Prudypants

My nieces have a friend named Prudence. She came to Cannon Beach with them in 2002, and she fit in well with the Bullock grandkids. Especially Baby David who loved her. She went by the name Pru and had the nickname Prudypants. I liked the kid and always wondered what became of her. She was an awesome soccer player.

Last night at Mass at St. Francis, our deacon spoke about prudence. The noun not the girl. In my view, the world would be a better place if we all put on our prudypants. The Webster dictionary says prudence is:

1

:  the ability to govern and discipline oneself by the use of reason

2

:  sagacity or shrewdness in the management of affairs

3

:  skill and good judgment in the use of resources

 

It seems to me that fewer people all the time are prudent. I'm not even going to go into politics. We all know that system is messed up. I'm not blaming one side or the other. They's all bad! I heard a good quote on the CBS Morning Show today - it was from a Mark Twain show that's running. It was a Mark Twain quote that went something like this, "The only reason politicians didn't become actors is because they're ugly." Oh, the drama.

 

No, it's just that I keep hearing about the number of people who make knucklehead choices. Seriously? Why are people not prepared in life to make good choices. We are failing to teaching decision-making 101.

 

I read a story this week that illustrates my point perfectly.

Guy may be sued by parents of teens of trashed his house

 

WTF. Your kid goes to a party at a house that has been illegally entered. Does drugs, drinks and trashes the place. The guy does research from all the Twitter posts and gets photos from the party and posts names to get information on who was there. Only one kid who was at actually at the party shows up to help clean up the mess.

 

Parents of the kids who had their names posted on the website he created in the wake of the destructive bash have threatened to sue the former NFL star. And they want to pay him to make this "problem" go away. Anything to get junior out of this predicament.

 

What's wrong with this picture? What happened to accountability? Did it end with my parents' generation? When my sis Cindy had a party (was she a HS Junior?) at my grandparents' Atlantic home while they were wintering in Florida, she got busted. Mom got to pick her up at the cop shop and haul all the kids home. Man was Mom pissed! Even though there was no spray painting or destruction. Cindy had to apologize to my grandparents and Cindy was grounded for a long time. On a good note - during her period of "incarceration" that summer, Mom arranged for Cindy visit my Aunt Jean and Uncle Bruce in Denver for a couple weeks.

 

Cindy credits that time period with her awakening - to the fact that Atlantic High School wasn't going to be her life forever. She would rise above it and be okay. And she was! She went on to be very successful at Drake University. She was popular, received good grades and made great lifelong friends. Crappy high school, where she felt peer-pressured into having an illicit party is a distant memory. In this coming week, Cindy's Drake friends are gathering for a trip with her. Very cool.

 

Those kids in New York are not going to learn a lesson like my parents taught Cindo. Nope. No prudence there. They're learning - no matter what, you're parents will help you weasel out of it. Money buys you out of it - takes care of everything. There is another word that goes with prudence. Integrity. Do what you say you will - the right thing. The New York party goers are not learning either. It's sad.

 

Am I perfect at all this? Ha! Far from it. At age 55 - still a work in progress. But every day I try to put on my prudypants. With integrity - one leg at a time.

 

Yesterday Paul and I once again headed downtown to the Farmer's Market. Yeah, you're probably tired of hearing me proclaim how much I adore the weekly event. It's spiritual so you'll have to bear with me...





The light in the a.m. was fabulous - with the chill and the music - it combined to be quite spiritual for me...



I love the colors too



got some bacon from these dudes - the other spiritual thing is buying right from the producers

Paul purchased a couple hosta to put by our steps - the grower was quite helpful. We miss Cheri Finken from Creston though...

 



We bought a couple Cinderella stacking pumpkins - they loaned Paul a cart to wheel our haul to our car. It was a good morning.

 

Jud is in town again - vegging it up on our couch watching wall-to-wall football while gf Kara hangs with her sorority friends from college for a bachelorette weekend. Last night Paul and I attended the "Untamed Shrews" show at the Funny Bone Comedy Club in West Glenn. I used to listen to those gals on KGGO radio classic rock (that was the only place in our metal building I could get KGGO - otherwise it was the local Creston Radio station with Country music) when I'd work in Creston in the hazardous materials facility sorting people's boxes of paint, cleansers, oil and other stuff. When they were it town they'd be on the radio show and they were a hoot - in a PG-13 way.

Last night they were rated R to XXX at times but funny! There were 3 bachelorette parties in the house and it was rocking. At one point one of them asked if a bus from Creston was there. Hmmm who has been to see them before, I'm wondering. Piels and the CIPCO group perhaps?

I'm glad Jud didn't go with us. For sure. It was not spiritual but laughing is good for the soul.