GraytonBound said:
Anyone who needs a philosophy on life should visit their 92 year old grandmother like I just did. That'll help you put things in perspective
Ah, yes. I tell my kids (and anyone who will listen) that my favorite place on earth when I was growing up was my grandmother's old apartment. It was truly a special place in terms of great Italian cooking (I wish I could have those rice fritters again, but no recipe exists), a huge hug (she'd roll anyone right into her bosom the first time they visited unless she got the feeling she didn't like them and then they'd have to grovel a bit -- and her instincts were usually right), watching soap operas and TV with her, and playing cards and pokeno some nights. She laughed often and loud, threw her slippers at us when we misbehaved -- ok it was mostly me who had the slippers thrown at her, swore like the dickens (I can swear quite beautifully in Italian and can still cry with sentimentality when I hear Italian swear words), and clearly loved us more than words could ever say. Her apartment had old furniture, a formica topped kitchen table, torn plastic kitchen chairs, furniture that hadn't been changed in decades, and she wore the same apron every day (or so it seemed). None of that mattered. And my teenage friends loved to go there and eat and play cards and pokeno. Interesting, she never spoke English, just Italian, and everyone communicated just fine. When I told my grandmother (my Nonna) that I was accepted to a top graduate school when I was almost 30, she said (in Italian) "nice, but where is that?" She had never heard of it before. Now that's perspective!
I tell my kids and their friends about her and her apartment to help them keep perspective given that most of them have much more now (but not all of them).
I have a few of her little end tables at the cottages now (painted white for the beach) because they add such warmth and I think our guests feel it. And I think I'll pick up a pokeno game as well to leave there.
So, I guess the philosphy I learned would be "it's the people who make the place". And of course, the common wisdom that "Happiness is wanting what you have, not having what you want."
