tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7195616894993495285.post5016128412368049201..comments2024-02-16T18:19:13.539-08:00Comments on Ramblings From Yet Another Stranger on the Bus: It Sneaked Up On Me!Leslie Morganhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15702472429383639709noreply@blogger.comBlogger19125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7195616894993495285.post-23801972499259675892010-01-07T13:50:51.784-08:002010-01-07T13:50:51.784-08:00@ the Badge ~ I know the holidays barely show up o...@ the Badge ~ I know the holidays barely show up on your radar. And you're persuasive, Badger, because I'm not only found where once I was lost, I still feel like my "now" way of celebrating is wonderful. Well done! I was a special ed student requiring intensive tutoring - you ARE good at what you do. I'm glad you boarded my pink bus today. I vote for "everything is a miracle". "Nothing is" would be way too cynical for me.Leslie Morganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15702472429383639709noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7195616894993495285.post-33350867764220800462010-01-07T13:29:01.189-08:002010-01-07T13:29:01.189-08:00Hmm. For me XMas barely exists. I have to work a...Hmm. For me XMas barely exists. I have to work at it. It's unnatural. Your account(s) of it don't ... I don't have words for it. They're just so outside my experience. Holidays in general. All of them. They don't penetrate. In some ways, every day is a holiday; everything is a miracle, or nothing is, as one sage said.Jimhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11938379025774754317noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7195616894993495285.post-7334584357353669132009-12-31T13:39:26.940-08:002009-12-31T13:39:26.940-08:00@ GJ ~ Happy holidays! It's good to have you a...@ GJ ~ Happy holidays! It's good to have you aboard today. Thank you for your nice comments. Funny you'd pop up today. I'm working right now on a post wherein I mention another comment you made to another of my posts.<br /><br />Also funny you'd ask about my voice. My mother, daughter and I sound so much alike, even we can't tell one another apart on the phone. It's said we have really compelling voices, soft but a little deep. At work, I am "the voice" of our company. If I'm in the office, I am to be the only one to answer the phones, because David believes people bond to my voice ~ that I actually attract business that way. If one goes online to our company websites, I can be heard yacking away about carpet cleaning as one schedules an appointment. Not very interesting stuff, but the voice is there. I'd probably do OK on NPR.Leslie Morganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15702472429383639709noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7195616894993495285.post-79559868790117367562009-12-31T13:28:03.854-08:002009-12-31T13:28:03.854-08:00Parts of this Christmas history belong on public r...Parts of this Christmas history belong on public radio. There is such redemption embued in your account. I wonder what your voice sounds like. Your writing is so compelling, I'm even drawn to the horror you describe through comments.Garlandless Judyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13959608333810848422noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7195616894993495285.post-48099521570098311022009-12-31T11:19:02.619-08:002009-12-31T11:19:02.619-08:00Right back at you, my sweet one, Tree! Looking for...Right back at you, my sweet one, Tree! Looking forward to your continued growth and strength in the new year.Leslie Morganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15702472429383639709noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7195616894993495285.post-29436927074619080752009-12-31T11:16:26.824-08:002009-12-31T11:16:26.824-08:00Happy New Year Les!Happy New Year Les!Tréehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11742129819547567342noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7195616894993495285.post-48303253435072892342009-12-31T09:42:02.804-08:002009-12-31T09:42:02.804-08:00@ Dan ~ good for you and Allan! That's time we...@ Dan ~ good for you and Allan! That's time well spent with one's kid. Clean and sober is a good thing, too.