I suppose you could call it adding insult to injury, but then I wasn't hurt anywhere but my ego when the little asshold grabbed my iPhone and shoved me. The hurt came when I called to report it, got the service turned off and then talked to the insurance.  Yes, I had coverage.  But here's the insult. I paid a grip for the phone when I got it and now I have to pay 199USD to get a replacement. Isn't there something wrong with that picture?  Of course, I will pay since I have been completely seduced by my iPhone 4S. Darling Siri looks up stuff for me, does email when I talk, takes memos, finds whoever I am looking for and actually is quite clever. When asked  did she know Jesus by my granddaughter, she said, "I am not programmed to discuss religion."  Would that were the answer given by too many people ready to discuss religion at the drop of anything, It's all very unnerving for Ruth Adkins Robinson

Unknown Grandfather

Today on Facebook, I came face to face with a face I didn't know I knew. Some month ago, I was contacted by email with the inquiry: "Are you the granddaughter of Jim Burns from Louisville, Ky?" I am, I responded, although I do not know him, but thanks to my search for my mother, Ruth Lavida Burns, I knew her father's name. Then today, the emailer posted a photo up on her site. When I saw it, I started to shake. I know this man, I thought, but I didn't know him as a grandfather. I knew him from my childhood as a friend of my father. I remember seeing him from time to time at this or that relative's house. Why in the name of my shrieking insane brain didn't they tell me he was my grandfather? Just another mystery to the dark, cloaked burden of silence around my mother. I will never know because anybody with answers to my eternal questioning is no longer alive. It is an undiscoverable mystery. Who was the mysterious Ruth who drove away from her little baby and never looked back at Ruth Adkins Robinson?

After Christmas

 Most people do love the Christmas holiday even if they can't spell Frankensince, like me in this late hour.  Perhaps the best thing about it all and that strangers actually smile at each other and cheerily call out Merry Christmas. Generally people growl at each other. Sad to see all the abandoned trees on the lots, so important and expensive on December 24, forlorn and forgotten on December 25. The spilling over trash cans all along my historic block is annoying.   I was thinking about all the presents and to tell the truth, I cannot remember one single Christmas present I've received in past years. I know I must have loved them at the time, but what about a present with some real meaning, like in an O.Henry tale? For some ungodly reason, I wait to wrap presents until Christmas Eve and then I am up all night doing just that. Doesn't matter how resolved I am never to do it again, Christmas Eve rolls around to find me in the same state of stupid. I received some lovely gifts this year from my Twins, thoughtful and right on time.  Whatever ambivelant feelings I have about this holiday, get pushed aside in order to celebrate with my sweet babies and that's a good thing for Ruth Adkins Robinson.