Just Because I've Been Lax...

... a few random thoughts from the past couple of weeks...

From a recent working vacation to Orlando:

1) People are getting ruder, not only in their direct dealings with others, but in their general behavior in public venues. Am I the only person truly sick of hearing expletives uttered loudly in public where children and the genteel elderly are within earshot? Now, I have been known to let loose a few choice words, but never in company that I didn't know -- and when someone has been honest enough to tell me they were bothered by it, I don't repeat it EVER in their presence.

I found myself wishing that Disney did for the foul-mouthed what they do for smokers -- give them an area in which they can exercise their legal addiction out of the way of those for whom it's offensive.

Find some new adjectives, people.

2) Why do airport gift shops sell things you can't take on airplanes?

3) Why would an interstate rest area put their women's "facilities" at the far end, out of sight of the parking lot where there is traffic and good lighting? We stopped at one on the way home in broad daylight, and there was a strange fella lurking by the women's area -- and I was uncomfortable enough to wait for my husband to finish his business to go into that area at all. And I don't spook easy.

And just in general:

1) My younger son's cellphone is broken, and he's been without one now for nearly a week. I had to laugh when I got a recent e-mail from him about this: "It's nice not having a cell phone because you don't have to hassle w/ phone calls you don't want to take. On the other hand, it's tough because there are times when I need to get in contact w/ a person immediately and e-mail just isn't fast enough."

LOL -- This elicited a response from me that was, I suppose, the 21st Century equivalent of "Well, I had to walk 10 miles in the snow to school" -- "Ya know, you don't HAVE to answer calls you don't want to take! I'm laughing a little, because back in the olden days, we didn't have cellphones OR e-mail, and most of us didn't even have phones in our dorm rooms!"

But there is something sad about his explanation of his predicament, that speaks to an age in which everything is expected to be immediate and convenient and fast.

2) And finally, sometimes I just really love the feeling I've had a few times this week that after angst over big things and small for more than 25 years, the two major contributions I have made to the world (with some help, of course) in the form of my sons are really very cool people.