Mr. Tate

Linda handed me an article from our newspaper this morning.  I think she expected me to read it so I did.  It was about the writer’s former friends who had contributed so much in his life.  I was impressed so much that I all of a sudden started thinking about the special ones in my life.  So for the next few blogs I would like to introduce you to some very special people in my life.  They will not be in any order so don’t look for your name just yet.

            The first one who came to mind was Mr. Tate.  He was a teacher at the high school I attended.  He also coached the basketball team.  Since I was not a particularly good student and was far too short to play basketball why would I ever remember him?  Well I am going to tell you.  Our school had a football team for runts who were not big enough or smart enough to play on the varsity team called the Peapickers.  Mr. Tate coached that team.  And I played on it.  Well maybe not played on it but I did have a uniform.  I was in the ninth grade and was still one of the smaller players.  But Mr. Tate took me under his wing.  He taught me how to pass, how to run, (he said one could run faster if someone were after him) and most of all how to think on the field.  He even made me a quarterback and he let me play in every game.  It was a wonderful year for me and I will ever be grateful to Mr. Tate for that.  He called me the “brains” of the team, a nickname that still some call me to this day.

            But good times pass.  I learned that if I wanted to play football anymore I would have to make the varsity team in my junior year.  So armed with all of my peapicker success I went out for the varsity.  Those guys were really big.  And they tackled really hard, too.  I was what one might call a fourth team runt quarterback.  But because Mr. Tate told me to, I stayed trying well into my senior year.  So in the last two years in high school I was only allowed to play in one game.  We were already ahead thirty points when the coach told me to go in.  Mr. Tate served as assistant coach that year and I will always believe that it was he who conned the head coach into letting me play that time. I got to play the entire last half. 

            This story is not about me so why have I said so much.  Well it is because of Mr. Tate.  When the head coach told me to go into the game Mr. Tate come up to me and said something that still stays with me today.  He put my helmet on my head and while be beat on one side of it (he always did that when he talked to me) he said in his kindest way, “Brains, get in there and go like a red ass spider!”

            I went into the game laughing.  I knew that nobody was expecting anything great out of me so I had nothing to lose. But Mr. Tate was expecting great things from me.  And somehow I believed him then. And it occurred to me:  All I had to do was go like a red ass spider.  I hardly remember all that happened while I played but I never forgot the words of a real friend and coach who believed in me and let me know it. Many times in my life when I was faced with hard decisions or questionable work to do I shut my eyes and remember those words of encouragement. 

            I would really like to be a good writer.  It may be unlikely but I can try by going at it like a red ass spider. Thank you, Mr. Tate!

            One of the biggest thrills to me when I was in the Navy was each day when the American flag was lifted into the air.  I would feel free and happy knowing that I was always able to think the way I wanted in the land where I was given to live.

            So when I got married years later and Linda and I moved to Florida we both decided that we wanted a flag in our front yard.  For the past forty years or so each day I have been able to go into our front yard and raise the flag.  We have a ring of flowers around the pole and it is visible from four streets that have a lot of traffic.  

            All of that just so I can share this story:

            Many times during the raising people driving by will wave or honk their horn or shout a thank you.  Sort of makes it worthwhile, doesn't it?  Once a truck driver stopped his truck (blocking traffic), got out, and stood at attention with his hand over his heart while the flag went up.  Nobody honked at him.  I thought that maybe there would never be a better flag tribute than that. 

            But there was.

            Last week I went out as I always do to raise the flag.  Across the street there were a dozen or so children about middle school age waiting for the school bus.  Some had parents with them. When the flag started up I glanced over to see all of the children standing in a row at attention, each one with a hand over the heart.  The parents were standing behind them the same way.  Then when the flag reached the top of the pole one girl stepped out and began to say in a loud voice:

I pledge allegiance to the flag of the

United States of America,

And to the republic for which it stands

One nation UNDER GOD indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

            

             Then all of the ones waiting for the bus began to applause. I stepped back, threw them a kiss, and applauded them back. I wiped away my tears and went back into my house, proud that I am an American and proud of the families who are still teaching their children not to forget God.

