Oh, you know. The one who . . . . .

You may not remember a person’s full name, as in Dr. John Edward Dohicky II, but you’d do well to at least refer to him and remember him as John. Still, it is probably true that you know many people named John, so there must be a key to place this man in your mind. Then when someone asks just what John you are talking about, you can say, “You know…the one who still does a low whistle when a pretty girl walks by, or the John who takes up collection at church, or the John who is always smiling even when he is talking.

So what about Mary? It’s a really old name yet still given to baby girls, coupled with another name, so that she becomes Mary Sue, Mary Ellen, Mary Ann or Mary Monica, That should make it easier to remember her name, yet I know so many Mary Sues and Mary Anns. So if  I meet them unexpectedly I may have to quickly sort through all the names that fit the face.  But there are other clues and other ways I may refer to this Mary.

If I should bring up her name at coffee and a friend asks me what Mary I am talking about, I am likely to say something like “Oh, you know. The Mary who is always talking about her dog, or the Mary who has a braid in the middle of her ponytail. “Oh, that one,” they will say.

One must wonder how others identify them in this way. I would not be surprised if I’m referred to as the woman who talks too much or the woman who is always daydreaming and then asking people what they just said.

A name can be a burden or a blessing depending on the contribution we make to it. Years ago I took a course meant to teach us a lot about our true natures and our purpose in life. The teacher asked me if I were living up to my name and I puzzled all day yet was unable to see how one could live up to the name Doris. It was much later that I took a look at my second name, Markland, and began to wonder if I was leaving a mark on the land.

Now you know why I named my blog mymarkland.com. And why my name is on the front of two books.

Something funny happened yesterday. I received a message from Netflix that read, “Doris, Grace and Frankie is returning for another season.” I puzzled and puzzled but couldn’t remember any TV show with the name Doris in it.  All right, laugh if you must, and remember me as the Doris who misses the obvious.

I wonder if it might be a good exercise to start a list, a list of phrases people might use to identify me. My second goal may be to revise the list as I’m able to remove things like the Doris who interrupts others when they are talking, the Doris who is always clearing her throat, or the Doris who can’t seem to remember a darn thing.

Problem is I won’t remember where I put the list.

Close Call . . . . .

 

We

Well, no that isn’t an explosion. I think it’s fog. And I think it is in Japan, not in Hawaii. But it’s all I could find. These days it is not as easy to find pictures online as it used to be. Now they ask you to register, to pay money, and it gets complicated.

However, I wasn’t able to get a picture of the big atomic explosion in Honolulu this morning because there wasn’t one. The alert signal in my room did sound but no voice told me why, so I ignored it. Only later did I see on TV that there was a big scare here today. If I had heard the warning I wonder if I would have been scared. I understand that people hid in bathtubs and strange places, but I would guess with an atomic bomb that no place would shelter you and no prayers would stop the bomb.  Certainly you wouldn’t have time to put your life in order. So if you’ve already done that you are one up on the game.

Meanwhile people, needing something to stir up, have passed by the men who have ravaged girls, and are now onto men who use bad words to describe conditions in a country and interpret it to mean bad words about its people . . who want to leave the country because of the bad conditions in the country. Just gotta bitch and blame. I have somehow managed to ignore this as I ignored the threat of an atomic bomb. Getting into the tub and covering myself with a mattress will not spare me from a bomb or from politics. But if I keep my cool, this whole thing might blow over and some good will come of it.

Stay safe and have a good day. Love from Hawaii. Rather, Aloha.

 

Islandish thoughts . . . . .

Back in Paradise I am living temporarily in a unit with the mountain view and it was up those mountainsides, which you can’t quite see in this picture, that New Years was beautifully acknowledged with fireworks . . although, on the other side of the building the fireworks were over the water. It was awesome all around.

I had no more than settled in when I bad had news from home. New Year’s Eve, when the weather was 28 degrees below zero in Nebraska, my grandson’s home caught fire and burned to the ground. He and family escaped with their lives but nothing else. How convenient then, when they had no place to go, that my house was empty. I was glad they had a warm place to go. They are, of course, horribly stunned, and there is a fund going online for help, and there may be local help. But everything they owned is gone. So sad.

I went for a stroll a while ago and met a family from New Zealand (although he actually was from Scotland) and when they learned I was from Nebraska He lit up and began telling me how much he enjoyed the movie Nebraska.  When he learned the movie was filmed where I live he was really excited, and especially so when he learned that I was tested for a part and had two very lovely social meetings with Alexander Payne.

Even here my ordinary life must continue and I will see a eye specialist tomorrow who probably will give me a injection in the eye. And you thought I would be sunning on the beach? Climbing Diamondhead? Surfing on the North Shore? No. Life must go on and I must tend to seeing that it does.

I will be watching for things I can write about from here, but more likely I will think of things to write about that I just hadn’t gotten to yet. In 92 years lots can happen so fast they cannot be acknowledged until later when you have lots of time to think, to dream, to remember, to analyze, to treasure. And now that my second book is out, my schedule is free . . to daydream, to explore, to maybe do nothing . . . . . . unless some really good ideas come floating in.

Hope you are all someplace warm and with good things happening for you. Happy New Year.