Irresponsible and frivolous

Taurus (April 20-May 20): You've worried about important things long enough. Give it a break. Surround yourself with frivolous friends and be irresponsible.

Opened the Sunday paper after a bad night's sleep. The horoscopes were right column, front page, front section. I never read the horoscopes, but there they were, just staring at me.

Got back from my spring break trip to move my dad home from the rehab/therapy hospital yesterday. My luggage arrived later, just after midnight today after a wrong turn. Woke up about 4 a.m. to worry if it was my fault that my little wheelie suitcase "failed to transfer" at St. Louis Lambert International. Woke up again at 6:30 to worry if Dad was waking up, and wondering how his first night on his own had been.

Might as well make coffee and get the paper. What's this?? Frivolous? Irresponsible?

My brother will visit Dad today, and my sister will phone him. I've been so focused on every detail of Dad's homecoming that I'm cross-eyed. It is indeed time to "give it a break". My walking partner isn't exactly a frivolous friend, but she might be convinced to understudy the role. After fifty, going to Corner Bakery for a salad/sandwich combo involving lime cilantro mayo is considered living on the edge. Running the dryer without a sheet of Bounce counts as irresponsible.

I'm popping Led Zep in the cd player and letting the important things worry about themselves for a long time--at least fifteen minutes. Please don't sue me!

frivolous
1549, from L. frivolus "silly, empty, trifling, brittle," dim. of *frivos "broken, crumbled," from friare "break, rub away, crumble."

irresponsible
1648, "not legally answerable for conduct or actions," from in- "not" + responsible (q.v.). Meaning "not acting with a sense of responsibility" is from 1681.

zeppelin
1900, from Ger. Zeppelin, short for Zeppelinschiff "Zeppelin ship," after Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin (1838-1917), Ger. general who perfected its design.

Many is a word that only leaves you guessing
Guessing 'bout a thing you really ought to know, ooh!
You really ought to know...



© 2007 Nancy L. Ruder