Jamie123

I'm amazed that the lake is still green after all those years. There must have been a HUGE amount of icing on that cake!

What a great topic! I haven't thought about that song in probably 40 years, though I'm very familiar with it from my childhood. As a child, I thought the lyrics were bizarre and surrealistic. As I grew through my teens, I never thought to question my childhood viewpoint. So after reading Jamie's OP, I thought about the lyrics, and it occurred to me (because it was blindingly obvious to my almost-60-year-old brain) that this was a song about deeply regretting a lost love, and not about cake.
I sincerely wonder how many things in this life we think we know and understand, only to discover (either in this life or the next) that we had no idea at all what we were talking about. I spoke to my 16-year-old son about this realization, and we shared a good laugh.
When I stand before my Maker, I intend to thank him for the opportunity and blessing of my mortal experience. We learn lots of valuable lessons here, and sometimes our ignorance and hubris prove vastly entertaining when we finally see them.

Women can be very emotional creatures.  😁

All the sweet, green icing flowing down. I don't think that I can take it.

I can only remember Donna Summer singing this song, and it came as a surprise that there were earlier versions - and that the original was none other than Richard Harris who played Albus Dumbledore!
It always puzzled me why anyone would get so emotional about a cake being left out in the rain. (And I'm not the only one - it comes high on a lot of "Songs With The Stupidest Lyrics Ever" lists.) But recently I discovered it is a true story. Jimmy Webb (who wrote the song) had a love affair with someone with whom he spent a lot of time in MacArthur Park in Los Angeles. And the incident with the cake really happened. The cake is not a metaphor: it was an actual cake which actually did get rained on.
When you're in love, the small things you share gain great significance, and their memories  evoke the greatest pain if (for whatever reason) you lost that love. The heart is a fragile thing.

Speaking as someone with an MBA?
All too often, the higher a person goes into academia, the more divorced they become from the world *outside* of academia. This is because they frequently end up insulated from life beyond the Ivory Tower, associating only with other academics who often have similar opinions and lifestyles. If they spend too much time like this, they can actually develop a contempt for people who don't have their same level of academic credentials, and may even be so arrogant as to declare that people who aren't on their "level" shouldn't even have the right to speak to them about various topics and should merely sit & listen to their "betters". 
Such a mindset appears to be especially prevalent in the humanities and social sciences. 
To be brutally honest, two of the most willfully ignorant people I ever encountered were individuals who had doctoral degrees in their respective fields (social sciences and theology, respectively). They treated their doctorates as shields of invulnerability, and refused to listen to even credible, reputable sources when it came to information that contradicted their personal biases about how the world worked. 

A few weeks ago, we flew to Chicago to attend my son's law school graduation. The commencement ceremony for the law school included two primary speakers, a woman and a man. The woman spoke first. She had a lengthy list of qualifications (including a director of Planned Parenthood, which lessened her substantially in my son's estimation). She began her talk by saying that such commencement speeches typically included lists of platitudes, which she promised to follow. True to her word, she then offered one of the most uninteresting, useless talks I can ever remember listening to in any venue. "Utterly forgettable" does not do justice to just how useless this talk was. Of course, she was wildly applauded when she finished—though I wonder if the applause was less for the talk she had given and more for the fact that it was over.
The man spoke next. He, too, had a lengthy list of qualifications, including being a practicing lawyer who (I think) argued before the Supreme Court, a highly influential professor, and a respected author. He offered a truly interesting and insightful speech on the importance of the Supreme Court and dismissed the idea that the justices there were biased on the whole. It made up for the cringing boredom of the previous speaker. He, too, was applauded, though it seemed to me that his talk was not as well-received as the previous travesty.
Lessons: Platitudes often take the place of actual thought and ideas. In addition, platitudes tend to be better received by society, even (perhaps especially) by those who call themselves well-educated.

Julian of Norwich comes up a lot in Terryl and Fiona Givens’s LDS-oriented books—especially The God who Weeps and All Things New.

