Wednesday, January 14

Brought to You by the Letter...

Updated below!!

Evil Twin's Wife had a good meme last week. I said I'd do it too, so she assigned me the letter "M".

Microscope: There was a time when microscopes played a large role in my life . After college, I trained to be a Cytotechnologist; a word that simply means a cell technician. We looked through microscopes at slides prepared by doctors to determine the presence or absence of cancer cells. Most of them were Pap smears, but occasionally we would have slides of other bodily fluids to check. I did this for about 2 years, and quit when I was pregnant with my first child. I do not miss that job, but I found microscopes fascinating and I wanted to look at everything under one.

Mail: Who doesn't love a letter? I always enjoy getting them, but since the advent of email, real letters are hard to come by. I am just as guilty as the next person of not writing much anymore. My mom taught me the importance of thank you notes, and I always write them, but letters are pretty much a thing of the past. I hope that changes, since getting a letter always raises my spirits - and I suspect it does yours, too. Maybe we should make it a habit to write one nice letter a week. Who knows what would happen if we did.

Male: I've always liked them - at least most of them - and I'm glad that I have some in my life. To mr. kenju, our son, my grandsons and our many male friends, neighbors, relatives, bloggers and business associates - I say thanks for being there. Whatever would we do without you?!

Massage: "A method of treating the body for remedial or hygienic purposes, consisting in rubbing, stroking, kneading or tapping, etc., with the hand or an instrument. "

Now THIS is my favorite thing to get, so if you ever want to get a present for me - a gift card to a local masseuse is the ticket! I would be forever in your debt! Facials are nice too.

Mother: Everybody has at least one, but I have had two. My adoptive mother, who raised me to be the person I am today, and my birth mother, who is now in my life.

I am the mother of three wonderful people; who constantly amaze me and give me pause to wonder how I got so lucky to have them in my life. I am the grand-mother of six beautiful, smart, terrific kids and also three step-grandkids, who are just as handsome, smart and terrific as the bio-kids. There must be some good karma here somewhere.

Matrimony: I have done this once; 44 1/2 years ago, in Virginia. The scene was the Norfolk Naval Base Catholic Chapel. I wrote about it here.

Metronome: "An instrument for marking exact time, especially in music." Taking piano lessons as a youngster was something that I did not appreciate at the time, but I do now. My teacher would often make me practice with the metronome clacking back and forth and I would set the metronome to go faster than the music called for, which was a huge pain in her butt, as she let me know. I foolishly sold my metronome at a garage sale years ago for a pittance. I bet now it would bring a pretty price on eb*y!

Math: I hated it in school and I still do. Thank God for calculators!

Mistakes: I've made a few: quitting piano lessons when I was 9 and not old enough to make a good decision about it, not pursuing my first love - architecture and choosing to date a few losers (prior to mr. kenju, of course). There are a few others I wouldn't dare to post here, but you know what? I have finally forgiven myself for my mistakes. Being mired in regret keeps you from moving forward with your life. I have asked God to forgive me, too, and I have no reason to think He hasn't.

Money: Do we have enough? Yes, most of the time, although I may not appear to believe that . All we really need is to have our basic needs met (food, clothing, shelter) and to be able to pay the bills. Being disciplined enough to spend only what you have available is something for which we all need to strive. Had big business followed that credo, we might not be in the financial crisis we are in now.


I'd love to see YOU do this one. If you want to do it, ask me for a letter, okay?

How you do it: Either ask me for a letter, or choose one for yourself. What I did was go through the dictionary to find words that had meaning in my life and I picked ten of them, since that what Evil Twin's Wife did. You are free to choose more or fewer words, as you wish.

22 comments:

Joy Des Jardins said...

This was a fun post Judy. I especially liked your Male, Mother and Mistakes sections.

OldLady Of The Hills said...

Tjis is an interesting MEME....After you are assigned the letter, do you just choose any words you want? And how do you decise how many words, etc...
I would like to do this....
This was very very interesting, and though I know a lot about you Judy, having read your blog for over three tears...I learned some NEW Things! BRAVO!

bobbie said...

You did so well with the letter M. You seem to have covered so many of the major parts of life with just one letter of the alphabet. It sounds like a fascinating challenge. I think I may be talking myself into it.

Evil Twin's Wife said...

Good job with M! Very interesting list. :-)

Ginnie said...

OK, Judy...give me a letter. Just please don't make it Z.

Mojo said...

Hmm... I couldn't be held responsible for the content if I took on "matrimony". That never worked out so well for me.

sage said...

So you like most of us males, eh? I wouldn't want to do this meme out of fear of getting a Z or an X

Pat said...

I enjoyed reading that Judy. I'd never visualised you in a white coat. Hats off!
I always seem to marry M's:)

Anonymous said...

Verrrry Interesting and informative. Got to go with Massage. When I am terminal, don't call a priest, call a masseur. Want that to be my last sensation.

Kay Dennison said...

Loved your 'M' words. I'd like to try it when I get caught up.

Dianne said...

I'm laughing at Mo's comment re matrimony - I'm with him on that one ;)

but boy did I respect anyone who can be happily married for 44.5 years :)

and I always hated math too - it's cause we are really artists at heart

Bobkat said...

I always hated maths too :) Great meme! I might do this one when I feel more up to it but I am wondering how it works, like Naomi.

Anonymous said...

LOL at your aggravating the piano teacher with the metronome in presto. :)

Carolyn said...

Good ones Judy! I did this one too, my letter was "p", lol!

Anonymous said...

A very interesting MEME!

I have not tried one for a long time so go on, give me a letter!

Anonymous said...

Great post! I think we've all Made our share of Mistakes, but how we Move on froM theM is key!

I also regret giving up guitar lessons. I was mad because I couldn't take piano, and so -like a whiny child, I gave up guitar instead. Guess that show 'em, huh? not! :)

Jamie Dawn said...

That's very interesting about you working for a couple of years using microscope and looking for cancer cells. I don't remember ever knowing about this, so it's nice to find out this new tidbit about you.
I think real mail (letters and cards) mean a great deal, especially today when email is so prevalent. I am thankful for email, but I also think that using snail mail is special. I agree about the importance of sending Thank You notes. My mom taught me that too, as well.
Motherhood - one of God's greatest ideas.
:-)
Mistakes. Yep, we've all made them and will continue to do so. We live and learn.
Males - Another one of God's greatest ideas.
:-)
I enjoyed all you Ms.
Have a Mmmarvelous day!

rosemary said...

You are so clever....and intelligent....and just an all around nice person....and it showed in the words you picked and their description as they relate to you. No letter for me.

Unknown said...

This is a fun one. I'll save it for a rainy day, if you will. :-)

It was fun and interesting to read these things about you. Good take on it.

Anonymous said...

Thanks Judy, I am revving up the R’s!

awareness said...

you covered great stuff here! I just read Naomi's too. So, I'm psyched! Judy....what letter can you give me??? :)

Anonymous said...

Mmmm, me mucho like your M's.

Like OOLOTH, I learned some new things about ye. Fun post!