Hodgepodge: Truth & Relative-ity

Here's this week's Hodgepodge. Thanks again to Joyce for offering up some thought-provoking questions. Anyone want to join in? Read this post and then link up. I'd love to read your answers.

1. How has your hometown changed since you were a kid? What has changed most about the neighborhood you grew up in?

I had to stop and think, "What IS my hometown?" I moved so many times as a kid. Let me just pick the main one that pops into my head. Alden, Kansas, did not have paved streets when I lived there in the mid-70s. Now it does.

2. What song makes you laugh?

"Atheists Ain't Got No Songs" by Steve Martin.

3. Are you a fan of Harry Potter? Read the books? Seen any/all of the movies? Will you be standing in line somewhere close to midnight later this week? For those of you playing along today who live outside the US or UK is Harry Potter a phenomenon in your part of the world?

No, none/nada, huh-uh.

4. If the truth hurts, will you tell a lie? Are we better off as a society in a world that allows no form of deception whatsoever?

I don't usually offer a hurtful truth unless asked. For example, if someone says "How do you like this outfit?" and I think it's ugly, I will say, "Oh, is it new?" and if they say, "Yes, I found it on sale for --would you believe 99 cents?--," then I will say, "Wow! Good for you! You are so good at bargain-hunting." See how I haven't said a word ONE about whether I like it, but they feel complimented just the same? Heeheehee.

But if someone asks, "What do you think of this dress, honestly?" I will tell them. However, if someone makes a quilted patchwork cloth vest and wants my opinion? Look out. Please don't put me in that position.

To answer the last question, I think not every truth has to be blatantly expressed if the issue is superficial (like fashion, for example, or whether someone's newborn is cute because they rarely are). We'd eat each other alive if we lost all of our verbal filters, if everything we thought came out our mouths. But when it comes to serious matters, then gut-level honesty and integrity must rule. Relationships can only thrive and businesses succeed when truth governs them.

5. What is your favorite 'sauteed in garlic and butter' food? Or garlic and olive oil if that makes you feel better.

Lately it's been fresh green beans from the garden. Our youngest son has taken a shine to parboiling them, then sauteeing them while still tender-crisp in G&B with S&P.

6. Attending any reunions this summer/year? High school? family? Other? Do these events stir up excitement or dread?

We hosted a reunion at our home this past Saturday for my husband's side of the family. It was the first time in two years that all his brothers had gotten together, and one of the few times that our togetherness does not include a bride or a casket. (One brother and both of his parents are deceased.) I'll be blogging about it soon.

I was really excited about the reunion, glad for making the extra effort to get us all togetherer. Glad that almost everyone we invited made the effort to come, if only for a couple of hours.

The only thing I dreaded was the housework and grocery shopping, but that holds true whether I'm having 2 or 32 people over!

7. Lilac, hydrangea, peony...pick one.

Lilacs. I absolutely love them and the memories they evoke. They take me back to that place I spoke of in question 1.

Hydrangea is my future daughter-in-law's favorite flower, and made this lovely backdrop for her stunning engagement ring. Wasn't it kind of God to make our hydrangea its prettiest on May 21st, the day our son popped the question?

The word "peonies" makes me laugh; once I queried my brainiac SIL, Donna, "Is it "pee-OH-nees" or "PEE-on-eez?" She held up two imaginary urine specimen cups and said, "Here, pee in 'ese." That was my answer.

8. Insert your own random thought here.

What doesn't go around, doesn't come around. Or it might, but it makes you feel guilty.

Let me explain.

We went to Rehoboth Beach yesterday--hubby, daughter, youngest, and I.. Beautiful day. Hot but breezy. Nice waves, according to the kids, but it was ice cold according to me. I was therefore perfectly content to lie on the blanket and read. After 2.5 hours I said to myself, "I don't even feel the sun too much. I don't think I'll use sunblock after all."

I then had the gall to tell my hubby, who I could see was getting pink but refusing lotion, "Okay, but don't expect my pity when we get home." Following my shower, I gingerly patted myself dry, gingerly put on my softest cotton nightgown, and gingerly sat on the edge of the bed feeling that the backs of my knees would crack. Moaning and groaning, I said to my soulmate, "Look how red I am! I'm really hurtin'!" and he said, "No pity here."

(He treated my crayon-red back to aloe vera gel as he was uttering the words, so I know he had some pity. What a guy.)