Today I have been blessed.

You know, there are dreams that we all have.  I am not speaking of dreams that come to you while you are asleep…even though you may dream about your ‘dream’.  Sometimes we just make a wish in passing…and those are real, to be sure.  But, a dream is a deep longing for something you desire to take place.  Disney says, “a dream is a wish your heart makes.”  Mr Webster says a dream is “a strongly desired goal or purpose.”  Dictionary.com defines it this way “to form in the imagination.”  And, my favorite, from the Cambridge English Language Dictionary, “something you want to happen very much but it is not likely ” and “the very best you can imagine.”

Surprisingly, there were many more dictionaries and many more ways of wording the answer to ‘What Is A Dream?”   I think we all have wishes, but dreams are deeper, somehow.  A wish can be fleeting, but a dream requires thinking and imagining, and hoping and praying.  Because, as Disney said, this wish is from the very heart of you.

Since I was in college, I have had a longing for children.  I have wanted to teach them and learn from them.  I have wanted to learn the very best methods of teaching.  I wanted to be the kind of teacher who had an impact on children.  I have some of the best training both in college and denominational through the Baptist Church, and have been fortunate to work with children in some capacity up until I retired.

Through the years, there have been students who have captured a part of my heart that will forever be theirs.  And, I have treasured the wonky pictures, and the wilted flowers from the playground (weeds, really), the sticky piece of candy held tightly in a grubby fist, and the hugs that nearly choked me, and the timid ones that didn’t quite reach all the way round my neck.  And, the older I got, the more precious these things became.  I knew a time would come for me to step away and let someone more energetic and younger take my place.  And, that is the correct order of things.

Along then is when the thought of a grandchild really became a dream.  I loved being with my own 3 boys and playing and teaching them, but these days they are all too old for me to read to, and they  surely wouldn’t fit in my lap anymore.  They weren’t into fingerpaint…it could ruin those Brooks Brothers Shirts.  They had no time for swinging…slowly cutting and eating an apple…or watching a tiny bug scurry around on his journey.  But, a grandchild would.  A grandchild would love all those things and more.  And a DIL would welcome the help!

My friend, Patty, has been and is, kind enough to share her grandchild, Lucy Jane, with me.  We have had many fun adventures together.  We have painted and we have been swimming.  We have made Christmas ornaments and we have decorated my Little House(potting shed) front porch several times.  She has very carefully learned to make pretty good pictures with my camera.  And, now she is helping me as I care for Levi.  I hold dear to my heart the times I spend with her.

My sister, Joy, was blessed with a sweet angel boy, John Thomas.  He has been a delight to have in our family.  He came at a time our family needed healing from the loss of Mom.  Oh, the joy and laughter he has brought to us!  He is walking everywhere, when he’s not running, and he loves his Uncle Adam.  They play very well together.  (You can draw your own conclusions from that last statement!)

But, I wanted my own.  And, NOW was preferable to me!  Fertility issues came into play, and having another child  in the family looked very doubtful.  It was our desire.  It was our hope.  It was our prayer.  It was our dream.  But, months went by, and there was no good news in that department.

I visited the Lifeway bookstore one day, and found myself naturally drawn to the children’s books and music.  I laughed at myself.  My children were grown, I had retired from teaching, and I had no grandchildren.  This was not the area for me to be in.  As I left the department, a CD literally jumped off the shelf, hit me in the head, shook me by the shoulders and said, “Buy me, you crazy lady! Buy me right now!!!”  Well, I was shocked-as you can imagine!  No one else seemed to have heard all the commotion.  I looked at the CD in my hand.

I tried to put it back, but it was as if my hand would not go in that direction.  And so, even though it was not in my budget that day…I knew that CD had to be mine.  And so it was.

I came home and loaded it into my computer and lay back to listen.  Oh. My. Goodness.  The most  beautiful songs…the most beautiful voices.  As I listened, I was moved to tears.  These were lullabies of the most precious kind.  But, not your typical lullabies…these were full of truth.  They were full of the promises of God.  They sang of the true character of God and how He loves us all- young and old.  And, as I lay there and listened, an image formed in my mind of a little boy, sleeping peacefully in his crib, while this music played softly near him.

Today…at around 12:30 pm, my dream came true.

There sleeps that sweet angel boy, tired from playing with Lucy Jane, a tummy full of green beans and peaches and a bottle to go with.  And, over on the side, is my old CD player that I kept on my desk at the preschool, and the music coming out of it is as beautiful as any I would ever desire sweet Levi to hear.  My dream, my prayer, was answered today.  Years after I prayed it…but right on time!

