July 03, 2003 3:40 P.M.

Veteran�s Memorial at a Local Park - by Marcia 2003

July Again

My son and I stood out under the dark sky with a sliver of a fingernail moon and a sprinkling of stars, and he said, �Can you believe it is July again already?� July in Southern California is pretty bland in my estimation, compared to Julys back east. It is a hotter version of all the other seasons. No cicadas, fireflies, summer storms, �and thankfully�very little humidity or mosquitoes. I can�t remember the last time I encountered a mosquito. But to the kids who grow up in So Cal, summer has its own special ambiance and freedom just as in any other area. I have a very bad habit of comparing things. A minister I knew once said that, �God hates comparison.� And I think he was right. Especially so, when we compare people's traits, abilities and personalities, because uniqueness is the hallmark of all creation. I am sure that is true of all sections of America. As much as I tend to compare �here� with �there�, (geographically)and find "there" on the high end of the comparison, I am always very relieved and content to return home. I feel so safe within the boundaries of the surrounding hills and mountains. The California lifestyle is free and accepting�and I suppose�tends less toward constant comparison of its peoples than many other areas. At least in my circle of relationships this is true. There is a relaxed lifestyle here that is to be envied. And on that note�relaxation�I plan to do a lot of it this summer, and will not be writing frequent entries for the journal. Not unless I get sudden and unexpected inspiration! I really appreciate the �Notify List�, and if there are those out there who occasionally or regularly read this journal, but are not on the list, it would be good to sign up. That way you will not have to �check in� to see if anything new is posted, and I will feel less pressure to post frequently just to keep in touch. I want it to be a pleasant experience for you and for me, without pressure. Something occurred yesterday which showed me something about myself which I had not realized. I have always heard that if you do not have your health, it doesn�t matter what else you have. And I believe that. Except for one thing�now, I think a little differently. Just for fun, someone on a message board I am part of, posted a link to a �Biorhythms� tester. I had not seen one of these before, and it didn�t take long for me to realize that it is right up there with horoscopes, etc. So I would not personally pay any attention to its results. But it is the cyclical charting of three human �rhythms�, physical, mental, and emotional. Here is what surprised me. In my case, for this month, the physical and mental cycles were curving way down, but the emotional was curving way up. What surprised me, was that I realized I felt greatly relieved that it was the �emotional� part that was in ascendancy�more so than the physical. I realized that I fear my emotions being in a bad place, more than the physical. Of course, the condition of the body usually effects the emotions, but the goal is to rise above that. Who said, �it is not what happens to you in life�but how you react to what happens to you...�? This has been at the heart of many biographies, such as �Tuesdays With Morrie�, etal. I was just so surprised to relize that I was more anxious about my emotions being low, that I was about my physical condition being less than optimal. This is something that I want to spend some time examining. I think it is something that can be developed to a greater degree, although not without difficulty for me, because I have a somewhat melancholy temperament. I think it is what I have been working on more and more since I have lost central vision in my eyes. And mentioning this subject, I am excited about a new program which I just downloaded onto my computer. It audibly reads any text copied and pasted into it. I have heard this type of program before, with crude �computerized� sounding voices. There are two very professional voices to add to the program, which are being shipped to me for installation. It saves me quite a bit of effort in reading when the text is lengthy, so I am really enjoying it.

Above: Hollyhocks in a corner of my back garden. Have a wonderful and safe �Fourth�!

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