The hidden lessons from Momma

 I was just watching something on the early morning show about sharing.  Sharing is good and makes you feel good, but I already knew that.  I remember when I was but a wee tot and momma would occasionally bring home something she received from one of the ladies at the end of her day.  Maybe a few cookies, or a small amount of candy.  It was meant for momma as a little treat, but she always brought it home to share with her kids.  Usually it was a few store bought cookies, but it was always a treat for us!  Momma would hand me a cookie and say "Share this with Mary or Dorothy, or Donna.  And she always stood there as the cookie was broken in half.  I measured carefully and then handed the chosen sister the biggest half.  

It was an engraved in stone rule that the one breaking the cookie took the smallest half.  This taught us many things.  
#1  Always try to break it carefully.

#2  By giving the biggest half to the sister we were showing generosity.

 #3 We were not greedy. 

#4  We learned sharing and humility.

One day I had to go to cousin Paralee's house after school.  Momma was cleaning Paralee's house that day.  Paralee knew it was my birthday so she had planned a small party for me.  Suffice it to say that in my younger years it was the only time my birthday was observed.  I received only one gift, but I treasured it for years.  It was a red cookie cutter in the form of Cinderella.  Needless to say I never used it, but treasured it nonetheless.

Momma has been gone for many years, but she is always right there on my shoulder.  I hear her many times a day and try as I might, I can never forget the lessons I learned at her knee.  If I taught my kids anything, I would hope it is this:  "That small voice in your head that is telling you to share, to be kind,  to be helpful and understanding to others, to respect your elders, never lie and always talk to God, is probably my mother talking to you!"

Maybe someday one of my kids will be writing this blog and remembering me as a wise, caring, honest person.  I can only hope!

Peace!

You cannot get the toothpaste back in the tube!

 There are 2 phrases that my psyche is shaped by and that I also fight with most of my adult life.  The first is "Hind sight is 20/20 looking back." and the second is "The road to hell is paved with good intentions."  There are many little things momma threw in along this line and for the life of me I do not know where she got them.  I strongly suspect that she got them from her mother since they lived a fairly cloistered life there in south central Kansas.  The sad fact remains, that all these years later, those are burned into the depths of my being.

In my younger days I was surrounded by Aunts, cousins, grandmothers and a few uncles.  Males in my lineage tended to either die young or live forever.  Uncle Coon lived to be over 100.  (Now I am not sure that this was his given name.  Seems like it might have been Conrad, but it is irrelevant to this article!)  The point is that while the rule at the time was that children should be seen and not heard, the other was that men were the strong silent type and it was best to remember that.  As kids it was our past time at family gatherings to hide under the table and watch the men enjoying an after dinner cigar or pipe.  As I recall there was a lot of coughing and choking while this "pleasure" was being indulged.  

This pastime was second only to spying on the chickens in the coop and hoping one would poop out an egg and we could see where it came from. (To this day I do not actually know how the plumbing of a chicken works, nor do I care!)

I only recall one male cousin in my youth and that was cousin Carl. The girl cousins were named Rosetta, Alvina and Marilyn.  I had another cousin named Donna, but she lived in St. Louis and we rarely seen her.  She never married.  

Carl and I were close at the time.  We used to weed the garden for grandma after family dinners.  Carl grew up and married someone and they had one child.  I am not sure it grew to adulthood.  Seems momma was the only one out of the whole family that was a good "breeder."

Momma had eloped immediately after graduation.  She married a man named Jack Walden and ran away to Chicago.  They lived near the "Loop" whatever that was.  They had a baby girl and for some reason mother found herself hitchhiking back to Kansas with the baby in her arms and fearing for her life.  (Or so I hear. Little bit of "toothpaste" for you there.)  When the baby was but a year old she married what would be my father and they lived not so happily ever after.  While the marriage may have been a bit rocky it lasted until his death in 1965.  I ended up with 3 half brothers, 1 full brother and 3 sisters.  Guess Josephine was my half sister.

All that is irrelevant!  It was at my mothers knee that I learned the art of being seen and not heard.  I also learned that when the words "Little pitchers have big ears!" were used I was about to be banished to another room and I better not listen to what was being said.  "Ixnay" meant no.  Anyone who died went directly to heaven!  No doubt about it!  The meanest SOB that ever walked went to Heaven.  Man beats his horse; straight to Heaven!  Seems like the only thing that would actually keep you out of heaven was lying to your mother and disrespecting your elders.  Stealing and pulling the legs off grasshoppers were minor infractions.  

