RUMINATIONS

     So here I sit, three in the morning, surfing around, too tired to sleep but so happy from the last few days spent with my son and his family - his lovely wife - whom we introduce as our daughter - and the five kids. From books to little animals and a suddenly depleted turtle collection which has become subsumed into a little boy's menagerie, to beds all over and blankets and pillows galore , life is wonderful.
     People we highly value have a sign in their apt. stating that there is only one happiness in life and that is to love and be loved. How right they are. Trading off a missing cheetah for a hug and a kiss is the best. Reading a story to a child, discussing college choices coming up in a year or so and already getting emails from college, seeing my son close up as a father! Still cannot get over that for to me he is my baby and when he wanted to do something that would have been ok as a kid, I said that "mother says no, my home, my rules." Wow! that was familiar, or, as Yogi Berra said, "Deja vu all over again."
     I feel sorry for those who cannot share in the love from family members, either because there are none or they have forced them away. It is a beautiful thing to share stories about loved ones passed on and page through old pictures, camp photos and laugh as the kids go seeking their adult relatives as kids. Share the laughs as they go bouncing on trampolines or the excitement of a high score and lots and lots of tickets for prizes, or the looks on the faces as an animal approaches or simply shopping and barely getting out of the candy aisle alive!
     Nope, there is nothing better than this and certainly nothing better than knowing that your memory will be enhanced by their stories as they grow older and share with their kids. The knowing, the seeing, that at least ya' did good and raised wonderful children, contributing members of society, integral parts of a loving family - that just beats out anything else.
     This is true no matter where one goes. All else feels small besides it, in comparison with it. As I read blogs in a moment of quiet I saw the sadness of people who do not have this. What they do have, their little fiefdoms, is a pathetic substitute. To read that in order to put something on Channel 63 one must contact guess who? Why Joy  Vestal!! Does that woman have no other life other than to gather the reins of every media outlet in the Village and work them according to David Israel's commands? No wonder there is a sense of desperation and bitterness wafting through the air in that camp. I feel sorry for them.
     However, that pity will not preclude us from fighting against their plans for the Village, for its ruination, for its servicing their selfish needs. The nastiness of David Israel in trying to besmirch the reputation of Phyllis by using lie after lie, his refusal to talk of issues and truth, about past misdeeds and how to avoid them in the future, about the lockout of 99% of the Village population from UCO  - no way in unless one has the David Israel decoder ring - hide and seek he plays, sitting in that lair of his at UCO, always looking for ways to harm rather than help. Sad, so very sad.
     But the hell with them today. I have more kisses to reap, more hugs to gather, more soul happiness to achieve and a heart that is just bursting with love and joy. UCO can't top that but people who are happy with life, not bitter and mean - they are the people we need to lead us, to head our Village and country for that matter.
And why not include the world in that as well. Ahh, anyone hear the echoes of the 60's here, when love and flower power ruled the day until it was ruined by power seekers and corrupters and the drugs and the gurus and the world intruded.
     If only, we think. If only. But - got to catch some sleep if I am to make it thru today's plans.
Can't wait.