<br /><br />About the line of demarcation thing: I have and will continue to write a bit about the marriage and the relationship. I was in it 32 years, so it's a big part of my life. There was no sudden event that ended it. No one found anyone else in bed with a third party. Nobody shot up the city council meeting and shamed the other. It's more that we are two people who shouldn't have even tried to sustain a marriage ~ it just wasn't going to work. About the time I realized that, I became pregnant (huge shock after trying for almost 20 years) and hung another 13 years. What is remarkable is the NOISE at the end. Our ice shelf did not melt or erode away. It snapped, breaking away from the mother continent at one precise moment in time. I've always said my divorce story is as ugly as any I've ever heard about. Maybe my perception is skewed because I had a starring role in it. But it was bad. We're both very extreme, and . . . . I may never get over some parts of it. This holiday season, however, I found myself telling stories about him during other holidays. I didn't spit when I said his name. That's progress. I'm not being comical here.Leslie Morganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15702472429383639709noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7195616894993495285.post-38394382494530803092009-12-31T09:26:33.790-08:002009-12-31T09:26:33.790-08:00@ Friend Tag ~ You're good to me. Thank you. Y...@ Friend Tag ~ You're good to me. Thank you. You may believe that not all of my avoidance behaviors have been benevolent. I hope I have not ever been very hateful to any others, but I surely have been destructive.<br /><br />It is my sincere hope that no small children have been traumatized by the absence of the Christmas Nazi in that 4-square-mile city.Leslie Morganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15702472429383639709noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7195616894993495285.post-44540505848201283152009-12-30T21:10:30.925-08:002009-12-30T21:10:30.925-08:00I haven't been around long enough to know whet...I haven't been around long enough to know whether you've written about the demarcation (sp?) catalyst 7 years ago. If you haven't I hope you do, and I hope I'm around to read it.<br /><br />I also have a Xmas hotwater heater story. Sat pm, this Dec 26, I went in the garage where my X lives, and our son, and found the water heater leaking all over the floor. No wonder the hot water was barely warm. The good news is that my son, Allan, helped my replace it. It was a big job because it had been linked up with a passive solar pre-heating mechanism with seeming miles of copper pipes snaking around. We had to rip out much of it, and re-do things. Very messy, but with his torch soldering skills and me running to the store for more connectors, we finished the job at 6 pm, just in time for me to drive 430 back to Orange County ... Arrived at 12:45 am ... Starbucks to the rescue!<br /><br />The good part, I didn't stress it sufficiently, I fear, is that this was one of the so-far rare occasions when Allan and I have worked productively together. He's stuggled with drug addiction, and is clean and sober now, and I'm very grateful.Danhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02358714725140338333noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7195616894993495285.post-38087647341878727062009-12-30T18:33:49.936-08:002009-12-30T18:33:49.936-08:00"What appalls me, what I almost failed to tel..."What appalls me, what I almost failed to tell after deciding I would tell it, is that I used all of that to avoid living."<br /><br />I've seen others try to avoid living by being destructive and hateful toward others. So you went a bit overboard. You still brought joy to others by giving, perhaps too much, to others. A very unselfish way to be selfish.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00533184345345882921noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7195616894993495285.post-84874311777196518322009-12-30T17:54:16.930-08:002009-12-30T17:54:16.930-08:00@ Rachel ~ What a lovely holiday gift! You can tel...@ Rachel ~ What a lovely holiday gift! You can tell I need a bit of that, huh? Happy 2010, Rachel. It's lovely to know you.Leslie Morganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15702472429383639709noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7195616894993495285.post-73023116047424542932009-12-30T17:52:46.369-08:002009-12-30T17:52:46.369-08:00Here's a little bit of white space, just for y...Here's a little bit of white space, just for you - <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /> - <br />Have a peaceful and truly happy New Year! :)Rachel Fentonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10046917627054462214noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7195616894993495285.post-22813109659606283892009-12-30T17:22:27.903-08:002009-12-30T17:22:27.903-08:00@ Elisabeth ~ I thank you for using the word "...@ Elisabeth ~ I thank you for using the word "powerful". That is something I've not felt much in my life until very recently. Sadly, Christmas Nazi-ing wasn't my only method of avoiding. I used many ways, and all at the same time - which is to say constantly for the full first 50 years of my life. That state of mind WAS my life - the details didn't matter. Christmas Nazi, best unioin rep on the planet even if it DID take 23 hours a day to do it in. I'm pretty adept at filling up every moment with "stuff".