First: Memories
Thankfully, both dates fell on Saturdays this year.
On 1/18/2020, Mrs. Appalachian Irishman, her family, and I
honored her father’s older sister, Mona Beckner, upon her attainment of age 98
that day. Mrs. Appalachian Irishman asked me to sign the birthday card that she
had bought for her Aunt Mona. I signed it with the following letter enclosed in
the card!
My heartfelt, deepest congratulations
on your attainment of age 98 today! You have almost reached triple-digit age!
If my math is correct -- as I was
educated properly in mathematics in school, as opposed to those now-a-days who
are ”correct” if they think sincerely that one plus one equals three by “new
math teaching” (but I digress) – you were born in 1922.
You have a treasure house of life, on
which you have spoken and still speak, to those who listen. I know that you
have written many details of your life. I suggest that once you attain age 100
you publish your autobiography! You are a bit too young to publish your book
yet. Ha!
You are a fine, Christian lady, who has
experienced many pleasant times and endured many unfortunate times in life. You
have stood firmly on the Solid Rock. In everlastingness, when we are at Home,
we will enjoy only pleasant times, even better than here, where we are now, on
this speck-of-dust, blink-of-an-eye, temporal plane.
As a side note, my mother’s brother,
Robert Allen Wood, was born on 5/14/1939. (Mom was born on 11/24/1932.) My Uncle
“Bobby,” as he was called, “went to see Jesus” on 1/18/1941, the same date as
your birth, in 1922. I look forward to meeting Uncle Bobby, at Home.
You have my deepest respect and love.
My wish and prayer to God is for your health and good life.
Uncle Bobby died from pneumonia, after Granny and Papaw
Wood, Mom, and he moved from Indiana to Morristown, Tennessee. Uncle Bobby,
I’ve seen photographs of you. I’ve heard about you. I look forward to meeting
you at Home! Say hello to Mom, your older sister, for me!
On 1/25/2008, Dad joined Mom and so many others at Home. I
remember every detail. Well, once again, I have gone through the time of year that
involves memories of the passing of Mom on 12/27/2000, Uncle Bobby whom I’ve
not met yet on 1/18/1941, and Dad on 1/25/2008. I have written other articles
about Dad. You may find them at: Tribute
to Dad; Well
Machine & Water Truck Legacy; and Happy
85th Birthday, Dad.
Life Goes On with a
Touch of Humor!
On 1/9/2020, after work, I helped “Comcrap” fix their
“Comcraptic” problem on our TV! A $64.07 discount will be on our next bill, in
payment for my new, as needed, job as a “Comcrap” technician! I won!
On 1/11/2020, Saturday, I got my haircut, but I could see
the rain coming. Then, my new, ol' truck got a good hand wash at the vehicle
hand washing spot. (I had guessed that I could get my truck in the garage
before the rain. I was wrong!) Then, after Tractor Supply purchases for Molly,
our doggy, as I was back in my truck, the rain came. That good hand wash
lasted about 30 minutes! I lost! I had checked out at the Tractor Supply at
2:22 PM. Mrs. Appalachian Irishman had checked out at the IGA at 2:21 PM. I
lost again!
On 1/18/2020, Saturday, before the gathering for Aunt Mona,
I had my eighth, every-four-week, deep tissue massage, for 90 minutes this
time, instead of the usual 60 minutes. Dang, if whatever in my left shoulder is
improving and working its way down my left side to my left hip. I’ll take the
aggravation for the improvement. I am winning!
On 1/20/2020, Monday, Mrs. Appalachian Irishman and I were
both off work for Martin Luther King Day. Our chiropractor adjusted us, at the
every-four-week time. He used his new muscle hammering electric device on me
for the first time. That helped! I ordered one on the “Interweb” later that
day! After the chiropractor, we went to the jewelry store, so that the battery
in my “hiking” watch could be replaced. Then, we ate dinner (not lunch) at a
Cracker Barrel with a friend, a few years older than me, with whom I used to
work. We hadn’t seen each other in a few years. That was fun! Finally, we went
to Target, where I bought a “work-a-day” Timex, so I could stop wearing my
“hiking” watch every day for work. Timex takes a licking but keeps on ticking,
I’ve heard. Hey, that’s like me! I win again!
1/22/2020 was supposed to be my transition into a different
and better type of job description at work. We’ll see, but so far so good. I
might win.
1/24/2020, Mrs. Appalachian Irishman and I both came home
feeling a bit sickly. That’s not good. It’s not the flu, so we win!
1/25/2020, the anniversary of Dad’s passing, our eldest
niece, of my youngest brother and his wife, and the Bulls Gap Middle School
girls’ basketball team that she is on played a first round tournament game at
Volunteer High School. (Mrs. Appalachian Irishman and I had attended the same
type game on 1/19/2019 last year.) Our niece and team won the game, 43 to 19!
That’s a team win!
So, now here I am writing, at 4:33 PM, on Sunday, 1/26/2020.
Mrs. Appalachian Irishman and I are better but not fully well from the minor
“bug” that we have. It’s been a cloudy weekend anyway. I’ll get back into the
woods again, but not this weekend.
Conclusion
Enjoy life that best that you can, dear reader! Take the
good, bad, and ugly (with apology to Clint Eastwood). Use humor to get through the
bad and ugly. It helps. Remember, sarcastic humor is the intellectual person’s
attempt to cope with the realities of life.
Of course, everlasting life on “the other side” (with
apology to Aerosmith) will be completely good! Have you taken up the Good
Lord’s free gift offer? Are you living according to it by faith? (No one is
perfect. God expects faithfulness, not perfection.) If so, then Home awaits on
“the other side” (of the death transition)! We will win, when our physical life
transitions to our everlasting life!
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