Asha Anujeeva

Post contributed by Josue Durham

Golfing is one of my favorite activities. On a nice sunny day, I love to pack up the gulf clubs, set the Home Security alarms, and head out to the golf course. My husband is also an avid golfer, so we often go together on the weekends. Once there, we usually meet up with some friends and all play a friendly round of golf together.

We belong to a club that has a beautiful scenic golf course. It is located along the scenic banks and has a spectacular view of the river. It is an eighteen hole course and is a lot of fun to play on. Typically, we rent a golf cart to carry our stuff in and ride around the course in. However, sometimes we enjoy walking around the course without renting a cart.

Golfing can sometime get competitive between me and my husband. We are both really competitive people. It is all in good fun, though. We enjoy spending time together, and playing golf while doing so is just an added benefit.

I really like the Pepsi One product, made with Splenda. But for some reason the local stores don’t seem to be carrying it anymore. I don’t know if that means that it is no longer on the market at all. It had good flavor and low calorie. Since I can’t seem to find it anymore, I’ve started drinking Pepsi Max instead. I like that too, but I prefer the Pepsi One.

They say that advice is worth what you pay for it. That is why I am reluctant to offer free advice to my family and friends. But sometimes I just have to speak up and voice my opinion. So I will dispense free advice on occasion – against my own advice!

With family on my mind today, I called my mother to say hello and chat for a bit. I’m glad that I did. She shared a problem with me that I had not realized was even an issue for my parents. They live in a rural area and do not have cable service available at their property. They need to look into local tv satellite to be able to watch TV, as the local TV channels are now all digital.

For years, the little bit of TV that my parents liked to watch was available on an old color TV set with a bunny ears antennae. They could only get 3 channels, but that was enough for the late night news and an occasional situation comedy. But my dad is going to check www.localtv-satellite.com to see if they can subscribe to satellite and have a way to get the new digital signals on their TV.

All of that noise last year about getting a digital converter box went right over my head. I had no need for it and did not realize that it was going to be an issue for my parents. But they have not watched TV for over 6 months now that the signals are digital. Can you imagine not watching TV for 6 months? No!

I have sent my dad an email with the link to localtv-satellite.com so he can look into this and start watching TV again. I feel so guilty that I did not realize this problem sooner. Thank goodness I called my mom today and found out.

It never occurred to me that our society handles grief in certain ways. A lot of how we handle the death of a loved one has to do with our religious beliefs. That can be touchy in itself, as the person being laid to rest may not have shared the same religious beliefs as the person arranging the funeral. These are issues I need to discuss with my family and come to agreement before it becomes a decision based on necessity.

But what bothers me most at this moment is that there is no word to describe the person left behind when their child dies. If you lose a parent you become an orphan. If you lose a spouse you become a widow or widower. But if you lose a child, there is no word for that.