Reader contribution - "Seeing" is believing, but still doesn't answer the question WTF?

Background - Sujatha and her little angel Lila had seen a young baby wearing eyeglasses at lunch.  Afterwards, on the way to the library to pick up Lila’s brother, there was plenty of time for the barrage of questions about eyeglasses and then eyes in general from the inquisitive Lila to her struggling to be the “knower of all things” mother. 

“Can babies have bad eyesight?”, “yes” (easy one).

“How do they know because they can’t talk?”, “the doctors have tests that tell you” (still not too challenging).

“What do babies whose parents can’t afford eyeglasses do?”, “Hmmm?  I guess there are charities that help them out” (starting to wing it).

“Can you donate your glasses?”, “I’m sure you can” (not really sure about that, but must try and answer or the “knower of all things” thing is in jeopardy).

“How do you do that?  Remember Mom, I have a bunch of old glasses and I want to donate them”, “I’m sure there are like “boxes” set up around, in places, or maybe at the eye doctor, or at the mall or something” (now just lying to save status, have absolutely no idea if you even CAN donate old eyeglasses and even less of an idea WHERE you would perform such a task). 

Thankfully Sujatha arrived at the library just in time to end the downward spiral of her answers about “eyeglass donation” and save her battered, but still intact “knower of all things “status.

S.C.O.U.T. – They entered the library and Lila peeled off to the left in order to get a drink from the water fountain.  Sujatha headed off to find her son but was stopped short by Lila’s excited pleas, “MOM!  MOM!  LOOK WHAT I FOUND!!”  She was so insistent that Sujatha had no choice but to return to the water fountain where she found Lila jumping up and down and pointing to the box next to the fountain.  The box which read in big, easy to see letters “EYEGLASS DONATIONS”!! 

f you can’t SEE the strange timing in this story, I’m finished.  My goofy dog Scout says he SEES much more than that, but he’s not telling.  I remind him of the Loudoun County Animal Shelter where you can take unwanted animals, although by his expression there’s no doubt that SEES I’m just bluffing.

August 16, 2010 - A starving cat, a grinning cat and a good jolt of electricity

Background – Yesterday, my husband and I took a rare trip to rural Loudoun County to run a starving, stray cat out to the animal shelter in order to get the poor thing some much needed help.  On our drive back home, we see the mammoth poles for the enormous power lines that are being run from one side of the county to the other.  The poles run steadily down the left side of Rt7 and then abruptly stop.  When you look to the right, they seem to resume their march down Rt7 on the other side.  I looked from one side of the road to the other and commented to my husband “Are they really going to run those huge power lines across a road this size?  I can’t believe it, but that’s what it looks like they’re going to do!”  He responded that he had no idea what they were doing with those power lines as he hadn’t heard anything about this project.

S.C.O.U.T. – We arrived home, flipped on the TV and stopped to watch a moment of local news.  Tucked into the morning’s top stories was a brief update on the power line work in Leesburg, and how they are preparing to run the enormous lines across the major Rt7 – showing a picture of the exact spot we had just passed by!  I was stunned, and ridiculously glanced over my shoulder in an attempt to catch a glimpse of the one responsible for directing this charade we call reality, as I was sure I would catch them standing directly behind me, grinning from ear to ear like the Cheshire Cat!! 

Neither my husband nor I, who are both avid local news people, had ever seen a single report on the construction of these power lines… until this morning.  I chuckled to myself as the timing of the story sunk in and that old familiar tingle crept down my spine.  What a strange case of uncanny timing.  It’s as if there is a constant conversation going on around me in which my question was quickly and easily answered as part of this ongoing cosmic chatter.

My goofy dog Scout is very quiet this morning as he contemplates the idea that there is a county shelter where you can take animals that are sick, starving and wandering the neighborhood.  He finds himself wondering if they also take animals that mock their owners and misbehave.  For once, I have no comment for him, and just allow him to wonder ;)

Reader Contribution - "It was all about the Continental one-pass mile" - a 9/11 tribute to life, death and all the questions in between

My friend and neighbor Maureen MCrae, sent me this about her life long friends Theresa and ken.  This is the story in Theresa's words -

In September, 2001, my husband worked for Morgan Stanley in Tower 2 on the 64th floor. Being an ex-fireman, he was the Fire Warden for his floor at the time and eager to help in an emergency. On September 11, 2001, he was not at work that day, as he flew out late in the evening on September 10th on a flight that left from Newark and was heading to San Francisco. He was not supposed to be on this flight, as he made a last minute change. Fortunately, he arrived safely and stayed at a hotel – which was across the street from a federal building that was under evacuation due to bomb threats. Airlines were shut down, so he tried to take a train home… but the train shut down because there were bomb threats… After he and three co-workers drove across country with a very sick pregnant woman and returned home, he pulled out the paperwork from his original flight…

 It read, “9/11/01, United Flight 93, Departs 8:00 a.m., Newark to San Francisco."   I asked him, “What made you change that United flight?” He answered, “It was all about the Continental One-Pass mile”

Reader contribution - HP wants credit where credit is due

Background - My husband told me that he was watching the movie “Point Break” with Patrick Swayze and Keanu Reeves when he took noticed of the lab equipment they were using to study evidence from the bank robberies.  He looked closely at the machines they were supposedly using and wondered if it was all just fake, junky movie props.  It just looked too “high tech” to be real and he decided it was just that, junky movie props.  It was a random, insignificant passing moment that he didn’t think much about; he was only catching quick clips of the movie anyway because of running back and forth from the office to the kid’s rooms in order to get them to sleep.

S.C.O.U.T. – With the kids firmly asleep, he made his final trip into the office and plopped down in his comfy recliner to find the movie credits zipping up the screen in the usual “none of this information matters, but we’re required to include it” speed.  He accepted that he had missed most of the movie and then casually focused on the words zipping by while waiting for the next movie to begin.  He caught one credit and one credit only in the blur of words zipping up the screen…. “Lab equipment made by Hewlett Packard”.  It was strange to him because he wasn’t really reading the credits and yet his eyes had settled on the only one that seemed to chime in on his thought from only moments ago.  He chuckled to himself as he shook off the “question asked, question answered” tingle that was creeping down his spine and conceded that the lab equipment had, in fact, been real.  Hewlett Packard doesn’t make junky movie props!