"May there be a silver lining back of every cloud you see ...."

                       

I took this photo tonight with my iPhone while walking to my car to make a quick trip to drop something off at a friend's house.  The gorgeous sky gave me goosebumps yet the photo doesn't actually capture the sky's full beauty.

While driving to my friend's home on a busy road near where my family home used to be, I noticed a male and female couple on bicycles, both wearing helmets.  I turned left onto the road to my friend's house, ran up to her door to deliver a book, and got back in my car to return home.  While driving back down the same avenue, I slowed to a standstill for two police cars, a mangled  bicycle, and a female body lying in the middle of the road.  My heart sank and I wanted to cry, "That's someone's mother, wife, or daughter."  There was blood pouring out of her mouth and she appeared lifeless.  I pulled over to the side of the road so fire rescue could approach the scene and prayed with all my heart that she made it.

I am blogging about this tragic incident because I am so appalled at how distracted and rude drivers are in today's world.  I don't know who hit her or anything about the accident, but I can't help but wonder if the driver was texting or distracted while talking on a cellphone.    My state won't consider legislation banning texting while driving and won't mandate using  hands-free cell phones . . . . but how many more people have to die? ♥

What has happened to the written word?  Young people are so caught up in texting and twittering with abbreviations that you seldom see correctly spelled words anymore.  Every day I see "your" being used for "you're," the contraction for "you are."   I am proud to be a baby boomer, and glad that we were required to learn how to spell and write in script when we were in school -- and taught to write thank-you notes.

I recently gave a young mother a baby present consisting of two little outfits.  It was delivered to her home by someone else.  When I saw her a few weeks later she simply said, "Thanks for the stuff."  (I would have felt better about it if she had said "cute outfits.")  You don't have to send me a written thank-you note (however, it is greatly appreciated), but at least make it a little personal if it's a verbal thank you!

Last week a close friend sent me an email about the things that will disappear during the lives of our grandchildren.  These include the post office, the check, the book, the newspaper, the landline telephone ... and privacy.   Sadly, privacy is already a thing of the past. ♥