Temptations

Temptation means enticement, luring, attraction, appeal, excitement, persuasion, pull and inducement. As provocative as the word is my temptations were of the food type. Our outing today consisted of going to acquire bargains at our big box store, Sam's Club. About once every few months we go to purchase large sized Maxwell House coffees and extra-virgin olive oil and any paper goods we might need. On occasion, we find other items that might be necessary to procure for our needs at cost-effective prices. Today we found 2 pounds of cherub tomatoes for five dollars and forty-eight cents and navel oranges, 5 pounds for $6.98, 4 pounds of unsalted butter for $9.48. And so we made some additional purchases as well as a nice whole chicken for $4.80, a large carton of spring mixed greens for $4.47 not to mention the bargain price on wine my favorite Malbec from Argentina. It is reasonable there for that kind of red wine at $7.98 compared to the liquor store or the grocery, which can be as much as two dollars or more higher. Being tempted as I was by the individual displays for promotional items and samples given out by demo ladies at every corner; sadly their products that they promote are high in sodium and fat and cholesterol all things that I have to be aware of and not eat although being offered. It takes quite a bit of restraint and I did quite well in spite of hubby egging me on, since although he is fairly thin; he still has high blood pressure and high cholesterol too. His silly lament is that's why I take medicine for them. What can one wife do? Can you imagine what it's like in a pluralistic marriage with five for more wives worrying over their husband’s health…? Just thought I'd throw that out there to prove he's very lucky he only has one. Many men fantasize over that possibility I am more than sure it has nothing to do with having five women nag at them and more to do with the buddies to watch sports with; kidding of course, having sexual partners whenever they so desire.(Giant cringe factor there!) In reality, I am more than sure that any man knows that one woman is more than enough for them in all ways that really matter. Caring, shouldn't be a dirty word, so why do some men feel when we show concern for their well-being that it is a personal affront to them? Let's face it if hubby didn't have an emergency a couple years ago he would've never seen a doctor. Thankfully, it was a false alarm for a heart attack, but it did signal that his blood pressure was extremely high… And if it wasn't for that he wouldn’t have gone to the doctor after being released for all those tests. They were good and they ruled out a whole bunch of more serious things and notified us to what needed attention and he is now taken care of, but what if it was his last chance and was a heart attack or worse… I always wonder somehow if we weren't just lucky. Men, many of us women walk on egg shells when trying to get them to do things for their own good. And that is why when hubby did his silly commentary on taking those medications, for his high blood pressure and high cholesterol; I didn't find it funny at all, because he was stuffing his face with all that high cholesterol high sodium fattie yucky processed foodstuff. Am I so wrong women? Little boy things like attitudes annoy me when it has to do with health. Sometimes it can be quite endearing, but not when it has to do with health. The fact that I also raised two males from the womb makes me realize, that on occasion, I did do pretty good, since I know both of them are not overly obsessed with their health, but do know when to go see a doctor. Being a wife and a mother has always been challenging and mostly rewarding and that is why we do it; for we love them, why else? When I think back over these many, many years I want to laugh, I want to cry, I want to smile I want to scream; so many emotions evolve through a lifetime and that my friends, as we all know, is what living is all about! I heard from that very special lady I mentioned, today, the one that’s at death’s door she is so loved by so many, friends, family and acquaintances I am sure she is not unlike my father in the respect that she has no regrets because she has lived an exemplary life. That any of us who she has touched are much better for knowing her; as I mentioned before she was a teacher for many years when she moved to Florida she ran a workshop for creative writing at the Cultural Center and that is where we met. Later on as we became friends I asked her to help me edit my novellas. And so we would go back and forth from her house to mine and I would bring her little gifts since she was kind enough to do it for free. Soon after that she had joined an organization for writers called the Peace River Center for Writers, which had classes if you cared to take them and once a month a bunch of writers would get together to read what they had written at a monthly tea. The get together was held in Punta Gorda at the historic village there, quite a nice atmosphere. Sadly, this lovely lady and her husband decided to move back to Indiana where they were from and we gave her a fine sendoff, all of us ladies from that monthly tea. I thought it would be a fun idea to go to a tea room for us to say goodbye and all the women in the group were invited and that's where we went. They had little sandwiches and cakes and choices of teas as well as glamorous boas and floppy olden-day styled haberdashery. It was a wonderful time for all of us ladies, like playing little girl dress-up, as grown women. Big Smile HERE! We gave her some gifts; I believe mine was the frame for pictures and I made sure I took quite a few that I knew I would e-mail later to her and I did. Sadly, when she returned this time her illness had gotten much worse than ever before. Horrendously, her son passed away since arriving back, this mother of three. His name was Matt and a friend of his posted on her site eerily a note he had left saying goodbye, love Matt; he died of a short illness, no this was not anything untoward, except, of course, the illness. Anyone out there being a mother/father must realize how heartbreaking it is to lose a child... they are supposed out live us, not the other way around. All in all this is a woman of remarkable presence who has gone through hell and back, did I mention her daughter almost died several years ago? Yes, that was one of the reasons she moved back to her home state. And yet, we think of her own problems that seem insurmountable we all must realize that somehow the true character of a person is how they handle themselves through adversity that draws people to them, not running and scattering away from them. This woman is a mere three years older than me, six years younger than my mom was when she passed on... I swore ironically that I would never have older friends, since when my parents passed away I was still in my 30s and it tore me apart for years that they having lived in a retirement village and they would lose friends weekly. I used to ask them how you can live here with people dying all the time. I had become attached to them too, their friends, it was hard for me then, being in my 20s and liking people and them dying. How I got involved with seniors in my 40s; it's so ironic working with the arthritis foundation and the mean age of my friends became 75 years old; crazy! Now, as we get older I know it's a part of life and death, and even what one of my mother's friends at that time said to me, when I was younger, half my age now suggested a book if I recall, why do bad things happen to good people? The title was enough for me to get the gist of it and so being enlightened as a young woman made me in a small way understand. That's not to say I liked it; this death thing, no one does. Even those who are so religious I am more than sure it is not one of their favorite things. So although, I try as I will to keep hubby alive as long as I can, only due to my love for him and no other reason. I will try harder not to nag so much; who am I fooling? Not gonna happen... Dear lovely lady Linda, pal, our hearts and prayers are with you for ever more. On those notes of record, allow me to be the first to wish you all a very happy good night and ask you kindly to count all your blessings and share all your overages and we will too! And next time please be here or be square, ya hear?