Meridian, Idaho

This is the first time Rich and I have lived within city limits in nearly 40 years.

When we first got married, we lived in a single-wide mobile home on an acre of land that Rich had recently bought.

It was only three and a half miles from town, but in our small community that was a long ways.

Our next home was closer to town, but we still called it “Going to town…” whenever we went to the store or picked the kids up from school.

Major shopping, like to Costco, and most doctor’s appointments involved driving 65 miles one way to Reno.

Then we moved to our home in the mountains near Boise. I commuted 30 miles to work. All shopping and errands required at least two hours to complete. (This is High Bridge which we crossed on each trip to town.)

Now that we’re living actually IN the city, all that has changed.

Yesterday we decided to go buy a bed for the guest bedroom.

In the past we would decide to go, talk about all the other errands we should do while we’re in town, discuss it all again as we drove 30 minutes into town…

Total change of process now.

• Decide to buy a bed.
• Research options for five minutes online.
• Get in car and drive seven minutes to store.
• Talk with salesman and buy the bed within ten minutes.
• Drive home and realize that we decided to get a bed, actually bought a bed, and returned home in less than 30 minutes–the time it used to take us to drive to town.

That is both good and bad. It’s good we’re saving time, but bad that we’re spending money in less than a quarter of the time it used to take.  🙂

Meridian, Idaho

I’ve come to love Idaho. It’s beauty, it’s wilderness, it’s people.

But sometimes Idahoans surprise me.

Case in point:

A school district in northern Idaho is thinking about banning John Steinbeck’s novella Of Mice and Men from its curriculum.

Of Mice and Men is a novella written by Nobel Prize–winning author John Steinbeck. Published in 1937, it tells the story of George Milton and Lennie Small, two displaced migrant ranch workers, who move from place to place in search of new job opportunities during the Great Depression in California. (Wikipedia)

The novella is required reading in many schools, and, because its language is raw, graphic, and now considered racist, some want the book banned from curriculum and/or removed from school libraries.

At first I was incredulous as I read about the potential banning in the Los Angeles Times; then as I read further, I actually giggled out loud.

Mary Jo Finney, a parent who has previously raised objections about books in the school district’s curriculum, declared that the book “is neither a quality story nor a page turner.” She and other committee members have a problem with coarse language in the book, such as “bastard” and “God damn,” and allege that “the teachers actually had the audacity to have students read these profanities out loud in class.” They also complained that the novel, set in Depression-era California, is too “negative” and “dark.”

To call a Steinbeck story non-quality seems absurd to me, but I must confess that his East of Eden is the best book I’ve ever read so I’m a bit biased.

And to call a book about The Depression as too “negative” and “dark” just makes me want to answer, “Duh!”

Dave Eubanks, a nonvoting committee member, supports the recommendation. “Nobody’s banning books or burning books, he told the Spokesman-Review. “There was just too darn much cussing. It was on almost every single page of the novella.”

If the reviewers think the book has  “just too darn much cussing”, then how can they grasp 14 year olds hearing (and/or saying) even stronger words that are said multiple times on the bus ride to school, in the lunch room, and on television every night. Words a lot more profane than bastard and God damn.

Heaven forbid! 🙂

Using the strongest words allowed by the reviewers, I’ll claim that Of Mice and Men is a gosh darn good book.

Raw? Yes. Disturbing? Yes. Profane? Yes. Honest? Yes. An appropriate read in high school? Yes. A better read as an adult? Yes.

Meridian, Idaho

I received the following text the other day:

Kathy-just saw your ad for bar stools on Craigslist.  Is there anything wrong with them?

This came from a woman who eventually bought the bar stools.

The text fascinated me because she expected me to tell her the truth.

I had already indicated twice on the posting that the chairs were in “excellent” condition and they were.

It surprised me that she thought that I might have lied in the post but that I would tell her the truth if she asked.

Her expectations were that people told the truth when she asked them questions.

While she might expect that, reality might be very different.

As I get older, I’m finding that I have fewer and fewer expectations that things will work out a specific way. And, more importantly, I rarely expect that people react to things the way I think they will.

Reminds me of an exchange in Pretty Woman:

Edward: “It’s just that very few people surprise me.”

Vivian: “Yeah, well, you’re lucky. Most of them shock the hell out of me.”