Remarkable Obituary

Not sure this is the way to get back into posting to my blog but in going through some old papers of mine, I came across this article and thought I would share it with you all.

Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Mr. Common Sense. Mr. Sense has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was. Since his birth records were long ago lost in Bureaucratic red tape.

He will be remembered as having cultivated such value lessons as knowing when to come in out of the rain, why the early bird gets the worm, and that life isn’t always fair. Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don’t spend more than you earn), and reliable parenting strategies – (adults, not kids, are in charge).

His health began to rapidly deteriorate when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place. Reports of a six-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after Lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.

Mr. Sense declined even further when schools were required to get Parental consent to administer aspirin to a student; but could not inform the parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.

Finally, Common Sense lost the will to live as the Ten Commandments became contraband; churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims.

Common Sense finally gave up the ghost after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot, she spilled a bit in her lap, and was Awarded a huge financial settlement.

Common Sense was preceded in death by his parents, Truth and Trust; his wife Discretion; his daughter, Responsibility; and his son, Reason. He is survived by two step brothers, Mr. Rights and Ima Whiner.

Not many attended his funeral, because so few realized he was gone.

But staying true to my form, I will end this post with something comical and after reading this post, some of you may agree with me:

“I feel like I am diagonally parked in a parallel universe.”

Y’all have a nice day now, ya hear!

Hiatus

Going to take a short hiatus from blogging to clear my cluttered mind.

But before I go remember this horse quote:

“If you climb in the saddle, be ready for the ride!”

I need a fresh perspective as to what I want to share with y’all in the future so as to keep this blog material interesting, comical, and well, let’s face it, material that keeps you all coming back to read my ramblings.

Y’all stay safe and happy until I return.

Deadlines

Oops – looks like I missed my own deadline again. I should have posted this Sunday and here it is Tuesday already.

What can I say it has been that type of a week!

It’s been like a crazy house around here lately – see what I mean!

Oh well, I guess I will just settle in at my Happy Place.   

Or maybe I will just sit back and read a magazine, book, or paper (See picture below). What am I thinking – that’s not a magazine, book, or a paper – it’s a picture of a towel folded as a person reading the daily activities from a cruise, we took several years ago? Can this day get any worse?

How does that old Horse saying go: “If you climb in the saddle, be ready for the ride.” 

Well – as yet another old saying goes: “At least I showed up!”

And seeing that I promised to write at least weekly – what you see is what you get!

I will end this post with the words of Confucius:

It does not matter how slowly you go as long as you do not stop! I will try to do better next week.

Until next time! Y’all come back now, ya hear!

Seize the Moment

“A truly happy person is one who can enjoy the scenery while on a detour!”

Seeing that it is Memorial Day weekend, I am going to deviate a bit this week (primarily due to all that has happened across our country this past week) and be a bit philosophical versus comical.

Did you ever stop and think how often during our lives we say and do things that – when you really get right down to it – create negative feelings within us.

For instance, how many times can you remember days that you got up – went about your business – and later in the day or quite possibly early in the evening you find yourself saying – Wow, where did the day go?

I could go on about days we worked but being retired now for over 25 years instead I’ll talk about what we do now in our retired life. Even though we are now retired and supposedly have all the time in the world, at times I find myself mumbling things like “It’s Friday, where did the time go.” You know what I mean, we remember getting up Monday and saying to ourselves, hmmm, let’s see I have this, this, and this to do, and then before you know it, we are checking the calendar and lo and behold its Friday!” Where did the week go?

This could go on and on and on – for instance, where did May go, and later in the year we could find ourselves saying “Can you believe it the year is almost over. And I won’t even get into the times I have thought about the fact that “can you believe it – 60, 70, or 80 years of our lives have passed by already”. Sad feature is that we cannot go back to relive or do over those times no matter how enjoyable they were. I know – there are probably many things we think about that we could do differently.   

Fact is, if you are anything like me, when you get to my age, I stop at times and think of so many things I should be doing. I know, I know, some of those things will get done but here’s the thing – how many must be done right now? Who would ever have thought I would live this long? And since I have made it this long, my educated guess is that I should prioritize those things I want to do.

Making it to age 81 never entered my mind while I was growing up. But I have learned that despite everything that has happened in the past and being honest with myself, may happen in the future, I am going to try to enjoy whatever remaining time there is for me as we all should.

How is that done you might ask – well, let’s look at our life like an artist’s palate.

I’ve always been a guy that likes the colors blue and grey. Many of my shirts are blue or grey. But the older I get I have been adding more color in my life. I am now wearing brighter colors these days. Red, purple, tan, teal, and so forth. Also, shirts with pictures on them, flowers, stripes, and the like – anything that is bright. Let’s face it – bright things make us happy and lift our spirits. And at our age we need to keep looking for activities that we like.

I subscribe to a newsletter that provides me with several articles each morning designed to make me smile, and many times laugh. So, every morning after breakfast, I call up this newsletter on my smart phone and while enjoying my morning coffee, we (my wife and I) listen to several of the jokes provided or listen to that day’s stand-up comedian which usually has both my wife and I smiling and laughing by the time they are done. Great way to kick off the balance of the day. Why? Because they leave us smiling and ready to tackle whatever we placed on our “To-Do” list for that day.

Being our age, and I must admit – I need to work on this one – I am doing my best to eliminate the – hmmm- how shall I put this – ‘afters’ in my life. What ‘after’s’? After’s such as:

When asked to do something that truly needs to be done, I usually say “I’ll do it after…” or my honey will ask my opinion on something she needs an answer to and I will respond by saying “I’ll think about it after…”.

