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Thoughts and takes on the way life presents.... |
| Thoughts and takes on the way life presents.... |
| Have you ever heard a song and it immediately brought tears to your eyes? What song was it? Why did it affect like you like it did, was it the song or was it what was happening in your personal life that it struck a cord. The song is : One Hell of an Amen by Brantley Gilbert. The first stanza is about losing a son who is a soldier. the second one is about losing a friend to cancer. Well, both of those are stabs to the heart for me. When I sing along, I change the words to One Big Amen because, Hell is not on the same plane as heaven and no one I love so much should be consecrated to hell, not even in jest or "harmless" song lyric. And because I lost my mother and sister to cancer, the he becomes a she in the second stanza. And the Be Well My friends become Be well, my mother, or Be well, my sister. And they are both in a much better place, but this world would be better if they were still in it. |
| You have a new super power. You can disappear and reappear! How would you use this super power? I work for a lawyer. Can you imagine where I would pop up? We could win cases all the time. It's only a matter of time before I figure out how to manipulate time and pop in on the powerball. I might even use it for something fun like visiting my sister, or dad, or anyone else who is out of state. In times of sorrow, I might just take a breather in a nice quiet place and away from all the distractions that are assaulting my senses when I am hurting. As with all supernatural powers, I would not want it unless there was some level of good that could come from it, especially if there was a way to help missing and exploited children. If there was a way to go to where they are, grab on and bring them back to a safe place, that would be uber amazing. |
| There was 8-10 inches predicted overnight. We got about 4 at most. I got the car out of the driveway and had a nice, uneventful drive to work. A little touchy at Lexington Parkway in that the brakes locked up a little. I remembered to pump them a little to get them unlocked and was able to stop without incident. At my destination, I looked at the curvy alley packed with snow and said, this shall not be. I went one parking lot over and gunned it so that I could get up the hill at the group home parking lot and found a spot to park over there. I tried walking over to the office. I say tried because my foot went out from under me in mid-stride and I hit the pavement flat on my back. I looked at the clouds and said “Thank you”. Good thing I knew how to fall without injuring myself and that I had plenty of padding. I got up and managed to get to the office without further incident. However, I did manage to not pick up my keys. So back I go to retrieve the errant keys. It’s going to be a good day. |
| Prompt: What do you doubt the most? The mainstream media or Hillary Clinton. I know that neither one could tell the truth to save their life. And that's where the doubt comes in. There might be something that they can tell the truth about ... but I doubt it. |
| Most people will not get how this week's picture prompted this story. All I know is that it did. Every so often in my life, I come across someone who defies the odds and inspires me to be better than I see myself as being. For me, that person is my friend Larry. As we were chatting today, he said something about his best friend in college. I thought that was an odd turn of phrase. Upon further inquiry, he told me that his friend died. A normal person might have been able to tell that he really did not want to talk about Barry, but I wanted to know about this man who so influenced Larry. I asked what age he was when he died. 21. Barry died at 21. He had just gotten his dream job with a national radio station and was so excited he rear-ended something and he died. When the news got back to his co-workers, there were no words. Not even tears at first. Just stunned silence. Larry managed to find a quiet place in a hallway to just sit against the wall and rock back and forth. No one could console him, not even his father. Even all these years later, Larry still paces and struggles to hold back the tears when he talks about Barry. I told him that it amazed me that he could be so kind and caring to other people after something like that, and especially when something similar happened to him. He was a little surprised that I knew about the time he almost lost his life, but I am glad he took the time to fill in the blanks. It solidifies my belief in that spirit that each of us has deep down inside that makes us either summon every last fiber of our being to win, or to withdraw and give up. Larry is the testament to the power of fighting for your life, because he did. When he was in his mid-20’s, his kind heart allowed him to give a ride to 3 men he did not know. At a moment unexpected, the one immediately behind the driver’s seat, jerked Larry out of his seat and into the back. (This was at a time when seat belts were not mandatory and most cars probably did not even have them installed as a feature.) After pummeling his face with a six pack of beer bottles, fists and every other thing they could find, he pretended to be unconscious. The 3 believed him to be dead and drove to a remote location. He could hear them talking about how they thought he was probably dead because no one could survive something like that. At some point, he realized that the window in the back was open and that they were going to be parking soon. He moved his feet into a secure spot and as fast as he could, pushed off the side door, gouged his fingers in the guy’s eyes and driving