So, here I set lo! these many years later, still a child!  Could it be that as we age, we become our mothers?  I need to ask my kids how their minds work.  Did they actually learn anything from me and if so, what was it?  Did they walk away with my good qualities or the bad ones?  Do they look back on their childhood as a learning experience?  Was I a good mother?  I know I was rarely there, but do they know I tried?

I guess only time will tell.  I do know they are all independent, compassionate human beings and I love them and they appear to love me.  I hope that I imparted just a bit of my wisdom and honesty to them by my actions.  It may be something I never really know, but when I look at the lives they live, I am proud of each and every one of them.  And I am proud of their offspring.  

Kinda hope that the fruit does not fall too far from the tree in my family tree!

Peace and love!

The wisdom of one younger and wiser than me.

  This is Hammer, me and my daughter Debbie.  If you look at us, it appears that she is a clone of me.  Spitting image of her mother!  And the interesting part of the whole thing is we think a lot alike and seem to have the same reasoning power.

I was talking to her the other day and I commented that she had the same reasoning powers that I did and she must have inherited them from me.  At that point she told me that many years ago she had come across a paper that someone had written and that the basic rules on that sheet of paper had kept her on a steady course for her life.  She read them to me and they sounded like something might have writtem back in my early life..We do not know who wrote them, but I would love to share with all of you.  She said her copy was covered with fly poop, grease spots and water marks, but she could still read it and agreed to send it to me.  Today it arrived in my mailbox and I copied it for you.  

RULES FOR BEING HUMAN        

Author unknown

1.      1.  You will receive a body.  You may like it or hate it, but it will be yours for the entire period this time around.

2.       2.   You will learn lessons.  You are enrolled in a full-time informal school called life.  Each day in this school you will have the opportunity to learn lessons.  You may like the lessons or think them irrelevant and stupid.

3.        3.  There are no mistakes, only lessons.  Growth is a process of trial and error:  experimentation.  The “failed” experiments are as much a part of the process as the experiment that ultimately works.

4.        4.  lesson is repeated until learned.  A lesson will be presented to you in various forms until you have learned it.  When you have learned it, you can then go on to the next lesson.

5.       5.  Learning lessons does not end.  There is no part of life that does not contain its lessons.  If you are alive, there are lessons to be learned.

6.        6.  “THERE” is no better than “HERE”.  When you’re “THERE” has become a “HERE, you will simply obtain another “THERE” that will again look better than “HERE”.

7.       7.  Others are merely mirrors of you.  You cannot love or hate something about another person unless is reflects something you love or hate about yourself.

8.       8.  What you make of your life is up to you.  You have all the tools and resources you need.  What you do with them is up to you.  The choice is yours.

9.      9.   Your answers lie inside you.  The answers to life’s questions lie inside you.  All you need do is look, listen and trust.

     10.  You will forget all this.

     11.   You can remember it whenever you want or need to.

      So thank you to Debbie Keisel for sending this to me so I can share it with others.  Who knows, we may make the world a better place if we try hard enough!

It happened again!! Honest people!!

Yesterday was a hub of activity at the SWM's estate.  Bikers all over the place for the British Motorcyle Association of Colorado sale as per the terms of the will.  More about that tomorrow, but I have got to tell you this part first.  Remember when I left my purse in the shopping cart at Walmart just a couple weeks ago?  And remember how I got it back just like I left it?  Well, listen up.
This is a lady from St. Louis.  She went to our local Walgreen's right over there on 4th and Abriendo to buy pop and something else, I forget what.  Later in the day, she was going with Libby some where and she looked for her purse.  Then WE looked for her purse and very soon came the sinking realization that it was not in our vicinity. So she and dear hubby lept in the pickup and off to the local Walgreen.

