Who The Heck Was That?
by Susan McGunnigle Condon
I love the movie, "On Golden Pond". Part of it scares me, too. Norman is funny but getting very old - and we are all headed in that direction. He picks up a photograph off the table of him and his daughter and says "Who the heck is that?" Only he doesn't say heck - he says the bad version of heck which I will not use here because this is a "kid friendly website".
Yesterday after church and dinner I ran down to the "d". As I stepped out of the car, two ladies came running at me. One said "Susan! I am so glad you are here. I did not want to leave the Island for the winter without saying good-bye to you!". Her friend said, "Thank God you found her!
As I smiled I thought "Who the heck is this?" Only I must confess I thought the other word in my mind. As we chatted away (I am pretty good at being phony) I wracked my brain - "Who are these people?" As we said goodbye (I thought she might throw her arms around me and kiss me) I asked, "And what is your name again?" "Arlene" she answered. "Of course" I said.
That incident scared me. Was she really one of my best friends and I just forgot?
A few months ago Dad and I were doing a sale in Amagansett. A middle-aged woman walked up to Dad and started chatting away - telling him about her family and asking him about his. He answered very politely (he is not as good about being phony as me, though). When the woman left he asked me "Who the heck was that?" I answered, "She was your girlfriend in the eighth grade" (which was absolutely true). "Boy, she looks old," he said. Maybe we are all getting old.
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Mashed Potatoes
by Susan McGunnigle Condon
I was reading a novel last week and one of the characters in it shot himself in the head. He did not die, but spent two years in a vegetative state. He woke up after two years and his family was standing around him. His first words were: "I want some mashed potatoes".
I can relate to this man. Not the shooting in the head part, but the mashed potatoes part. I have always loved mashed potatoes. They comfort me and make me feel good about life. If it was up to me I would eat them for every meal. Sometimes I even have them for breakfast.
Last week I was talking to Gramps and I said "I don't understand it - I have cut down on bread, hardly eat any dessert, yet I have not lost a pound." He looked at me and said "You eat a lot of mashed potatoes". I answered, "Mashed potatoes are a vegetable - they are full of nutrients - they are good for you." He looked at me for awhile and then said, "You eat a LOT of mashed potatoes".
"Maybe it is the way you make them that makes them so fattening", I said. "Maybe you put in too much butter and I have seen you sometimes use heavy cream." He answered, "If I made them any different you would not like them so much."
I thought about that for a minute. Some things are worth gaining weight over. I believe mashed potatoes is one of them.
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Deadline! Deadline!
by Susan McGunnigle Condon
I am really stressed out - the webmaster is telling me my article for the week is due right now. It is very hard for me to be creative under stress--but here goes.......
It has been a pretty typical week here on Shelter Island. Church stuff, Lions Club dinners, dinner guests, bought stuff, got stuff, painted stuff and sold stuff.
Gramps yelled at me the other day. We were riding along Menantic Road (I was driving) and suddenly another squirrel jumped in front of me. Naturally, because I was concerned about him I slammed on the brakes. Because of my good reflexes that squirrel went on to live and run into the woods. Grampy yelled "You almost killed me! I almost hit the windshield. Are you more concerned about a squirrel than me?" I ignored his question and answered, "If you had been wearing your seat belt like you are supposed to you would not have almost crashed into the windshield". He put his seatbelt on.
A lady (who I think might have some emotional problems) has been calling us for advice. She called the other night at 11:30 pm and asked Gramps to pray for her because she was going to go out and look for a job the next day. He prayed with her and being the good minister's wife that I am I made no comment about the late hour. At four AM when I was sound asleep, the phone rang. Oh no! I jumped awake - something must have happened to someone to call us at 4 AM. "Hello" I said groggily. "Can I talk to Jim?" this same woman asked. "Jim is asleep" I answered shortly. "Well" the woman said, "Can I talk to you? You are awake". "I was sleeping, too" I said. "Call back tomorrow" Sometimes I think I am suffering from burnout.
Hopefully by next week my creative juices will start flowing and I will come up with a good idea for an article. If anyone has any ideas send them to me at jimandsus88@msn.com
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