See you again soon!

           

            

John

           One of the finest things about visiting Kentucky in the summer is each morning J.T. arrives at my house promptly at eight AM and we go off to the local Dairy Queen for breakfast. There we meet the great number of guys I call the Liars Club.  They are mostly farmers coming in from an already full day’s work.  Some are retired workers who now enjoy riding their motorcycles.  And then there are some who just arrive.  I don’t know what they do otherwise.  But all seem happy about something.  They enjoy playing tricks on each other and laughing about it.  Then as time goes by they have a tendency to seriously try to settle world problems.  Politics are a lot of fun.  Nobody agrees with anybody.  Religion rarely comes up because I am certain there would be a fight involved if it did.

            Jerry is one everyone seems to like.  He works for the local high school and does something there for their athletics.  I don’t know what. He comes in all dressed up for work and I don’t know why about that either.  He never goes to work until mid morning.  I sort of envy his job, whatever it is.  Jerry is one of those nice guys who probably has been educated beyond his intelligence and seems to understand math better that most of the others.  So once a week he explains to everyone all about the lottery.  He makes it sound good so after a short period of time he talks most of us into trying our luck.  We all know the odds are against us but it is hard to say no to Jerry.  After he collects our money he leaves to buy the tickets.  We all agree to share the winnings, mostly because that gives us something to talk about after Jerry leaves.  You know.  What are you going to do with the money if we win? Each one .has his own private wants that he is excited to talk about.  As for me I told them that I would pay it on my bills as far as it would go.  One man (I can’t tell you his name) told us he planned to get himself a new wife.  Several talked about new cars or motorcycles or new houses.  One farmer said he would get a new tractor because he was tired of plowing behind his tired old mule. One of the women who worked there said that she would buy the Dairy Queen and fire that son of a bitch she worked for now.

            And then there was John.  He usually just sits and listens to all the stuff everybody else talks about but says very little.  But he had contributed his bet and the winning that week was sixty million dollars.  All of us wanted to know what John was going to do with his money.  You could tell John was thinking.  Jerry had told him that if we won that after taxes and all we would get somewhere around two million apiece.  John scratched his head a bit and then smiled and said, “That is more money than I make in a week!  Why I know just what I am going to do.  First I am going to pay off the entire debt for our church.  Then I am going to get the bills paid for that teenage girl here who just broke her neck over near Canmer.  Then I am going to get Amy (his wife) that dress she wanted last Christmas that we couldn't afford.  Then I think I will send Rocky’s (his neighbor) two boys to college.  They are both really smart but ‘ol Rocky ain’t got the money to send them.”

            All of a sudden everybody stopped talking.  And we all started thinking.  We had all talked about the things we could get for ourselves.  John just wanted to do for others.  And you know the best part.  John had worked hard all of his life without ever really earning much.  His wife saw that he ate well but other than that, John never had anything.  And if the truth were known he was probably the happiest man in the liars club. 

            I hope he wins.  I think I may give him mine.  Or not.

            

JACK

Jack was probably my best friend growing up in Madisonville, Kentucky.  We played in the woods with the snakes and lizards, were in Boy Scouts together, played sports together, and yeah, we got in trouble together.  Then off to college and all the parts of later life so we don’t see much of each other anymore.  That’s a pity, too.  We have a lot of stories to tell now that we would rather not have told back then.  But we still sort of keep in touch.  We send Christmas cards and call on the phone maybe twice a year, but our lives took an alternate route.  He became a bigwig with Alcoa Aluminum while I never amounted to anything.  I think we both expected that, though. 