These are the words to the title song on the album…………SING OVER ME.…..BY Bethany Dillon

I live in the wonder of Your love

You rise like the sun in my heart

Even when the night draws near to me

There You are

I will wade in the water of mercy

I will walk in the light of Your will

Whatever should come against me

Teach me to be still

As you Sing over me

Draw me close to rest in Your peace

Sing over me

Oh, sing

Sing of Your unending faithfulness

That knows no doubt or fear

In the face of all that I don’t know yet

Remind me of who You are

You are mighty

You will save

Rejoice over me with singing

You will quiet

By Your love

Glory over me with singing

[available on Amazon and Christian book stores]

"For the Lord your God is living among you.He is a mighty savior.

He will take delight in you with gladness.

With his love, he will calm all your fears.

He will rejoice over you with joyful songs.”     Zephaniah 3:17

AMEN

The older I get, and the more I write, the more I am learning to love words.  And the more I learn to love words, the more I want to write!  Which is a good thing, I think.  I also find myself wanting to read what others have labeled ‘good work’.  At times, I think I obviously must be reading the wrong thing, and I can find nothing redeeming about the work.  Especially if I have to read the same sentence six or seven times and still do not know what I read.  I love reading things that teach me something, or remind me of something I have lived.  But, the best of all is reading something that inspires.  In my mind, there is no greater reading than the books of the Bible.  And, it always brings inspiration to me.  Such powerful words.

This week , I ran across a short piece that I had never seen before.  For if I had ever read it before, I would have not forgotten.  The words the writer uses and the placement of those words, and the imagery, and the places it takes you in your mind…perfection!  I read it again and again and again.

And when you read it, see if you don’t feel everything he is talking about.  See if it doesn’t all make sense to you.  See if you don’t feel transported by the words.  I can imagine the way it must feel to be a flower and open every morning…can you?  Don’t know why, but I felt as if the writer was a woman before I searched out some information.  So,  a little information of the poet and then the  ‘beauty of the written word’.

Info on poet taken from Wikipedia…

René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke (4 December 1875 – 29 December 1926), better known as Rainer Maria Rilke, was a Bohemian–Austrian poet. He is considered one of the most significant poets in the German language. His haunting images focus on the difficulty of communion with the ineffable in an age of disbelief, solitude, and profound anxiety: themes that tend to position him as a transitional figure between the traditional and the modernist poets.

He wrote in both verse and a highly lyrical prose. Among English-language readers, his best-known work is the Duino Elegies; his two most famous prose works are the Letters to a Young Poet and the semi-autobiographical The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge. He also wrote more than 400 poems in French, dedicated to his homeland of choice, the canton of Valais in Switzerland.

For the sake of a single verse, you must see many cities, many

people and things, you must understand animals, must feel how

birds fly, and know the gesture which small flowers make when

they open in the morning. You must be able to think back to

streets in unknown neighborhoods, to unexpected encounters,

and to partings you had long seen coming; to days of childhood

whose mystery is still unexplained, to parents whom you had to

hurt when they brought in a joy and you didn’t pick it up (it

was a joy meant for somebody else); to childhood illnesses that

began so strange with so many profound and difficult

transformations, to days in quiet restrained rooms and to

mornings by the sea, to the sea itself, to seas, but it is still not

enough to be able to think of all that. You must have memories of

many nights of love, each one different from all the others,

memories of women moaning in labor, and of light,

pale, sleeping girls who have just given birth and are closing

again. But you must also have been beside the dying, must have

sat beside the dead in the room with the open windows and the

scattered noises. And it is not yet enough to have memories. You

must be able to forget them when they are many, and you must

have the immense patience to wait until they return. For the

memories themselves are not important.  Only when they have

changed into our very blood, into glance and gesture, and

are nameless, no longer to be distinguished from ourselves only

then can it happen that in some very rare hour the first word of a

verse arises in their midst and goes forth from them.

No, not anything that is of world importance, life-changing.  Not anything that changes the world as we know it.  Not anything that matters in the ‘grand scheme of things’.  But, to some of us, a part of our lives will be forever gone.

