Moving on by looking for the best of what we had

Today is just a day where I feel like talking about  what being together as friends or family can be so much better.

 

Sometimes I really regret the loss of older accepted standards around how we treat each other especially in spaces we cannot easily move out of.

One is recognizing we need spaces away from popular culture and politics to talk to each other about own our ideas and fears in a way we feel most comfortable with without quoting some person or putting it in a political package as if the only reason to talk is submit things to be fixed.

Being a listener is important and many of us feel we need people to listen more to what we are saying and feeling in our lives.

Sometimes we just wish to have our feelings valued as important things to us and on our minds and to receive reassurances that having them is okay.

It almost sounds banal but to actually talk about your "day" matters as it affects how you feel and how those feelings move into other areas of your life.

We also need to have situations were we can talk through differences rather than making accusations and counter accusations with corresponding threats and counter threats looking at how we can find accommodation of differing ideas in practical ways rather than it being about winners and losers.

We badly need to put the goddam mobile phone down, creating the mental space to directly engaging with people be it a conversation with an adult or child who in effect is being ignored for some message or other.

It's a wonderful thing to have a pocket computer but is becoming a barrier to real face to face communication and just  being in peoples lives.

Is your mobile your best buddy???

Can we bring back shared space when stuff like this can happen like a meal together with just us there?

Goth wedding account

This weekend past was somewhat chaotic to say the least in that a marriage reception that I had known about for a period being notified of the date and then the time and location  had some poorly communicated serious changes to it.
You see, I was meant at least according to the official invite that I R.S.V.P'd  in the affirmative to be attending a reception social gathering for the wedding with it being on from around of 2PM through 11PM with the actual wedding being held in Florida in the States.
The invite specified a dress colour plus the that this was an event to which you could drop into and leave at any point within that so in the absence of any further information to the point of checking a day before, I was under the impression I was to be picked up for 6 PM attending in the evening  so had just had a light cooked late breakfast on the Sunday morning as I received a call from the Groom's mother inquiring if I had my lift arranged for a Wedding service at 1PM and I was required to go!
That's like two hours notice of a change of plan as when I asked politely what was this about, I was was informed there had been a change of plan and indeed a subsequent call to my brother confirmed even he who was to witness it, had only been informed the day before. I was able to get transport arranged at speed and then proceeded to get dressed at speed to attend the civil ceremony in a hall in the centre of a large park.
One of first things to say is this wasn't a plain civil ceremony because the place had been decorated in halloween gothic manner with pumpkins and lanterns down the bridal procession with pumpkin shaped critters suspended from the ceiling, spiders and streamers and a spooky arch by the registrars desk.
The bride and groom all walked down the aisle in black with the bridesmaids in a velvetry purple coloured dresses before making their marriage vows and my cousin presented the ring.
After that we went outside whereupon I met one member from the Spanish-Canadian side of the family  I hadn't seen for a while who moved during the Franco era and talked with several others as the photographs were being taken in the park.
The park itself look in great condition, plenty of flowers still out although the fall was making itself know as some trees were changing colour which made for a great backdrop on what was a bright sunny day.
While that was going on the catering team were setting up for the reception where food was served with black napkins and the cakes themed including the wedding cake that was themed in black all of which was done buffet style.
After saying my goodbyes, I left home, feeling however chaotic the day had started and the amazing level of miscommunication, a great day was had  not least for the happy couple.