A Tribute to abra a collection of her comments

[LLapp]

Abra and others, on being married to your best friend...
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"All love that has not friendship for its base, is like a mansion built upon the sand." — Ella Wheeler Wilcox

montyb
July 13, 2012, 1:44 pm
Expensive, beautifully scenic, and difficult to maintain.

SippyGirl
September 9, 2013, 6:53 pm
a billion years ago, when i was young, a model, of all people, was one of the first to tell me that her man - perhaps her husband? - was her best friend... that it was silly and even insulting to introduce him as anything but. it made a tremendous impression on me at the time

wordfairy
March 6, 2015, 12:18 am
Sweet, SippyGirl. Thanks much for sharing.

abra
July 3, 2015, 2:23 pm
It's kind of a cliche these days to say that you're married to your best friend. I've known my husband since I was 15. We were not high school sweethearts. We were really good friends. We knew each other for years before it became romantic. I am married to my best friend.

skeeter
October 23, 2015, 3:42 pm
Been with my husband since we were 16 years old, 48 years ago this week.

marnita
July 31, 2016, 3:02 am
Congratulations, Skeeter - that's inspiring.

cherylab1963
October 15, 2016, 1:06 am
My parents were married for 61 years when my Mom died. They were still each other's best friends. Marriages can work AND be healthy, but it takes two healthy (I don't mean physically) people who decide that giving up isn't an option. And don't say 'what about abuse or infidelity'. Hence the healthy part.

oddcouple
July 2, 2017, 5:08 pm
:Like others, I married a woman who was my friend first for about three years before I asked her to marry me. That's going on 37 years now.

GramBow
October 18, 2017, 2:12 pm
Matthew 7:26 - 27 26 But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. 27 The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.

LLapp
July 15, 2018, 4:42 pm
Well I had a crush on my guy for about 10 years before we finally had conversations for longer than a minute or two . . . and I was so delighted to find that there was a friendship in there that I was sensing all that time.

abra
June 14, 2019, 11:15 pm
We celebrated 51 years, 3 weeks ago. As Cheryl said, we took ''divorce'' out of our vocabulary. Things aren't always perfect, but having the underlying friendship keeps things from getting too angry. It keeps you from giving up and walking away. I agree with the quote.

Synonymous
May 6, 2022, 1:22 pm
Nice comment thread, refreshing. Bio has been corrected.

dmford60
January 1, 2023, 1:13 pm
My man and I have been a couple for 31 years, but only lived together for the first five; after that we realized we'd do better living apart. And he is still my best friend.

montyb
January 8, 2023, 2:44 pm
I met my best friend 45 years ago this month, not long after the blizzard of '78.

[LLapp]

I take this as a thank-you for future comments...


"There is no bullet-proof vest in my size." — Ariel Sharon

abra
October 1, 2018, 12:41 pm
This took me forever. Then all of sudden I saw ''bullet-proof''. glassguy, I declare you a genius.

glassguy
March 9, 2021, 6:48 pm
Not sure what I did, Abra, but thanks.

darkyr
April 5, 2021, 2:31 pm
Isn't it obvious. You left a comment after her, which assured her that she would, indeed, solve the quote, giving her that much needed encouragement from the future we all long to get.

abra
April 28, 2021, 8:04 pm
I think he probably held the record then with a score that was way better than my own. Or maybe it was that comment from the future thing. That's always worth a thank you.

[Synonymous]

Abra's sense of humor shines through...
"Time invested in improving ourselves cuts down on time wasted in disapproving of others. "
— Unattributed
universalmom
June 18, 2015, 10:20 am
Hahaha...disapproving of otters!
Persephone59
May 27, 2017, 2:43 am
Shameful little frolicking water creatures!
darkyr
August 6, 2019, 6:29 pm
Shameful? Or shameless?
LLapp
October 29, 2019, 3:01 am
No time with otters is wasted time.
abra
May 6, 2020, 2:25 am
It's otterly well spent. I used to love to see them watch them at the zoo. They knew how to spend time having fun.
montyb
December 22, 2022, 4:14 pm
This “advice” seems hardly a fair trade.

[Eureka]

"You will always be your child's favorite toy." — Vicki Lansky

abra
August 26, 2017, 6:41 pm
I'm not sure about "toy" but I know I'm a sounding board, a special friend, the most confidant of confidants. It's all good. :O)

[hrossa]

It's pure abra!

[Eureka]

Thank you, hrossa! I am SO glad to see that abra got back to that quote to see our comments.

[Synonymous]

Thank you hrossa for posting this comment thread. It is SOOOO very nice to see how wrong abra was. It's a real tribute to a very nice lady who touched so many hearts here on this site for so many years. A lot of us miss abra whether we agreed with her or not, she was still a "true lady" all the time.

[LLapp]

Oh, hrossa, thank you for posting that one!