The 41 year run of ALL MY CHILDREN is ending today.  It has delighted, and intrigued, and taught us.  It has tackled tough story lines.  As much as a show needs to be relevant to continue to attract viewers…AMC chose to be current by bringing the hard-to-deal-with social issues of the day into the story lines of the most beloved characters.  The writers dealt with gay and trans gender issues, infertility, racial bias, natural disasters, rape, abortions, adoptions, mother/daughter, and father/son issues…all were so well written and never trivialized.  It was possible to see how others lived and/or dealt with the everyday ‘living’ of these situations.  It helped many watchers learn to deal with or tolerate those who lived with these issues.  Many were rarely talked about or socially taboo subjects.  You may never have the chance to hear a subject being talked about in polite company except on a soap.   They dealt with the Viet Nam war, the AIDS epidemic, wife-abuse, cocaine addiction.

I hear it often said that the morals of the people who live on the soaps are very loose…”always jumping from one bed to another” would be the exact words.  But, in this soap, I did not find that to be true.  There were many older characters who continually tried to instil moral behavior in the younger set.  There were families who dealt with family issues.  I found it very true to life.  And, lives are not always lived by the moral code we wish they were.  I personally believe that ‘logical consequences” teaches far more than constant lessons and beratings.  And, there were plenty of consequences to the actions of the folks in fictional Pine Valley!

But, no show could keep viewers if the characters did not feel like ‘real’ people.  And, the characters, young and old, were like our families.  However, there was never any character like Erica Kane in my life…thank goodness!  Women loved her because she would say and do the things they wished they could.  She spoke for them…an ‘unofficial’ spokeswoman.  Men loved her because she was beautiful and fiesty.  Her character started out on the show as a conniving teenager who constantly battled with her mother.  She became the character the show revolved around.  And, with viewers, it was a constant love/hate relationship.

Now, I’m not the type to live my life through the lives of those on a soap.  It’s ‘make-believe’ for heaven’s sake !  It’s not real!  It is a TV show, with amazing characters, and excellent writers, relevant story lines and it managed to resonate with people for over 41 years!  That’s quite a feat in anyone’s book !

I’ve watched it for as long as I can remember.  It started in 1970…I was 17 years old…and a Junior and Senior in high school.  I remember watching it first as a college student.  We arranged our classes around it.  Groups would meet in the grill area where there were televisions.  We watched Erica and her boys as we ate nutricious cheeseburgers or pizza or fries and milkshakes.It became an escape from reality in the midst of those hard college classes like various types of higher math that was developed strictly to cause the brain of the average college student to explode several times during the 90 minutes of each class.  It wasn’t pretty.  And, the soap was the only thing that made sense among the x and y which would equal something different every time.  Tell me how are you supposed to make sense of something like that?  And, I’ll tell you something else…a, b, and c did not mean the same thing at SU that it did in the Dothan High School!  ***I’m sorry,  I have no idea how those last few sentences  jumped into this post on AMC. Bringing up ‘math’ will do that to a person.  Deep seated and unhappy memories, I suppose.***

I’ve watched the show with relatives, including my grandmother on visits to NC, and with my cousin Harry when he came in for lunch.   I’ve watched with nurses while in the hospital with Alex in Chicago, I’ve watched in the doctor’s lounge with Ian’s doctors in Chapel Hill.  I’ve watched on vacation in Maui.  I’ve watched during a monster snow storm  with Joy and Alex in Boston, going back and forth between the window and the TV.    I’ve watched in Colorado, NYC, FL, GA.  I remember when Adam was in the hospital in Birmingham when he was so young.  We would watch cartoons all day.  A l l   d a y !  Except for the hour or so he would nap and I would escape to Pine Valley and visit with the Martins, the Chandlers, and the Montgomery’s..along with various other characters.

I would be remiss if I did not mention the cameos appearances.  Many of the celebrities that actually watched the show would call to see if they could play a small part in it.  There was Rosie O’Donnell, The New Orleans Saints, The Olsen Twins, Richard Simmons, Rihanna, Stevie Wonder, Celine Dion, Montel Williams, Meredith Vieira, Dom Deluise, Elizabeth Taylor (twice), and Carol Burnett (three times).  Also, quite a few of the characters have gone on to more recognition in their careers.  Josh Duhamel-won the Emmy, Melissa Leo-won the Oscar, Levin Rambin, Eva LaRue, Lauren Holly, Amanda Seyfried, Kelly Ripa-Emmy nominated, Lacey Chabert, Jesse McCartney-Emmy nominated., Sarah Michelle Gellar-won the Emmy, Colin Egglesfield, Kim Delaney, and Lindsey Price.  There have been multiple other Emmy winners through-out the years!

And, so it ends.  More than just a TV show, I think it all comes down to the characters and the writing.  I think those of us that attempt good writing, certainly recognize and appreciate it when we see it…I mean, read it !  This show has that and has has inspired many.  Which I believe is the key to its longevity.

