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Well, we made it another year.  We fooled them all and I am not going to tell anyone.  I have a habit of scanning the pages of several newspapers that I receive on line as I set at the computer at our kitchen table.  It is my early morning ritual to garner information on my already formed opinion that somehow lean the way that I think,  rather than people I know that use the same sources to help make them come to an informed opinion by reading opposing views.  In other words at this point I know what I know.  (sounds a little like Popeye does it not?)  Admittedly,  one must take on new ideas to be fair but as I fought with my Father’s ideas when I was young I still am my Father’s son I must say that having been there I know what does and doesn’t work even if I didn’t do it correct the first, second, or even third time.  All that says is that I am stubborn…kinda…sorta….maybe a little bit…?  Can anyone spell denial?  LOL!!

So in the process of getting news sources I do happen upon the informative side of the Internet.  That would be my horoscope.  I never have been one to have any faith what so ever in astrology but I must admit that I read them all the time and laugh.  I would say to myself. “This stuff is so general in its meaning that it could apply to anyone.”  Then I would read it.  Think about it.  Then cast it off with a whim.  I gotta say that this little snippet of astrological information must be right!  This is no generalization of information but hits the nail right on the head.  This was written for me.

quoted text from an astrological reading found on the web while surfing the Internet today.

Your renowned intellect has been strained the last couple of years, as it’s been forced to find solutions to the many issues you’ve been dealt. In 2010, you’ll finally be gaining some traction on your biggest challenges, and solutions will flow to you with ease.

So armed with this knowledge from such a reputable source(the Internet) I submit to my readers this wish for a Happy New Year and rest my case.  It must be right.  It was on the internet.?!

Comments (0) Dec 31 2009

I never go back to my old posts to find a repeat of an old topic.  I rather like the idea that my posts,  although by the same author each day,  give a life to my blog to which a constant growth can not only be discerned but expected by the readership of this blog.  So,  if a loyal reader happens upon the same topic and I have a tune that is slightly different it most likely is because it is the same song just a different verse.

I never go back to  dates in time.  I tend to remember a moment rather than a year.  So if I have different dates than what it really is I confess that now.  Accuracy is not as important as the feeling that it imparts.  And I have a feeling for a moment in my life almost 40 years ago that will bring new meaning to me soon since I am going to meet a schoolboy chum, teammate, and great adventurer for the first time since his wedding day.  Over the years we have spoken by phone upon occasion.   I think we have exchanged cards plus recently we have been doing the email and Facebook thing.  Rex has a twin brother Randy.  I have been in correspondence with him by email.  Rex and Randy had a rather large family and becoming entrenched in the family fun for the few moments that we did have…. was and is a treasure for me.

I never go back to  Larchwood, Iowa without thinking of the grade school i attended in that town.  It was a brave new world for me.  It would be a far cry from the country school education with the same 27 kids that I went to Kindergarten with.  It was a congregation of kids from four towns.  New people and names to boot.   It was here that I first met Rex.  On the play ground with he and his brother,  Randy.  I could see the family resemblance but they did not look like the Klien twins, who were practically identical.  They lived on a farm with a large family and a Grandpa that would later come to class and talk to us about how things were after the civil war.  Grandpa Rockhill  was in his nineties when he spoke to our class.  He was an interesting old man.  My remaining Grandfather had died in 1962.  My mother’s father died before I was born in the 40’s.  So Rex was someone that I wanted to be around.  He had a grandpa, a large family, lived on a dairy farm what was not to like?

I never go back to track team memories but my upcoming re-union with Rex has brought them to the fore.  In watching my young son Kellen run it brings to mind my own athletic prowess on the tartan turf.  It was in Lester, Iowa that this memory starts.  Every boy in the class is wanting to make the team.  Because of that fact it was necessary for the coaches to seperate the wheat from the chaff.  They set up a mile run that had to be completed in 8 minutes or less.  Anyone over the 8 minute mark would be cut from the team.  My son often asks me why he is the slowest runner in his class.  My answer is always hopeful but usually lacks any real enthusiasm for I know that the need for speed will not be an inherited trait passed on to my son from my gene pool.  Needless to say,  I did not make the cut that day.  But Rex did.  I remember that he and his brother Randy were pretty fleet of feet back in those days.  Some where along the track season Rex was going to compete in the 220 yard dash and he spoke to our  Coach and said, “Next year I am going to run a 27 second 220 yard dash.”  He was running in the 29’s then and I remember at the time thinking, “Boy I wish I could run that fast.”  I never did run that fast but never lost the hope to try.  That is what I want for my son.  A friend who helps him never lose hope to try.

