Thursday, August 05, 2004

No Man is An Island

Today I proved John Donne's meditation - No man is an island...because I am involved with mankind. http://isu.indstate.edu/ilnprof/ENG451/ISLAND/ The meditation is really a little depressing and actually too serious to apply to my day today, but that's what came into my head anyway because even though I was totally alone in the house, I still felt involved with mankind!
Tropical Island

I thought that having the day to myself would be fun and exciting and I would be able to do whatever I wanted. Well.... I did actually go to the mall for a short time, and I also walked down one block of Front Street, did some shopping, and ran some errands. But my time at home was interrupted by phone calls - the whole time I was home. I finally just carried the phone around with me wherever I went.

Laurie Chip and Dylan were driving home to Palm City from Tampa - and Dylan always likes to talk on the phone in the car. I think he called me eleven times - I'm not making this up. Of course, talking to Dylan is the best part of any day! While they were in Tampa they went to the Salvador Dali Museum in St. Pete. Dylan's favorite painting was the melted watch thing - I think it's called Persistence of Memory. http://www.usc.edu/schools/annenberg/asc/projects/comm544/library/images/341.html

It wasn't always Dylan - I got calls from Denver, Minnesota, Heritage Co., Telefund, Unknown, etc. After a while my nerves were shot every time the phone rang. Thank God for caller ID. Most of the calls just don't get answered. Jim called to say he's coming up on August 15th so we can finalize plans for the Kanitz Family Reunion in September.

My final call was at 9 p.m. from my cousin Rick who wants to borrow a canoe for the weekend. His daughter Emily is coming with her boyfriend, and they want to canoe the Betsie.

Anyway, my day was dominated by the telephone, so I certainly had no chance to feel like an island.
Multitasking
Speaking of island, I'm sure that Dick was not bothered by too many phone calls on his island! I hope he's happy and comfortable. I'll be glad to see him tomorrow. I'll let him answer the phone.