine years we lived in Hawaii. This just solidified our choice of names. So first came the Bethel Valley Girls, then came Beta Beta Gamma, then came this blog-----a fine specimen of great literature if I do say so myself-----and so it came to me, perhaps we should refer to ourselves as The MUSES. This Greek thing means a lot to me right now, just five days past the birth of my Greek grandson.  My daughter is married to a wonderful Greek man who is much-loved by our whole family, and now they have brought a precious little guy in to the world.  Bowing to Greek custom, they waited three days to name him, as it is said that on the third day a baby boy receives all of his 'attributes' and then a fitting name is chosen. Our grandson has been named Perseus Theodoros, after the Perseus Constellation--which was named after the Greek hero Perseus-- and our son-in-law's father, Theodoros. I've done my research on Perseus, and now after reading about The MUSES, I was interested to read that they are half-sisters to Perseus! Yes, Perseus is the son of Zeus and Danae.  The MUSES and Perseus have the same father, Zeus. However, I suspect this Greek mythology is nothing but a RUSE. That's something I could MUSE about in a future blog post, but for right now that's an ABUSE of my time, because I'm getting ready to go meet my grandson Perseus in California. Can't wait to hold him in my arms.

 

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And I guess I've MUSED long enough, with USES, EXCUSES, RUSES and ABUSES. But when I don't add to this blog, everyone LOSES!

Day of Joy, Day of Sadness

It's pathetic when the joy of my second grandchild being born today is overshadowed by the news that the coffee shop I have loved for 16 years is closing its doors forever this Sunday. But you know what they always say: "When God closes a coffee shop, He opens a uterus." Well, maybe it's not exactly that, but it's something like it. So as I mourn the closing of our local Tully's coffee shop, I am also celebrating the birth of my daughter's first child, a boy born by emergency C-section in California at 2:40 a.m. I'm going on two hours of sleep, so I really needed that last Tully's latte. Yum! Bye bye, Tully's (sniff sniff), hello.....................Robotaki?

Actually, the baby doesn't have a name yet and might not for a day or two. Since she never wanted to know ahead of time the sex of her child, she decided she'd think of the baby as a little robot (even though I assured her babies are never ever robots). From that the robot became Robotaki, and that's what we've all called him. If my daughter had had a girl, she would have been called Amelia. I love that name and relished the thought of being able to say it often. My son-in-law is Greek, and he gets to pick out a Greek name for the boy. Have you seen a list of Greek names? (This is where you might say, "They're all Greek to me." Of course they are, if you're referring to lists of Greek names.) There are lots of letters in them. Their last name has nine letters, so how rough is it going to be on this kid learning how to spell and write out his name? At least his birth date is sequential and easy to remember: 10-11-12. I love that. His parents are both math geniuses, and I suspect he will be too. He better be good at writing long names as well.

So that's all good, but this coffee shop closing, not so good. Sixteen years is a long time. I go there every Thursday morning at 8 a.m. to meet with three friends. Two of them are retired teachers, and they taught two of my children for many years. Even when I lived away for 11 years, any time I came home on a trip I would meet them in Tully's, and when I moved back three years I took up where I left off. I meet other friends there too, and my husband and I also go there on occasion, not just for the lattes but also for the ambiance. I order the same thing every time: "Grande Latte, please," I say, but then all of the baristas know me and often stop me by asking, "The usual?"

What is it about someone saying, "The usual?" that makes a person feel so good inside? You feel recognized, known, like you matter. It is a sense of 'belonging.' Belonging to a coffee shop? I know, it sounds weird, but it's true. I have a rewards card!! And this is how they reward me, by closing the doors this Sunday and never opening them again?

So I went to say goodbye to Tully's today. My friends and I hugged the baristas, who were crying. One has been working there since it opened in 1996. The other one took a picture of the four of us around 'our' table. I sat in Tully's once at another table with my daughter 14 years ago. She was home from college on her spring break, and while we sat sipping our coffee she was working on writing out a song for her then upcoming senior recital prior to receiving her degree in composition.

Today my daughter produced something much better than a song. She's written oodles of compositions, and none of them took nine months to produce. I won't be able to hold my new grandson for a couple of weeks, but I tell you, he is already playing his song on my heartstrings!

So welcome to this world, with incredible joy, Robotaki. And, sadly, RIP Tully's.
P.S. BVG's FOREVER!

Diversity

It isn't often that I make two blog entries in one day. Come to think of it, this has never happened before. After reading my post earlier today, both Cool and Elletu responded. Cool was cool with me being an Honorary BVG. Elletu pointed out that they accepted me as a BVG even though I didn't live on Bethel Valley Lane way back then--31 years ago to be exact--and did so to 'diversify.' I love it! So the BVG's were into diversity before diversity was cool. What trendsetters, and what an inspiration! They did not have to go through any 'sensitivity training.' They also didn't receive any federal funding for accepting me. They didn't say, "Sorry, you don't live here, you're not like us, now go away."

And that's how LL Cool j came to be, even though they were really L Cool j. It was meant to be.

Thanks again, BVG's!

Honorary BVG

It is October 5, and I just finished wrapping seven Christmas gifts. Six of them I made, three of them for the Bethel Valley Girls. When they read this they will roll their eyes, I'm quite sure. They will say I'm just channeling my inner Martha Stewart, or as they say, MFS. I don't do this to make my Sisters envious of or upset with me. My daughter will be having her first baby any day, so we have a trip to California coming up to hold our second grandchild and to help our daughter and son-in-law. We'll make another trip there in December to enjoy a big family Christmas. Because of these trips, I need to be ready for Christmas much earlier than usual.

While I was making gift cards for the BVG's presents, I realized for the first time that they each have an i in their name. While my BVG name, Firstelle, has an 'i' in it, my real name does not, and that's what I'm talking about, real names. Theirs have i's and mine does not. And why are they not at home making and wrapping Christmas gifts? It's because they are at work. They are all gainfully employed, but I am not. I'm retired without a pension. Thank God for my husband who does a great job supporting me in the manner to which I have become accustomed since I quit teaching piano five years ago.

These are three commonalities between my friends, the Bethel Valley Girls:

* They all lived on Bethel Valley Lane----I did not
* They all have i's in their names---I do not
* They are all gainfully employed---I am not

It is as I have always known: I'm not REALLY a Bethel Valley Girl. I am just an HONORARY one.

But we have this in common:

WE LOVE US!