*Idiom used to express great enthusiasm. Amer. circa1930’s; expresses my own feelings towards macaroni and cheese.
In 1943, my unathletic father joined the army. “Why?” I asked him once. “Everyone was patriotic in those days,” he said. He even re-enlisted after his two years were up. But the army did not send him overseas. They gave him desk jobs, including interpreting for prisoners of war since he knew various languages. He also knew shorthand, so was tasked with taking minutes for the officers’ staff meetings. He took his job very literally, transcribing every nuance. One day a major said, “hot dog!” but he was instructed to leave that out of the transcript (as well as other, even more colorful turns of phrase). So, if those transcripts still exist in some army vault somewhere, the historians who come to peruse them should know that the language used has been carefully edited. The real speech has been erased from history. And yet, not really, since I heard about the erasures at the breakfast table and am passing them on to whomever might read these words.
Here’s a minor life puzzle: Many years ago I read Outlander and passed it along to my roommate when I was done. She said, “that was ok, but one of these is enough.” I recall feeling minutely disappointed in the way one feels when one’s offerings are not received with open, welcoming arms. But I felt more or less the same way, so I didn’t read any more, though the series telling the tale of a time traveler who finds herself in 18th century Scotland where she has a tumultuous love affair and marriage with a local man, continues for volumes and volumes. Then, a year or so ago, the same friend had a pile of Outlander books in her house and showed them to me revealing a fascinating new series she had discovered. I decided not to remind her of the past. Somehow the earlier reading and pronouncements had not been recorded in her memory. It’s possible that the only reason they remained recorded in mine was that slight emotion from the rejection. I didn’t want to cause her any bad feeling about her memory.
I’ve heard that emotion is intricately involved in determining what gets recorded in memory and what can later be recalled. So perhaps my decision not to say anything was flawed and we should not shy away from causing minor upsets and disappointments in others. Similarly, I perhaps should have told my proud son and his friend that although the meal they prepared was beyond delicious, by throwing out the stems, they had wasted more than half of the broccoli so slowly produced in the garden. Yes, I might have caused a momentary bad feeling. But maybe that bad feeling might have further cemented in their minds the joys of having prepared a stupendous meal. And perhaps I should have told my friend that her response to these books had changed since I brought her the first one a decade ago, given her that little zing of deflation when I popped the air in her balloon. But I often shy away from making people feel bad (though not always, a fact which itself causes me some shame). I didn’t inject either happy moment with my negative, critical thoughts. The historical record between me and my son and between me and my friend is thus incomplete. The story does not contain my own thoughts and feelings, although I do remember them and am writing them down in a different kind of historical venue. So many things in life remain unexpressed and unacknowledged, and, thus, in some very real way, never happened.
However, I can say that I am never one not to join in climbing onto a bandwagon. So I’ll be checking out the rest of the Outlander series in due course.
yes, interesting. made me recall many years ago some friends had a guy staying who had no income, and i saw him fishing broccoli stalks out of the trash to cook in his meagre meal, stayed with me, probably because of the mild revulsion i felt at the time, now when i prepare brocolli I keep and nibble the stems while i am cooking.
This is one great texture shot of hot dogs - and the story that goes with it is marvelous!
Really well done!
Thank you for participating in the July words!
My fave is for your "Marvelous Musings" as Katy describes them! Still hosting family for a bit longer, I haven't seen your previous recent writings, but this is wonderful! In effect, you've written a Journal page and shared it with us, and, again as Katy said, we come to learn more about who you are and your depths. I must find the time to come back to more of these if this is a good example!
Comfort food. Does look yummy. The author of the Outlander series is from Flagstaff. Got to meet her when I took pictures for a 'Lady's Tea' last year. I have never ventured into that series.
So this capture has taken you on a truly reflective journey which makes for fascinating and thought provoking reading. Our interactions are so much more complex than the words we actually speak, and I believe that our memories of them are driven by our emotional response rather than the facts. What to say and what to leave unsaid is always a problem - and then following through with what we have decided, is another problem in my experience! As for Outlanders - never heard of it.
Françoise, you're a one-off! I feel so privileged that you share your musings on life with us. Often you open up new ways of looking at things that otherwise would never have occurred to me. Thank you.
I enjoy reading your musings each day too. I feel like I’m getting to know you better and better
I remember reading some of the Outlander series many years ago but didn’t get through them all.
Really well done!
Thank you for participating in the July words!