            Jack retired at an early age after a very successful work life.  He bought himself an island off the coast of Michigan and Canada and built a house on it.  When he first was there he told me that his wife always went with him and stayed until it got too cold. Then she returned to their place in the Carolinas, leaving him there.  It was just him and the bears I was told. I asked him what he did up there and he informed me that he was very happy there and that every day he could go swimming.  I shivered when he told me that.  When he told me the water temperature I about fainted.  He kept calling me and inviting me up.  I seriously thought about it until I remembered the cold water.  We swam a lot as kids but I never remembered chipping ice to do it.  I guess I could go up there, sit in front of the fire and read or watch him swim out of the window, but I have no desire to get into that kind of water.   

            The last time he called he had quite a story to tell.  I know it is true because Jack doesn’t lie. So I thought I would share it here.  He knows I am writing about it but he may not realize that it is on a blog. And here it is, just like he told it to me.  If you know me you may think at this point that I am usually willing to embellish things that I write. I plan to send him a copy and I almost know what he will say:  “That is not at all what happened.  And after I told him word for word exactly what happened.”  Well, Jack, my take on the story might be even better.  Who knows?

            It was a cold, dark day. (How’s that for a start?)  Jack had just put his wife on the plane to back home.  Jack stopped by the local town grocery store, picked up food needs and anything else he could think of, and started back to the island home.  He had chosen one of his smaller boats for this quick trip because it would be easier for one person to handle when being alone. The trip to the island was not particularly a long one so he was able to sit back and simply enjoy the ride.  As he neared the island he was noticing the beautiful views of the area.  Off in a distance he admired another island quite a distance from his.  He thought about what he knew about that island.  It was probably inhabited by early Indians.  But he wasn’t really sure because he had never seen anyone coming from there.  Maybe nobody lived there.  But it surely was a pretty island.  As he was about to reach his dock a sudden wind came up.  Jack’s boat turned sideways and banged into the dock. The floating dock pitched and caused the boat to flip.  Jack tried to jump to the dock but the boat surged away causing him to drop into the freezing water.  That was when he hit his head on the edge of the dock, causing him to pass out. 

            Some time went by and Jack came to, wondering what had happened.  The first thing he noticed was that the water was now pink.  He felt his head and could feel the blood flow.  Jack’s first thought now was, “I’m going to die.  I am in the water and I do not have the strength to get out. And anyway, I am going to bleed to death.  That is if I don’t freeze to death first.” His thoughts turned to his head hurting, which may have been worse that the cold water.  It was almost at the point where one gives up completely when he saw what he thought was a dream.  He looked up out of the water to see a man in a canoe.  The man looked sort of like what he thought the Indians from the next island might look like but he couldn’t be sure because he had never seen anyone from there.  But this was not a time to be choosey.  The angle man looked down at him and whispered, “Do you need help?”  Jack thought about just explaining to him that he was just out for a swim but decided that he had better be nice.  Jack raised his hand and the man took it, pulling him out of the water as Jack’s boat went scooting out away from the dock. The helper had managed to get on the dock without letting go of Jack’s arm and finished pulling him on to the dock.  Jack could still not walk so the man carried him into his house.  It was a small man carrying a large man but somehow the helper seemed to be all right with it.  When they were in the house the man quickly found towels that he used to stop Jack’s bleeding.  Then he wrapped him in some blankets and placed him near the fireplace.  He built a fire and when he was certain Jack would be all right he started out.  Jack tried to stop him.  He told him he wanted to pay him for his deed.  The man just smiled, turned and left.  Jack was too exhausted to argue so he simply shut his eyes and slept.

            It was some time before Jack awoke.  Although he was moving at a snail’s pace he wandered over to the window and looked out, hoping to see the one who had helped him so. There was no sign of him.  He looked out at the lake and still no sign.  His helper had vanished.  He then wondered what had happened to his boat with all of his foods in it. He turned and the first thing he noticed was the food he had bought along with all the other stuff was neatly placed on the kitchen table.  He also remembered that his head was still hurting.  So as he walked over to see if he could find at least an aspirin he glanced out of the window.  His boat was correctly tied to the dock with all the boat parts put in place on the shed.  Who was this man?  Where did he come from?  Why didn’t he want pay for what he had done? 

