Twists and Turns!
I think that I was born…old!
As a child I, regularly, related to adults, better, than my peers.
My pastor told me that I had an old soul…I was seventeen at the time.
When I was young…I felt much older…and now that I am old…I feel the same.
Each year, during the early years of our marriage, I said that we should do our best to enjoy it…as it may be the best year of our lives!
If we could see the end…from the beginning…we might not take the ride!
Life brings us a sublime mixture of joy and sorrow….and we can not, always, see which is coming our way…next.
So many of life’s occurrences are beyond our control. With our best efforts health challenges will, ultimately, come our way.
Sometimes, life partners…do not remain…until, ‘death do you part.’
Fortunes are won…and fortunes are lost.
The inherent and mysterious and majestic beauty of life…is the uniqueness and fragility of it…much like a snowflake!
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We are born into a world without any life skills and helpless! It is a miracle that, with God’s help, we become adults and husbands and wives and mothers and fathers!
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Never allow someone to tell you that you can not do something! Anything that you can conceive…you can achieve!
I admire those who have known great suffering…and yet do not allow that suffering to define who they are.
I admire the lonely…who reach out to make others feel included!
I admire the sick and the frail…who, continue, to put one foot in front of the other to provide for their families.
I admire the servant leader…who seeks the betterment of everyone that they lead…and who prefers to remain in the background and remain nameless.
On the road of life there are, beautiful mountains…much like my beloved Smoky Mountains…and there are, very dim and dark, valleys.
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When we are on the mountain top…we can see so far, and in all directions. We laugh , heartily, and we cry tears of joy! The excitement of the moment and the brightness of the sun…blocks the clouds of despair and suffering and rejection.
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However, the nice part about being in the valley…is the sight of the mountain top…when we look up! Worry…can cloud our mind and capture our heart…until we once again…begin climbing the mountain!
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Read Your Life Away
Please enjoy a wonderful blog by Jonathon Brooks!
A new year has arrived. With all new Januarys I set my reading goal for the year on my goodreads page. In 2019 I am aspiring to read 30 books. I’m a fortunate fellow with a home full of books because of my father’s love of them along with my love as well. In 2018 my book goal was 30 and I finished at 41.
What is it I like to read? Honestly, I’m a fan of all sorts of different stories. Young adult literature is some of the finest writing I’ve discovered. These stories tackle the tough stuff of growing up. I enjoy inspirational books from theology to overcoming mental health issues. I like graphic novels. A good kids book can make me smile and lighten my heart. Love stories that end happily ever after give me hope. What I enjoy reading is as eclectic as life itself.
I…
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Living on the Margins
Have you ever found yourself waiting on pay day?
Along with waiting on pay day; you notice that the cub-bard is bare and the car needs gas and an oil change…and the rent/mortgage is due!
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Most of us plan a budget to successfully navigate the financial pitfalls that come our way. Often there is not enough money for the month!
How must the 800,000 federal employees feel… that are currently, either on furlough or working without pay, due to the over two week, partial, government shutdown?
TSA staff are calling in sick, in mass, in several large airports…for a variety of reasons. Many are seeking, cash jobs, on the side, to put food on the table.
TSA are the folks that keep us safe in airports! Our president would have us in a panic regarding our southern border…while he fails to pay the, federal professionals, that are commissioned in the profound profession of ensuring that terrorist do not board our airlines…which is where it all began on 9/11!
The president, said today, that he was willing to keep the government shut-down for months or a year…if necessary!
Perhaps we are failing to ‘see the forest for the trees?’
When I was still working at the university, a chancellor announced that she was going to furlough, faculty and staff, for seven days during the fiscal year. This was to protect, junior, employees in all positions from either being laid off or dismissed.
Now, the university had, real and significant, financial challenges..and I supported the furloughs…but a statement that she made, illustrated to me that she had little understanding or empathy for the civil service staff that would be furloughed, the bulk of which being scheduled for the Christmas Season, when she made the statement that she had done the same money saving measure at a previous university; that she had served as provost at…and, ‘that no one died, because of the furlough.’
I served on the chancellor’s planning and budget committee, that she chaired, and felt, compelled, to remind the, esteemed group, that many civil service staff lived on the margins and that some qualified for food stamps and that they would have difficulty purchasing food and or heat for their homes…and that, certainly, there would be little or no Christmas for their children and grandchildren!
After I made, my statement of truth to power, you could have heard a pin drop! The chancellor stared at me with an icy glare…for upwards of a minute…before continuing!
Executive decisions have real life consequences for regular people!
