Steve sent me a quote today, probably meaning to comfort me: "History teaches us that men and nations behave wisely once they have exhausted all other alternatives"- Abba Eban
Today marks three years in Iraq, 2,300 American troops dead, as well as tens of thousands of Iraqi's. Re: a NY Times article last week, there is over twice the unrest in the world as there was 50 years ago. And probaly triple the corruption. And many, many more weapons. I do not believe we are learning from past mistakes. I am afraid that wisdom will not prevail. I'm afraid that wisdom, like responsibilty and accountability will lose their relevance in a world where greed, selfishness, fundamentalism and fanatic dogma, (redundant, but I'm steamed!) will conquer wisdom. It's very sad as I'm a great fan of wisdom. And Spring, which gives me hope.
Happy Spring everyone! The first crocuses are coming up, tulips and narcissus, lilacs and roses are coming to life but it's still in the 30's. Brrrr.
We had a great weekend with friends and relatives. I ate much cake and many cookies, I even baked some. I put caramel-filled chocolate kisses in the middle of each but the caramel burst through and spread out into one big cookie. Ugly but tasty. We had a surprisingly good dinner at a very crowded, noisy Austrian bistro, Cafe Steinhof which for years I thought was just a beer bar. On Sat. we paid what was supposed to be a short visit to my Aunt Sarah in NJ. We brought my Mom's photo collection and wound up staying till 1 AM, along with my Cousin Lorry and her wonderful beau. L is 14 years older than me and while we didn't grow up close, she and her older sister were my role models growing up. (All other cousins my age were stinky-ass boys) It was wonderful and probably the first opportunity where had time enough to get to know each other. I was very gratified to get her take on being a female in this family. It was alternately thrilling and chilling and we found we both carry a lot of the same baggage. We come from a family of wonderful, formidable women!
From left: Ann, Fay(Mom), Ann's husby, Ben, and Sarah, in the early 1950's.
Sarah is the only survivor and will be 96 in June, she is incredible.
My Dad, Mom, Aunt Ann and Uncle Jack, all died this time of year and I've been missing them all a lot. Sitting around and talking about them for hours brought them back for a while. And when I hold Aunt Sarah and kiss her, it's just like embracing my Mom. Love is a wonderful thing, huh? Too bad we all can't keep more of it in our hearts, for each other. It might help us remember to be wiser as men and nations.
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