I never go back to memories to change a defining moment.  Rex is a part of my defining moment on the road of life.  He and I had similar dreams as to what one can do upon graduation of high school.  We both partook in a little meeting held by an FBI agent in one of the school job fairs that we attended.  We filled out the forms and awaited a response from the FBI.  Rex and I were both offered jobs with the FBI.  Rex decided to take the job in Washington and I chickened out.  I instead went on to college.  Only later to drop out of school when my need for speed left me a second string football player who was never going to become a professional.  I wonder how it would have been had Rex and I gone together to start a new adventure.  It was a short time after arriving that Rex met and married his wife from Kansas in Kansas City.  I traveled with mutual friends, Stan Leuthold, Ruth Johnson (who later married), and Pamela Bunte (who I later married)to attend his wedding.  None of the travelers is still married to their respective fiance’ almost 40 years later but Rex still is.  He never looked back and his adventure continued.  He sought out and obtained a job as a policeman.  He held that position for enough years to retire.  Little did we know what we as couples were headed into as we flowed down the river of life.  The currents of the river of life pulled us to different shores of the same river.  Our lives have had a separation of physical self but my excitement for meeting up with a long lost friend cannot be measured.  I look forward to our meeting.  I hope that this will be another moment to be remembered as one that can never go back.

Comments (0) Dec 31 2009

2010 is looming as December 2009 draws its last breath and things I have to look forward to have come to the fore.  Memories are the first thing that come to mind.  As in what lays a head?  Will they be life enhancing or will it be detrimental?  Memories of the past often are signs of the future.  So is it against the law to begin a memory before it starts?  Well,  if that it is wrong I am going to try and change that law.  Why can’t events in my life have a planned purpose?  It would seem that taking an active part in my future prior to experiencing it would be a good thing?  Indeed it would!  Good idea…eh?

Hey,  I have had a lot of good ideas.  I remember back in 1983 having a need for a cover ( this is before tonneau covers that are ubiquitous now)on my truck bed to protect boxes which contained milk meters that I used to test milk production of area dairy herds for DHIA(Dairy Herd Improvement Association).  I used some plywood which I painted, a piano hinge, a few 2×4’s, and some wood screws that I had at the farm.  Simple and rudimentary,  yet it did serve my purpose.  It was a prototype.  All of my friends laughed at me when I placed it on my brand new truck.   Especially after I ran into a ditch during a snow storm in January 1984 on an Iowa farm road where it remained in the ditch.  Essentially becoming firewood and not to be resurrected again.  OK… I said it was a good idea.  So what if it was a bad prototype.

That memory is something that I can use for the future.  I need to go about building a prototype of my future.  (OK, readers this is not a new idea… of that I am fully aware)    Visualize it and it can become a reality.  Like the prototype afore mentioned memory of a future can be built but it is built from need and not experience.  Many years did I dream of the future.  Each season I made the trek to the union hall to  find the job that would supply me and my family with the needs of the upcoming year.  I knew my limits so my expectations became real the more experienced that I became in the construction trade.  I had tangible experiences to make reference to how life could be for me and my family.

As a cancer survivor my future tends to be more immediate.  Much to my detriment, unfortunately.  It is hard to visualize a future with out the tangible experience.  I remember trying to get over the anxiety created when I had to wait for a friend who was on an airplane that was delayed.  Nothing I could do about it but I still obsessed over it  I also remember being asked a question and coming apart at the seams while having no understanding as to why it was bothering me.  I remember being so happy completing my treatments and heading home.  A week later I remember collapsing in my home for no apparent reason other than weakness.  Non of these are good for future dreams others than to have to worry about any of these maladies coming to a head again some time in the future.  I must add one last note…I did make it.  That is a good thing!!

Which brings me to the point of today’s little blog.  On the 12th of January I go to  San Antonio, Texas to have a Pet/CT scan to find out if I am still cancer free.  I likened  this trip to my seasonable trip to Alaska.  It is an experience that has been a positive for me.  The journey that cancer has given me has few bad memories.  There was pain, fear, and trepidation.  Although none of them a good thing.  Now as a memory it gives me strength in knowing that I have had a good run so far.  I can use the positive memories the many Pet/CT sans that I have had in the past and make it a tangible good experience. Although the physical pain is gone now I can still have fear and trepidation just like I had done so many years when I would trek to Alaska. I know my limits.  I need to maintain my faith in God.  My expectations have become real.  So it is my expectation that the tests will remain positive.

The last thing to mention in this blog is the fact that no matter the outcome I have faith that God will lead me through the needs and the experiences and be better for it.

Comments (0) Dec 28 2009