You guessed it!  There it was.  Two ladies had found it in the parking lot in the cart and brought it and turned it in to the clerk who locked it up until someone came to claim it.  Now, I ask you, what does this say about our fair city?  I say it speaks volumes about the caliber of people that we never meet.  I know that sinking sensation when I reach for something and it is not there.  Can you imagine how this would feel to a woman a thousand miles from home?
Now granted a woman's purse is one of those items that has been known to strike fear in the heart of more than one man.  Like my late SWM.
"Do you have a pen?"
"Sure. Get one out of my purse!" 
Fear in the eyes.  "That purse?"
"Yeah."
"You mean open it up?"
"Yeah, just reach in there!"
"You mean with my hand?"
"Well, yeah, unless you have a better solution as to how to get it out."
"So, I have to open it up?"
"I thought we had established that."
"I have to touch it?"
I found it was much easier and a whole lot quicker to just pop it open and get the pen myself.  And yet I see movies where "purse snatchers" grab a purse right off a woman's shoulder and run away with it.  They apparently were raised in a different era than most of the men I know.  Or they are drug crazed maniacs.  Or they have never been in the wonderland of a woman's purse!  Where I came from no self respecting man would ever touch a woman's purse for any reason what so ever. 
Oh, dear, I see I have once more digressed from my message.  This old age is about to be more than I can keep up with.  Seems I spend half of my time getting something and the other half wondering where I put it after I got it.  No wonder I leave things in the shopping cart, but dear Liz, what is your reason?  LOL
So back to the honesty in parking lots.  Maybe it is just easier to be honest if no one is looking.  Or maybe I have just been a pessimist all along.  What ever, my hat is off to Jeffery at the south side Walmart and the two ladies at the Abriendo Walgreen.  I am proud to salute you, who ever you are!
******************************************************************************

 

From the back cover

Chapter One...Loose Ends
Lou Mercer

Meg Parker led a simple life.  She was a widow of three years and lived on a chicken farm at the foot of the mighty Rockie Mountains.  Life was good and her little store on eBay made her extra spending money.  But snow and wildlife were not the only things lurking in the forest above her house.  Nor did it stay in the forest for long.

Marshall Purcell came home a wounded veteran from vietnam.  He still had his dreams, but they were of an incestuous past that threatened to consume him.

When Meg and Marshall met it seemed an inconsequential meeting, but it changed both their lives forever.  And change is not always a good thing.

This is adult fiction at its best without all the sex.  Well, maybe just a little bit. 

About the author.  Lou Mercer was born in Nickerson, Kansas. She came to Pueblo, Colorado in 1977 and is now a product of the majestic Rockie Mountains

South side Walmart, missing purse and yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus!

 See this purse?  I carry one just almost like it but where this one is red, mine is lime green.  Same peace signs.  Oh, and the handle is lime green.  It is about 13" high and 15" wide.  You get the picture?  Not something one would overlook easily.  Course have not dealt with me, have you?

Yesterday I took my little self up the mountain to Beulah and my favorite coffee shop.  (More about that later, but this is about something else.)  Since Saturday is Sherman's memorial service I needed to stop at Walmart and pick up a few items.  Since I was right there at the South side Walmart, I stopped and went inside.

My shopping was quickly accomplished and very soon I was on my way home.  I thought briefly about stopping at Taco Bell and getting one of those new Cantina Bowls, but did not.  Should have and saved myself many gray hairs, because I would have realized early on that my purse had decided to stay there in the cart at the Walmart store for anyone who happened by to pick it up and take it home and spend my $6.00 and order lots of stuff online with my credit card.  But I did not.

Upon arrival at home I unloaded the car and at that point realized what a stupid move I had made.  I read articles all the time about identity theft and know all the things to do to avoid it happening to me.  Now in all fairness to me, in all the articles I have read, never once has anyone of them said "Do not leave your purse in the shopping cart in the parking lot in broad daylight and drive off and go home."  Never said anything along that line at all.

So back home one hour later and the purse is not with me and I hit panic mode.  I searched frantically for the number to that store, but it was not there.  I found out later that I needed to call the North side and they would give me the number to the south side.  (Say, what!)  So I frantically called 911 since that is the only number I could think of.  A very nice young lady answered and I blurted out that I needed a phone number.  She gave me the number and also the number for the police in case I needed that.  I felt better just knowing someone else out there knew how stupid I was.

I was so relieved when the girl at Walmart told me that yes it was there and locked in the safe room.  The man who gathered the carts (the one I almost backed over) had brought it in and given it to them.  Set a new land record getting to the store.  Customer service girl held it up and I reached for it, but first I had to prove who I was.  "Just look in that black and white thing there and see my drivers license with the picture of me and my Mohawk."  She smiled and the purse and I were reunited.

Now comes the part that almost makes me cry.  I told her I wanted to reward the man who turned it in to the office.  "Oh, no.  You can't.  He just followed company policy."  Begging and wheedling did no good, but she did tell me his name.  It is Jeffery.  Could have knocked me over with a feather on that, because Sherman's brother is named Jeffery.  I kind of thought someone was looking out for me on this one.

