[July, 1981]  Forty-three years old and I’m still trying to ‘get it all together’. Sometimes it seems like when a body gets that old and still isn’t ‘with it’, she might just as well give up. The only trouble is, what would you do then?

Exactly – and that’s why we keep on trying!

You see, I just took a look at this ‘horrid’ looking book entitled ‘Governor’s Recommended Budget 1981-1983’. The book is one and one-quarter inch thick – about the size of a mail order catalog. And that’s just the recommended budget?

Yes, I’m still trying to get it all together – especially the Ziegler budget. That little project has been on the burner for 24 years and every time it gets to cooking good we spring a leak and run out of fuel.

With money as the subject, I’m a ‘born loser’ so let’s change over to something like…gardening, for instance. Oh, no! Hit that button again! I would simply die if people found out that my garden didn’t even get ‘in the ground’ this year.

The problem is, I took my two weeks vacation and told everyone I was going to plant my garden. Well, the very first day of my vacation I was stricken with the same virus which hit dear old ‘Rip Van Winkle’ and I was laid up for a whole week – flat on my back.

We are supposed to listen to what our body is trying to tell us, isn’t that right? It was like I was hypnotized or something – every time I tried to walk by the couch my body would just simply lay down and take a nap.

But, like I say, it is embarrassing to admit to being a lazy bum. I’ve been back to work now for two weeks and still haven’t said hello to anyone for fear they will answer back, “Did you get your garden planted?”

I’ve thought of all kinds of cute or smart alecky answers, even downright lies, but I’m like my friend, Betty. She always says that if she even thinks of telling an untruth she feels her face light up like a neon light and it begins to flash a warning – ‘lie! – lie! – lie!’.

Yes, I know we all have our hang ups, but some things bother me worse than others. Since my body has rebelled against the life I was subjecting it too, my mind and spirit had to undergo re-conditioning. Like when my son was coming home from college – everything was a mess – I wanted to cook up some good food, etc. – but I didn’t have it in me. I rested. I’ll do it tomorrow, I said.

That same evening, while everyone was gone, that big, hungry boy arrived home a day early. No one was there – the house was nearly upside down – and the cupboards were bare. When he drove in late that evening, his car battery decided to quit too, and he couldn’t even go anywhere to get some food.

Well, needless to say, I felt so-o-o-o bad about it that I wanted to cry. Knowing that my crying would upset everyone more, however, I abstained. Well, we eventually got everyone fed and through the crisis hour. It was the next day when Susan, my number-two daughter, shared a conversation she had had with her brother that morning.

“You know, Larry, Mom felt so bad because she didn’t have things fixed up for you,” Susan had told him confidingly.

“I know,” Larry had replied, “but she shouldn’t. The three things that I was especially hungry for were here waiting when I drove in.”

And Larry continued to explain, “I wanted to smell the fresh cut grass – I wanted to hear the frogs croaking – and I wanted to hear the sprinklers going ‘kschnick-kschnick-kschnick-kschnick’.

“I just laid down on the couch while I enjoyed all three – and went sound asleep.” Those were his words – and that’s where we found him.

Summers are so good for us. And if you learn to drink iced tea the way our family drinks iced tea that can’t really be too harmful to your system. My brother-in-laws always tease Mom about her weak tea by asking for some ‘scared water’.

Mom comes by that ‘scared water’ naturally, though. Grandma and Grandpa Tish always served very weak tea, and at mention of this subject Dad will grumblingly tell of his first meal at the in-laws. After asking for the sugar and adding several spoonfuls to his glass while they all ‘stared’ at him, he was to discover that he had sugared his plain water which was served in amber-colored glasses.

What else is good about summer? I can think of some things I don’t appreciate –

…I don’t like picking cheat grass out of socks before they go in the washing machine.

…I vehemently dislike picking cheat grass out of a whole load of wash because I missed picking it out of one sock.

…Mosquitoes I can do without but they don’t like me anyway if I take my vitamins.

…But flies – flies are so ‘gross’ as they hover around on the screens trying to get to the food. However, that’s life, and (you know the rest). But the thing that really gets to me is –

…Those BIG, BUZZING FLIES that go everywhere like a blown up balloon that’s turned loose – or those kind of firecrackers that go all over the place. Last night I had just managed to get comfortable when one of those monsters decided to invade my privacy. With a roaring BUZZZZZZZZZ that thing came right at my hair (I couldn’t see it but I could hear it!). Just as it seemed to reach my hair, the noise stopped. There was NO BUZZING! Aiieeeee! I threw my book in the air and began to frantically brush at my hair, knowing without a doubt that it contained ‘Herr Fly’.