1st World Problems

How long do you give a person before you decide if they are worth your time or not?  Personally, I make a pretty quick determination. Not that I won't give the person in question a second chance. I trust my gut, and usually, the first time you meet someone they are on their best behavior, so what they are showing you then is the best version of themselves. I met some new people this weekend and I must say either I need to calm down, or they need to figure themselves out. My husband belongs to a charitable organization where some of the tenets to belong involve not talking about religion, money, or politics. The charity is based focused on helping children with various ailments get help at no cost to their families, insurance or not. Within minutes of meeting them (I have been in large, loud rooms with these people before but have never had conversations with them) one refused to make eye contact or any kind, and the other started talking about how much money they make. And the one ...

 The truth is a slippery thing.  Two people can experience the exact same thing at the exact same time and come out of it with completely different recollections. Both will be telling their truth. And both will be coloured by past experiences. I have a tendency to be fairly insular. I try not to talk about things that can be considered controversial unless I am really close to the person I am speaking with.  We used to have something called "polite conversation". There were certain things you just didn't discuss with people. Religion and money being the top two major topics to be avoided. Conflict was avoided and conversations for the most part stayed fairly superficial, depending on the company you were keeping.  Then we stopped being so polite. Everyone was entitled to everyone else's opinion. You were going to hear it sometimes whether you wanted to or not. Newer generations have been raised thinking that their opinion is the only thing that matters. And older gen...

We lost a friend yesterday. He was a grumpy old man, and I loved him. I can't remember when we met him and his forever patient wife, it's almost like he was just there the whole time. My husband belongs to the Shriners. The Shriners are a volunteer group that raises money for their group of hospitals. The percentage of young guys is much smaller than the group of old guys, so my husband wound up with a best friend almost 35 years older than he is. It's not all that surprising, from all accounts my husband has been 80 since he was born. We met our friend through the Shrine. Our friend was a vocal supporter and an even more vocal critic. He didn't suffer fools and never hid an opinion. Politically we stood very far apart, but ultimately we just wanted what was best for our country and province, and had different ideas on what and who that meant.  We spent a lot of time together at Shrine functions. Dinners, dances, BBQs, parades. We traveled together to conventions and go...