BRRRRRRRRRRRR

It is bone chilling cold outside. Luckily, for most people it is a holiday so they are not forced to go outside. I have work, as usual, so I am already up. Shelby was so cold that even with his coat on he ran back inside after a 1 minute walk. I have on two layers of clothes and will blast the heat at work. The cold should only last for a day or so, so I will just bear with it. I have no choice.

Old and Young

Early this afternoon, I will have the gift of spending time with my father and my granddaughter. The oldest member of the family and the youngest member will have lunch together. Since I have been charting my family tree, I think of generations. Four generations will be there. Years ago I remember my mother in law always asking for family pictures to be taken at holiday gatherings. I vividly remember the expression she used. She would say, "Let's take four generations of women and four generations of men". We thought she was silly at the time, but now that I am in her place I totally understand. Today we will take four generations of family pictures. This one's for you, Gloria.

A New Leaf

My family tree has two new leaves. Yesterday I received a copy of my grandmother's death certificate. I wanted to know how she died since she was only 53 and died in 1939. I knew that besides a cause of death, it would list her parents names. Her father would have had her maiden name, but her mother would have had her own. I could trace back one more generation. So far, I can account for 6 generations, from my grandchildren to my own great grandparents. Although it does not make a difference in my life, to me it makes a difference in my heritage. I need to know the family names. A new last name popped up and I am intrigued to find out more. I am a senti-emotional person. I value those who preceded me as well as those who came after. Since last year I have thought more than ever about family relationships. You only get one family. One mother, one father and however many sibling you have. You need to make the most of every minute God allows you to have them. Once they are gone, there is no going back to fix any wrongs. I am glad I have and will have no guilt about my parents. I have done my best to make them happy and that allows me to have peace of mind.

Your Own Punishment

I usually do not read the Yahoo articles on my home page in the morning. I read them at work if I have time. If it looks like a sad article I stop reading. If it is funny, I continue. Today's article was a lesson in respect of other people's property and self punishment. It seems that there was a huge snowstorm in Kentucky and three people decided to make a snowman on their lawn. It was their property and their right to do so. It was 9 feet tall and a lot of effort must have been put into making it. Sometime during the day, a nasty person decided that he did not like the snowman and thought it would be fun to plow it over with his truck. He lined up his truck with the snowman and must have floored the gas. There was one glitch in his plan. The base of the snowman was molded around a huge tree stump. Imagine the driver's surprise when he went crashing into a wood barrier. His truck must ha been heavily damaged, but it served him right. Snowman 1, driver 0.

Confused Weather

Since I am the one that drives my father back and forth to Brooklyn on the weekends, I have become a weather watcher. They predict some snow for this weekend, but every time I look at the weather channel the forecast changes. Either it can't make up its mind or it really does not have the correct answer. One minute it is rain. The next snow. Then there is a mix. The temperature changes from 40 degrees to 47 degrees and then goes to 45 degrees. Why post the information if it changes? The only time I will know the weekend weather will be on Monday morning when the weekend is over. 

Tantrum

Children have tantrums and we expect that. Their brains are not developed enough to have self control when something does not go their way. Eventuall they outgrow it as they mature. Some people never outgrow it and the tantrums continue into adulthood. It is not pleasant to watch. Yesterday I watched as my receptionist had a temper tantrum when she had to call Optimum cable service. She was balanced billed $10 for a cable box she had returned.When the representative looked at the bill and did not give her the answer she wanted, she flew into a rage. She was screaming and cursing at the poor man. All he was trying to do was explain the charge, but it was not to her liking. The screaming got louder and more vicious. She was shaking and almost crying. Her emotional avalanche had taken hold and she was spiraling out of control. My heart started to pound from the volume of her rage. I picked myself up and walked out of the office into a doctor's office in the back. I sat there until the yelling stopped and then gave it a few minutes before I returned. When I walked back in, I told her that one day she would get a stroke or a heart attack from behaving like that. It was a disgusting display to watch. 

Lunch For All

Today we are having a luncheon provided for by a patient. We negotiated a lunch deal. At first, he wanted to buy for every staff and research member. I told him that the research people did not need to have lunch as they pick and choose their hours so they might not show up at lunchtime. Next we decided on the front staff people and he wanted to give me $200 cash. I said that was too much. Lunch was not going to be $40 a person. Then he counter offered at $150 but I still said that was going overboard. We agreed to $100 and he gets the change back. He is a very nice man and wants to do this for us, but he is still a patient so I do not want to take advantage of him.