‘If you earn 32 thousand, after tax a year you are inside the global 1% in terms of income.’ Quora
It is a myth that there are, so many people making fabulous money!
Vice President Pence and several top government officials are scheduled to receive $10,000.00 pay raises next week.
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Life!
I read, the other day, that we are all terminal…we just do not realize it!
Another year has begun, and the, predominate idea in my mind is, do not sweat the small stuff!
I believe that if someone gave you a million dollars on January the 1st…you would be ecstatic with the joy of what you could accomplish in 2019!
The gift of life, has value that can not be measured. We have before us a year to make those we meet, feel loved and cared for and an important part of the world!
My, good friend, mentioned to me that she was so impressed with openness and friendliness of, SIU, chancellor John Dunn.
I reflected on what she told me and considered that the most successful university leaders that I have met…had the ability to project to me that I was important to them and to the success of SIUC.
It seems that we have substituted being, busy, for living a meaningful life?
We just left the, maximum overdrive, holiday of the year; Christmas! There are parties to attend and gifts to purchase and decorations to place…and then to take down…and there is a hollowness at the back of our eyes…in our exhaustion…as we return to, regular order, and wonder where the spirit of Christmas hid…this year?
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So much of the human family are lonely. We look, desperately, for another person to connect with…a friend…a fellow human being who cares enough about us to…listen…without advice or judgment.
It has been said that, ‘happiness is a warm puppy!’ Indeed, we love our dogs because of their, unfailing, dedication and love for us…often when we are unlovable!
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For many years, I shopped at Famous and Barr department store..both in St. Louis and, later, in Carbondale. Many of the attendants in the store, knew me by name and welcomed me each time that I walked through the store. Famous may have been more expensive, at times, but I felt like that it was my store…and I was comfortable there…and I shopped there often.
The author, Robert A. Caro, wrote a, little book entitled, On Power, regarding what he had learned regarding how power is obtained and how it is used…often for good.
Mr. Caro noted that, former president Lyndon Johnson, was referred to as the person who brought the light to Johnston City, Texas…during his time as a United States Congressman.
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Johnson was able to bring electricity to his home town, of slightly over 300 residents, of Johnston City by ingratiating himself to president Franklin D. Roosevelt, who liked Johnson, and subsequently ordered the fiscally irresponsible order of running electrical lines through the many miles of Texas hill country, to Johnston City.
Now, after the ‘light’ came to Johnston City…his fellow, hometown residents, loved him!
I wonder if we could bring some, ‘light’, to our neighbors who are; depressed, or sick, or who have lost a loved one, or who have had a life reversal?
I have been to several countries and continents…yet I remember the people that I interacted with…much more than the beautiful architecture and landscape.
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Many people that commit suicide…would have not done so…if there had been someone to listen and care!
What Will 2019…Bring?
You must forgive a 61 year old…but is seems like yesterday that we were entering a new century!
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Do you remember the Y2K fears?
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I have known of religious groups that, totally believed, the human family would not see the year 2000 without the occurrence of the, Biblical, seven last plagues and Armageddon.
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Many, direct their lives on the basis of what a minister or pastor tells them. They seek to fulfill the, purported, god given directives, of humans that proclaim that they are a prophets.
I, at one time, marveled at people, of the 1800’s who lived into the 1900’s and wondered what it would, feel, like to live in two centuries?
I never considered that I would be one of those people!
We were commiserating, this morning, about the, at one time widely accepted rule, of a man removing his hat, or cap, when he entered a building. For a gentleman to wear his chapeau in a classroom, or a restaurant, or a social setting, was verboten!
I recall, on my first day as a member of the First Grade in Eldorado, Illinois at Hillcrest School, that when the roll call was taken, there was another student with the last name of Brooks…Jackie Brooks.
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The first grade teacher, Mrs. Kittinger, asked Jackie, ‘to remove his hat in the house.’
The next day Mrs. Kittinger made the same request of Jackie. And, this exchange, regarding the appropriateness of wearing hats in the house, went on for a week!
When you purchased items at the, Dime Store, the cashier returned your change to you by counting it back to you…without the aid of a computer.
Would it not be nice to hear the words…you are welcome…after you say thank you at a business?
But, life moves forward.
We live in a time of gargantuan possibilities…and extreme peril!
We humans are a proud race! We marvel at our technological accomplishments…and yet millions do not have enough to eat…and many die of malnutrition.
We watched children being separated from their parents at our southern boarder…in the name of security.
Recently, two children have died in our holding facilities due to lack of expeditious medical services.
