There are many situations in which the wisdom of mothers permeates our adult life. Perhaps it’s because that wisdom is simple (“Wear your galoshes”) or scientifically sound (“Brush your teeth.”) But for whatever reason, these epigrams follow us for life, oftimes in the very voice of our mothers, floating about in our memories. The soundest advice of mothers, however, is that which is proven true by time and validated by our own experiences. Advice like “play nice.”
Regular readers of MondayMonday over the years know that we are frequently moved to write about the sheer wonder of baseball's Opening Day; about its recuperative qualities and its ability to make everything old new again. Perhaps we have moved so emphatically into this advanced age of curmudgeonliness that we can no longer see that forest for the trees. By "trees" we mean aches and pains, daily problems that drain vitality, and the disjunct that comes from relying on a game to justify a smile. However, if we were being philosophical about it (heaven forbid!), we might say that it's less about the game then about the smile.
We have always loved to fly. Our father was a bombardier on B-24's during the war and he painstakingly took us through his own version of ground school using every war movie ever made involving flight. We never watched movies about the Navy, unless of course, they involved aircraft carriers.
We have some unsettling news. Brace yourself. Oncologists, who battle the relentless onslaught of death and serious injuries caused by cancer, get paid for doing so. Believe it or not. Of course, this does not make them any less valuable to society. The same may be said for police officers who fight crime or teachers who fight ignorance or chefs who fight hunger. As far as we can tell, the only group of people who do good and get paid for it, only to be villified by society, are plaintiff's personal injury lawyers. Why is that?
We are not sleeping well lately. The house has emptied out, with only The Rose remaining. But she is an adult, a schoolteacher, who treats us like errant students who are regularly chided for having not done their homework. If we forget to buy fresh bananas, we are given demerits, the effect of which we do not know.