I must say, though, that I hate to see ABC cut this show when it has continual good rating and so many loyal viewers.  They are replacing it with some dumb show called The Chew.  Just what we need, another show to tell us how to cook.  I’m afraid ABC has lost this viewer for that hour.  Even though I do not enjoy cooking and food related shows anyway…I would not watch it just on principle.  They killed AMC, so The Chew can go on without me.

I’ll miss it.  I’ve watched for a big portion of this life…and it has been around as I have grown and matured.  Thanks for the memories, and the lessons, and the fun!

Here is an excerpt of an article written by Susan Lucci recently.

(Recent information indicates that several of the long-time characters on the show will attempt to continue the storylines on a daily internet show.

I do not enjoy most reality shows.  In fact I hardly ever watch them, unless it is truly a group of talented contestants involved.  I have enjoyed watching So You Think You Can Dance for 8 seasons.  It is amazing (as I’ve attested to you before).  These young people have put years of hard work into their craft.  I always look forward to watching.  And, they are truly judged on merit.  American Idol…not so much.  It seems to have become more of a popularity contest.  I did like the new judges, but the show became more and more risque last year…and quite inappropriate for children…who happen to love it!  Now if I watch at all it is when it gets down to the final 5.  Dancing With the Stars…EHHH…It’s OK.  But, I think they are really stretching it with the ‘stars’ bit.  It is nice to see the ones who truly try and become more skilled each week.

Then all those’ surviving in the jungle’ shows, and the ‘find a boyfriend on national tv and go on to have a meaningful relationship’ and vice versa…are the pits.  And, the losing weight shows, and the ‘getting knocked in the water by big scary looking contraptions’ are quite inane.  And then there is the ‘do this impossible thing in a minute’ show, and the newest one to hit the air, ‘It’s Worth What?’  I watched it once, actually I was in a place where it was on and I couldn’t leave.  If I could have, I would have slapped that television off before anyone could see me.  I tell you this, if I ever have to hear that man say, “It’s worth what?” again in this lifetime…..I will have to have my head examined, cause I’ll have lost my mind!!!!

But, FEAR NOT!  my fellow tv watchers…all is not lost.  There is hope for all of us who appreciate real talent.  There is hope for all of us who appreciate good music.  There is hope for those of us who appreciate the technic and the subtle nuances in a quality musical performance.

Here is what NBC has to say about the show…along with the website you can go to to find out more if you are interested.

Now, if you are not familiar with this type of music, you will be surprised when you hear it for the first time.  It sounds like the music you hear everyday…complete with accompianment.  But, look around…there is no orchestra.  There is no band.  There is no lone pianist or guitarist.  All the sounds of the instruments are made by members of the vocal group.  Believe me, when you hear it the first time, you will not believe there are no instruments.  Last year the winners were a gospel group from Sweet Home Alabama!  They were a group of young, black men and were fabulous!

There are big groups, small groups, college fraternities, groups from the workplace…young and old.  It is just a delight to watch.  Watch it for a few weeks and see if you don’t really enjoy it.  This, to me, is music at its best.  Now, it is a reality show…so there is voting off and leaving the show to have to watch.  But, last year, each group had composed their own ‘farewell’ song…and sang it as they left the stage after being voted off.  Very nicely done.

There is so little quality television now.  It seems every show has gotten to be too filthy to watch…especially in a group.  But, The Sing-Off is totally safe to watch with your whole family…(Unless something changes from the last 2 years…and you never know, in television.)

Shows on Monday night at 8:00/7:00 central, starting September 19.  I’d love to know how you like it.

Here we go…more memories.  This first one is a step back, then a jump forward.

JULY 1980

This was a day of fairy tales.  This was a day of magic.  This was a day when girls the world over could say, “It’s true, it’s true!  You really can meet a prince and fall in love and get married.  You can wear a real tiara and live in a castle.  You really can.”  And even though I was 27 years old, I watched and was mesmerized.  As the stories were told of the courtship and the engagement and days leading up to the wedding…I felt like the whole of it was a fairy tale.  And, I was getting to watch it play out!  [I watched it all night long while my family slept.  I had one son and my second child was due in 4 months.]

Honestly, when she arrived and got out  of the carriage and we got our first look at that dress….it was breathtaking.  It was magnificent!  It was perfection.

