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Old 10-16-2011, 10:48 PM
 
1,320 posts, read 2,699,648 times
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My happiest memories are of my grandmother teaching me how to eat wild dandelions, among other things. It sounded wierd, kinda exotic even, some 40 years ago. Now I understand it spoke of poverty. It also tasted delicious! I'd rather eat wild stuff like that than go to IHOP, but to each their own, as gram would say. P.S. the dandelions they now sell as chi-chi fare in supermarkets have absolutely no flavor. None.And none of the zippy bitterness needed to make them taste, well, like dandelions. Just thought I'd share.
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Old 10-16-2011, 11:24 PM
 
Location: So California
8,704 posts, read 11,122,387 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by nullgeo View Post
I married my teenage sweetheart. She was there for me with a baby girl when I came back from war. Over 30 years of struggle, we had three more children. It was a life of risky small entrepreneurship for me and uncertainty for wife and kids. But, good lord, we had fun! That wonderful woman died in my arms, literally. Her last words were "I love you". Then I had to sit with my children, three of whom were elementary through high school age, and tell them their mother was gone. I quit my self-employment and took a medical pension that had been available to me from the service for the whole 30 years. I just focused on finishing the job of raising the kids and remodeling the home and building another couple rentals. We have all gone on and found ways to smile and laugh again. I have even remarried. Money? Meaningless. I let all the businesses go.


Enjoyed that. As we the young and middle aged try to find our way through the gauntlet of life, often times we find out to late what is truly important. Ive been pondering all these things constantly....

The story you first posted is a simple snapshot of life. We all cant be celebrities or independently wealthy. In this day and age of rampant materialism and self involvement, this is nice story of real life.
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Old 10-16-2011, 11:49 PM
 
30,896 posts, read 36,965,098 times
Reputation: 34526
Quote:
Originally Posted by user_id View Post
This reminds me....on the weekends here (and I imagine much of California) you find the parks filled with Hispanic families having, what looks like, a good time for basically nothing. In contrast you drive to the malls, etc and find your typical middle-class families shopping and spending a bunch of money (often that they don't really have)....and generally not looking all that happy.

And oddly.....people work, work, work to have money for the latter? Strange world.
@ Native....User_ID has given you the point of the article.
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Old 10-16-2011, 11:53 PM
 
30,896 posts, read 36,965,098 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by MtnSurfer View Post
This is something which I think about also as I work my job and reflect on 21 years of marriage. I think about how little we had when first married and yet how happy we both were together. Now that we have more it has really not bought us any more happiness, creature comforts sure, but happiness no. The two are definately not interconnected.

I also observe many ppl working crazy long hours, weekends, etc... admitted workaholics, who are not very happy at all. The trap of chasing the golden carrot becomes all consuming, especially in American society.

Derek

Psychologists who study the relationship between money and happiness find that once household income hits about $40,000 happiness levels off. These studies were done several years ago, but I don't think today's number would be as high as people think.
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Old 10-17-2011, 08:32 AM
 
Location: Mountains of Oregon
17,635 posts, read 22,643,465 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by katnip kid View Post
My happiest memories are of my grandmother teaching me how to eat wild dandelions, among other things. It sounded wierd, kinda exotic even, some 40 years ago. Now I understand it spoke of poverty. It also tasted delicious! I'd rather eat wild stuff like that than go to IHOP, but to each their own, as gram would say. P.S. the dandelions they now sell as chi-chi fare in supermarkets have absolutely no flavor. None.And none of the zippy bitterness needed to make them taste, well, like dandelions. Just thought I'd share.
When i was a youngun out & about in a meadow, we wood sometimes eat a bit of a clover. Looked similar to a 4 leaf clover, some had 3 leaf. It had a slight bitter taste, but good. We find wild strawberries, & blackberries, etc.
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Old 10-17-2011, 08:43 AM
 
Location: San Diego
50,298 posts, read 47,056,299 times
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Sometimes hitting hard times gets people to come to their senses. Good stuff.
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Old 10-17-2011, 09:24 AM
 
296 posts, read 614,393 times
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At the risk of sounding callous I think the economic crisis could have a silver lining for a lot of people. My own opinion.. the rampant materialism I lived around in southern california, for the most part, seemed utterly vapid to me. All these people buying and building and selling and using up tons of resources, shaving off the trees from the hillsides, covering nature with ugly cookie-cutter suburbs, etc... Come on, how depressing.

Coming back to an economically slower pace could be nice. Lets hope that if/when the economy picks up again they will be more like my grandparent's generation who knew the value of a dollar and could appreciate good quality.
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Old 10-18-2011, 12:50 PM
 
Location: Declezville, CA
16,806 posts, read 39,950,586 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by alexxiz View Post
Yeah, let's just be happy... eat junk food and support IHOP and Dennys corporations who sell something I wouldn't feed to a dog--to people...
One day a week this old couple dines out, and you feel the need to chime in with your anti-corporate, anti-food rant. Insufferable behavior on your part. Are you currently living in a tent, not washing your smelly body, and taking dumps on police cars?
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Old 10-19-2011, 01:38 PM
 
7,150 posts, read 10,900,367 times
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Default addendum to story

Just ran across this little news tidbit ... as Paul Harvey used to say: "Now, for the rest of the story!"

In this case, no, not more about our friend the happy elevator operator, Reuben Pardo -- but a contrasting look at someone else who "has it all", and how she looks at life:

"I would rather weep in a Rolls-Royce than be happy on a bicycle"
-- spoken by Patrizia Reggiani, ex-wife of Maurizio Gucci, heir to the Gucci fortune.

Reggiani has refused parole because it would require her to get a job -- and that's something she just will not do.

Reggiani is currently imprisoned in Milan for ordering the murder of husband Maurizio Gucci ... heir to the Gucci fortune.


Go figure ...
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Old 10-19-2011, 02:21 PM
 
Location: SW MO
23,593 posts, read 37,484,310 times
Reputation: 29337
Quote:
Originally Posted by nullgeo View Post
Just ran across this little news tidbit ... as Paul Harvey used to say: "Now, for the rest of the story!"

In this case, no, not more about our friend the happy elevator operator, Reuben Pardo -- but a contrasting look at someone else who "has it all", and how she looks at life:

"I would rather weep in a Rolls-Royce than be happy on a bicycle"
-- spoken by Patrizia Reggiani, ex-wife of Maurizio Gucci, heir to the Gucci fortune.

Reggiani has refused parole because it would require her to get a job -- and that's something she just will not do.

Reggiani is currently imprisoned in Milan for ordering the murder of husband Maurizio Gucci ... heir to the Gucci fortune.


Go figure ...
Easy to figure: "Let them eat cake." and "Only the little people pay taxes." both come immediately to mind. On a more contempory level (or is that "contempt?"), think Lindsay Lohan!
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