We debate the verity of science as to the subject of global warming, while the cataclysm of climate change is observed across our planet…and California burns, and the glaciers melt, and the hurricanes become larger and more ferocious and last longer.
We proclaim that we are a christian nation…and yet our idea of Christ’s teachings is to gather with people who look like us and act like us, and who do not vary from the, script, that the minister sets fourth!
We travel and enjoy the blessings of abundance…while the homeless pray nightly for a warm place to sleep and something to eat.
Physical illness…forces us to reflect on our lives. Can spiritual illness…do the same?
I recall, like it was yesterday, wanting a set of World Book Encyclopedias. It seemed to me that if I could own a set of World Books…that I would have the Earth’s knowledge at my finger tips!
When the internet, first, came on the scene, I was ecstatic! It was unbelievable that I could obtain the power of, unlimited knowledge…if I had the patience to wait for the telephone modem to download the page that I was seeking.
So, now, we go into the New Year!
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Hopefully our leaders will seek wisdom in addressing the many problems that we have. Our children should not be afraid to attend school.
Gun violence is, obviously, not the answer.
I wonder, when we die, if we will all meet our creator…and God will say…that we were all members of the same family…and that he had been observing how we interacted with our brothers and sisters and mothers and fathers?
The New Year can be the best if we remove hidden agendas and lies and seek love for our fellow human beings and understanding of their challenges.
We, really are in the time of Dickens, A Christmas Carol, as we must look at our past…and change for the future; for our society, and our neighbors, and ourselves!
So, the decision is in our hands…what do we want for 2019…plagues…or peace?
The Wonder of Travel!
We were reflecting the other day on the many trips that we took, Aaron and Jonathon on, when they were youngsters.
I say, travel all that you can!
My Blog Title is; The Happy Traveler; Reading Earth’s Book…A Page At a Time.
There, simply, is no way to learn more about the human family…than to travel!
I recall the Muslim people, waving at our tour bus in Tunis, Tunisia. We, throughly enjoyed the, sweet cakes, and tea that they served us at a rug weaving, stop, on the tour.
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In Nice, France I encountered the most friendly store clerks that aided me in my search for a hat to block the Mediterranean Sun!
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In London there was the gracious staff at the Hat Store, that not only, happily stretched my hat, that I purchased..but also gave me, aged, bourbon to drink…as I waited.
The wonderful residents of the United Kingdom…that I was privileged to be a part of during my friend, Jeff’s, business meeting…were delightful!
Our waiter in a ristorante in Roma…treated us like family! He made us his special recipe…that was to die for…and he poured us his best Grappa!
Edinburgh…captured my heart! Much of the reason for such a bold statement is the wonderful man that I met the first evening that we were there! He asked me to assist him to stand in an upright position, from his wheel chair, to facilitate his ordering at a counter at the restaurant that we were in. He exclaimed his love for the United States and projected to me…how glad that he was that I was visiting…Edinburgh!
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The, Ghost Tour, in Edinburgh was a highlight of our five day, visit! The young woman that was our guide was an expert in telling the, true, story’s of ghosts and strange occurrences, and her re-counts of the ghastly yarns…brought goose bumps on my flesh!
Often we have stayed with and traveled with our dear friends, Margo and Jeff, which has enhanced our experience exponentially!
We took a United Kingdom Cruise…and the most lovely brunette sisters…were along with their parents! This was not a fact that was lost on Aaron and Jonathon!
During this cruise we visited the island of Guernsey and partook of the ice cream and visited their famous fort…where the cannon was fired at high noon!
One night…I peered into Aaron and Jonathon’s, adjoining cabin, and noticed that they were not there. I proceeded to look for them throughout the ship and, subsequently, found them in the, Ship’s Library, playing board games with the brunettes! I slipped out…quietly.
The little, Princess Ship, the smallest in the fleet, encountered, extremely choppy waters, and the Broadway shows were cancelled due to fear that the performers might be injured, and walking on the ship had to be accomplished by, tightly gripping, the wooden rails along the hallways.
One, especially rough night, the ship seemed to have it’s front raise to a ninety degree angle and then to be, dropped harshly, back into the ocean. It dawned on me…that people die on the ocean…and I became, extremely, seasick…while Mary Jane slept…the sleep of the dead!
The New Year Comes!
Is is just me…or does each years pass more rapidly than the year before?
I was speaking with a dear friend of mine, the other day, and we agreed that some years are memorable…and some you would rather forget.
Health challenges affect us all, and if you do not think that they will, ever knock on your door….just give yourself some time.
A poor health diagnosis is frightening…and I have cried and been scared and prayed and thanked God for mercy…many times!
