Looking at the last entry I see that I haven't blogged since November
19th. It has been a very upsetting and trying week with many goings on
and problems to plow through.

Thanksgiving Day I was with my family. It was at this time that I started to grasp the importance and meaning of what Thanksgiving is really all about.
Despite my problems I actually was very happy, and had all the nice, warm, snuggly, holiday emotions of being together with people who love me and have known me all of my life. Being alone during the holidays must be a very sad place to be. So being surrounded by family was only one of the blessings I counted on Thursday.

The problematic week
was not finished at Thanksgiving. I continued to have stress related
situations throughout the week-end. Bad Day at Black Rock was a good
movie. And although the guy in the movie had only one 'bad day', I had
the whole week. It's interesting how that title popped into my head this
week as I was pondering my problems and how to get out of them. I
figured that life is like the Stock Market. It goes up and down. When
it's down, we all holler and whine and cry over our 'losses'. But then
again the Stock Market will go back up and we're in Hog Heaven once
more. They say over time if you invest in the Stock Market and balance
well by diversifying correctly in different securities and Mutual
Funds(not everything all in one place) that over the long haul you will
reap rewards. If we all hang in there, over time , the sum total of our
life is also rewarding. I say this with complete candor......I mean it.
This past week has been proof to me. That in one week I have seen both
sides and realize that another door always opens. I remember a quote,
actually I think it was a title of a book but I cannot remember the
author. The Title was "Been Down so Long looks Like Up to Me." Thank
God, that has not been the case for me and I would not wish that on
anyone. The point is for most of us, no matter how bad something seems
at the time, there is always something or someone around the next corner
waiting to ease us along.

Another minor problem has just 'popped' up. On
the black border below my post window has appeared this line: "Sorry,
publishing is temporarily unavailable. (why?)" I wonder if Blogger has
gone belly up or will have technical problems for the next several hours
or maybe days. Who knows. Well, whatever. Today I feel like I can tackle
anything.

Sunday was a nice day. I went down to Tokyo Town in late
afternoon , specifically to buy a pair of Zori's. My old ones were
falling apart. But I had a great time browsing through the stores and
the shopping village. I felt like buying Luigi a gift. It was a little
black lacquer box to possibly keep his bills or other things inside, to
organize his poor messy desk. I told him it was a Hanukkah gift for him
, even though he is not Jewish. I strolled through First Street and
ended up having an early dinner at Suehiro. It was a great experience
and reminded me a little of being in Japan again.

I left the restaurant and then went to the ATM. While waiting for a crosswalk
signal to change I watched a strange, disturbing person cross the
street. It was a homeless dwarf, pitifully crippled and dirty, with
raggedy hair and bare feet. He was limping along and his skin was so
dark it was hard to tell if it was natural or from baking in the sun. My
Mom says there are no coincidences. I felt very sad for this hapless.
individual, and was reminded how all my 'problems' seemed so entirely
trivial as not even worthy to mention in this Blog. I am eternally
grateful to a power that is higher than me and try to remember not to
take anything for granted.

Your Friend,
Peach