roll-away grama

yes, i know that's not how you spell grama, but that's how i've spelled it my whole life and dammit, i'm not stopping now! anyway, today my mom, my grama and i went to the oregon gardens in silverton...very beautiful, by the way. we had just gotten there, and my grama got out and sat down in her wheelchair while my mom got stuff out of the car. my crazy grama (who can walk by the way, just not well) decided to just go for it solo in her wheelchair and takes off in the parking lot. well, the parking lot began to slope downhill, and my grama started picking up speed. she began to flap her arms like wings and squeal with joy. it never occured to me that maybe she was in danger, i just stood there watching like it was an interesting movie and i wanted to see what happened. well, the hill got steeper, she got freaked out and switched from squealing to screaming, and collided with a curb at approx. 5 mph. another, much less apathetic spectator rushed to her aid and then my mom looked up from the car. 'where's grama?' she asked. i pointed to the crash site some 50 feet away. my grama was fine, by the way, and all i could do was laugh...man, do i sound like a cruel person or what? if any of my babysitting charges' parents are reading this, i swear i would have ran after the roll away object if your kid was in it. later on, i proved that helping would have been futile anyhow when i skidded down a hill pulled by my grama's wheelchair. yeah, let's stick to flat ground with wheelchairs, please.

last night two of my recent burning questions were answered by some of my fave people, the parents of this girl i nanny for. one, why do you hate george w? lots of people seem to hate him, but nobody seems to ever say why. so we had a nice talk about that. but ten times more interesting was the talk we had about the differences between jehovah's witnesses and most christians. it was so fascinating! they are kind of jw, the dad more than the mom, she doesnt believe in it anymore. it was so interesting to see what we held in common, and what were stark differences. basically, i concluded that they believe jesus was crucified on a stake (not a cross) and this is part of what gains us admission into the future heaven, which is really paradise re-created on earth. the other part is how you live, what kind of a jw you are. oh, and they dont believe in hell. they were amazed when i said i did, and also did not know what i meant by the term 'grace.' they also believe that 1914 was the beginning of the end of the world. i know it is ultimately up to God to decide, but i am curious if he considers jw's to be saved...after all, they believe that jesus' sacrifice is part of salvation, and how different is their 'works' part of 'earning' salvation any different from a lot of christians? i know many christian churches today have polluted the purity of the gospel and supplemented it with a bunch of extra crap...but they still think that they are getting into heaven over jw's...yes, very fascinating indeed. i mean, how many people are ultimately messing some part of the bible and God's plan for our lives up? isn't that what grace is for?

on a more personal note, the prospect of moving to mcminnville is progressing nicely. i've got the hook up with naomi and shanna, killer networkers, and they are hooking me up with opportunities left and right. plus, once i get a job, david and shanna said i could live with them for a month or two in newberg, in exchange for childcare, while i save up for my own place. current job prospects include...safeway cashier, waitress for new spanish restaurant, 3rd street book store, harvest fresh grocery, roth's barista, and lowe's home improvement. we'll see what next week brings.

what an artist is for is to tell us what we see but do not know that we see. --edith sitwell