Loosing A Friend

Pat McRain and I used to live in the same apartment building in another state.  We met after she moved in, got settled, and was ready to begin meeting some of her fellow residents.  I had lived in that apartment building just a few months when she moved in.  

Her and I hit it off right away because we both kept up on politics and world events.  Pat was a retired school teacher and I was a retired office manager for stock brokers as well as various agencies within the US   government.  (By the way, let me assure everyone that most  government workers More Than Earn their living, we were not and are not the lazy people the public seems to think.  In fact I’d like to see any private sector employee take on the government job of their choice, and see if they could properly do the job for just 6 months.)  Anyway, Pat was one of the very few people a person could set and have an adult political conversation with and NEVER have a raised voice or derogatory partisan comment of any kind.  It was not unusual for her and I to set and discuss the latest news and political issues for two or three hours at a time.  In fact a couple of people told the two of us, at different times that, “I don’t need to watch the news or read a newspaper.  All I have to do is come here and listen to the two of you and I know what is going on.” 

Then came the time when Pat and I considered moving for different reasons.  Her joints suffered from the cold weather of the state we were living in at the time.  I loved the cold weather because I had suffered heat strokes when I lived in a warmer climate.  I, however, was considering moving back to that same warmer climate because of family.  Pat applied to an apartment building in her state of choice and was accepted before I was.  So we kept in touch through letters and later by phone.  Being on the phone two or three hours at a time was not unusual for her and I.

US Needs New Immigration Laws

The U.S needs to adopt a new immigration law to govern all borders.  What better country to start with than Mexico’s long-standing immigration laws?

Mexico has had some of the most stringent immigration laws in this hemisphere.  They steadily grew out of the Battle of the Alamo where less than 300 Texans battled against a Mexican Army who  outnumbered them almost six to one.  In hopes of preventing similar wars in the future Mexico passed laws preventing foreigners from owning land within 100 kilometers of land borders or within 50 kilometers of the coast.  The Mexican Constitution determines that illegal entry into the country is equivalent to a felony punishable by two years’ imprisonment.  Document fraud is subject to fine and imprisonment; so is alien marriage fraud.  Evading deportation is a serious crime; illegal re-entry after deportation is punishable by ten years’ imprisonment. 

The Arizona legislation criticized by the Mexican government and illegal aliens alike, signed April 23 by Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer, is similar to Reglamento de la Ley General de Poblacion — the “General Law on Population” enacted in Mexico in April 2000, which “…mandates that federal, local and municipal police cooperate with federal immigration authorities in that country in the arrests of illegal immigrants.” 

My Take On Arizona’s Immigration Law

Various states, the federal government, and numerous Presidents’ have all decried the current state of illegal immigration that rules our southern border.  Seems nothing ever gets done about it though, except a lot of talk, because our lawmakers seek out Latino votes to win elections.  What lawmaker will purposely knife themselves in the back by putting the effort into passing a truly workable illegal immigration bill?  All lawmakers have had to do thus far is give a few nice speeches, to keep their base happy, until after the election is over.  They then drop the issue of illegal immigration like a hot potato in favor of more popular issues.

After years upon years of illegal immigrants invading their state Arizona has finally passed an illegal immigration bill for their own state and the rest of the country is having a hissy fit.  I don’t live in Arizona, it’s just much too hot for me, but I agree 110% with what they have done with this new law. Arizona Enacts Stringent Law on Immigration because it all comes down to one main issue, states most affected by illegal immigration are tired of waiting for the federal government to do what should have been done long ago.  Instead Congress has returned home telling constituents that we’re working on it, just hang in their because we will get this done eventually, or we just want to get it done right the first time.  If that doesn’t placate people in their states and districts the US Congress will fall back on the one sure thing to refocus people’s attention, and that is to blame the lack of an illegal immigration bill on the opposing party.  Few states, if any at all, have thought to do what Arizona has done in a short time that is to force Congress to deal with the illegal immigration issue.

Acupuncture as Primary Medicine

In another lifetime my husband and I made our living driving a tracker-trailer across country with a variety of goods.  At one point we got a load of lumber that was stacked two pallets high on a flatbed trailer.  My husband and I were on top of the lumber trying to chain it down when suddenly I lost my grip on the chain.  My husband tried to grab my blouse in hopes of steadying me a bit.  It was too late though, gravity determined what happened next.  I went over the side of the truck falling the equivalent of almost a two-story building hitting the ground hips first, then the rest of my back, and finally my shoulders.  I bounced once and hit the ground flat, further injuring my back.  I remember nothing about the fall so friends and family had to fill in my memory gaps months later.  

I spent almost months in the hospital and was released in a body cast that was later changed to a steel reinforced body brace, and got around in a wheelchair.  Doctors told my husband and I both that I would probably never walk again, which was the last thing I was prepared to hear.  Years later, after constant effort and unbelievable pain I did learn to walk again with an ever-present series of body and back braces that doctors hoped would decrease the extreme pain.  During this time doctors tried every pain medication on the market including ones that were IV administered to relieve my pain.  There were only two things that somewhat helped the pain, which was a limited epidural in my lower back and a TENS unit.  The acronym TENS stands for Transcutaneous Electrical Nerve Stimulation, which blocks the pain message to the brain but it too has its drawbacks.  The TENS unit  doesn’t do anything for the soreness and stiffness often associated with extreme pain.  A Epidural steroid injections for back pain was especially helpful but also caused a deadening effect in the back and legs, so walking was almost impossible for a while.  In between times I took a series of muscle relaxers and strong pain pills with little or no relief from the ongoing pain.

Fast forward 30+ years with me still in constant pain, a variety of doctors who knew little and cared even less about true pain control, a few suicide attempts (just to end the pain), and countless pain medications, the majority of which didn’t work.  Then someone living in the same apartment building as I lived in joined a health care program that offered all the medical services a person could need.  After checking the services out I joined the program, which was the best thing I could have ever done for myself.   

Within a couple of months of joining I was able to try Acupuncture and if I hadn’t pinched myself I might have thought I was dreaming.  With weekly visits I went from having horrible 11 to 12 pain on a scale of 1 to 10 to a pain level of 2 or 3 in just four  months.  A few more visits and my pain level was almost nonexistent, unless of course I decided to move my livingroom or bedroom furniture around or take huge loads of linens to the laundry.

The Prima Donna Rules

My 32 year-old son and I went out to coffee recently just to spend some time together.  Being the father of my two beautiful grandchildren he’s pretty busy most of the time, and so our occasional “coffee klatches” are treasured time for me.

During this coffee klatch with my son, we discussed a variety of issues including my daughter-in-law Ann who I love dearly, and her parents.  I told my son that I thought his mother-in-law Jill was hiding something major that had happened long before he ever met my daughter-in-law.  I went on to explain in as much detail as I could exactly what it was I thought Jill was hiding about the father Jack.   No doubt readers will be able to at least make an educated guess as to what I thought had happened between Jack and Ann.  I went on to tell my son that I thought Ann had gone to her mother Jill with these accusations but Jill chose not to believe any of it.  It was my thought that from then on Jill blamed Ann for ruining her happy perfect little life.  My jaw literally hit the floor when my son replied, “I can’t tell you the details but you hit it on the nail head.”