Hi, James!  Recently you wrote in a message to Ardith Hinton:

AH>  That's quite a long haul.  Good for you....  :-)

JB>  I was more than pleased to know how I could last.


          I imagine so....  :-)



JB>  Flowers vs. fertilizer.


          Uh-huh.  Life's like that... [chuckle].



JB>  Something about the personality of a person really
JB>  shows up when you're in a moment of peril.


          Yes, adversity tends to bring out the best & the worst in
people!  The canoeing incident is an example.  You pointed out that a
person may be forced to change gears very quickly if whatever they're doing
isn't working... and I think it's good to be able to recognize when one
needs to make such changes.  But it's not always easy to be sure, except in
retrospect, whether one is doing the right thing.  Nora's teacher thinks
emotionally because that's her preferred reasoning style.  I can't say she
was wrong, if she got the kids to shore safely....  :-))



JB>  If there's a personality you don't know beside you,
JB>  things are much more interesting than if you have
JB>  the local sourpuss/disaster on legs - I find myself
JB>  really short with.


          Hmm.  I gather there was some friction between you & your
mother while you were on this trip.  There was also some friction between
me & my mother when my father had his major stroke... another moment of
peril.  I realized my mother felt a loss of control, and I had come to
terms with that as an oncology parent. IMHO the appropriate action is to
direct one's energy into not allowing a stupid microbe or whatever to
control one's life... not trying to control other people! I could have told
her many things years earlier, but she wasn't paying attention then.  So I
assured my mother (for example) that I'd shut the same gate I'd been
faithfully shutting for thirty years... I said "yes" when she
asked me to hold a door open for her, as if I wasn't already doing it...
and I was a bit short with her when she demanded I park in a certain spot,
then complained that there was a puddle just outside the passenger door. 
No doubt my mother was distressed about my father's condition.  So was I. 
But maybe the factor which distressed me most was feeling I had to do all
of the understanding in this relationship... (sigh).



AH>  I would be inclined to suggest the 21 yo grow up
AH>  before getting married....  :-)))

JB>  Wouldn't it be nice to live in a perfect world?
JB>  What's your postal code there? I want to invest
JB>  in *that* real-estate! O-8*


          Another friend says I have both feet firmly on the ground &
my head in the clouds.  Third star on the right, straight on until
morning... [chuckle].



JB>  Now, I did tell her about hypothermia and how it
JB>  mixes with alcohol, but only after she was bragging
JB>  about an all-night bush party in the winter.


          Uh-huh.  The prefrontal lobes are not yet fully developed &
she's much better able to accept advice from her cousin James than from her
mother....  ;-)



JB>  I'm starting to think more kids should be having kids,
JB>  while they still know everything.


          I'm not convinced of the wisdom of having kids at that age... but
I do believe human beings are pre-programmed to leave the nest while they
still think they know everything!  If they really knew, they might lose
their nerve....  :-/




--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+