Ralph

I went to the hospital recently to visit my coworker and friend, Ralph. He has worked 22 years at the Scout camp and managed to make it through most of the season without any medical issues. Ralph tells me often that if he dies at camp, he'll be "mad as hell" if anyone tries to resuscitate him.

During my visit, one of his I.V. bags drained empty and the machine pumping the fluid started beeping incessantly. Ralph searched the wall for the call button. "Ladies, oh ladies, they're playing my song again. You know the tune. It goes: 'Beep! Beep! Beep!'" He laughed and promised he would see me again soon.

Most People

I was out with my friends Josh and Rachel two nights ago. We were all tired and conversation had languished for some time until Rachel spoke.

"I'm kind of spacey right now," Rachel smiled. "I keep thinking about how I'd like to be a bird so I could sing."

Josh laughed. "Not so you could fly?"

"No," Rachel replied. "I'd just sing."

"Most people would want to fly," I said.

She shrugged. "I guess that makes me crazy."

A Bipartisan Brand

My friend, K., used to work as an assistant at the State Capitol in St. Paul. Over beers, he told me about a cigarette break he took with one of the state's power-brokers.

"There's this real right-wing state senator, who will remain unnamed, of course," K. smiled.

"Of course," I said.

"Anyway, let's just say she's a leading proponent of the Marriage Amendment, so you know I'm a fan," K. winced. "She comes out on the balcony where all the smokers hang out and she takes out her pack of Parliaments and then gets a good look at me and what I'm smoking and she notices that we're smoking the same brand. She remarks, 'Parliaments? I thought that was the brand of Edina house-wives.'"

K. sipped his beer. "I told her, 'No Senator. You got it all wrong. Parliaments are the brand of college liberals everywhere.'"

"What'd she say to that?" I asked.

"At least we agree on one thing," K. replied. "I think the whole event blew her mind a little bit."

"Tagged"

I'd asked my son, "What would get the younger set involved in the Arts' Alliance?" He recommended establishing a "Graffito Wall". Little did I guess that our shed might become the location! Can't even tell you when, but we've been tagged!

Contributed by Ann.

Benches

There are memorial benches all along Duluth's lakewalk. Some are right off the wooden boardwalk while others are tucked in wooded recesses along the cliffs.

I remember telling Josh during one of our walks after breakfast at Uncle Loui's on a summer Sunday afternoon what sort of memorial bench I would want.

"You see that lone rock out there," I pointed. "I'd want it out there so people would have to swim to it."

"But you can't even swim. Why would you want it there?" Josh asked.

"So people can sit someplace they'd know for sure I'd never been."

Latitudinarian

As I logged onto the internet, my Word for the Day was latitudinarian. It became a point of reflection and soul searching as to whether this adjective applied to me. I think I'll add it to my collection of words I use to describe myself and my life's blueprint. It's a word that rolls off the tongue and peaks interest!

Contributed by Ann.

Movie Dreaming

I like to think about how movies have changed how human beings dream. Slow-motion, cutting between scenes, varying visual angles--these things didn't exist in our minds before cinema, but they show up in my subconscious all the time.