She then asked how we were, and I asked how she was, and she said that she had a pacemaker but was otherwise fine and always on the go, with club meetings, her garden club and the Catholic Daughters and such. She is two years older than I am, but she must have a great deal more energy than I do.
She asked me what I was up to, and I said I was a bit of a hermit, that my socializing was confined mainly to my immediate family, children and grandchildren, an occasional lunch with a friend, going to church, and that I enjoyed the internet. She said, "I never use a computer." All right, then.
When the phone call was over, I told Tom I felt sort of sad, because my life seemed so circumscribed compared to hers. And then, I said, "Wait! I never participated in any of that sort of activity when I was young!" I am not a joiner; the only club I've ever belonged to was a literary club, but, when the quality of the books we read deteriorated, I withdrew.
I never asked my cousin where she was giving her presentation, because, as I've said, I was not yet fully functional, but I wondered afterward if the Daughters of the Confederacy was another one of her clubs.
Maybe I need a pacemaker.
I'm with you - not a "club" person. I've had pressure to join the DAR. I can't imagine going to those meetings. I was blackballed by Eastern Star because I told the gals I smoked at the time and that was verboten. I knew members who smoked and asked why they could do it. Which was more important - smoking or lying about it? I've been grateful ever since to never have to deal with that organization again.
ReplyDeletePiskie, I was urged to join the DAR when I first moved here 40-plus years ago, but I told the ladies that I knew of no ancestor who was in the Revolution. They urged me to do a search, but I never did. Years later, a distant cousin found an ancestor, not for me, but for her own information, but by then I was no longer being invited. I would not have joined even if I had known about the soldier, but, at the time, I had my reason for not joining without hurting anyone's feelings.
DeleteJune, your voice is heard and respected on the net.
DeleteI don't think I fit the DAR's profile myself and given its history of discrimination.... I have one ancestor who did fight in the Revolution, on the loyalist side, he had to abandon his property in New York and move to what is now New Brunswick (Canada) at the end of the war.
Erp, it wasn't meant to be for me either, obviously. :-)
DeleteHow can you be a hermit when I see you everywhere I look, being useful and sensible about many matters? Of course, I too live in the Internet, which isn't actually the world. A cave, with reality as images on the back wall . . .
ReplyDeleteI see you everywhere, too, Murdoch, virtually speaking.
Delete^This. {{{Mimi}}}
DeleteThank you, JCF. Hugs back to you.
DeleteBrilliant last line--I love your sense of humor, Grandmère. I guess that I have enough energy to be a hiking fool, but as for socializing, I'm in your [un]club. There's too much clatter in the world--even for those of us living like hermits. I look for ways to avoid the noise as much as graciously possible.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Prairie Soul. Sadly, due to arthritis, my days of hiking or walking any but short distances are over.
Delete