For abra's son, next time you come back here: ^^That thread was the one I meant when I said that your mom mentioned once how she would likely be remembered by just her family and a few close friends. I'm glad she got to see our responses.

[hrossa]

"There are some people who leave impressions not so lasting as the imprint of an oar upon the water." — Kate Chopin

puzzleme
July 6, 2013, 1:32 am
That is really very sad.

jnoodles
August 17, 2013, 12:14 am
These are the people we cannot do without.

abra
December 29, 2015, 2:01 pm
I'm pretty sure that aside from a my family, and a few others, I'm one of those. It's not so bad.

MamaB
December 21, 2016, 3:41 am
I bet you leave a pretty positive impression on those few folks.

LLapp
September 5, 2018, 6:12 pm
Too late, abra. You've left a fine lasting impression on the players here.

Eureka
December 7, 2019, 3:16 pm
I was about to say that, LLapp! It wouldn't be the same here without you, abra.

abra
January 23, 2020, 8:50 pm
Oh, wow, that is so nice of you all to say. Honestly I wasn't fishing.

[Synonymous]

Wonderful. This site is amazing in its longevity and warmth for each other. Feels like a family.

[LLapp]

"If anything characterizes the cultural life of the seventies in America, it is an insistence on preventing failures of communication." — Richard D. Rosen

wobray2
June 15, 2014, 9:56 pm
Well, yeah -- everybody had seen "Cool Hand Luke" by then

montyb
August 5, 2014, 7:35 am
The sweatiest movie ever made according to the gang at Cheers.

wvwoman
August 9, 2015, 10:01 am
i've never seen it.

LLapp
December 29, 2015, 1:14 pm
I saw it and did not get what was so great about it. I think it is truly a man's movie, and I'm not a man. I guess it is about how men relate to each other, in the context of a guarded brotherhood under unfair authority and in the absence of women. Yeah, I guess it's about the kinship and social structure of being male. I've noticed guys love that movie; I did not, even though I love Paul Newman.

debzhaus
April 13, 2016, 10:16 am
I liked it a lot.

badbob
August 3, 2016, 9:48 am
The actor who said "failure to communicate" was Strother Martin who was Paul Newman'best friend . .also appeared in Slap Shot and Butch Cassidy all guy movies.

abra
October 19, 2016, 5:55 pm
I saw a comment today by badbob, where he said he'd never made it back to see the replies to one of his comments. In case you make it back here, badbob, I want to make sure there's a reply. I did like the Cool Hand Luke the first time. Not so much the second and third, pretty much the same thing with Butch Cassidy.

puzzleme
February 16, 2017, 3:05 pm
I enjoyed both Cool and Butch; never saw Slap. Paul Newman was the best... not the best looking (Eek! Sacrilege!)... but one of the best actors ever. Made it look just so easy. Damn.

Eureka
November 4, 2018, 4:27 pm
Butch Cassidy was a fun movie.

Elephino
December 12, 2018, 9:50 am
I quite like Cool Hand Luke and Butch Cassidy, etc. but I think that if anything characterizes the cultural life of the seventies in America it would be these: bellbottoms, bra-burning, big afros, and bushy mustaches... and stripes and velour

badbob
February 18, 2019, 2:20 am
disco

Fudi
July 13, 2019, 11:16 pm
I miss velour. It's so nice and soft. Why did society reject it? What's wrong with us?

Eureka
July 18, 2019, 4:13 pm
We're a fickle bunch, Fudi.

abra
September 21, 2020, 2:47 am
I like velour.

abra
November 10, 2022, 2:32 am
One of the first Christmases when my son was married, my daughter-in-law gave my husband a copy of Cool Hand Luke. Which he does like and she must have been paying attention, during some conversation.

badbob
June 10, 2023, 7:40 am
the late great Abra left a reply to my comment. I am truly honored she will always be missed

[LLapp]

Note the timestamps on abra's final two comments: they are three minutes apart. She went through a lot of steps to be able to come back and leave that second comment.
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"A wind has blown the rain away and blown the sky away and all the leaves away, and the trees stand. I think, I too, have known autumn too long." — E. E. Cummings

kokumo
December 13, 2011, 10:46 pm
How beautiful.

nevadasmith68
June 17, 2013, 1:56 am
I now have too,E.E.-- Beautiful.

slow1
November 4, 2014, 3:22 am
But the tree stands! and then there will be another Springtime. Maybe?

LLapp
March 1, 2015, 5:42 pm
Beautiful -- that moment after the strong rain when all of sudden autumn is gone, just like that.

marnita
April 24, 2016, 11:17 am
And I always wonder if I will see the green leaves again.

phthelen
October 25, 2017, 6:46 pm
i scored a very fast 50 seconds on this one, but had a hard time typing only in minor case.