            Jack says that he thinks these questions will never be answered.  I told him that I thought it was an angel.  He said that I might be right because he has once gone to a church but couldn’t remember when.  He did say he thought it may have been a Baptist church, though. 

            If you have read this entire story you probably have wondered if Jack ever went over to that other island.  Well he definitely has.  Several times, and he says that nobody seems to live there at all.  He still searches for that unknown man who probably saved his life.  I think I might go visit him now.  It seems to be a safer place than I thought.  And by the way: I didn’t make this up.  I am usually a liar but this time it is the truth.   

DOLLY

Well, she’s back.  It was a few weeks ago when we first saw her.  I am always amazed when I see some of the beautiful creatures God has given us.  But I guess I should back up and tell the whole story.

It was early morning.  Linda and I were reading our morning worship literature when I was being thankful for all the beautiful things that we have every day to enjoy.  It was then when I looked out of the window into our back yard.  And there she stood.  A solid white bird standing nearly four feet tall, not making a move, but carefully looking for something to eat.  It would take very small steps that were hardly noticeable until she spotted exactly what she was looking for at which time she would send her long sharp beak to quickly swallow it up.  She then would look up at us as if to say, “I got it!” After a few feedings she would fly over to our pool and stretch her long, long neck over so as to get a drink of water.  It was like watching animal kingdom on television. 

We watched her for what seemed about thirty minutes until she looked up and saw us watching her.  That ended the show for the day.  She spread her giant wings and flew over our house.  We sat there awed.  What kind of bird was she?  Was she even a she?  We are not birds so we couldn’t tell.  I am pretty sure that other birds know, however.  All we were certain about was that she was beautiful so she should have been a she.

There were other questions, too.  Where did she go?  Where was her nest.  Did she have a family and were there others like her?  And most of all: Would she ever be back? 

We will always wonder about most of our questions but we got our answer to the last one the next day.  She was back.  But this time we knew more about her.  You see the Palm Beach Post had her picture in the paper the next day.  It was a Great White Egret and was seen near the Earman River.  We wanted to write to the Post and tell them that she loved being in our back yard but we thought that might be a little braggy so we didn’t.  But it must be true.  She has been back every morning since except two we are not sure about.  One day while she was out there someone set off a firecracker and scared her.  She flew off and wasn’t back for a couple of days.  We thought we had lost her forever.  And we were sad about it.  After all we had adopted her and even named her Dolly.  That was so we could sing Hello, Dolly each day when she arrived.  We honestly thought that she would never be back. 

Yesterday morning.  Linda stood up and shouted, “There she is!”  I knew right away what she meant and I quickly stood up to see for myself.  And there she was, in all her splendid beauty.  It was our Dolly.  And she again comes back each morning.  I think she comes just to say hello to us because she thinks we are special.  Somebody must think that because we are blessed with that gift from God each day.  

We are truly blessed.  Isn’t life wonderful?  Let’s share that thought!

Gene: The Man

Computers are wonderful things.  In fact I do spend a lot of time fooling with the things.  Most of the time it is because something has gone wrong with it.  I will say this however.  The thing that just happened tops anything I have ever seen before.  I opened it up just like I always do.  And while it was booting all of a sudden a notice appeared on the screen saying that it was running a scan.  I didn’t think much about that.  I just thought that maybe that was normal.  But after a while a message came up saying that I had twenty-nine threats and it needed to be fixed RIGHT NOW.  So I punched the button that promised to fix it.  I never should have done that.  It then said that before it could be fixed I would have to register it, and then it took me to the screen where that could be done.  It first wanted me to send them sixty dollars. Now nobody has ever accused me of being overly smart but I did recognize this as a scam. 

So I immediately clicked on my security program expecting to get the thing out of my computer.  But lo and behold a message popped up saying that my security program was one of the threats.  Then I went from one program to another and (you are not going to believe this) I got the same message on every one of them.  Talking about a mess.  I knew that I had been had.  So I did what all smart people do.  I turned off the computer, cussed a lot, and went and told Linda she must have done something wrong.  That wasn’t too smart, either.  First of all she never touches a computer.  Second of all I already knew what the problem was and also knew that it was above what I could fix.  I was most worried about how much it was going to cost to get it fixed.  You see I am known for my frugality.  I’m just cheap!

