i just realized that these blogs have gotten a bit more serious than i'm feeling today. i'm still going to write part 2 to the last post, but with a laughable moment thrown in now. i've lived in nyc all of my life - with the exception of college in amherst. i've lived in apartments all of my life too and consider myself fairly savvy when it comes to the good and the bad. i know ny is filled with nature from the beauty of central park to the nasty rats that live there along with the raccoons, birds and bugs.
just yesterday i was walking on madison with lucy and saw a couple about to cross the street when it was obvious they saw something that made them get back on the sidewalk. upon closer looking, i saw a rat who was happily scurrying around the drain hole. the bottom line was - gross, a rat hanging out in the middle of the day on madison.
in my time of apartment living, i've seen a cockroach or two, a couple of mice, silverfish and the incredibly nasty water bug. the latter bug seems to have recently found a home with us and emailed all of his friends and relatives to visit us too. i'm not gong to over-dramatize it, but last week i killed 5 of them. by the way, i'm ruthless and relentless with great aim. if they're not paying rent, maintenance or the mortgage...they're not welcome.
after bug #5 i called the building supervisor - again - and he sent up "the" expert who stuffed steel wool in every crack and crevice in my house and applied some liquid that will kill the bugs, but not the dog. i don't want to jinx it, but it's been an entire week and we haven't seen a water bug. unfortunately, every time my hair falls in my eyes i jump back a bit thinking it's a bug, but i'm expecting my nerves will calm soon. last night i went into the kitchen for water and something on the ceiling caught my eye. much to my surprise, it was a ladybug.
wwcd: just when you expect it's going to be something scary, it's a little bit of luck
surprise ending: i lived in an apartment outside washington dc years ago and we had a drain right outside our entry door. summer in dc... well, we had BIG bugs, i mean BIG bugs around that drain. my apartment mate was terrified of them so she insisted we complain to the landlord. I wrote an official complaint: 95 degrees, typewriter with carbon paper, sweating all over the thing... but it produced a totally surprising result. I wrote about the "snadting water outside our apartment attracting the bugs"... and when i reread it out loud it, my pal and i cracked up ...typos rule forever... it still makes me laugh and laugh. a gift from those water bugs! (the landlord never did fix the drain)
ReplyDeleteI started to write this on June 24th and, after catching up with this blog just now, want to share it with wwcd's readers.
ReplyDeleteYou can die with your pride or...
What a wise friend Casper is (in addition to being compassionate and very funny). We were discussing the sometimes-complicated relationships in our lives by the time we are middle aged. How we try to adjust our responses to those we care enough about to be close to because we know we cannot change their behavior. How what seems clear from even a slight remove can be so difficult to recognize from point-blank range
In the case above, it was suggesting that compromise, swallowing a bit of self-importance or simply reaching across the aisle - repeatedly sometimes - might be the only way to move forward or to attain a greater good. Isn't that better, in some cases, than dying with your pride in tact?
I don't know anyone who better embodies this spirit than Casper. From the big, important, and often unanswerable questions, to the sublimely ridiculous - her heart and mind steer her, and those of us lucky to spend time with her, back on course.
Thank you, dear friend!