Think about that word “after” for a moment. What does after mean? My educated guess is that many of us don’t understand or realize what after or afterwards actually means. Think about it.

What happens ‘afterwards?

Well, afterwards the coffee gets cold;

afterwards, our priorities could change;

the charm of the moment could change;

health changes and we may not have the ability to do whatever it was we delayed doing;

our children grow up and move away;

dependent upon our age – our parents get older;

had we made promises – they are forgotten;

days turn into nights;

many of our priorities probably change;

life ends and what does that mean

 well, at this point, afterwards will probably mean

it’s often too late.

What does this all mean especially when you are my age, no, no matter what age you are? Leave nothing for later because the fact is by waiting to see someone later might just mean we may lose the best moments; the best experiences; best friends; the best family and so forth and so on.

With the world being what it is today, we are no longer at the age where we can afford to postpone what needs to be done right away.

We must live for today. Today is today. The moment is now!

Allow me to share several quotes with you that relate to this post:

Larry McMurtry said it best when he said:  

“If you wait, all that happens is that you get older.”

Eckhart Tolle said:

Realize deeply that the present moment is all you really have.”

But the quote I liked best of those I read said:

“Whether it’s the best of times or the worst of times, it’s the only time we’ve got.” – Art Buchwald

If you don’t take anything away from reading this post, think about this: Consider the content of this post as a reminder that every moment matters. And if every moment matters, then we must

Seize every moment!

We must live for today. Today is today. The moment is now!

Until next time! Y’all come back now, ya hear!

Balance

I find myself trying to stay more balanced today than I ever have. Writing this blog once a week assists me in that endeavor what with this wild and mixed-up world we are living in today. What does it mean to find balance – well – there are all types of balance so let’s be specific here – finding balance in life!

We all know by now that finding balance in life should help us improve our overall health. Why’s that? Because when we have balance, we should have time to pay attention to many of our body’s needs. Finding balance in life helps us improve our overall health. Having balance enables us to have time to pay attention to various things that are good for us even though we shudder at the sound of some of the words I am about to mention. You know, words like diet, exercise, and if we are really into it, even meditation. Let’s face it, being honest, leastways for me, when I don’t prioritize those items, I find myself regretting not doing them. When’s that you say? When I find myself putting on weight, not being able to bend over to tie my shoes without huffing and puffing, and so forth and so on. In other words, by not taking time to take care of myself, I am not in balance.

Thankfully I am somewhat in balance (I know many of you are thinking about some of the wild and crazy things I post here – and are probably saying to yourselves – him – he is far from balanced), but I am sort of balanced.

What can I say – as Steve Martin would say:

“I am a wild and crazy guy!”

Okay, enough about balance – bottom line is no matter what age we are and in what stage of life we are in – we should seek to stay in balance. Enough for the philosophy lesson. Let’s move on to some other important information.

Did you know that in 30 days Summer officially begins?

Think about that – in June, just 10 days away, the June solstice occurs will occur on Tuesday June 21, marking the first day of summer? Seeing that we here in Central Florida have already experienced temperatures in the mid-90s, I am beginning to wonder what our summer temperatures might be. So, what is the summer solstice? Well, for one thing it will be the longest day of the year. 

Why do I know that you ask? Well, in the Northern Hemisphere, that’s where we reside as does all the United States, the June solstice or as some people would like to call it, the summer solstice occurs when the Sun (you know that bright big ball in the sky) travels along its northernmost path in the sky. And if you haven’t figured it out yet, the southern hemisphere begins to experience the astronomical start of winter because the Sun is at its lowest point in the sky. Meaning places like Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, to name a few would be experiencing their winters. 

If you will recall, June 21 is referred to as the longest day and shortest night of the calendar year. By longest, I am referring to the longest period of sunlight hours are experienced on this day. And if it is known as the longest day, it stands to reason, we also experience the shortest night on this date too.

What other tidbits of information might I share with you before I go off on some wild and crazy thought, idea, or what have you.

Oh, today (May 22) is also considered to be National Maritime Day. Yup, way back in 1933, Congress designated May 22 as National Maritime Day. It took quite a long time to get that designation. Why do I say that? Well, the “first successful transoceanic voyage under steam propulsion” began back on May 22, 1819, when the steamship S.S. Savannah set sail from Savannah, Georgia. Where did it go, you ask? Why all the way to Liverpool, England. It only took it 30 days to do it because it arrived on June 20. So, what do we celebrate May 22? Well, this day honors both past and present contributions of the U.S. merchant marine during both peace and war.  

Okay, time to slip in one of my wild and crazy questions that may or may not make you smile or chuckle. Here goes,

“What did Mama Tomato say to Baby Tomato when he lagged behind?” Ketchup!

I know, I need new material.

What else is this day famous for – well did you know that on this day in 1859, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle – you know the author who penned many stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes – was born. Who knew?

What else can I share with you this week. Let’s see – did you know:

Coffee is break fluid!

Okay, time to share a brain teaser with you:

Charles Chaplin’s chaplain chided Charlie constantly concerning Chaplin’s cow-like chewing. How many C’s are there in all?

Oh, and to end this week’s post, let me just say that:

Evolution is nature’s way of trying to cover its mistakes!

That’s it folks, that’s all I have. Hope you enjoyed this week’s post.

Until next time. Y’all come back now, ya hear!