Text 24836, 159 rader
Skriven 2012-05-14 20:11:25 av Ruth Haffly (1:396/45.28)
  Kommentar till text 24789 av MICHAEL LOO (1:123/140)
Ärende: economy/ies 646
=======================
Hi Michael,

 ML> torpedoed); she had agoraphobia and paranoia and all
 RH> Sounds plausible. But you would have thought that something like that
 RH> would dissipate over time. I guess not tho.

 ML> I've never had the depth of trauma that WWII survivors
 ML> suffered and so can't say. But mental illness runs deep
 ML> in the family, especially on my mother's side. Also, we

And even now, that's a hard one to treat effectively. I've a sister who
had problems in her teens; she's functional now but the effects of it
are noticeable.

 ML> learn early and quick and are very slow to give up the
 ML> knowledge, so our adaptations - makeshift though they be
 ML> - don't readapt quickly to changed circumstances; and if
 ML> we learn something wrong in the first place, it's hard
 ML> to fix later on.

That's true of just about anything but I guess your mom was affected
extra hard by some of what was thrown at her.

 ML> sorts of things ending in -ia ... I half hoped and half
 RH> And never got any help for it so probably just kept spiralling
 RH> downward.

 ML> Exactly. I later found some prescriptions for antianxiety
 ML> drugs and muscle relaxants among her effects, but apparently
 ML> she didn't take many or perhaps any.

Sounds like my mom; she doesn't like to take the pills that could ease
her arthritis pain as she's afraid of becoming addicted. It's clear that
if Dad goes first, she can't live by herself. What isn't clear is how
we/she will handle that when the time comes.


 ML> children's inheritance. Hire a companion and just go
 ML> spend a hundred grand or more. Why not? Probably fear,
 RH> Possible, but who's to say at this point. You've done quite a bit of
 RH> travel; did she like to hear about your trips?

 ML> Put it this way. I told her once that I was going to
 ML> Europe for I forget, a couple weeks or something, and
 ML> she went ballistic, saying it was unsafe, and I should
 ML> never go anyplace alone. I was 42 years old at the time.
 ML> I never told her before, because I'd figured out that
 ML> that would be the response, and I never told her after,
 ML> because I knew that would be the response.

That was close to the response my other sister gave my folks when they
wanted to (and took) their long trip in 1995. OTOH, when we told our
folks that we were going to Israel in 2009, both sets basically said "Go
for it", even tho we had to miss Steve's folks 60th wedding anniversary
celebration.

 ML> maybe some recognition that my brother needed a bit of
 ML> a cushion.
 RH> That may very well be so--she saw herself in his issues and so wanted
 RH> to shield him somewhat.

 ML> Possibly, but she hid this concern behind pretty serious
 ML> abuse. The kid comes by his looniness honestly.

Being a later in life baby probably didn't help much either in that
regard. He didn't have his siblings at home to take some of the "heat".


 RH> Does your brother travel much

 ML> He flew to a conference of OCD sufferers in Texas a few
 ML> years ago (I applaud him for taking this initiative), and
 ML> every year approximately around 9/11 he emulates me and
 ML> takes a train to the WTC site (I have made a point of

Good for him!

 ML> flying on 9/11 every year since the attack). Other than
 ML> that, to my knowledge, he never leaves the Maryland-DC
 ML> area, though he used to go to Virginia to work.

Somewhat of the agoraphobia there. But, he's not totally housebound.

 RH> It's been interesting reading of the different places too. We've
 RH> talked about how it would be interesting to trace the Apostle Paul's
 RH> travels some time but probably as a guided trip (as the one to Israel
 RH> was). We'd also like to get back to Germany & see more of Europe.

 ML> That would be a long and involved and probably expensive
 ML> trip. I've visited one Pauline site on purpose - Ephesus.

It would be long but interesting at the same time. Hopefully we'd get to
interact with the locals more than we did on the Israel trip; we were
kept together as a group while out; even the meals at our hotels we
sat with folks from our group. I'd hoped we'd have the freedom to get
lunch on our own some of the time but that was a no go. Did meet some
locals while souvenier shopping; getting the frankensense the last day
was quite an experience. (G)

 RH> Couple of years ago we visited Hershey Park and I picked up a good
 RH> sized Hershey's cook book there. That, a mini cocoa mug and lunch were
 RH> all we bought. Took the well sanitized tour
 ML> Altogether too sanitized, if you ask me. I found it pretty
 ML> condescending and irritating and in general not worth it.
 RH> No, but Steve had talked about going as a kid and I wanted to go

 ML> Should have gone as a kid, though I guess the opportunity
 ML> wasn't there then. When I was a kid, classmates reported

We didn't start taking family vacations until I was 12. First year was
to see some of Dad's shipmates in Michigan, 2nd year was to DC,
Williamsburg & Gettysburg--visited a small pretzel factory in PA. My
folks went for as much "get in free" as they could with 5 kids but if
there was a steam locomotive in the area, Dad had to see it and take the
excursion if at all possible. IOW, Hershey was out but Strassburg
Railroad was in.

 ML> favorably about the tour, so I figure it was better in the
 ML> 1950s - though their expectations might have been lower as
 ML> well.

Most likely, probably liked the fact that you got a (for us, rather
small sized) candy bar at the end of the tour. Steve went, probably in
the early 60s, before OSHA and everybody really started cracking down on
tours like that. We did a family tour (free) of the Utica Club brewery
in (IIRC) 1970; they gave those over 18 a free beer, under, got a root
beer. I had the root beer; my older brother had the beer. After one year
of college, his pseudo-sophistication pronounced it "dish water".
Everybody got a UC can bank.


 ML>       Title: Hershey's Fudge Cake
 ML>  Categories: Cakes, Desserts
 ML>       Yield: 1 servings

 ML>   1 3/4 c  Unbleached Flour, Unsifted          2 lg Eggs
 ML>       1 ts Baking Powder                       1 ts Vanilla Extract
 ML>       1 ts Baking Soda                       2/3 c  Cocoa (Less if
 ML> using Dutch     1/2 ts Salt
 ML> Process)
 ML>     1/2 c  Vegetable Shortening Or           1/4 c  PLUS 2 to 3 Tbls
 ML> Hot Water            Vegetable Oil                       1 c  Milk
 ML> Mixed With 1 Tbls   1 1/2 c  Sugar
 ML> Water (To Make Sour Milk)

My favorite chocolate cake is one that takes 4 squares of baking
chocolate for the cake, 3 more for the icing. We've put it in the fridge
to keep it fresh--and it tastes almost like fudge when eaten cold.

---
Catch you later,
Ruth
rchaffly{at}earthlink{dot}net  FIDO 1:396/45.28


... I DID Read The Docs!  Honest!  Oh, *That* page...

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