Another friend told me that, life is a beautiful gift…and yet when looking back…you are shocked on how much of the gift, that you frittered away!
To live each day with a purposeful plan and in humble gratitude for the paramount opportunity…is a goal of mine!
Those who have never known financial want or deprivation or hunger…have difficulty understanding those who do.
Those who have never encountered, significant, illness, often see those who are ill …in the abstract…and with little understanding of how an illness can, completely, alter your life.
Each day in 2019 will afford, each of us, to do something nice for someone else.
Now you may think that you are much to busy for such a altruistic endeavor…but nothing that you could do…will make you feel better about yourself and the world of suffering humanity…that is part of our family!
I have said, over many years, that we should enjoy every blessing and good fortune that comes our way…as each year…may be the best of our lives!
The element that I notice about successful seniors is that they never stop striving and they never stop…doing!
Mission and purpose and goals, keep us young!
‘The hoary head is a crown of glory if it be found in the way of righteousness.’ Proverbs 16:31 KJV
Trying something different is an energizer in life! Whether it be travel or writing or diet or dancing!
Aaron got us a juicer for Christmas. We had one, several years ago, and enjoyed juicing vegetables and fruits…very much! We are excited about re-traveling the road of juicing!
I wonder if we could step outside our mortality and see ourselves and our lives from a, detached, perspective, if we would be, much as Mr Scrooge was in the Dickens Christmas classic, and be rejuvenated and refreshed and renewed in spirit…to live the life that we were meant to live…and to help Tiny Tim?
A Christmas Eve Stroll
I strolled around campus lake last Christmas Eve…and nothing would satisfy me more…than to do so, again, today!
I continue to be amazed at the speed that time travels. It seems like yesterday that I was walking the campus lake trail and pondering what the new year of 2018 would bring?
I thought of our new chancellor, Dr. Montemagno, and had high hopes for what he would bring to our campus.
I thought of President Trump…and prayed that the New Year…would be a good year!
I hoped that Mary Jane would have relief from her back pain and that the physical therapy would do the trick!
I was determined to stay dedicated to writing…and hopefully every day in 2018!
I knew that a Caribbean cruise was upcoming in April, 2018, and I was looking forward to it.
I reflected on how fond I had become of our Pastor, Janice West, and her dedication regarding speaking out on issues of humanity and compassion for all!
I thought about the fact that I had been retired for almost seven years.
I reveled in how much I have enjoyed retirement…and that there are not enough hours in the day for me to accomplish all that I want to do!
I reflected on the university that has been my second family and the department, Building Services, that I spent my entire career in.
I worried about Building Services and the precious people that are dedicated to excellence each day!
I considered what I could do to help the homeless…and those who have no voice.
During 2018 I discovered that there are many fellow church members that love our family and who have come forward to help us during Mary Jane’s back surgery. I have been a church member for fifty years…and I have never experienced the, demonstrated love and concern, that I have witnessed and felt, during the past month!
I have thought, many times daily, of my friend who had a significant health challenge…and her, wonderful family, who have been my friends for over twenty years.
Brody, our fourteen + year old Boston Terrier, has made it to another Christmas…and this is something that we did not think possible…last Christmas!
When I consider God’s blessings I accepted another nomination to the Session, which is the Board of Elders in the local Presbyterian Church. When I look around me, at the church, and see all of he hard working and dedicated members, I must try to give back…in some manner!
The woods is a comfort and a, secure, sign of the permanence of God!
We humans lives are as swift as a weaver’s shuttle.
‘ The Master Weaver’
‘Our lives are but fine weavings,
that God and we prepare,
each life becomes a fabric planned,
and fashioned in his care…
We may not always see,
just how the weavings intertwine,
but we must trust the Master’s hand,
and follow his design.
For he can view the pattern,
upon the upper side,
while we must look from underneath,
and trust in him to guide.
Sometimes a strand of sorrow,
is added to his plan,
and though it’s difficult for us,
we still must understand.
That it is he who flies the shuttle,
it’s He who knows what best,
so we must weave in patience,
and leave to him the rest…
Not till the loom is silent,
and the shuttles cease to fly,
shall God unroll the canvas,
and explain the reason why.
The dark threads are as needed,
in the Weaver’s skillful hand,
as the threads of gold and silver,
in the pattern He has planned.’
Author; Unknown
Campus Christmas
I walked the path around campus lake, today. This is something that I had not done in some time. I had to see the, primarily bare trees of the woods, decorated for Christmas.
When I first began, my trek, I noticed the most lovely white swan. He was sitting, so majestically and still, that I determined that I must have a photo of him/her.
