Terrapin Station

The way it USED to be

My son told us the other day about how someone he was traveling with found, in her hotel room, a piece of paper with someone's name, Social Security number, and date of birth on it.

He couldn't imagine how anyone could be so dumb as to write all that down! and then leave it somewhere.

Well, first of all, the person (based on their DOB) was in their nineties. That certainly doesn't make them dumb, but for someone that age, or even MY age (49) that information didn't "used" to be as sensitive as it is now. Or, really, at all. (And 92 year old people can't remember everything, either...!)

I can remember going to college and having my SSN be my student ID. Then it was my staff ID. Your SSN was everywhere.

When I first had a checking account, in addition to ID, you had to show a credit card (for some reason). They would write the entire credit card number on the check. (!!!!!!) I guess this was extra security? I didn't have a credit card of my own (I was in high school) so my mother gave me a credit card to carry and use for that purpose (and that purpose only!!) We are, fortunately, both named "Mary Butler" so there was no trouble there.

My husband doesn't remember the latter. Maybe it was a Houston thing?

I told Brandon about these things, and he was flabbergasted. I guess identity theft happened in the past, but it surely wasn't easy, in those pre-Internet days, for the average person to accomplish it.

Every day I think what a different world it is.

Today I'm thinking about this.

Random FF: At the Beach

Karla says at RevGals:

Hello Pals~~
Random Friday Five is back!

1. If you could sneak away anywhere this weekend, right now, all expenses paid,
where would you go and what would you do?

To the beach in Florida where I grew up going. I'd stay in my cousins' little house next door to my grandparents' (which has been sold) - my grandfather's sister and her husband were the original owner of this little green cottage. I would go barefoot on the hand-poured concrete floors and read and walk on the beach and rock in a rocking chair. Fish a little. Look at birds. Go get seafood from Posey's.

Wow, I could be packed for this in 10 minutes. Can I go? Can I?

2. What is for lunch today? (one of the very first FF I ever played asked this.) Probably a big green salad and some steamed edamame. Maybe some ratatouille (eating up the leftovers).

3. Along that first-FF-I-ever-played theme, what are you wearing today? Jeans, black shoes, and a tie-dye type top in green and white.

4. Along the Today Theme, what are you doing today? Working! Exercising my Spanish muscles.

5. Along the random theme, what is your favorite scent, and why? The beach. :) I have scent warmers at home with Yankee Candles' "Sun and Sand" in them. I suspect that Coppertone plays a large part in the formula...

Have fun playing! Link to your blog, play in the comments, or play on Facebook!
Love and joy to you~~

So, what's new?

Robin is putting together a Wednesday Festival at RevGals and wonders what's new with folks. Soo:

This is an exciting week for me, because my EFM program group is starting tomorrow! We take the summers off. I've completed one year of this four-year program, and I wrote about it here, in April. I love the program because of relationships we form...the learning and reading and study are important, too, but the relationships are the key.

Also new: I'm doing a weekly study of Brian McLaren's We Make the Road by Walking with a dear friend.

And, I've joined a Mastermind group that meets for accountability once a month and shares goals, ideas, and support. :) Great fun. Helping me get on track to get healthier!!!

Coming attractions: new episodes of TV shows I love, including Mom and The Middle.

My parish has a search committee looking for a new rector and that person will hopefully be called soon. Our interim time has been fruitful and we are ready to move forward.

I have a new old car! It's a 2000 Buick Park Avenue and it's been greatly improved by a car wizard friend.

Okay, and finally: my granddaughter, Nash, is still really new (4.5 months), and I'm never going to miss an opportunity to show you a photo of her:

 

Don't talk about it!!

My next-older sister has bipolar disorder. She was diagnosed with it in her late 20's, but it first manifested in adolescence. It was a long and terrible stretch of years in which awful and impossible things happened. Clearly, the lion's share of the awfulness was hers, and that is her story; but it affected all of us in the nuclear and extended family. Today, things would have happened differently, because today she would have received a diagnosis earlier and been treated earlier, too.

As it turned out, she beat the odds and, once she found a doc she trusted, never went off her medicine. She had a wildly successful career as a kindergarten teacher and retired a few years ago to enjoy her animals and garden.

This spring, my friend and hero Joani started writing about mental illness at her blog, Unorthodox and Unhinged: Tales of a Manic Christian, I was delighted and horrified. Delighted to know a smart, funny Episcopal priest writing honestly about her bipolar condition and how it's affected her life, and also horrified at the fear it brought up in me. I thought, "Joani! you can't tell that! you'll get in trouble!"

Well, no. She won't. (She's a grownup, you know.) And my fear is a symptom of the unwillingness to talk about it that is a huge part of the problem in our society. We don't talk about mental illness, about suicide, any of that, because it seems shameful, selfish, maybe they are just a bad person, etc. I know better, of course, but the discomfort was still there, and it shocked me how much fear I had about my own family story. It goes back to my grandmother's dictate that you can go to a counselor, but don't TELL them anything. (!)

Because...at the time I was worrying about Joan, I was already fretting because I had agreed to join my mom and my sister in giving a talk about living with bipolar disorder to my mom's local chapter of NAMI, the National Alliance on Mental Illness. Several months ago, mom had proposed that as a family we would present the program in September. 

During the process of talking with the two about them about the event, what would be said, I became aware of how uncomfortable I was feeling. There was a lot of pain that we had not dealt with, and I didn't realize it. (I've had a LOT of counseling...you'd think I'd be all done by now.)

Long story short, we did it on Thursday. It went well. We were graciously received by the group, some of whom had mental illness diagnoses and some of whom were there for support to deal with family members who do. It started with a support group meeting and continued with our presentation.

I'm so grateful that those folks were willing to open their circle and let us join, to listen to a bit of our stories. All three of us lived it differently, of course, and we learned from the opportunity to talk about it. It was stressful but it was healing.