So there I sat!  I couldn’t get my email.  I couldn’t get on the Internet.  I couldn’t pay my bills because I do that online.  (Maybe that wasn’t so bad)  I couldn’t find out what my granddaughter was doing on Facebook.  I couldn’t even play freecell. What do people do when they don’t have a computer? 

All this brings me to the best act of kindness since Bob.   I was talking to Jim and he said that I should talk to Gene.  He said that Gene knew everything there was to know about computers.  Beside that, Jim said that he had just had the same thing happen on his computer and Gene fixed it.  That was all I needed to hear.  So I talked to Gene. It was obvious that he knew all about what was wrong so I asked him to fix mine.  And he did.  He explained how that sort of thing just comes up without warning.  Nobody knows where it comes from and what happens to the sixty dollars after you pay it because your computer is still left in that unheard of state after you pay.  And there is no way to trace where the payment went.  I think it goes to the Federal Government but I can’t be sure. 

But Gene is a genius.  He took my computer home and ridded it of that scam.  He had to go all the way into the registry and whip it clean. And that is not an easy thing to do.  He gave me a list of things that I still had to do but it was all normal stuff.  And now it works fine.  Until it happens again. 

So as you are sitting there reading this the little guy that lurks in your computer may be getting it ready to put you into orbit. Too bad I promised Gene that I would never reveal his real name to anybody. 

But you will have to agree:  Gene is a true friend and there is a special place in Heaven for him.

Love ya!

The Sad Notes

You may never have heard of the Sadnotes.  That is because we are really the Gladnotes.  Never heard of them, either?  Well, it is a fine singing group made up of elderly singers who enjoy singing to even more elderly people.  We go to nursing homes or retirement centers or other such places where most of the people there are ones who are alone in the world.  Nobody much touches them.  Or gives them a hug or kiss.  Or tells them they are loved.  Most are homeless and ill.  Some just sit and stare at nothing in particular, seemingly just waiting to die. 

So once a week we gather and put on our show.  It is all worth it when we see one trying to sing along or smile a bit.  When we are through singing we usually try to go to every one and hold their hands or give them a hug.  We try to laugh with them if they will let us.  Then we leave giving thanks for the wonderful life we are still able to enjoy while wishing there were more we could do to give them even a little bit of joy.

It is difficult to tell just how much I enjoy singing with this group.  There are not many soloists in the group but we all make a joyful noise.  So now let me share with you one very special time with the Sadnotes:

We had just finished our routine and were about to greet all we could.  I had watched an elderly woman while we sang.  She sat still with her head sort of bowed.  Her lips were moving and I thought I could see her singing along with us.  I watched as she tapped her fingers on her armchair as if she were playing a piano along with us.  At the end of each song she would slightly look up and I thought I could see tears running down her cheeks.  When we were done singing I went to her and reached for her hand.  She looked at me with the smile of an angel.  I asked her if she would mind standing up.  She wanted to know why so I told her I wanted a hug.  She stood no, hopped up and threw her arms around me sort of like a mother hugs a loving son.  And we stayed like that for a long time.  After several minutes we parted and I stepped back just in time to see a beautiful set of eyes glowing while tears were running down her cheeks. 

“Young man,” she said. (I am almost eighty years old.)  “I cannot remember the last time anyone hugged me.  As a matter of fact nobody ever even touches me anymore.  And you hugged me as if you really wanted to.  You showed me love and heaven knows people my age need that.  Thank you for caring.”

I kissed her on the cheek and told her I loved her.  I told her that we were both God’s children so we were sort of brother and sister.

I hope as you read this you do not think I am trying to toot my own horn trying to make you think I am some kind of special person.  I am not. 

But the people we sing to are!

It has been a while since I told you that I love you but I still do.  Come back soon.  We will be joyful together.