I love that! And close to the bone here in my little town. Example: Not a lawyer, but a Doctor. I mentioned to my DD that I had been referred to Dr. X. My DD has worked in various areas of the local medical profession for many years. She gave me a brief review of the current "affairs" that were currently going on in that office. Small towns...good or bad? Sue

When I was young, somewhere around 5 - 8 or so, I was doing something in church, maybe squirming, that displeased Dad, so he reached over and gave the lobe of my ear a substantial tweak. I made a sound of protest, rather loudly. Wrong move. Dad led me out of the church, across the lot to the church shed, built when we had horses drawing buggies, with concrete walls and a high, metal roof. I think that he took me to the far end of the shed and ministered to my legs and rear end with his belt. On the conclusion of the exercise, we were headed back into church, with my hand in Dad's, and I, embarrassed, said that I wasn't going back in there. Dad gave me a choice - back into church ... or a return to the shed. I chose to return to church (as the least unpalatable of two evils, possibly?). It was mid-June, with all of the windows in church open, and after church, Dad asked the man of the family that occupied the next pew for many years whether they'd heard any of the operation. "Every crack ... and every yell", was the reply. Ole joyful ... who made the mistake, a couple of years later, of leaning over and advising younger brother, when he began doing a similar activity in church, that he'd better stop ... or Dad would take him out to the church shed

DH and I are in our mid-50s and have shared tables both at home and while we're travelling. In crowded cafes either we've asked if we could have the spare seats at someone already seated's table, or we've invited people who are obviously looking for a seat to make use of our spare seats. We've even changed our seats around to make room for others. We don't necessarily start up a conversation with the other people beyond a few remarks, but it wouldn't occur to us to refuse to share if the place was crowded. On a similar note, we were in a tiny indie cinema with three long (about 10 or 12 seats) row of seats across the space. Being so small, and the movie quite popular, it was pretty well full, in fact there were only two seats left, one at either end of the row DH and I were sitting in (I was next to one of the empty seats). In walked a couple, obviously nonplussed at the potential seating disaster. So I called to the rest of the people in the row, "Could everyone please move down one seat so these people can sit down?" Everyone seemed ready to do just that until the lady sitting at the opposite end announced she couldn't move down one because the seat next to her was (for some reason) higher than the others (by about 4") and if she sat in it her feet wouldn't touch the floor. So I said "Well then, everybody move up one, I'll sit in the wretched seat and DH can sit next to me and that will leave two seats at this end for these people." So we all moved, I got the high seat which, even though I have short legs, wasn't really that bad- I certainly didn't notice it. But the lady who didn't want to move would not shut up about it! All through the movie, she kept muttering to her friend things along the lines of "Well, I couldn't move, my feet just wouldn't have touched the floor!" etc. I felt like saying, for Pete's sake, give it a rest already! Problem solved! Everyone happy! (well, except her, I guess).

My last year trick-or-treating, my friend's and my favorite TV show was Alias Smith and Jones. Swoon. So, living in a horse-friendly community, we dressed as the guys and trick-or-treated on her horses. Fun! Except, they didnt have saddles, and I have a hard time mounting without one. And, every time we went to a door, the horses tried to walk in! So one of us had to stay in the driveway holding both horses firmly, while the other rang the doorbell. Kind of a bother, in the end lol. Then there was the car of boys who tossed a cherry bomb as they drove by, spooking the horses. That was definitely NOT fun. My son's early Halloweens were scary for him. We went to a hayride, and one of the parents on the ride wore a slasher costume, OMG it was gory. We had to get off the ride after not too long, DS was practically clawing his way inside my coat while sneaking frightened looks at the guy. And answering the door one year, the dad accompanying the child had on a "scream" mask. Scared the bejeebers out of DS. We had plenty of talks about real and not-real. So, when he was 3 and going trick-or-treating for the first time, I'd made him a scarecrow costume. He freaked out, "I don't WANT to be a scarecrow! I want to be DS!" So I dressed him in his red puddle-jumper overall and rain boots, threw on a firefighter's helmet (it was, in fact, sprinkling every now and then that day), and went out. At every house, folks would say "what have we here? Oh, a firefighter!" And DS would correct them "No, I'm only DRESSED like a firefighter." After 5 houses he said "Mommy, I have enough candy now." Funnily enough, he grew up to be an actor and portraying characters other than himself is what he does.