Sophie's Story

     I thought I was going to have to cancel the Annual Birthday Lunch this year. None of my friends would be able to attend. Carol had tickets to see the musical Hamilton. Dana was going to be out of town.  Ellen would be working, preparing for the new school year. I have other friends, but I either hadn't seen them in years or would most likely be unable to some. I felt sad. I can't remember when I didn't take someone to lunch on my birthday. Maybe it would just have to be C and I this year.    A few days later I had an idea. I had recently met a young woman from church named Carolina. She and her husband had recently moved here. I'd spent a couple hours visiting with her in her home and liked her immensely. I should ask her. We could have lunch and then walk a little on Summit Ave so she could some of the new area she moved to. I knew she was out of town so I took a chance and sent her a text. She replied that she would be back from her trip. I was happy. The lunc

   A man running for a state office in Minnesota has been accused of domestic violence by a former girlfriend. The accuser claims to have a video of the incident which she has so far refused to release.   I'm being intentionally vague about this because I don't want to write about this specific case. I want to write about the situation in general. It's another one of those times when I have some conflicting feelings.   The thing that bothers me the most is the attitude toward the video that the accuser claims to have. There are many out there, including at least one women's group, that says she should not have to release the video. She made an accusation and her word should be enough. There are some that think that requiring her to release the video who then place the same requirement on other women who have made sexual violence accusations.   I'm torn about this. Claims of sexual harassment, abuse and violence often have little in the way of evidence to back u

   In November of 1992, Queen Elizabeth II gave a speech where she referred to the soon to be past year as her "annus horribilis" There were many scandals in the Royal family that year. Then Windsor Castle, where the Queen lived during World War II nearly burned to the ground. It was indeed a very bad year.   Everyone goes through a rough patch now and again. For C and I this year was in some ways sort of rough. (Although it was not anywhere near as bad as 1992 was for Queen Elizabeth.)   What made it difficult was that it was a year of transition. A little over a year ago, I changed jobs and started to work part-time. This had a greater affect than I had expected.   It meant that I was at home more. In many ways this is good. It means that I am able to be at home to clean the house, wash dishes and clothes, in general, to be of more help in the house. We were able to work on projects we wanted to do, like organize the storeroom, plant our garden in a timely manner and s

   C located a smartphone that someone wasn't using. The owner was willing to give it away but said that the screen needed repair. C found a place that could repair the screen for a decent price and made arrangements to get the phone.   I still wasn't crazy about the idea of a smartphone. However, since my boss and coworkers rely on texting to communicate, I seemed to have little choice.   We got the phone on Monday afternoon. The screen did have a little damage in the corner, but nothing that would keep the phone from working. We decided to wait to repair the screen. Since it used to be someone else's phone we needed to wipe it. Google is a wonderful thing. It tells you how to wipe a phone. We were able to change the passcodes and get some things set up. The next thing we needed to do was activate it. That should be pretty easy, right? Just call the cell company and they can activate it.    It turned into a small nightmare. The company couldn't activate the phone

   For those of you who do not read this column on a regular basis, I made a large leap of faith a little over a year ago. I quit my full-time job. My working environment was becoming worse and worse. I no longer felt it was a good place to be.    Usually, in a situation like this, I look for a new job before I quit the old one. I hadn't done that this time. I had been telling myself that my current workplace was the best I could do and that there was nothing else out there for me. Then a situation came up and leaving was my only option.    It was a scary time for me. I'd always worked full time and always worked retail. The future I thought I was going to have was not going to be reality for me.   I was very blessed to have two things going for me, C and faith. C had seen what was going on with my job and started looking for other options. He found a couple of potential places where I could work.  I also had faith. As a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day S

     I have tried a variety of things to stay in shape as I grow older.  I've done walking, Tae Bo, The 30 Minute Shred, 20 minutes on an elliptical, spinning (on a stationary bike) and running. I'm one of those people who works out faithfully for a period of several months but then gets bored. Although I kept up spinning for a couple years.     C and I have decided that what works best for us right now is a brisk morning walk. Sometimes we don't get the walk in. It's raining or I have a long day at work. I've found that I like to do yoga.    I've done yoga off and on (mostly off) for a few years. I get frustrated because I have trouble holding the poses or I don't feel like I'm progressing at all. I would probably help if I actually took classes with a live instructor. Sometimes when C and I go walking on Grand Avenue, I see people going to or coming from a yoga studio. They are all young. They are all thin, except for the men who are well built. No

   C has decided that I need a smartphone. I have been using a flip phone for the last 20 for so years. It has served me well, except when I lose it. It's not very big. Lately, some changes have been made to our wireless plan. In order to get the most out of the new plan, I need a smartphone.   I have serious mixed feelings about this. On one hand, a smartphone would make things easier at work. My colleagues all communicate by text. Having a smartphone would make texting and reading texts easier. Sometimes I need to send an image of something. Right now I rely on the techs to take and send pictures with their phones. If I had my own smartphone, I could do it myself.   On the other hand, smartphones are not cheap. When you do get one it's out of date in less than five years. I don't think that I should have to be "connected" 24/7. I also know too many people who spend way to much time staring at their little screens. They look like zombies walking around fixate