If I sat down and wrote about everything that evoked a strong emotion I would never be away from the PC. I suppose that means that I am an emotional person – or maybe just a woman!
Today I would like to share two things that have moved me, one to tears and the other to out-loud laughter.
The first is a program on Radio 4 http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/radio . I hope you will read this in time to listen to it on the BBC Iplayer, it is called Letters to the Russian Front and was on at 11am today, 27th July. The program format is simple; it is a true account by a daughter who has inherited letters from WW2, belonging to her Austrian family. The sons of this family(one of them her father) were fighting in Russia and writing to their mother and sister at home and to one another. This daughter is sharing them with her now elderly father, who has not felt able to look at them since that time. The letters are read by actors.
One tends to try not to dwell on things that make us sad but I am glad I have listened to the program and perhaps you will be too.
At the other end of the scale comes a facebook post from our good friend in Seatle, I have not asked her permission to post it here but as it is now in the public domain I hope she will forgive me!
“I can’t believe what I did tonight…as per usual, I buy a boatload of vegetables at the beginning of the week and then don’t eat them…so I ended up barbecuing what veggies I had, like I always seem to end up doing. Also, left over from the trip with [a friend] I had a little tupperware container of olive oil, so I used that to baste my veggies. Everything going along fine: asparagus, onions, tomatoes, all browning & carmelizing nicely. Linguini is on the stove, everything getting done at the same time (fairly unusual for me). I grated fresh cheese, fresh torn basil from my little plant, all ready! Drain the pasta, added the veggies, throw in a little more olive oil, the basil, the cheese….and then I notice that my dish is FOAMING!! WTF??? I can’t understand what is happening….where is this foam coming from?? I took some pasta and tasted it and OMG, it wasn’t olive oil I was basting with or pouring over the pasta, it was DISH DETERGENT!!! BLAAAHHHHHH!! I couldn’t believe it! but now my mouth is all set for my pasta and veggies, what’s a girl to do?? I’ll tell you, she dumps the whole dish into the colander and RINSES IT UNTIL IT STOPS FOAMING!! Yep, I still ate it. Left a bit of an after-taste though.”
I can so identify with this. If only I could remember them I would write about the numerous stupid senior moments I have had!