It was twenty years ago.........

From our early days in Parkesburg circa 1992...I made one of thousands of trips to our local Acme Supermarket, and one day there was a reporter who asked me if I would mind my family being the subject of that week's photo feature called "Gotcha!"  I agreed, and the rest is history.  I can't find the original newspaper, but it was called the Daily Record. My, how the times change.  The Acme sits dormant in a shopping center with a few businesses, and a few more vacant shops.  I haven't seen a Daily Record in years and years.  The children in the picture are all adults, and fine ones at that.  Another child followed in 1994, and was often pushed in his stroller by the little gal in the photo.  The guy with the big glasses is me and I'm still kickin' with smaller, more powerful glasses.  I think that jacket still hangs in my closet, and the moustache is gone.  I'm glad I said yes to the photographer when he made his request.  If I hadn't I wouldn't have had this glorious moment of remembering....and restoring, once again, my feeling of being one who is blessed.............

To Tomorrow.........

I try to stay positive each day, boasting to some that, "You'd better laugh, 'cause if you don't, you'll cry!"  I think I've done a good job of smiling this year, despite our loss of no fewer than five immediate family members in five and a half years, the last of which occurred in June of last year. Just as hard hitting as the losses were the illnesses preceding and surrounding them.  Most days I feel like a survivor, like I can take the next day and be grateful I've seen another.  Each day I hear of a new story of suffering...and indeed many are far worse in circumstance than anything I have ever seen or will ever endure.  Today it is teeming with much needed showers, and I am temporarily alone in the house, and need to create to pay homage to those I keep in my heart and my memory who can't be here, as well as those close to me every day, and those who have suffered those harder losses......I still feel blessed and will indeed laugh tomorrow...... 

I know I must prize the glory of life

Try to savor the sunshine

Keep what's mine

And feel fine

I looked to the stars despite your strife

Looked out the window

Scared to know

You might go

If you could not move at all

I felt your anguish

Watched you languish

And I wish

If ill health took your life's recall 

You'd say my name

Rebound and claim

Your lead in this game

If you're the one whose frame was gaunt

I must extol

your control

Though you were not whole

If life allowed the lungs to taunt

It seemed surreal

That daunting feel

You might not heal

If you fought to gulp or speak

I'd like to trade

Not how we're made

Oh, please don't fade

Malady's left you frail and weak

But if you leave

And see me grieve

Know I believe

I'll not wallow in the sorrow

And if you're there

I'll say a prayer

You're in God's care

The expectation of tomorrow

Yours here is done

I'll know the sun

With you, I've won.........

Blog #62: Annoying Spring Ramblings

One of my biggest downfalls as a property owner is the upkeep of the grounds.  It's not that I don't enjoy cutting the grass...it's just that with each season of lawn care, I move a little slower and need to add a few minutes of cutting time to the process.  At this point, I do the front yard and take a break...sometimes a day or two.  Then I get the desire to see the jungle in the backyard disappear.  Certain advancements have eased the pain, and I do mean PAIN of maintaining my property.  For example, I can now have a pair of headphones on while I mow. Between the sounds of the tunes and the grinding of the mower engine, I can get lost in a world where I can dream and solve the world's problems.....or maybe just mine.....or maybe just work on mine a little.  I am also blessed with a mower that has a lever that, when held in the right position, makes the wheels turn by themselves.  My yard is one filled with hills, so this is a Godsend!  So, it's April and mowing season is here.  It's Easter week and we're having 16 family members for dinner, and some of them will be overnight guests.  It's been a good winter.  I was hardly a curmudgeon this year because the snow was virtually non-existent and I was blessed with a Spring break from school.  So the Easter checklist of preparations went like this:  Search for IPod and headphones-Check; Start mower for the first time this season-Check; Remember at the start instead of right before almost being done that the mower is self propelled-Check; Cut grass-Check; finish painting trim in upstairs hall-Check; Get guest room ready for Easter guests-Check.  This is a fine time to add that I am the proud owner of a bottle of Advil, so finally; find and take Advil-Check......



Last Saturday morning's breakfast table talk was peaceful. I don't remember what was said to prompt me to say, "When in Rome, do as the Romans do," but something made me say it. Jackie said, "You're not in Rome, you're in Parkesburg. When in Parkesburg, do as your wife tells you to do!" So I did...........


Determined to be less self-conscious and more laid back about my changing appearance, I was recently marveling at how my morning checklist of things to do to get ready for work has changed over the years.  I remember growing a beard and having to trim it just right, styling  the rather long hair so that every follicle was in place while keeping that dry look, slapping on that cologne, and leaving those glasses off if I had no up close work to do so those eyes could be seen.  In 2012, however, it has evolved into making sure the beard is gone so I don't start resembling Santa Claus or Rip Van Winkle; skipping the cologne and making sure the deodorant is on so as not to offend the students and workmates; putting gel on the the remaining follicles to keep a tidbit of  semblance of having hair in the first place; putting those glasses on to see where the deodorant, shaving cream, razor, and hair gel is, and to hide those tired eyes and the crow's feet;  and last but never least, affirm that the zipper is up, again, so as not to offend anyone. If one is accidentally forgotten, it's no big deal any more.  It'll either be fixed right there on the spot, or I'll get it right tomorrow!.....


Some of the new words I've learned recently, not from Crossword Puzzles or Words With Friends, but right in my own home, and from my wife:

RAMEKIN        From Dictionary.com - a small dish in which food can be baked and served.
                          From Joe's imagination before the clarification by his wife:  head-butting his little sister.

ARUGULA       From Dictionary.com - a Mediterranean plant used in salads.
                         From Joe's imagination before the clarification by his wife:  the sound the horn of the classic 
                                       Model T makes.....AR-UUUU-GULA!!  AR-UUUU-GULA!!

MUSICAL THEATER: A Parent's Perspective

It’s spring and graduation’s coming.  It’s been a year of lasts:  the last child getting ready to graduate from high school, the last chorus concerts, the last parent-teacher conferences, the last bus rides to school, and, sadly, the last of the school age theater productions.  I’ve seen so many changes in my son in the past four years.  I credit musical theater for boosting his confidence level, strengthening his work ethic, initiating his acceptance by others, enabling his acceptance of others, and making him content to be alive and comfortable in his own skin.  It wasn’t easy, and was sometimes torture for him to be a young teenager.   My sincere thanks to all his theater mentors and peers at all the venues through the years for seeing something in him and allowing him to grow and shine. I commend the young man himself for learning to be persistent, open to suggestion, studious, and gracious.   

A parent's interpretation of the looping cycle of musical theater:

Mem'rize lines, steps, a song.                                                                                               

Use the courage, don't do wrong.                                               

Sit and wait, director's call.                                                          

Ingest the outcome, standing tall.                                                 

Complain the role's not good enough.                                          

Alas, this thing is just too rough.                                                  

Let it blossom, just hang tough.                                                   

Together, watch the parts unite.

Heck week, brace for that first night.

Entertain, for they have yearned.

Adjust the flow with what you've learned. 

Take your bows and shed some tears.

Evolve and crash, and then shift gears.

Relish friends and stints for years.

BRAVO!!