wonderful visit

Right now, The Sound of Music is playing again. I'm trying to do my physical therapy exercises. We had a wonderful visit and wondeful food and relaxed visit (though I don't know if they were) and they seemed to have fun with Kayla and Max, at their house, Mary (who I had never met) and Chris's new dogs, and Kayla and Max's adopted dog, and seeing Chris again was great. Politics, family, classic books with Sartre, Camus and a friendly discussion about Samuel Beckett and had he written "Waiting for Godot" which I pronounced he had done, but Chris said someone else had done so, maybe Camus or Sartre. We spoke about my cousin and his resemblance to me because he is famous as a star in the more seemy side of film, but he had been at my house in Los Angeles when my son was small and my husband said that my son is close to him. He is interesting because his work had been in special education and going from that to the industry which I disdained, even as he is my first cousin, and funny, garrulous, gregarious, etc. We spoke about unemployment and also how the Depression or whatever the present is would cascade downward, and how religion is devisive, and pronouncing the "I" in devisive as long like"I" (like me, or "I" like "it" as Max said. I said I heard it both ways. More wars have been fought because of religion, and even though I am Jewish, the fact taht religion does not change, although Judaism and Catholism had folk masses in the 1960's, and Protestant denominations sprung up, High HOly Days don't change, although new interpretations are written. I said I am spiritual, and that my husband does not understand the difference between religion and spirituality. My husband spoke about how religion has hurt our Alaska Natives, and I had said earlier today that they were called "savages" etc. We spoke about mental illness and family, and our feelings about the rabbis, and how Rabbi Rosenfeld had been an excellent, brilliant teacher, andKayla was sorry she missed it, and now I am also. We spoke about humanism that is humanistic Judaism, and I love Reconstructionist Judaism, and I discussed Virginia where I sampled several Jewish places as there were a pletora of them, and apparently family of one of the dinner guests had been involved with humanistic Judaism, and did we know a couple fo people who were exploring this? I discussed "functional blindness" as opposed to statutory blindness and Max and Kaylad had never heard that, nor the statistics about unemployment, where someone might work with Department of Labor that the dinner guests knew. Dinner was delicious, asparagus, turkey (dark meat that Sandy, Kayla and I all like, sweet potatoes (some which have marshmallows) and mashed potatoes, stuffing gravy, greens with candied pecans and pomegranate for the greens, sweet potato rolls, cookies and pumpkin pie. We spoke about dogs, what Johnny Ellis had credited me with about an accessible web newsletter because of what I, as his constituent helped to give education about with him, about AmeriCorps and my husband was upset about what I was making, about how it was a win-win in Virginia with my program analyst job, good money, and seeing my parents when mom was going downhill. Max asked about her and I mentioned dementia, and Kayla said new protocols or medicine was coming out to help. I said I was more spiritual because politics had become so polarized and people could not communicate. We had no idea it was 8:30 by the time we were leaving. It will be 20 years that I have been in Alaska Tuesday, Decdember 27, 2011. Kayla could hardly believe that. Sandy spoke about how good a public speaker I am, because Senator Meyer said how impressed he was by my speech on Martin Luther King Jr., day in 2008. I said that the Anchorage Daily News said the dais or stage was so diverse there was a dog guide on there, and how I was "one of the most electrifying speakers of the day." I said how Lisa Murkowski had recognized me at a grants workshop, and so did Senator Begich, but I am tired now, and want to do more meditation, and go into the background. I'll still try to educate about accessibility with PDF documents, websites, etc., but someone said that maybe it is time for me to have my own business this evening. I would love to earn money that way. Max had been surprised that I worked for the Navy in 2008. I said I wrote a promotional piece for the VA about the Christmas or holiday concert by Bartlett High School, and used the word "mellifluous" and one of my coworkers did not know what it meant, and others did not either. I said how dad had been great about helping me to public speak, and how he brought mom home every day. My husband said he is a wonderful man. The "Wizard of Oz" I saw the end of still makes me cry when the animals get their heart, brain and courage. Our hosts had seen "Hugo" and liked it also. I felt as if I spoke too much, but I do have knowledge, and I am still smart, and as I said Sandy was upset about AmeriCorps paying me so little, but it is a national service. Well, fans, this is a longer post than usual. As I said, we spoke about health and physical therapy, doctors, my orthotics, and thanked the host for giving me the foot and ankle doctor. Koraling Lynne