As I raised my camera to take the, prized photo, an Asian couple were approaching me…and the young man was waving at me. I proceeded to, capture, the quiet and dignified swan’s image. When the couple reached me on the trail…the woman said that the swan was not real. They smiled, broadly, and wished me a Merry Christmas!
The, tradition, of decorating the trees along campus lake has been occurring of several years…and it grows each year.
Our beloved university has weathered many challenges. The minimalistic beauty and quiet solemnity of the Christmas tree decorations, that are placed on the trees by many, lovers, of Southern Illinois University at Carbondale…gives me hope for the future.
I was so pleased to hear that Dr. John Dunn has been named as the interim chancellor of our school. I know Dr. Dunn and had many enjoyable conversations with him when he was the interim chancellor at SIU during the previous decade.
Chancellor Dunn is a fair and honest leader and he will seek input from the entire campus community. He has an, easy, demeanor and the ability to project the worth, to the student or the staff member or the member of the faculty, that they bring to the university family!
I was representing the civil service council during Dr. Dunn’s last interim chancellor post…and I told the president of the university that he could do no better than Dr. Dunn…and I knew what I was speaking about as I was a member of the chancellor search committee.
There is a lovely, spiritual, and community feel to the, random, Christmas decorations. Walkers and holiday revelers and people that are connected to SIU and to the, natural, beauty that is so replete on our campus…are adding their token of love to their university!
Christmas Eve
‘Come on Dad…it is just a little farther to the Good Samaritan House, and I hear that they may still have room for people like us,’ said Abigail, as she pulled on her father…who was setting on a, solid, sheet of ice, where he had slipped and fallen…just a few minutes before.
Cars and trucks were whisking by on highway #13, and some were decorated with reindeer antlers, and in many of them there was the, joyous, playing of Christmas Carols.
Dad had fallen just across the street from Schnucks supermarket…and people, gingerly, walked around him as if he was an inanimate object…and not an injured, homeless human.
Dad said, ‘Abigail, please give me just a few minutes to lay down..as I am so tired…and I feel a bit warmer, now.’
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Jalopies and Mercedes passed…and many slowed down to take a closer and quizzical look at the odd aspiration of a man…sleeping on a sheet of ice.
As the, holiday, shoppers entered and exited Schnucks…they, dutifully, placed their loose change, or even a few dollars, in the Salvation Army Kettle…and felt a Christmas warmth in their hearts as they did so.
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The christian minister…passed by…as did the rabbi…and the priest. They were certain that there were people that had been informed of the poor souls plight…and would subsequently be investigating the, terribly sad, matter…shortly.
There was so much to do…and so little time.
There were Christmas gifts to buy…and cookies to bake.
There was the Christmas Eve church service to prepare for…and it was always so touching.
Abigail…stood in the middle of highway #13…and waved her hands…and shouted…and begged…and beseeched…that someone would help her with her, fallen father.
The temperature was 5 degrees.
Finally, a scruffy and, apparently, homeless man…approached Abigail’s freezing father.
The, unkempt, helper…seemed…not up to the task of assisting a fellow, hurting, human being.
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Dad, first sat up and the helper with the long walking stick…sat on the ice with him and talked with him…for some minutes.
Then the helper…gave his friend his arm and slowly he struggled to his feet.
Abigail, had tears in her eyes…and hurried to her Dad’s side…to assist him…and to thank the, wonderful old gentleman, who had helped him.
When Abigail turned to thank the helper of her father…he was gone. She asked her Dad…who he was. He told, his daughter, that, the man said that, he had been watching him to see if anyone would help him…and when no one did…he came to assist.
Dad went on to say that the, mysterious stranger, had instructed him to walk over to Schnucks and to ask the first person that he saw, if he could spend the night at their home…it was Christmas Eve.
Abigail and Dad walked to the Supermarket and encountered an elderly man and wife who were assisting each other into the store.
Dad…humbly asked the couple if he and his daughter could spend the night with them in their home…as they were homeless and seeking shelter from the cold.
The old couple smiled broadly! They recounted that a, homeless man had knocked on their door that, Christmas Eve, morning…and had requested that they give assistance to a, needy, father and his daughter…that day. The man who had made the request, of them, had seemed little qualified to be requesting help for others…as he appeared to be without lodging or food.
But…when they looked into his eyes…they were hypnotic and kind…and they could see the suffering of the world and the hope of tomorrow…in an instant!
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‘For he shall grow up before him as a tender plant, and as a root out of a dry ground: he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him.’ Isaiah 53:2 KJV
The Happy Traveler 