The 4th of July - Erma Bombeck

[kpete]

https://healthyspirituality.org/the-4th-of-july-erma-bombeck/

[sacto95834]

1. Love Bombeck

May she RIP. Wish she were still with us.

[bronxiteforever]

2. Kick and recommend. Brilliant.

[MaryMagdaline]

3. Beautiful

[Faux pas]

4. I miss her!

[spanone]

5. Those were the days. Not anymore with the dictator in the white house.

[bigbrother05]

6. If the grass is greener over the septic tank

DC must be a veritable Garden of Eden right now

[Hekate]

8. Spot on, Erma. You are missed--and so is our democracy. nt

[liberal N proud]

9. So much for that attribute

This fucker is destroying everything that made us, us.

[RVN VET71]

10. Remember then? When America was a great country?

Lots of things that needed to be corrected, of course -- but, godammit, we were working on it. And we were struggling to be one people, united -- except for a smattering (so we thought) of outright racists, fascists, xenophobes, and homophobes. We were making progress, too. On the 4th, on the Mall, we all got together, threw our frisbees, drank a beer or soda, and cheered on the fireworks and music. Just us, just "we, the people."

But, thanks to MAGA, all progress has been halted or pushed back, the right wing crazies are in ascendance, and the military will goose-step for Generalissimo Bonespur while his wealthy supporters get to enjoy the best seats for the show, reserved for them by the MAGA lord.

[Demovictory9]

11. kick

[TygrBright]

12. From back when America was truly a great nation. n/t

[lillypaddle]

13. Stole this for twitter

Hope you don't mind - thanks!

[yaesu]

14. I haven't celebrated the 4th in years but I am planning on flying a russian flag in protest

as long as fascists are in control I will not fly an American flag.

[Totally Tunsie]

15. Thank you for this!

We need to suffer that "iffy potato salad", and keep Chump out of our lives for our nation's birthday.

[llmart]

16. I love Erma Bombeck.

Used to read her syndicated column in our local paper.

I really feel sorry for the younger generations who don't get to have to sort of childhood memories that we had - the simple fun, simple celebrations. Remember when someone's parents would buy sparklers for the kids and you were so excited to swing them around and write your name in the dark sky? Hot dogs and burgers on the grill - a grill that was about $8 at K-Mart or wherever instead of a gas grill that's as big as a Volkswagen Beetle and costs hundreds of dollars? Or like my very large family, we went into the woods and found the best forked stick we could find and stuck the hotdogs and later marshmallows on it and roasted them over a fire in the hand built brick outdoor fire.

Ah, those were the days. And yes, there was nothing political about it. Just good old fun.

[Blue_true]

17. I got the last of her columns. She was brilliant, in a down home likeable way.

I miss simple celebrations, ones that were about values and free of politics. Celebrations where people of all races felt happy to attend.

[llmart]

18. I do not enjoy most holidays now because of all the materialism.

Every darned holiday is all about buy, buy, buy. What we've done to Halloween is a good example. Used to be for the kids until the grown ups co-opted it for themselves. Don't get me started on the decorations.

Re: Erma Bombeck - If I'm remembering correctly she ended up in kidney failure and on dialysis at a relatively young age and made the decision to stop the dialysis citing quality of life. Correct me if I'm wrong.

[Blue_true]

19. On Erma. I only read her for a short time, but I think that she did die early.

You could be right about how and why. I know that soon after I really got into reading her columns, she "retired".

I agree about the commercialism. Your example about holloween is a perfect example, it is being called a holiday now and sales go on for weeks before. It is all so stupid, when I was a kid, people picked up a bag of candy on their way home from work the day before or day of and handed it out as kids came by, no big parties, no people doing strange stuff.

[csziggy]

20. She died early from a failed kidney transplant

Erma Bombeck was diagnosed with polycystic kidney disease (an incurable, untreatable genetic disease) when she was 20 years old. She survived breast cancer and mastectomy, and kept secret the fact that she had kidney disease, enduring daily dialysis. She went public with her condition in 1993. On a waiting list for transplant for years, one kidney had to be removed, and the remaining one ceased to function. On April 3, 1996, she received a kidney transplant. Erma Bombeck died on April 22, 1996, aged 69, from complications of the operation.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Erma_Bombeck#Death

[Blue_true]

22. Thanks. Sad. I loved her writing so much. nt

[Crunchy Frog]

21. That's what happened with Art Buchwald.

He ended up in hospice living quite a bit longer than expected, long enough to write one last book.

[Blue_true]

23. He was good also. Could take serious life situations and make people laught, no profanity,

no putting groups down, he just had that gift for seeing the natural silliness in everyday life affairs.