Seersucker and the Gaza Strip

Certain things just mean summer. Movies shown outdoors, fireflies, outdoor pools, ordinary dinners cooked on the grill, concerts under the stars, salads, sunshine, seersucker.

Life becomes a little random and impulsively frivolous. Kids rule. The world is about play. My phone weather app shows 7 little suns with numbers in the 80’s. Next week is Family Camp and although I never actually know until I get there if it’s going to happen,every year for the last 15 has been a Bridge marathon during which I try not to disappoint Marge. I went to the Senior Center once this past Spring to try to get better. Wrong. It’s just not the season of my life for Bridge to be anything more than a passing fancy. I’ll bid the best I can.

Face it, gang. For all of us, how we spend our days is pretty much a burden. Twenty seven million people are enslaved, literally. A billion people don’t have toilets or running water.

Despots and anarchists and vigilantes are bombing the life out of each other killing the next generation off before they reach adolescence. The other half are empty hearted greedmongers who think money can buy them peace of mind and happiness.

Trust me. If you can’t be happy when you’re poor, having money, wealth and riches, will sorely disappoint. Money is not love. All it can buy is distraction.

While Gaza burns we sail our boats and share videos on cat tricks and the antics of children.

And that’s OK. If some of us don’t play when it is our time to play, the world will implode.

Monday was my birthday and Caity and I, much to our mutual surprise, both had the day off. We love movies and a matinee was mandatory. I won’t say which one in deference to spoil alerts, but during the showing of our choice, we kept whispering our suspicions of what ‘the bad’ was going to be. We kept waiting for it to turn and twist. Suddenly people were hugging and laughing on the screen and it was over. It was just a feel good movie like “My Big Fat Greek Wedding”. We almost missed the story waiting for the bad. Showed us we needed to lighten up a bit; change our focus. People do not always get betrayed in the end.

Life is not always wool and brocade. Sometimes it’s seersucker and madras.

The odds of life being what they are, some pregnant woman in Gaza gave birth today. Some babies will live even as those babies were shot out of the sky in Ukraine.

Somebody is getting married and somebody’s at a funeral and you know what? There will be laughter at both occasions.
Bank the sunshine and when we’re buried in ten inches of snow next winter and the power’s been out for a week, pull up the beach pix, the group shot from this year’s reunion, the wedding, the baby, the meal you ate al fresco. They will keep you going.

Laughter is what keeps us human. Quiet is what keeps us from striking out in hurtful ways.

Dialogue from the movie to think about:
Son: “They’re just haters”
Father: “we didn’t have that word in my day. The only word we had was ‘jealous’ and that didn’t quite say it”. There are always haters. Somebody is always jealous of someone else.

When it’s your time, play hard, play free, laugh loudly, eat seasonal foods with gusto. Soon enough it will be time to go back inside for the long hibernation.

Think on this: most likely those mothers who are huddled over their children’s bodies are wishing they could go out and play. Take one for the team. Stop and have fun. It’s good for all of us. It’s the path to world peace.

Love,
Deborah