As I laid there thinking how lucky I am to just be here....I thought of coffee and banana bread my friend Jessica gave me yesterday at a surf tournament in Hermosa. Until 2009, when I met my friend Cailin, I had drank no more than 5 cups of coffee in my life. After she and I had travelled Ecuador and the Galapagos Islands for 3 weeks, she was staying with me in my cabina for a short time until her boyfriend arrived from New Jersey. Every morning she would make coffee for herself and then me in her bialetti - a fancy Italian coffee maker :) Just the smell alone, I very quickly became an addict and ever since then, I drink coffee most every morning. Usually it is just one cup unless I am out for breakfast with friends and we are spending time just enjoying where ever it is.....
So.....This morning - coffee on my mind - I rolled out of bed..... fired up the bialetti. Knowing I wasn't going anywhere - no run around the soccer field, no walk on the beach, no wave check - I pulled out the Bailey's, poured it into the coffee then posted myself on my bench in the backyard. It was still raining lightly and there I sat alone in the presence of peace and quiet.
Not sure how long I was out there before I remembered it was Sunday morning and the day and time of my most favorite show - and the reason for this blog - "Sunday Morning" with Charles Osgood on CBS! In Sept I will have been living in Costa Rica for 6 years. I have only had access to television since January of this year - so having a tv now is still a luxury :) For a long time I had forgotten this show. Often I am out the door early and never consider turning the tv on - however - a few months ago I happened to be home - had the tv on and there it was - "Sunday Morning" truly one of the most important and wonderful shows on television.
"Sunday Morning" is an American television news magazine program that has aired continuously since Jan. 28, 1979. If I had to chose just one program in the whole wide world to watch - this would be it. This morning is a perfect example of what it has to offer:
A brief summary on Women's Suffrage - 92 years ago today the 19th Amendment to the Constitution was passed giving women the right to vote. 92 years - just a blink of the eye in the history of the world.
A segment on the passing of Neil Armstrong, age 82, the first man to walk on the moon. The summer of 1969 I turned 16 and was living in Houston, Texas. I was very aware of all the hype about the upcoming attempt to reach the moon as NASA's Manned Spacecraft Center was located in Houston. In February of that year I was in Girl Scouts and remember being introduced to another girl I was horseback riding with and later being told she was the daughter of an astronaut - Buzz Aldren. In early July of that year, my mother who had been divorced from my father was living in Montana. That month she came to Houston and miraculously in a one morning court hearing was granted full custody of me and my 2 younger brothers. For 2 days we hid out in the city until arrangements could be made to get all of us on a flight back to Montana. In one day, my life was turned upside down again and I was removed from all that I knew at that time. I went from a huge high school in South Houston to a small farming wheat town in central Montana where there were only 18 students in my senior class. On July 20th, 1969 I remember being in the small house we all then lived in, with my mom, my new step dad and my brothers. On that day - it was my little brother Danny's 5th birthday. I remember eating cake while watching the moon landing on TV. 24 years later, when my youngest brother was 29, he shot and killed himself. July 20, 1969 - a day never to be forgotten - for me - on so many levels.
The story of "The Hole in the Wall Gang Camp" presently located in Connecticut. Established in 1988 by deceased actor Paul Newman dedicated to providing a healing experience for seriously ill children and their families free of charge. This story was heartbreaking and uplifting as to the gift of love and kindness of so many who devote their lives to helping these families. If you think your life is hard......see this video on the "Sunday Morning" website. It just may give you a different perspective on what is truly important in life.
Paint the Town - The story of an elderly man, Jim Cotter, of Glouster, Ohio who lost his beloved wife last year. To fight his depression he picked up a paint brush and started painting. He started with a red fire hydrant, then a guardrail, then a neighbor's house, then....the town. Other neighbors and friends became involved and now people come from other places to help. This is his simple advice on getting things done: Don't wait on the government, don't wait for a grant, don't wait for money.....Just Do It !!!!!
Phyllis Diller died this past week at the age of 95. This was another one that took me back to my youth in Houston. I remember seeing her on TV in the 60's - outrageously funny - the hair kinda scared me - but I do remember the laugh...the laugh that became this amazing woman's trademark. Today I learned it was her out of work husband who insisted she work as a comedian to support him and their 5 children in the mid 50's. She worked in night clubs until she was discovered by Bob Hope and the rest is history. A woman with great strength, a classical pianist, and a huge heart who survived 2 husbands, a long career in a man's world and made a nation laugh.
I learned how the political parties got their animal symbols - the elephant and the donkey. I must have learned this somewhere along the line but this was new and interesting to me.
Glen Campbell - Wow.....another one - all this in one morning - also took me way back to Houston - and I only lived there from the time I was 13 to 16 - but my first memories of Glen were in Texas. Two of his most famous songs, "By the Time I get to Phoenix" and "Wichita Lineman" were released during my life in Houston and are still on my Itunes playlist. I remember hearing them on my grandfather's radio which was on all day long in the garage. Today's segment was regarding his last performance at the Hollywood Bowl just a few weeks ago in LA. The performance included 3 of his 8 children - 2 sons and a daughter playing guitar and singing with him. Glen Campbell is now 76 and has had Alzheimer's for a number of years but with the help of a teleprompter and his daughter has managed to perform live with the help of his family. This segment reviewed his amazing career and songs we all know. My mother died of Alzheimer's in 2008.
Each week, "Sunday Morning" ends with one minute of "nature". It can be a scene from anything - waterfalls, butterflies, melting snow, autumn leaves falling from a tree.......There is no dialog - no music - just natural sound. Today was elephants in a park in South Africa. I was in South Africa with my former husband and oldest son Chris back in 2000 and remember sitting in the middle of nowhere quietly watching a group of about 20 elephants ranging in all sizes and ages, hanging around a pond of water. This mornings' scene put me back there. A brief moment in time, reminded of today and to be treasured for the rest of my life.
It is now late morning and I feel as if I have been thru a very intense therapy session. So many memories, so many thoughts and emotions brought on by one television show early in the morning on a rainy day in Costa Rica.
Pura Vida
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