DrCryptell
March 24, 2018, 9:08 pm
When the wind blew Autumn's wig and teeth away I was glad I knew her long enough but not quite long enough to marry her.

Andy451
June 4, 2018, 5:14 am
At least it hasn't blown your hat away, e. e. cummings. There's that moment after the hurricane where nothing is left on the surface of the earth any more. And then we start to look like the surface of Mars or the moon. I hate it when that happens. Don't worry. Be happy. As long as you still have your hat on, what can be amiss?

abra
October 26, 2018, 1:19 pm
When the hurricane comes at night. It does feel like you're walking out of a space ship onto an alien planet when you go out to survey the damage. We've always been lucky but one hurricane knocked down a whole row of tall pines. I think it must have been like dominoes. I think I heard it, but it was far too dark to see it.

Wordigo
September 16, 2020, 2:31 pm
Blew me away.

autumngirl
December 27, 2020, 11:40 am
Sorry, DrCryptell, but I don't know either you or E.E., and while I did need a wig at one time I still have all my teeth!!

abra
January 14, 2021, 10:22 pm
Funny, autumngirl.

LLapp
May 23, 2021, 5:37 am
Abra, a whole row of tall pine trees? Wow.

abra
August 19, 2022, 2:08 am
Yes, tall ones.

abra
August 19, 2022, 2:11 am
Autumngirl, this time when I read your comment, I thought maybe it wasn't meant to be funny. If not I am so sorry.

LLapp
May 9, 2024, 4:29 am
I'm glad abra got back here to follow up on her comment to Autumngirl. She would not have wanted to leave anyone feeling even accidentally hurt.

[LLapp]

"If you are not happy you had better stop worrying about it and see what treasures you can pluck from your own brand of unhappiness." — Robertson Davies

image.png

universalmom
February 6, 2014, 7:57 am
He looks like he'd just slap you and say, "Snap out of it!"

LLapp
March 18, 2016, 9:32 pm
He looks like C. Everett Koop.

blueladyblue
December 20, 2020, 5:16 pm
He looks like Santa after a really really late night.

abra
September 20, 2021, 2:44 am
So, Santa on Christmas morning?

[Synonymous]

Loved her comments on this quote about letters to her sisters. Heart warming.

"There is nothing to write about, you say. Well then, write and let me know just this - that there is nothing to write about, or tell me in the good old style if you are well."
— Pliny the Younger

abra
June 4, 2012, 7:59 pm
Years ago I read this quotation in Bartlett's and was shocked that it was written in the first century. It sounded so contemporary. Before cheap long distance and the internet, everyone felt like this.
skeeter
April 6, 2019, 4:48 pm
I have friends and relatives who still like to write long letters in longhand, as I do. It truly does not matter if health and the weather are the only subjects. Just seeing the words that a loved one took time to write is all that matters.
blueladyblue
June 13, 2019, 3:32 pm
This sounds like instructions from a writing teacher. As for writing letters, I can't even remember the last letter I wrote or received. It will soon be a lost art.
mohamm1
October 26, 2019, 9:22 am
Nothing to say, and I am well. VERY easy. 38 seconds.
Majka
December 4, 2019, 7:20 pm
I understand that they are no longer teaching cursive in school nor spelling because the computer will do it for you.
abra
October 28, 2020, 8:08 pm
I think it's worse not to be able to read cursive than to not write it. My grandsons did learn. One of them just doesn't use it. I hope that he'll be able to read it, if the occasion arises.
badbob
January 29, 2021, 10:10 am
Dear Pliny, there is nothing to write about. thank you your friend
abra
April 16, 2021, 9:26 pm
I can remember my older sister teaching me. Dear ______, How are you? I am fine. Love, ______. Before I could read or write. She was two grades ahead of me.
abra
February 10, 2022, 2:36 am
I do still write personal notes on Christmas cards, birthday cards, and I send only two Valentines; they're to my sisters and I write notes on them.
universalmom
February 16, 2022, 4:02 pm
abra I do too! I can't see why I would bother sending a card and just signing my name
hrossa
March 16, 2022, 10:37 am
I still write personal notes on cards too. Yes, it is worse not to be able to read cursive! We have a bunch of old letters written by a great-grandmother in German when she was very old, in a faint, wobbly antique style. Nobody can read them, which makes me sad.

[LLapp]

I love this book review.

"I work with language. I love the flowers of afterthought." — Bernard Malamud

abra
November 23, 2020, 8:57 pm
I'm reading The Natural right now. I will finish it, but I'm not thrilled with it. My Kindle says I have 20% left. Maybe it will have a spectacular ending. )

abra
February 3, 2021, 3:03 am
One of the reasons I read The Natural was that many of the reviews said the ending was much better than the movie. The only part of the movie I remembered was the end. The book is not for everybody. I am one of those that it was not for. The worst part was the ending, but the middle was pretty bad too.