I've started two new habits. The first is to spend an hour or so every evening in the churchyard amongst the graves, reading the Bible on my smartphone. My wife asked me the last two nights if anyone (meaning dead people) came and talked to me. I told her no, but one thing that did come to me how poor my prayer life is. People say praying should be just like talking to anyone else, but do you sometimes feel like your words are just going out into the air unheard? The thought makes me weary and (strangely) a bit tongue- tied and my prayers often peter out rather pathetically.
But there is another thing I have seen at my wife's "Julian" group (Lady Julian of Norwich, in case you didn't know, was a medieval mystic. "And all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well". [Yes I know T.S. Eliot wrote that, but Julian wrote it first].) They sit for half an hour or so in silence trying to empty their minds and wait for God to speak to them.  So I tried it this evening for just 15 minutes. God didn't speak to me in words exactly, but I did get a kind of peace from it that I've missed for a long time.
By the way, my wife is in hospital now having her surgery. I have tried contacting the hospital for news but the phone just rings and rings. I'm sure they would have contacted me a next of kin if anything had gone wrong but still... I hope I can get through tomorrow. All prayers welcome and much appreciated.
Jamie

I've started two new habits. The first is to spend an hour or so every evening in the churchyard amongst the graves, reading the Bible on my smartphone. My wife asked me the last two nights if anyone (meaning dead people) came and talked to me. I told her no, but one thing that did come to me how poor my prayer life is. People say praying should be just like talking to anyone else, but do you sometimes feel like your words are just going out into the air unheard? The thought makes me weary and (strangely) a bit tongue- tied and my prayers often peter out rather pathetically.
But there is another thing I have seen at my wife's "Julian" group (Lady Julian of Norwich, in case you didn't know, was a medieval mystic. "And all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well". [Yes I know T.S. Eliot wrote that, but Julian wrote it first].) They sit for half an hour or so in silence trying to empty their minds and wait for God to speak to them.  So I tried it this evening for just 15 minutes. God didn't speak to me in words exactly, but I did get a kind of peace from it that I've missed for a long time.
By the way, my wife is in hospital now having her surgery. I have tried contacting the hospital for news but the phone just rings and rings. I'm sure they would have contacted me a next of kin if anything had gone wrong but still... I hope I can get through tomorrow. All prayers welcome and much appreciated.
Jamie

Thanks everyone for your prayers and kind words. She was really sick yesterday but was sitting up today. The doctors hope she will be able to come home tomorrow. I'll let you know how it goes. Jamie

I've started two new habits. The first is to spend an hour or so every evening in the churchyard amongst the graves, reading the Bible on my smartphone. My wife asked me the last two nights if anyone (meaning dead people) came and talked to me. I told her no, but one thing that did come to me how poor my prayer life is. People say praying should be just like talking to anyone else, but do you sometimes feel like your words are just going out into the air unheard? The thought makes me weary and (strangely) a bit tongue- tied and my prayers often peter out rather pathetically.
But there is another thing I have seen at my wife's "Julian" group (Lady Julian of Norwich, in case you didn't know, was a medieval mystic. "And all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well". [Yes I know T.S. Eliot wrote that, but Julian wrote it first].) They sit for half an hour or so in silence trying to empty their minds and wait for God to speak to them.  So I tried it this evening for just 15 minutes. God didn't speak to me in words exactly, but I did get a kind of peace from it that I've missed for a long time.
By the way, my wife is in hospital now having her surgery. I have tried contacting the hospital for news but the phone just rings and rings. I'm sure they would have contacted me a next of kin if anything had gone wrong but still... I hope I can get through tomorrow. All prayers welcome and much appreciated.
Jamie

Stay strong my friend. We’re all praying for you. 

We'll be praying for you.

I've started two new habits. The first is to spend an hour or so every evening in the churchyard amongst the graves, reading the Bible on my smartphone. My wife asked me the last two nights if anyone (meaning dead people) came and talked to me. I told her no, but one thing that did come to me how poor my prayer life is. People say praying should be just like talking to anyone else, but do you sometimes feel like your words are just going out into the air unheard? The thought makes me weary and (strangely) a bit tongue- tied and my prayers often peter out rather pathetically.
But there is another thing I have seen at my wife's "Julian" group (Lady Julian of Norwich, in case you didn't know, was a medieval mystic. "And all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well". [Yes I know T.S. Eliot wrote that, but Julian wrote it first].) They sit for half an hour or so in silence trying to empty their minds and wait for God to speak to them.  So I tried it this evening for just 15 minutes. God didn't speak to me in words exactly, but I did get a kind of peace from it that I've missed for a long time.
By the way, my wife is in hospital now having her surgery. I have tried contacting the hospital for news but the phone just rings and rings. I'm sure they would have contacted me a next of kin if anything had gone wrong but still... I hope I can get through tomorrow. All prayers welcome and much appreciated.
Jamie