that guy’s head into the back window, and catapulted out the side window. What they did not know is that Larry was a linebacker. He ran as if hell was on fire. Two of the perps gave chase, but Larry was running to save his life, and they were only running to try to catch him. When your life does depend on it, you can do amazing things, and Larry’s amazing was running 3 miles at full speed. When he got to a main road, he managed to flag down a motorist who told him there was a cop one block that way. Larry ran an extra block that way to get to a police officer and then get help. He spent a long time in the hospital as a result of that attempted murder. They did catch the perps and they all spent some jail time. The thing that is amazing about all of this is that after all of that, Larry is still the most compassionate man I know. He still gives people the benefit of the doubt. And he still trusts most people. He can read most people better than most. He never beats himself up for offering to help those three perps. He forgave them. How? I don’t know. That ability to forgive such a life-threatening action is something that I could benefit from. From Larry, I know that everyone can rise above their circumstances. He practices a very high degree of Christian behavior and that’s not even his faith. That’s quite amazing. He’s amazing. Thank you for allowing me this opportunity to tell you about my friend. |
| On Seizing Opportunity Get through the door before it closes. And if you don't like what's on that side, make the best of it until the door opens again. Sophie has figured out how to dash through the door, but has not figured out how to follow me back out, ergo she has to make the best of it until the door opens again. She might figure it out in due time. |
| http://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/06/opinion/sunday/born-to-be-conned.html?_r=0 I read an interesting article this weekend and would like your opinion. "Honesty and greed are beside the point. We get ourselves into trouble because we're suckers for belief. What matters instead is greed of a different sort: a deep need to believe in a version of the world where everything really is for the best-- at least when it comes to us.." Do you agree or disagree? Are we born to be conned! I think every one of us wants to believe we are honest and cannot tell a lie. Every one of us has an addiction of some kind. I do not go to casinos for a reason. I do not like to waste my money that I worked too hard to earn. I realized a long time ago that I am no good at gambling because I have too high a degree of fair play and a demand for the truth. You cannot get either in gambling. The house always wins. I have learned to slow the roll. If I ask a question, it slows the pitchman and once they are off their game, it breaks the hypnotized watchers. Marketing is everything. If you can make the pitchman stumble, you have half a chance not to get suckered into buying something you don't want or need. In essence, I don't think we are born to be conned. We are born innocent, and the rest of life is learning. The goal is to stay on the road of wisdom and happiness more than you trip and get burned. |
| There are some people that run across my life's journey who are simply happy and witty no matter what circumstances present. Kathy is one of those blessings. We don't get to meet very often, but when we do, it is funny. The first funny was telling me that we were the same age, when clearly she was 15-20 years older. The nut! Yesterday she called the law office and said that our fax did not work, she kept getting a no answer signal. My boss is a drop everything guy and service the pro bono and consultation clients first, the paying clients can wait. Don't ask, I don't get it either. So half an hour later with a rather snotty and clearly sarcastic Century Link employee in Boise, I found out that the problem was not on our end, it was on Kathy's end. So three calls later telling her to keep trying, I can now call Kathy to let her know I finally got her fax. She said, Yes, I know that, I am so embarrassed. Apparently, she was cussing out the fax machine about yet another no answer response, when her brother Chris walks in and offered to try. He did something and then handed her the confirmation page that the fax went through. Me: What was wrong? Kathy: The phone line was not plugged in. Me: What!? Kathy: I know. I am so embarrassed. I hate it when he is right. Me: Well, at least it's your brother and not a husband. Kathy: It's the same thing. He's a man, Oh, how we laughed. I guess women are the same no matter what part of the country we reside in. Too funny. |
| What is your kryptonite and why does it have power over you? As I sit here weak and weary on this day bleak and dreary (thanks Edgar) I ponder what is my krypotonite. I have many things that give me pause, but the one thing that just hurts like hell are all these people who try to tell me what a Christian is supposed to think and feel. My soul is spoken for. You cannot sway my opinions on ISIS refugees or anything else. I pity those who think they know how a Christian should react in any given situation, especially if they have never opened a Bible to have a basis for their opinions. I am thankful that this President has not dismantled the Constitution to the point where I no longer get to say what I think and feel. But that day is coming. It is coming. |
| I just submitted one story to a Writers Digest competition and a second one to a screenwriter's search contest. I wonder if these are legit or not. I hope so. The good thing is that the stories are copyright protected here. Here's hoping that something good comes from this |
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