And, then…all the little children that were attending her in their sweet outfits…just divine!  That was the first time I had seen anyone have all children as attendants, and I understand that is the custom.  As she began walking down the aisle and that train flowed out like a white capped river behind her, I thought it was the most beautiful wedding I had ever seen.

The only thing I didn’t like were her flowers.  Looked like they took every white flower in the garden for the bouquet.  It must have weighed a ton!

And, as the festivities were over many thought that ‘she had it all.  She’d made it!  A commoner (even though she did have a royal bloodline) met a prince (can’t make myself call him handsome).  She married him and went to live in the castle.  And, they lived happily ever after.’    That is the way fairy tales are supposed to end, isn’t it?

AUGUST 1997

I finally got all my boys in bed (now I had 3).  And, I sat down to flip through a new magazine…the television had been left on and I do not even know what was on.  But, the sound bite that plays when a network breaks into a program came on and I looked up to see what was happening.  Princess Diana…car crash….several dead…. taken to hospital….paparazzi.  And, I couldn’t leave the TV.  Again, I watched through the night…waiting to hear if she was dead or alive.  How many others were doing the same thing the world over?  Soon we learned the awful truth.  She was gone.

I’ve often wondered why this affected me.  Not in a big way, but just a sadness at the whole situation.  And, I think it was because the fairy tale was really over now.  Charles and Diana had divorced, but she had remained a public figure and continued her charitable work.  But, now…it all had ended.  And, it is so much the same for so many of us, isn’t it?  We may not be a real true Princess, but our hope and dreams and wishes are just as real…and they, too, may be crushed.  It’s how we react to this that tells our life story.

SEPTEMBER 11, 2001

And, now to the tragedy that is known simply by 2 numbers 9/11.  Everyone knows what it means.  Everyone remembers.  Everyone has stories to tell.  Everyone changed after that day.   I don’t think any of us knew what terrorism really meant and how close it was to our home land.  But, that day taught us many, many lessons.

Do you remember where you were?  Most of us do, if we are old enough.  And, I do, as well.  I had gotten up early that morning because I had a trip planned to Birmingham.  Alex had an appointment with one of his doctors in Birmingham that afternoon.  Joy was going with me this time.  Before I left to go and pick her up, I called my friend, Tina, to tell her something.  She asked me if I had heard the news?  I quickly got off the phone and turned on the TV.  This was after the first plane had hit.  The newscasters were trying their best to report what had happened without panic…but you could see it all over their faces.

I was watching when the second plane hit.  I was dumbfounded.  Newscasters were still saying that the first plane could have been an accident, but after the second plane hit, they reported we were under attack.  UNDER ATTACK?  What did that even mean?  Did you know?  We were not like other nations who had lived with attacks and threats for many years…they knew what it meant.  I didn’t.  I could remember, vaguely, when there were ‘fallout shelters’ located around town.  But, I had no idea what to do if we were ‘under attack’.

I got in the car with Alex and went to get Joy.  And, then we went over to Mom and Pop’s house to decide what to do.  I called Don, and he said he thought I should go on…”Life goes on”, he said.    We turned on the TV and all sat watching…and then there was a third plane crash into the Pentagon.

I felt very uneasy about traveling anywhere.  I just wanted to stay home and watch the news.  Soon the news went back to New York where the towers were collapsing.  People were jumping.  Jumping to certain death.  When I see these people huddled next to the windows, it tears my heart in two.

I think they probably thought they were going to be rescued.  The tower surely wouldn’t collapse.  It was too strong for that.  Safeguards were in place.  When the first tower fell, what did those in the second tower feel?  Did they know then?  Did they know there was little hope? How unthinkable.

We heard then that all flights had been cancelled throughout the country.  WOW…that was big!  And, then the news told us that towns and cities were imposing curfews.  Stores and shops were closing, schools were closing and kids were coming home to parents…the world seemed to be ‘closing down’.

And, next came the news about Flight 93…

We heard of the telephone calls and we heard the actual voices of those who knew where they were headed.  We heard the voices of those who decided they would not go down without a fight.  They would fight for right as long as they had breath.  Heroes all!

Would this be the end?  Four tragedies, one after another.  Was this it?  Or were there more attacks to come?  What were we supposed to do?

And, I called Don again and he said, Go”.  I asked Pop, and he said, ” Go on with what you need to do.”  I asked Joy what she wanted to do.  She said we needed to go on.  I called the Clinic in Birmingham and asked if they were still seeing patients.  The receptionist said,”Of course we are.”  So off we went.

