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What age were you when you considered yourself “grown?” I was 16 and just got my driver’s license. I had, sometime back, fallen in love with cars. Especially those with a lot of horsepower under the hood. Dad had one of these “things.” But dad had little confidence in my ability to use one safely. So my ability to get my hands on his car was nil.
Read moreIt was a nice day, that Sunday on December 7 , 80 years ago in Washington, D.C. The warmer than normal weather had caused New England’s famed pussy-willows to bud. The busy DC football stadium was hosting the Washington Redskins and Philadelphia’s Eagles. Strange times. Like this attack on Pearl Harbor, I knew little to nothing about Pearl Harbor. But I was six then at the time.
Read moreThanksgivings are such a special time of the year. For most of us. For me it getting to see my loved ones. Sharing a big Thanksgiving meal and being thankful for one another. This year we planned a biggie. All four of my kids and most of their kids were to show up. All brought food. Lots of it. One grandchild even brought her kid (no we didn’t eat him), greatgrandson named Iggy from Austin, Texas. We were all pretty thrilled with the idea of it all. I don’t really know who all showed up, such is the size of my family, but it was a good crowd.
Read morePreparing is important. I had been told to prepare for the future. Other than preparing for my everlasting soul I thought of other things too. I had consulted a financial advisor several years back and he devised a savings plan and all.
Read moreThanksgiving? Here again? It’s almost stylish these days to say: “Thankful for what?” Well, let’s just look back a bit. One in particular noteworthy year in my life was 1963. Fresh out of college and my military service behind me, things never looked any better. I was glad to have my military service behind me. The hard times of working my way through college had left Pat and me with sighs of relief. A new and first baby boy in our family was for sure a joy. And I was living and working in Ada. How could it get better?
Read moreI was surprised to see that one of my favorite quarterbacks has come down with Covid. I was pretty sure (to myself) last week that I wasn’t going to say anymore about this world-wide pandemic and the number of people who won’t take the shots or wear the masks. Nothing I can do about it, I said to myself. Then comes along Aaron. Well, he really let me down on this.
Read moreI had a lot of company last weekend. A lot of family from across the plain gathered at my house to celebrate the life of my late sister-inlaw, Freda Harry. Freda passed away recently in a Dallas Care Center and remains will be interred in Allen Cemetery at a later date. We loved and we all will surely miss this remarkable lady. Freda’s obituary was published in last week’s Advocate.
Read moreMy mother sometimes got onto me for daydreaming so much. I had a teacher or two over at Stonewall that agreed with her too. She always admonished me to quit my daydreaming. As though one could. Like most people I think I was meant to travel. Go places. Someplace where they speak different languages. Dress funny. Eat weird foods. Places so far away you might need to get on an airplane or a ship to get there. But to get on an airplane means going through x-rays, being patted down. Getting a passport. Well sure. Pat and I, being the forever optimists, renewed our passports some time back. I guess we did want to be squeezed into an uncomfortable seat and be hurtled at speeds at nearly the speed of sound to one of these strange places.
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