<br /><br />My "before" life ended 7 years ago, abruptly and completely at 8:00 p.m. on Christmas Eve. The line of demarcation is extremely dark and permanent. I've grown a lifetime in those 7 years. I am beginning to live.<br /><br />I wish you only good things in the coming year. It's so good to see you here!Leslie Morganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15702472429383639709noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7195616894993495285.post-8513307630882303602009-12-30T17:01:33.181-08:002009-12-30T17:01:33.181-08:00@ Kass ~ My friend, "awful" might be mor...@ Kass ~ My friend, "awful" might be more appropriate than "awe". I CAN juggle a lot of balls in anything I take on, so the organizing of all that really came quite naturally to me. And, yes, I have tremendous energy and drive - still. What appalls me, what I almost failed to tell after deciding I would tell it, is that I used all of that to avoid living. All that schlock took a lot of time and energy and made such a grand shield between me and what I needed to be doing with my life. I lost so much precious time in life.<br /><br />And, yes, now I find peace. I needed it. I've needed it forever and now I find it, sometimes. Now I don't have to spin and whirl. Now I can just let it be.<br /><br />And now you know why all those organizations want Les to head up their projects and events! This chiquita knows how to make stuff happen!<br /><br />Watch for tomorrow's post - you're going to laugh!Leslie Morganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15702472429383639709noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7195616894993495285.post-38647064412268536202009-12-30T16:51:17.794-08:002009-12-30T16:51:17.794-08:00What an amazing piece of writing. So powerful. I ...What an amazing piece of writing. So powerful. I am horrified at the thought of your life before now, all that emphasis on Christmas. <br /><br />2010 would have to be better - anything would have to be better - than the state of life and mind you describe in the first three quarters of this post. <br /><br />So more power to you, more peace and quiet, more joy in your life this new year. <br /><br />I've had a tough year, too, for multiple reasons, so like you I say roll on 2010.Elisabethhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04015624747225433940noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7195616894993495285.post-80142033574241952152009-12-30T16:50:17.056-08:002009-12-30T16:50:17.056-08:00I'm in awe of anyone who could be so devoted t...I'm in awe of anyone who could be so devoted to anything and have the energy to accomplish so much. I've never over-done Christmas, but I can become driven in other respects. I have a friend who shops for Christmas all year long, and sometimes I wish I could do this. I usually end up giving anything I buy beforehand as soon as I buy it because I can't wait. I want to see their reaction NOW. I'm glad you are finding peace. It makes me feel more peaceful to read and see your time in the desert. Thanks.Kasshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05233330248952156754noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7195616894993495285.post-81035243980616344242009-12-30T16:11:32.675-08:002009-12-30T16:11:32.675-08:00@ Kirk ~ But you KNOW I am the one who loves the r...@ Kirk ~ But you KNOW I am the one who loves the rambling comments! I'm right with you about your recent posts both about the romantic and the colder sides of yourself. I get that. I wish I had a cold, distant side. It might provide some balance. I'll miss hearing from you both here and at your place. Best of everything to you in 2010!Leslie Morganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15702472429383639709noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7195616894993495285.post-24367345846751432122009-12-30T16:10:30.646-08:002009-12-30T16:10:30.646-08:00This comment has been removed by the author.Leslie Morganhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15702472429383639709noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7195616894993495285.post-18084250498052508472009-12-30T16:02:53.024-08:002009-12-30T16:02:53.024-08:00Like I said on my blog (I think it was my blog; I ...Like I said on my blog (I think it was my blog; I get confused sometimes) Christmas appeals to my romantic side (not romantic in the falling-in-love sense, but the word's broader meaning) but not my cold, icy, emotionally distant side (as you know, I recently wrote about that on my blog, too). I start out wishing the Christian holiday with pagan origins would just go away, but eventually get in the spirit. Speaking of holidays, I probably won't have access to a computer again until Saturday, so you'll be spared these rambling comments for awhile. Happy New Year.Kirkhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02155991693956178030noreply@blogger.com