I went and looked for him in the parking lot, but he had gone to lunch.  I may try again, but for sure I am going to write to the Southside Walmart and commend them on hiring honest people.  The chances that Jeffery at Southside Walmart will read this are probably two...Slim and None.  But I want you all to know that there are still people out there who are honest and will do the right thing.  And when you go to the Southside Walmart, put in a good word for Jeffery.  I do hope I catch him one of these days and I can thank him in person.  In the meantime, I am going to let him be an inspiration for me and I will try to do the right thing for someone else.

Thank you, Jeffery!!

An ill wind that blows nobody good.

Remember your momma telling you that when you were small? Ever wonder what that means exactly? Well, I figured it out. The ill wind is just the gossip and innuendo that preceeds something. There is an ill wind blowing in my life right now and I intend to stop it this afternoon. For several days now I have been hearing rumors that are upsetting. I do not like that, so this afternoon I shall "beard the lion in his den", so to speak. When I know, you will know. That is a given. You all know I can not keep a secret. What bothers me right now and has for several days is the "He said, she said." When we were kids in school we played a game called "Gossip." (Please remember I grew up in the Bible Belt!) We would set in a row, side by side, the girls and the boys. The teacher would whisper something in the first students ear. This student would in turn whisper to the next student until at last the "secret" was told to the last student who announced what they heard to the class. "Melba is going to France to have a baby." May have started out as "Melvin is going to the dance with a lady", but that was sure not what it ended up. The fun part of this is not knowing who changed which word, only that as innocent as the game was we learned how words can be misconstrued and misinterperted and how those same words that were so innocent can be twisted into something that is very different. I can write a sentence, but since the inflection is not in my voice and you have no idea what I am doing, it will mean something different to whoever reads it. Like this. I say " I am cold." What do you take that to mean? "Lou is cold. She has no heart." or "Lou is cold. She did not pay the heat bill." or "Lou is setting naked in front of the window again." So, before I play the "he said/she said" game I want all the he's and she's in a row so I can look them in the eye. Something about looking people in the eye that makes them accountable. Letters are a piece of cake cause you do not have to hear a rebuttal. Phone is easy, kind of, cause you can slam it down and walk off, but the eye to eye, somebody is going to blink! So that is where I am right now. I will come home from this little meeting either happy or very, very sad and will need to deal with that. Either way, you will get an update this evening or in the morning at the very latest. And right now the cold wind is blowing here at my house and I can definitely feel the nip of fall in the air. After this hot,hot summer, I kind of look forward to the fall. So this is not an ill wind here. Side note here, Do not go to my AIDS Walk site at this time as I am changing something on there. Will let you know when! ;)

And so I continue to let my life play out, or do I?

I have been doing a lot of thinking since I did the last post.  Deer in the headlight sort of thing.  As we get older we tend to think back over our lives and wonder if we made the right decisions, or at least I do.  I must take in to consideration that had I done things differently, one of the repercussions would be that I would not have the kids and grand kids today and that would be sad.  But can I be sure?  Let me take a small turn back in time to the day I sat with the Reverend Barnett when I was 16 years old and I told him I wanted to be a missionary.  He was very pleased and gave me some books to read.  Then he moved away and was replaced by a new minister who did not much like young girls seeking validation.  First missed opportunity.

Then we moved to Hutchinson and I started dating a little guy in my class named Gary.  We were high school sweet hearts and that was that.  I loved his mother and his sister.  But alas, I wanted to date someone who was taller.  Gary was very short, only about 3 inches taller than me.  I wanted to dance and I needed a taller boy for that and Gary had no rhythm.  So I dated Corky and we won all the dance contests, but alas I did not love Corky, I loved Gary.  But Gary had moved on, and this was my first taste of love gone wrong.  My first, but not my last, by any stretch of the imagination.

Since time began, older brothers have been bringing home boyfriends for little sisters, so Jake brought home to me Earl D. Seeger who was to become my first husband and the father of my children.  My brother died in a car wreck when my son was one month old.  Life was never the same after I lost my brother and Earl and I divorced a few years later.

Then it was the long legged guitar picker, the director of the radio station, the guy who owned the construction company, the steel worker and finally Kenny.   Some times I think I may have a little Mae West in me cause I never met a man I didn't like.  Some of them I could not live with, but I remained on speaking terms with all of them except one.  He was really mean.  Now do not think I remained friends with them, just on speaking terms.   If life could be lived over, Kenny would have been first and only, but life does not work that way.

