It's July 2nd and nothing is going on

It's July 2nd and I started this entry in mid June with the title: 'It's mid June and nothing is going on'. Obviously I've had to change the title because it's now July 2nd. I find it difficult to take the time now to write about what is going on with the girls. I used to write in the morning before I went to work, when it was quiet. I'd then go and visit my mom and head for work around 9:30. Well now I guess I've gotten an adult job because I get up at 7 and I'm out of the house by 7:35. It kind of reminds me of when I was going to high school because I did the same thing at the same time. Well you know what they say, What's new is old again or something like that. They always have an opinion, but sometimes they don't make sense. It's mid June and nothing is going on and that is with two daughters in their twenties. Covid seems to have ebbed enough that you are only reminded of it when you see someone wearing a mask or there is a report about cases rising again after falling for the last several weeks. Monkey Pox is the next pandemic everyone is waiting for with bated breath* Teri and I talked about going to get the second booster sometime soon. The girls, I don't think they need one or can get one. Either way, Covid is looking like it is finally in the rear view mirror. Everyone in the world is acting a little crazy. Maybe it is the taste of freedom for the first time in about two years or maybe it is all the crazies are just being crazy, either way there are alot of shootings and it seems people have finally caught on to Donald Trump's three card monty game** and his attempt to overthrow the Republic. The one thing I've learned over the last few years and all the other failed Republics knew, is democracy is not a hardwood. They are thin veneers that can be removed if not properly cared for. I've tried talking to the girls about it, you know coming from a country that has been ruined by an elected dictator. Putin and his war in Ukraine has changed the world. Elena will give her tough girl act and say she doesn't care and it has nothing to do with her. Nastia will say she hates Putin, but there is no thought about almost losing the republic on January 6th. I always thought that coming to America from another country, not as babies, but young children you'd develop more of a love and understanding of how lucky you are to be here, but I guess they were still too young and hadn't experences a repression of the Putin regime. Even with all of America's faults, there is no other place I'd like to call home. I will get off of my soap box now*** I'm a little disappointed in their love of democracy. I'm sure as they get older it will change.

Elena seems to be loving her job. She was given work shirts and I have always told Elena to take her time and to write clearly. After seeing her name on her work shirts I believe she wrote it quickly. Her name is spelled E-L-E-N-A. Her work shirts are for someone with the name Elna, E-L-N-A. ah, fun times. Elena hasn't seen Matt too much lately and there hasn't been any love bites either when she goes over. One day she'll have to tell me what is going on in that relationship. Are they really just friends now. I find it hard to believe, but I don't know. I just can't believe she has split from him and I don't hear or see her expressing any desire to find someone else.

Now Nastia on the other hand can't be without a guy around. She hangs around Kevin mostly all the time. There is no expression or shows of feelings between the two, but I can't help feeling that at least Kevin has feeling for her. Last night he went to the movies with us, well sort of. He went to the Palisades Center and ate food with us in the food court. He then goes to see Doctor Strange, we go to see Minions. Just before the movie Nastia realizes she has lost her air pods. The find my air pods app shows them at Stop and Shop. After the movie we head over there. Kevin is there and helps Nastia look for them. That is classic Joe Muller when he was a kid and looking for love. But Nastia will say they are just friends. He even went to the July 4th fireworks at Felix Festa Middle School of Friday. Nastia is racist in her dating habits. She says she doesn't date white guys. Obviously she also doesn't date guys that put her first, let her be herself, don't ostracize her from her friends and are respectful of her family. Kevin has been over our house more in June then her former boyfriend was in the year and a half they dated. There is some weird things, maybe weird is the wrong word. There are somethings going on. When Nastia goes up to her room to shower or change Kevin goes with her. This started so quietly that no one noticed for a while. Then when it was noticed, it was like... ah, do we say something, it is our house, but she is twenty-three and they are not having sex, at least I don't think so. I'm not crazy about it, but what is the harm compared to the hassle of stopping it and I also do remember my mother allowing me to have girlfriends in my bedroom and what happened in there... So nothing has been said.

I usually like to end things on an up beat note and express my love of my life and the people in it. I am very aware of how old everyone is getting, the dogs included. We lost a second cousin several weeks ago, Wally, he was in his eighties. My mom and Wally were very close, they would email back and forth all the time. My mom just turned 88, her brother Tonny, just turned 91, I'm 64, just a child, Karl is soon to be 68 and my dad died at 66. I'm very aware how fragile live is and a moment in time. There are many times I'd love to go back to, to relive again. Times where life was good. I have a picture on my computer of me in my early twenties, around 1980, with my foot up on my Jeep and at the time I didn't realize just how happy I was. It was years later that I realized. I look at my life with Teri and the girls and even though I don't see them as often as I'd like, Nastia is sleeping over this friends house or Elena is working and then going out with that friend. This time of my life though not perfect is a pretty wonderful time. I know the girls will not take that moment to realize their in a pretty wonderful time of their lives, mostly because I think like myself back in 1980 even if I took a moment to think about it I could not have appreciated it like I appreciate being alive now. It's not perfect, I know. Teri works too hard and is stressed, but we're all together. One day that will change,but it is not today. *With bated breath-In great suspense, very anxiously or excitedly- I love expressions and saying and tall tails and all that other stuff they say and have no idea where it's from- There they go again saying stuff. ** Three Card Monty- Three-card Monte – also known as Find the Lady and Three-card Trick – is a confidence game in which the victims, or "marks", are tricked into betting a sum of money, on the assumption that they can find the "money card" among three face-down playing cards. *** I think I've explained this before, but I just love this stuff. People who wanted to preach or provide advice to people in a public place used to stand on a wooden box to raise themselves above people to be heard and seen. Often, this would be a wooden box used for carrying soap in, and it became known as "preaching from a soap box". To say to someone "get off your soapbox" means to tell them to stop preaching or providing advice. /