What Would You Do?

Image from Google Images

I have never watched the TV show What Would You Do? but I have seen enough clips from it on other shows to think that it is a show that I would not want to watch. They create scenes of people committing some kind of outrageous misbehavior or treating another person with some kind of horrible injustice and they film the reactions of the people that witness these scenes. I'm sure it is a good thing to see when people step in to try to stop whatever is happening but there is something about the scenes they create that kind of makes my stomach clinch and makes me so uncomfortable that I would not be entertained by the show. 

I don't know why the show makes me so uncomfortable. Maybe because there is enough bad stuff that goes on that I don't see the point of artificially creating a bad situation for people to witness. Maybe I just don't like to see bad behavior.

It does make me think of a time when I did step in when I saw something that made me very uncomfortable. A lady was coming out of the bank across the hall from where I work with her two small children, maybe 2 and 4 years old or so. She was screaming at them as she drug one out by the arm and shoved the other one along with her knee. I  watched her as she went to her car and continued screaming at them and shoving them. I got up and went out to the car and asked her if she was okay and if there was anything I could do to help. I told her she seemed extremely upset and could maybe use a little break. She stopped screaming and said she was fine and finished getting the kids in the car and left.

A couple of hours later my office phone rang and it was the woman with the kids. She had made the effort to find the number for my office and said she just wanted to call and say thank you. She said that I had made her realize how badly she was behaving and that she appreciated that I had come out and spoken to her. She apologized to me and said she had apologized to her children. 

I think I got lucky with that one.....I could have just as easily gotten run over.

 Are you likely to step in and say something if you see someone

 behaving horribly toward another person?

I Haven't Been A Very Good Stage Grandmom Lately

I confessed about a year ago to being a stage grandmom. My oldest granddaughter, Hope, who is 9, has been participating in a theater group since she was 6 or so and as a frustrated performer myself I love seeing her perform. Since she played Annie in the musical Annie in February and March last year I haven't done a very good job of reporting about her performances here as any good stage grandmom should.

At Christmas she played an elf  and The Queen of Hearts in Babes in Toyland. 

Her cousin Averi was also in the play and their 

great-grandmother Molly got to come from Omaha to see them both perform.

Last summer she played a Sea Witch in Hans Christian Anderson.

Photos from Peanutbutterplayers.com 

She also played a maid in Hans Christian Anderson.

She is currently in rehearsal for Once Upon A Rainbow. 

She will be playing "the obnoxious sister."

Her director promised her that it wasn't type casting. 

I don't know how long Hope will want to keep doing this but for now she loves it. It is a great outlet for her exuberant personality and I am having lots of fun playing the part of the stage grandmom.

Before and After

My youngest daughter, Joanna,  and her mother-in-law, Terry, ran a half-marathon in Phoenix on Sunday. I wasn't at all surprised that they did great, both finishing in under 2 1/2 hours. I was surprised at the before and after pictures. After the race they looked like they had just finished a walk in the park instead of a 13.1 mile run.

Before

After

They had planned to run a race in Denver in October but Joanna ended up with a fracture in her foot a few weeks before the race. She was very disappointed and not too happy to be wearing an orthopedic boot instead of her running shoes.  Her husband Brandon's dad came to the rescue and for Christmas gave them the trip to Phoenix for the race on Sunday, so they got to have a short, well-deserved girl's get-away and got to run their race.

I think I looked more worn out after tracking them online than they did after finishing the race.

Way to go Joanna and Terry.

Luckily No One Was Hurt

Early this morning a predicted 1-3 inches of snow was falling lightly as I was on my way to work...a little slick but no real problem. An hour or so after I got to work the light snow turned into a heavy snow. We heard a loud  bang outside and looked out to see a very big Coca Cola delivery truck jack-knifed across the median, and another car up on the sidewalk, apparently in a successful attempt to avoid being hit by the truck.

This isn't the truck, but it looked about like this, leaning slightly and spanning all four lanes of the road.

Several amazing things happened. The first is that no one was hurt. The second is that before we could grab our coats and run out the door to help so many people had stopped and jumped out of their cars to offer aid that there was nothing more we could have done. The third is that as we watched out the window we saw the truck driver and the women who had been driving the car that went off the road walking around holding hands.

A couple of hours and a big traffic jam later the truck and the car had both been towed away and I was still thinking about all the people who had stopped to offer help and about the two people who had joined hands in relief instead of screaming at each other in anger.

It's A Good Thing

It's a good thing I didn't make a new year's resolution to blog more often. If I had I would have already failed at keeping that resolution. Between going back to work after the holidays and family activities the first week of the new year has sort of flown by.

Most of the family activity involved celebrating the birthday of one of my granddaughters. EJ turned 4 on Wednesday but we started the festivities on Sunday with a family get-together which included cake and ice cream for EJ's birthday.

On the day of her birthday it was out to dinner at her favorite Mexican restaurant. She wasn't quite sure what to think of the giant balloon cupcake hat the balloon guy made for her.

On Friday she had a birthday party with her friends.

Her sister Hope and her cousin Anna were glad to help her celebrate again.

Her mom Joanna made a very cute pony cake.

Even with a little help with the gift opening it was all a little overwhelming.

For a girl with a birthday just a few days after Christmas I'd say she got well celebrated.

The other resolution it is good that I didn't make is to not do too many posts about family activities. That is another one that would have been broken quickly. The reality is that when I started a blog I started it as a way to help myself record and remember the events and activities in my life and a great deal of what I do and what is important to me involves family. It has become much more than that due to the wonderful and interesting people I have gotten to know through blogging and the friends I have made, but chances are that the family focus here won't change much.

On The Road

There is a lot to look forward to in 2012. At the top of the list for me is that this year will have me on the road to retirement. As of July I will quit working full time. I have a hard time thinking of myself as "retired" but the idea of no longer working full time has a lot of appeal for me. I will have the opportunity to work, doing the same job,  on a part time basis, when and where I choose, so I will probably do that at least for a while. 

As with most any big change in our lives, I have some mixed feelings about this change. I know that I can fill my time but I feel a little challenged about how I will fill it in a productive way. I'm not an artist or a gardener and any attempt I have made at doing crafts has been mostly a disaster. I do have 7 grandchildren and spending more time with them and being able to share more in their lives is one of the things I am really looking forward to. 

I guess I'll just try to look toward it in the best way I know how....with a little humor.

Retirement is wonderful. It's doing nothing without worrying about getting caught at it.

The money's no better in retirement but the hours are.

I enjoy waking up and not having to go to work. So I do it three or four times a day.

The trouble with retirement is that you never get a day off.


Now I need to go start looking for some hobbies.