Today holds promise. The blue sky is full of fluffy white clouds. July is moving along with purpose. We search for the answers to life’s persistent questions. Our hearts are full of the joy of the past and hope for the future. We remember the trail. We have tales from the trail. There were pitfalls and boulders in our path. Sometimes we held on for dear life. I recall when becoming 40 seemed old. I walked by a mirror we had in our four-room house and looked at the image of the old man staring back at me. He seemed happy and tired. As Neva J said, she was born tired and never got rested. Much of life has felt that way. There were Saluki Football games to attend. Jonathon explained to me how football is played. I enjoyed watching the people in the stands. Once, we attended a University of Illinois Football game and almost froze to death. I have never been so cold. We left early with numb and burning feet.

Christmas produces the fondest memories. Fernie said each year regarding me that I was a man who truly enjoyed Christmas. Fernie and I had the love of Christmas in common. We erected the seven-foot Christmas tree in front of our humongous picture window. It was like a wall of glass. When the curtains were open, the outside world was welcomed into our living room. Jason would knock on our door and ask if the boys could come out and play. They were more than ready for adventure. Aaron and Jonathon wile away hours enjoying the mystery of the Village of Elkville. I sat in the big red recliner in front of the picture window and dreamed of the joys of the holidays that awaited. Fernie sold Avon after her retirement and sold it to MJ and me at cost. I had Avon Cars and other unique decanters that held Men’s Cologne. The decanters were collectors’ items. I had an Avon decanter that was in the shape of a hand that I kept for years. At Christmastime, our little gas furnace would work overtime keeping our abode warm. It was an old house built in the early days of the last century, and there were a lot of cracks. One Christmas, when money was especially tight, I read a book about hunger and was hungry after the Christmas feast had concluded.

In those halcyon days, I was fascinated by the new idea of home computers. We bought a used black and white television to use as a computer monitor for a Texas Instruments computer. I thought I was in Heaven. I home-computed while in between reading chapters from The Hunger Book. We bought our first actual Home Computer from Montgomery Ward one Christmas. It cost two thousand dollars and was good for playing the Oregon Trail and word processing. It was not connected to the internet as the Village of Elkville did not have internet service. That was the year of Nintendo. Nintendo was a miracle. Aaron and Jonathon went to Eldorado to spend several days with Neva J and Earl, as was their custom. MJ and I played Baseball all night until dawn. Technology had sucked us in.

I watched Mike on Sunday at Ron’s Birthday party as he cooked the food for our enjoyment. What a study in quiet power and dignity. He and Tara have raised some wonderful children. Time after time, Mike has impressed me with his great father skills.

An old Christian Hymn is Remind Me, Dear Lord. We are subsumed by the great forgetting. We forget where we came from and who we were. Someone extended a hand of friendship and love to us when we had nothing to offer but goodwill. It is believed that our country will soon suffer from a lack of immigrants. We are an aging nation. I helped Berl roof his new home. Now I seek others to give me an estimate on hail damage. We need to be reminded to be our better selves. I remember the days when Aunt Lauretta and Uncle Merl took me under their wings and appreciated what I had to offer. Merl treated me like a father would a son. I felt warm in my heart and hot on my skin as we were in El Paso, Texas. We visited El Paso many times. MJ and I, and our sons, were treated like the Royal Family. Love does not have to be described. You know it when you feel it.

Somehow, we have forgotten our roots along the way to success. We think everyone eats rib-eye steaks and fillet mignon on the Fourth of July. Did not everyone have the opportunities we had in the world of work? Perhaps we ascribe more to our abilities than to the kindness of strangers. If we let hate take up residence in our hearts, we are lesser for the action. Many of us made the path to success with all of its massive holes and extreme drop-offs to oblivion. Others were not so lucky.