One of the things about being retired is that you often don't know the date. I don't mean that you're vague about the year. (Well, not usually.) Just - is it the 6th or the 7th or even maybe the 8th? This is odd for me after years of marking registers several times a day. However, I've just checked and today is definitely the 7th, so I don't know why Daughter 2 opened the above this morning. Presumably I put the wrong number on it. Anyway, I know she did open it because she texted: "Thanks for my cat highlighters! Very jolly. I'm taking them into work for that professional look."
She gave us this make-you-own-robot kit. It says ominously on it that if you need further instructions, you can look up their website. We haven't tried yet.
The castaway on Desert Island Discs this morning was Dustin Hoffman, who talked several times about needing therapy to find out who he was. He also had a theory that at the pearly gates, we would meet up with God, who would tell us that all our assumptions about ourselves were wrong. I remember that in the 60s and 70s people used to talk about "finding themselves" and I never did understand this. I feel I've always known who I was - the sole exception being that the moment I was handed Daughter 1, I immediately became besotted with babies in a way I had never been before - which was a slight surprise. But apart from that - I feel that I was born this way and am quite familiar with myself. I suppose that I've never had to discover whether I'd step back from the last place in the lifeboat or throw myself between a stranger and a raging lion. But I'm clear about my general likes and dislikes and abilities (and lack of same) and personality. At least I think so.
And you?
Goodness, I am very behind with my blog reading. You are having avery busy Advent! But how nice to be fuelled by lovely daily surprises!
ReplyDeleteRegarding Dustin Hoffman... Think for a moment about actors. They spend their entire lives trying to convince the world they are someone else. Is it any wonder they need to be convinced of who they really are?
ReplyDeleteOh, I've often wondered who I am! This slightly tubby late-middle-aged greying woman I glimpse in shop windows is not me at all, you know.
ReplyDeleteOh goodness, yes, Jennifer! I do agree, lol!
ReplyDeleteI think I know who I am, too....But the date? Not always.
ReplyDeleteDustin Hoffman is a celebrity....their world is an indulgent one....the rest of us are too busy to be pondering on such as 'who am I'.
ReplyDeleteNo. I often wonder who I would have become had my childhood been different. I became a worrier and insecure at age 5 and can honestly say that it has affected every decision I've made since. My siblings are quite a lot older. They had had a chance to work out who they were.
ReplyDeleteI've always pretty much known who I was, actors are so full of themselves perhaps they're not sure exactly who they are.
ReplyDeleteI chuckled over this post, Isabelle; I've no time for people who 'try to find themselves'. I feel like saying to them "for goodness sake, stop thinking about yourself and consider other people for a change!"
ReplyDeleteRemembering the date is certainly much harder once you're not out working any more. I look in my diary sometimes to remind myself what day it is, but even that confuses me - was yesterday Monday or Tuesday? More grey hairs among the blonde...
I think Hollywood is very bad for some people! I quite often wonder at all the angst and tortured analysis in American shows and books.
ReplyDeleteI do love the cat highlighters!