And even though there was no danger here in South AL., we didn’t know that.  And what we did know was that there had already been 4 attacks, and the President said we were “Under attack.”  So, it took a great deal of courage for us to drive 200 miles north to the largest city in AL.  But, we did.

Joy and I always liked to stay at a certain hotel in Birmingham.  It was the one that was connected to the  big Galleria mall.  Usually, Don would say ‘no’ because it was too expensive.  It was very convenient for us because Alex could stay in the room and we could easily check on him.  Plus, we could take our heavy packages to the room while shopping.  The last time I made reservations, Don had said we could stay there.  And, that time was this time.

We went on to our appointment, and noticed that quite a few of the individual doctors offices were closed. The parking deck for the clinic was as empty as I have ever seen it.   There was very little traffic on the road, and according to the radio…there were no rooms available in the city.  Travelers on planes were forced to find a room and stay in the city.    Those who travelled by car throughout the state on business had to get off the roads.    Thankfully we had a reservation.  We made it to the room…got Alex settled…and went into the Galleria.  We really didn’t feel like shopping, and we wanted to get to the television and see what was happening.   Every single store and food vendor was either closed or closing by 6:00, due to the early curfew.   We did manage to find some food available.  We got it to go…and we spent our evening in the room…watching the TV…and thinking that we really wished we were home.

We got up early the next morning, and headed to Dothan.  Things were moving a little more and we were able to find some food at Mc D. and gas for the car.  We turned toward Dothan and didn’t stop till we got here.  For several days, every one was glued to the TV…and no one went anywhere they didn’t have to go.

But, 3 days later…Don had a meeting to attend in California.  He had already made his flight reservation before 9/11.  He went to the airport and got on the plane and flew to California.  I tried to talk him out of it, but he said, “Life is happening all the time.  If God is ready for me…I’m ready for Him.  If not, then He will protect me.”  And off he flew.  And, home he came.

And, we all changed that day.  We learned things we never knew before.  It brought a new and different fear into our lives.  We now knew what ‘UNDER ATTACK’ meant.  And, we were taught to always be cautious and to look at others with a suspicious eye.  And forever we were different.  And, that is NOT a good thing.

God Bless America

————————————————————————–

I tried to write the preceding without too much opinion…but, I feel compelled to add the following observations:  Personally, I was very thankful there was a man the caliber of George Bush leading us at this time.  I trusted him and I knew he trusted God.  There was always such talk that he did too much of this or not enough of that, he did this well, but really messed up in that.  My feeling is this…he was the first president in modern times to deal with war coming right into our streets from such vile terrorists.  No one had given him a handbook to study.  He and his advisers figured it out…put safeguards in place…and kept us safe.  He did a masterful job, if you ask me.

I also thought Rudy Giuliani was a leader who showed a heart of compassion and a leadership skill that rallied the whole of NYC…and impressed the whole country.

I am flabbergasted by airline travelers who are raising such a ruckus over screening procedures these days.  What part of ‘this is for your own benefit’ can they not understand?  They get better screening procedures and the women yell, ‘they can see my boobs on that machine!’  Well big WOO!.  I don’t care if they can see my boobs…I certainly wouldn’t be flashing them in public…but, if the woman before me had some sort of weapon taped under her boobage…I would sure hope they could see that, too.  Frankly, I feel the x-ray machine operator who is reading the scan cares very little about any body part…he’s too busy looking for explosives and the like.  It’s a job, people.   I imagine after you see thousands in a day, they kind of lose their appeal…(at least while on the job.)  While I’ve flown enough to get a mite aggravated at the shoes off and the opening of my suitcases and looking through everything…touching my stuff and getting it out of order…even getting patted down—I would not dare open my mouth to complain!  In fact, I go out of my way to say ‘thank-you’ to those officers I come in contact with.  Once when Alex had to go through with his wheelchair, they practically took the whole thing apart, and then didn’t know how to get it back together.  They kept wanting him to stand for the pat down and he kept falling, which didn’t please them.  We finally got them to understand that he had to hold on to something to stand still.  Then, his shoes had to come off…and sox…which took about 15 minutes to get all back on.  BUT…all that was to be sure that all the other people traveling that day were safe.  I must not complain about our inconvenience, when others are being inconvenienced as well.  So, travelers..whatever they throw at us, as far as safety precautions…JUST DO IT!  Don’t make snide remarks and bang around making the rest of us uncomfortable…JUST DO WHAT THEY ASK…..OR TAKE A BUS!  I actually think they should just kindly escort those who complain and act the fool, out the door to a waiting bus and drop them off at the Greyhound Bus Station!