I've started two new habits. The first is to spend an hour or so every evening in the churchyard amongst the graves, reading the Bible on my smartphone. My wife asked me the last two nights if anyone (meaning dead people) came and talked to me. I told her no, but one thing that did come to me how poor my prayer life is. People say praying should be just like talking to anyone else, but do you sometimes feel like your words are just going out into the air unheard? The thought makes me weary and (strangely) a bit tongue- tied and my prayers often peter out rather pathetically.
But there is another thing I have seen at my wife's "Julian" group (Lady Julian of Norwich, in case you didn't know, was a medieval mystic. "And all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well". [Yes I know T.S. Eliot wrote that, but Julian wrote it first].) They sit for half an hour or so in silence trying to empty their minds and wait for God to speak to them.  So I tried it this evening for just 15 minutes. God didn't speak to me in words exactly, but I did get a kind of peace from it that I've missed for a long time.
By the way, my wife is in hospital now having her surgery. I have tried contacting the hospital for news but the phone just rings and rings. I'm sure they would have contacted me a next of kin if anything had gone wrong but still... I hope I can get through tomorrow. All prayers welcome and much appreciated.
Jamie

I've started two new habits. The first is to spend an hour or so every evening in the churchyard amongst the graves, reading the Bible on my smartphone. My wife asked me the last two nights if anyone (meaning dead people) came and talked to me. I told her no, but one thing that did come to me how poor my prayer life is. People say praying should be just like talking to anyone else, but do you sometimes feel like your words are just going out into the air unheard? The thought makes me weary and (strangely) a bit tongue- tied and my prayers often peter out rather pathetically.
But there is another thing I have seen at my wife's "Julian" group (Lady Julian of Norwich, in case you didn't know, was a medieval mystic. "And all shall be well, and all manner of things shall be well". [Yes I know T.S. Eliot wrote that, but Julian wrote it first].) They sit for half an hour or so in silence trying to empty their minds and wait for God to speak to them.  So I tried it this evening for just 15 minutes. God didn't speak to me in words exactly, but I did get a kind of peace from it that I've missed for a long time.
By the way, my wife is in hospital now having her surgery. I have tried contacting the hospital for news but the phone just rings and rings. I'm sure they would have contacted me a next of kin if anything had gone wrong but still... I hope I can get through tomorrow. All prayers welcome and much appreciated.
Jamie

It's a Vauxhall Meriva, but it's not the fault of the car or the engine. It's the fact that I left the cap off the coolant reservoir when topping it up that morning that made it overheat. One of those stupid things you forget when you're in a hurry that comes back and bites you hard.
But not as hard as (for example) if I'd pulled out of a junction without looking both ways, and put my family (and possibly a lot of other people too) in hospital - or worse still the morgue. Need to keep these things in perspective.

Thanks Traveler - after much deliberation we asked the garage to go ahead with the repair. They will contact us if there are any complications. We shall just have to wait and see. But whatever happens I'd rather have my problems than those of someone in Ukraine.
As Maude Royden said, "Learn to hold loosely all that is not eternal."

I'm very happy to hear it.

Yep they have found a low milage replacement, but it's going to be off the road a week minimum. Meanwhile my wife has surgery coming up. We're having to rely on a lot of friends for rides. Luckily we're blessed with some good friends.

Well they had a look at it and now they're saying the engine is beyond repair. Oh well...
P.s. I'm not excusing my stupidity in leaving the cap off, but with all the engine management sensors on cars these days, you'd think someone would have thought to make some kind of warning buzzer go off if the coolant pressure was low.

Thanks Traveler - after much deliberation we asked the garage to go ahead with the repair. They will contact us if there are any complications. We shall just have to wait and see. But whatever happens I'd rather have my problems than those of someone in Ukraine.
As Maude Royden said, "Learn to hold loosely all that is not eternal."

Thanks Traveler - after much deliberation we asked the garage to go ahead with the repair. They will contact us if there are any complications. We shall just have to wait and see. But whatever happens I'd rather have my problems than those of someone in Ukraine.
As Maude Royden said, "Learn to hold loosely all that is not eternal."

Just a note concerning your scientist friend.  If the equipment was not his then I understand.  A very important lesson I have learned is that it is seldom beneficial to "work" harder for others than they are willing to "work" for themselves.  There are other options for the equipment.  Your circumstance sounds to be most difficult for you.  Hopefully, not too difficult.
 
The Traveler