Is that all there is?

On January 9th, I turned 62 and everyone has been saying to me "this is your year,” my friend Fausta, added “hey, you can now collect social security” Hoorah!! Hoorah!! This is great, finally the birthday that has 'earned me the right' to collect social security! I can really use the cash and I quickly go on line and get all the facts. After the short application process, however, it became a time of introspection and I’m thinking- “Is that all there is?” (Remember the song by Peggy Lee?) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qe9kKf7SHco#watch-main-area

I have entered a new Milestone, as I review my life I see that so many things I learned in elementary school have become obsolete. The world has changed. I continue to write drafts on paper by hand , and as I write this entry for instance, I realize that it’s no longer necessary to break up a word at the end of the line. The computer does it automatically, not only that but it checks your grammar and spelling. The list is endless, all these changes, one could go on forever. And at the end of all this, I’m just feeling old, and the poem, The road not taken “by Robert Frost” http://www.bartleby.co , comes to mind.

And I start thinking back to my Baruch College days. I would walk to class along Lexington Ave in the low 20’s, in those days there were lots of cheap hotels and in front of these cheap hotels there would be young pretty teenage girls, mostly blonde and all sweet. It got to the point where I felt I knew them. As time passed, I would see a change in their eyes. The young women mostly but teenagers would start out clean, smiling and happy, and after a few months their eyes were dead, there was no life in them, their bodies bruised and dirty. As I walked past them, tears would roll down my eyes. I wanted to help. I wanted to do something but didn’t know what to do or how to do it. I decided that when I had enough money I would do something. I’d set up a place for young teenage girls and boys to go to for help, a place that would protect them.

I haven’t yet realized that dream, but, as I write this entry, I know I still can. There are a few more things I need to clear up in my life, and then I will be free. In the meanwhile I will start planning for my new/old venture. If anyone out there has any ideas, please contact me.

By the way, is that all there is? NO there’s plenty more.

"Figli" by Viki

mia figlia incinta!!!! ma chi ci pensava mai ! certo, è naturale che la vita continui, che le generazioni si rinnovino, che ci sia questo forte istinto di maternità, eppure non ci pensavo proprio. E' bellissima l'idea di una nuova vita in lei, lei così dolce , ma io non posso fare a meno di pensare al futuro, a quando questo piccolo essere crescerà , da neonata tenerissima , poi bambina, poi adolescente e ragazza e adulta.
Come sarà, come diventerà ?....purtroppo temo la vita , le trasformazioni, i cambiamenti che avvengono nei figli.Quante sofferenze, notti insonni, ansie, angosce, attese, quante bugie ascoltate, inganni subiti da chi ami più della tua stessa vita.


Sono segni indelebili, impressi a fuoco, tatuati nel cuore che rimane ferito , graffiato. Impossibile dimenticare.
Ma questo non si può dire, suona blasfemo: e allora, sì, è bellissimo aspettare questa bimba, che lei porti tanta gioia a noi tutti, soprattutto alla sua mamma che la adorerà più di tutti e per lei potrebbe dare la vita.
Si, questa bimba mi restiturà la fiducia nella vita e sarà speciale e dolce e buona e gentile ......

Vicky "Children"

> My daughter pregnant! who ever thought of it! certainly, it is natural
> that life continues, that the generations renew themselves, that there is
> this strong instinct of maternity, nevertheless I never thought of it.
> The idea of a new life in her is beautiful, she is so sweet, but I cannot
> help myself but to think of the future, as to when this little being grows
> up, from tender infant, then child, then adolescent,then girl then adult.
> What will she be like? what will she become? ....unfortunately I fear life,
> the transformations, the changes that happen in our children. All the
> suffering, sleepless nights, anxieties, anguish, waiting, all the lies
> heard, deceits endured from the loved ones, the ones you love than your own
> life.
>
> These are indelible marks, imprinted on fire, tattooed in the heart that
> remains injured, scratched. Impossible to forget.
> But this is not to say, it sounds blasphemous: and then, yes, it is
> beautiful to wait for this baby, that she will bring us lots of delight to
> us all, above all to her mother that will adore her much more than all of us
> and for her would give her own life.
> Yes, this baby will restore in me the trust in life and she will be special
> and sweet and good and kind .....
>