Laugh and the World Laughs with You...or to Err is Human

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I had a splendid day. Hormones even keel. I did not have to teach as I spent the day with teens in a conference center on the top of a hill overlooking mountains discussing how they can be a force for change in the world. I look forward to going to the UN with them in June. I have never been there myself, and am as excited as they are.

I joked about how I was the only adult sitting with them eating lunch. The other teachers and adults were in the kitchen, but I have to say, I was much more comfortable with the kids. Their energy is so vibrant, and I love watching them interact, even as one on the sidelines. I told one of my students that I did that so that I cold suck out their youth , like something from a Stephen King novel (thinking of Insomnia) where I saw their little youth/energy balloons rise above them on little strings, and tapped into them. On some level I think they do keep me young.

Afterwards I met a friend and we went for a ride into Rhinebeck and ate a light dinner at Terrapin. We talked about so much, but had a good laugh about the foolishness of man, and I related a few silly recent stories....which I will share here for a laugh.

Like how last week I went into the bathroom and let out a big groan as I was dismayed by the big black spot on my underwear. The faculty was eating lunch only a few feet from the door and wondered what was wrong, only to hear me burst out in laughter as I discovered the foreign body which had been quickly labeled as another anomaly of my body was a mere piece of black lint from the laundry. Or how Saturday I had on jeans, and was extremely hot in the car, and got out to do one of my 10,000 chores and as I got out of the car discovered my pants were all wet and sweaty. Real attractive. As I got back into the car and cursed out the black upholstery made hot by the sun, I realized that I had the car seat heater still on though it was 90 degrees and had made myself a really hot seat.

'Laugh and the world laughs with you, weep and you weep alone' Late 19th century poet-Ella Wheeler Wilcox. Heard it in high school, never forgot it, and try and live by it.

So I laugh.

After dinner I took a ride over to Bard to see the community gardens, the more formal gardens over looking the river, and to see the Fisher Center, designed by the architect Frank Geary.

I have a fantasy of getting my MFA at Bard someday. But I can't afford it, and if I put 10,000 hours of painting in, it may be as good as that MFA. And cheaper.

off to bed....

Patti O Dreamer

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