Living At Wit's End

You probably know by now that we are a family of serious movie watchers.  I especially love Christmas movies, particularly old ones.  One of my absolute favorite holiday movies is "It Happened  on Fifth Avenue".  If you're unfamiliar with it I highly recommend getting a copy and watching it, you won't be sorry.  IMDB lists the synopsis as "A homeless New Yorker moves into a mansion and along the way he gathers friends to live in the house with him. Before he knows it, he is living with the actual home owners."  The movie has all the charm of an old holiday movie, wit, drama, romance and the elements of surprise and hope. One of my favorite quotes comes from this movie.  “For to be without  friends  is a serious form of poverty" -  Aloysius T .  McKeever , It Happened on Fifth Avenue (1947)".  While this quote has always spoken to me, it especially means a lot to me this year.  A childhood school mate lost his 12 year...

When are we officially grown up?   When exactly does it happen?   After highs school?   After college?   After we get married?   After we buy a house and have a job?  What happens if you never accomplish any of those things?   What exactly is the definition of grown-up?   Dictionary.com says grown-up:   adjective 1.   having reached the age of maturity.   2.   characteristic of or suitable for adults: grown-up behavior; grown-up fiction.   Honestly, what does that mean?   What is the age of maturity and who decides when one has reached this age? Aren’t we continually growing up?   I think the day we die is the day we stop growing up.   If we are realistic about things aren’t we always growing, physically, emotionally, spiritually and mentally?   Do we really stop learning new things, connecting with others, aging, or making a spiritual connection at a certain point in life?   Isn’t life about c...

Growing up I was not in the “IN” crowd, nor was I popular.   The majority of my grade-school years were spent at a Catholic school.   I remember classmates as far back as first grade but a best friend or even good friends I had very few.   My first memory of a best friend was in fourth grade.   I had one for fourth, and fifth.   Then I had a couple of friends in sixth, and seventh but no best friend.   Actually I wasn’t really liked much at all, in sixth and seventh grade.   Thinking back on it, seventh was my hardest, I was what would be considered today, bullied.   Some of the girls put my school shoes in the toilet while I was at P. E.   I was made fun of, and a whole host of other things, I don’t care to remember, throughout all of seventh grade.   Eighth grade was a bit better, the two queen bees that led the girls the years before, had left the school and I bonded with someone.   We were like Laverne & Shirley  (we ev...