At some point during the last 30 years I began to realize that I was a very viable woman and did not need to be defined as Mrs. Anybody.  Kenny did that for me.  He gave me the confidence to know that no matter what happened in my life, I was responsible and resourceful and I would always come out on top.  When he died in 2003 I knew a short period of panic and then I remembered what he had taught me and I have been fine ever since.  Good Lord put me on this earth for a reason, put me through my trials and tribulations for a reason , tested me with fire and tempered me with love and pronounced me ready for what ever is next. 

I can never go back and undo anything I did and all the wrong turns I have taken have led me to this spot in the road.  And here I will stand, looking left, right and down the road and back behind, knowing that what ever I decide to do next will be done because this is where God put me and all I have to do is listen and that still small voice will lead me where he wants me to go and I will do what he has chosen me to do.  He has been leading me all along and I never even knew it.  Now I do!

Some old fahioned values, for a change!

  All this stuff with Sandra Bullock and Jesse James has got me to thinking!  Now, I have no desire whatsoever to watch movies, nor do I keep up on all the behind the scenes hoopla that goes on there.  I did rent "Precious" and I have been known to watch the Cheech and Chong movies, but as far as being an avid fan, I am far from that. If Entertainment Tonight did not preceed the Nightly News, I would be in a complete fog.
  That being said, I did see clips of Sandra winning her awards, and Jesse in the background. It was a fairy tale between the beauty and the bad boy.  Then came the scandal, and it seems that is how it always happens, huh, Tiger? Sandra has gone into hiding and do we wonder at that? Have you ever had anything like this happen in your life?  Not necessarily a husband or wife humiliating you on nationwide television, but some one lying to you and getting caught and exposed?  If not, could you imagine how that would rock your world?  How empty would you feel knowing that the person you share your life with, is sharing with someone else?
  I am a firm beleiver that "the chickens come home to roost," and "it all comes out in the wash".  I am far from perfect and I have done things in my life that I only pray never sees the light of day and hopefully they won't because I have mostly forgotten and anyone who knew is probably older than me and they don't remember either!  A lot can be said for old age and poor memories!
  But what I am wondering here is this; wouldn't it be nice if we could all get back to the good old days, where a hand shake sealed a deal and a man was only as good as his word?  How cool would that be if all our lives were an open book?  I am sure honesty could solve a lot of our social problems.
"Where you been, Johnny?" "Oh, out popping the guy walking through my turf."
"You are late dear, where have you been?" "In the motel with my lover."
"Where did you get that CD?" "Stole it at Walmart."
  Would honesty be the best policy or are we actually better off being kept in the dark about some of the things that affect us directly?  Maybe we are better off with just one big blow up and picking up the pieces and moving on.  Daughter Debbie always said:

"What doesn't kill you or make you bleed will make you strong!"

She also said:

"Setting in a pile of poop is a nice place to be until you start stirring it, then it gets nasty!"

Got to weigh in on Tiger Woods!!

This will be short and sweet, but since everyone else has an opinion, I have to state mine also. Somebody once told me that opinions are like bathroom habits, everybody has them and they usually stink! That being said, here is my opinion:

If the cookies are missing from the cookie jar and you have no crumbs on your shirt, it is kind of hard to prove anything. You can deny it from now on and only you will know for sure. If, however, you continue to run back to the cookie jar someone is going to catch you! Odds are not in your favor on this!  Trust me!

Now we come to Tiger and these are the facts: Tiger was pretty well covered in crumbs and there were definitely several cookies ready to talk about what they saw and and discuss exactly how much those cookies ended up costing! Pretty well established fact who had their hand in where and sounds like the cookies were pretty willing to be taken on this trip.

So now we have the confession. Did anyone expect him to stand up there and deny this? Did we expect him to apologize to the cookies that jumped out of the jar, knowing full well where they would land? I do not know exactly how many cookies the man devoured, nor do I care. It would behoove me to state here that I don't think the cookies need an apology.

Ever been caught with your hand in the cookie jar? About all you can do at that point is cowboy up and issue a very sincere apology. In my case, it involved a canary, a cat, an open cage, and my mother! Had all the items not been there, I might have been able to lie my way out of that, but I never had that chance.

Back to business! My hat is off to Alina Woods. She has more grace than I could ever hope to muster. She has more faith then most of us. For Tiger I have these words of advice: I hope any sex you  had was
safe sex. At this point that is all I have to say to him, but then since I volunteer at Southern Colorado AIDS Project where they have free testing that is always my gut reaction. A little honesty is going to go a long way in this case and time will tell. All favorite sayings from my dear Mother.

