Journal entry by Joanne Negstad — Aug 11, 2018
With the leisure of retirement Joanne became, like me, an inveterate newspaper reader. Likewise we both enjoyed the comic section. In fact, that's how I became a newspaper reader. As a child I would read the "funnies", i.e., the comic section, and eventually began reading the rest of the paper.
Our favorite comic strip is Pickles, the comic about Earl and Opal Pickles, in their 'golden years' written by Brian Crane. The first of us to read the days offering of Earl's and Opal's adventures would often call our "We're in Pickles today" or "I" or "You are in Pickles." Today's edition brought to mind those times with Joanne and also illustrated a dilemma I face.
The strip goes like this. Earl is speaking to his friend.
Panel one: "It's nice to know there are people out there who care about you."
Panel two: "Take me for example. Folks always seem to want to know what's going on in my life."
Panel three: "They'll see me coming and they immediately want to know how I'm doing."
Panel four: "Well, it's mostly just the greeter at Walmart, but still..."
Immediately after Joanne's death, deeply consumed with my grief, I assumed everyone who asked how I was doing really wanted to know. Somewhere, as time as passed, I've began to wonder "do they really want to know?" or, are they just using the common American greeting that confuses people visiting from other cultures? Perhaps it's time for me to revert to the standard "OK" and leave it to the enquirer to pursue the subject should they really be interested.
I'm OK.
Blessings,
Al
Our favorite comic strip is Pickles, the comic about Earl and Opal Pickles, in their 'golden years' written by Brian Crane. The first of us to read the days offering of Earl's and Opal's adventures would often call our "We're in Pickles today" or "I" or "You are in Pickles." Today's edition brought to mind those times with Joanne and also illustrated a dilemma I face.
The strip goes like this. Earl is speaking to his friend.
Panel one: "It's nice to know there are people out there who care about you."
Panel two: "Take me for example. Folks always seem to want to know what's going on in my life."
Panel three: "They'll see me coming and they immediately want to know how I'm doing."
Panel four: "Well, it's mostly just the greeter at Walmart, but still..."
Immediately after Joanne's death, deeply consumed with my grief, I assumed everyone who asked how I was doing really wanted to know. Somewhere, as time as passed, I've began to wonder "do they really want to know?" or, are they just using the common American greeting that confuses people visiting from other cultures? Perhaps it's time for me to revert to the standard "OK" and leave it to the enquirer to pursue the subject should they really be interested.
I'm OK.
Blessings,
Al
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