This is my Church: First Congregational United Church of Christ

This is my new church. I love the United Church of Christ and have been a member for probably 20 years. Not at this church, but at the Christ Congregational UCC Church which is in Belmont. I will do a piece on that one later. For now, I want to introduce you to my present church and it's history.

This building was built in 1878 or thereabouts. It has lots of wood and lots of stained glass windows which I would love to see at night, but I don't get into town at night and if I did I would be inside the church. This building is on the Historic Registry and since it is a working building it really has to be kept in tip top shape. I am sure that the reception area which is called Mayflower Hall (and I am sure there is a story behind that name) along with the rest of that part was added later.

I really do not know a lot about the history so I am going to tell you about it from a parishoners point of view. We have a beautiful window called "The Rose Window" (again, for whatever reason) which is in dire need of repair. Well, not really repair, but restoration. This is a $20,000 project and I think we almost have enough money to do that.It is the original Tiffany Glass and is indeed a work of art.

The Rose Window is behind the other high point of the church which is the pipe organ. I do not know how many pipes this thing has, but they are BIG and there are a lot. I have not counted them because I am afraid it would be like the counting of sheep. Our organist is named Randy Tryon, and that guy must have been born with a pipe organ under him, because it is second nature to him. He fills our walls with the most beautiful music you have ever heard! That in itself is worth at trip over on Sunday morning.

We are a very small church as is Christ Congregational, our sister church, so we share a minister. Or at least when we get one we will share. I think that will be soon. The way it works is for 6 months we will meet at 9:30 and Christ will meet at a later time. Until we get said minister, we have temporary ministers. We have two who alternate.

The first one is Reverend Fred Dare. He is retired and comes to our church on alterate Sundays. The other one is Rev. Steve Parke. I know him a little better. He is retired from the State Hospital. He plays the guitar and sings us songs. Kind of a little hippie type fellow, but a loveable little cuss and gives a very good sermon. Well, so does Rev. Dare, but you know what I mean, just different types: poles apart! I do love them both.

Ok, I have rattled on long enough. I would love to have you visit my church just for the reasons I have given. It is sure worth the trip. We are in the phone book, or click and leave me a comment!

Remember the old song, "You go to your church and I'll go to mine, but we'll both walk along together!"

Resolutions, or the lack thereof.

Once more the New Year has come and gone and I did not swear by all that is holy that I would quit eating, quit complaining, quit cussing, feed the poor people, work from sun up to sundown, and never let a speck of dust settle on my furniture. For many years I made the resolution to quit smoking. This was really going to be the year! This time I would really quit. It never seemed to matter how firm I was in my resolution, it just never happened.
Then one day, without any forethought whatsoever, I got up and never smoked since. I had not planned it. There was no gum or other snacky food in the house and no one knew I had decided to make this life altering change, but here I am 10 months later, still smoke free. So here is my thoughts on the resolution thing:
I get up every morning and do the best I can all day long. For the most part, I don't gossip, lie, steal, kick dogs, and I do like babies. At times the foot gets a tad heavy on the accelerator, but that has been going on for 50+ years and I have yet to get a speeding ticket, so it can't be too bad. I would help old ladies across the street if I could find one wanting to go there.
I have a lot of friends, and I have those friends for a reason. I live my life in an honest and forthright manner, although I have been told I may be a tad overly forthright, but I see that is not changing, so why do I want to say I will change that when we both know I will not? I tend to surround myself with people who are like minded to myself.
If I did not like you on December 31, I am not going to like you on January 1, because there is probably a good reason I don't like you and it is probably not my fault I don't like you. It is your fault because you are not an honest, trustworthy, sober, reliable person. Or maybe you are into the "me" phase of your life. I like to help the poor, sick and the needy, because I can. There were many years when I did not have the resources to help those less fortunate then myself and while I am not rich I have time and talent to help others.
So, back to the resolution thing. If it will make you feel better, I shall make a resolution:

I, Lou Mercer, do hereby solemnly resolve, on this 3rd day of January in the New Year of 2010 that I will continue to live my life as I have in the past. I will not cheat, steal, lie, coerce or in any way degrade my fellow man. I will continue to laugh at you when you do something stupid, point out your faults, and give you my honest opinion whether you want it or not! I will continue to love each and every one of you in my own little way. I will continue to support the weak and down trodden and attend the church of my choice every Sunday!Peace to All!!