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I had mentioned previously that I was going to write about people that are to be admired.  Someone to look up to and consider a role model.  I could start off with my Father since he is the first role model.  I could also use my uncles on both sides of the family as role models.  I could also use the Father’s of all of my friends as role models as well….but I won’t.  Not today anyway .. today I am going to write about a man I met in a parking lot.  A man who looks 60 years old, acts like he is 40 years old, and is actually closer to 80 years old.

It was in the spring here in Texas when Willie and I first met.  I had started walking Kellen,  our son, the four blocks to the school in the morning and back again when school dismissed to give me some exercise, to build up some stamina,  and get out into the elements as a much needed break from the confines of the house while in recovery from cancer treatments.  My wife. Ellen,  had been taking Kellen to school in previous years when I was in Alaska working construction.   As I approached the school that afternnon  for the first time I am hailed by the school crossing guard.  She is a friendly sort named Ellen,  as it happens.  She is a wonderful little lady that is gregarious by nature.  Typical German stock.  It was here at the door of the pickup that the crossing guard was sitting in at the corner of the school parking lot that I met my friend Willie for the first time.

He was a slight built man about 5 ft. 8 in. tall.  He was a dapper dresser.  His white cotton shirt was pressed and creased in all the right places.  His blue jeans were not wrinkled and his shoes were shined.  He had close cropped gray hair with deep dark brown eyes that danced with delight when he laughed.  One could see from his movements that his once athletic frame had seen many a baseball, softball, or city league basketball games.  Some things are not easy to hide.  When Ellen introduced me to Willie as the husband of Ellen Hage he reached out his hand in greeting.  I could tell from the grip of his long supple hands that Willie had a quiet confidence of a man who appeared happy and adjusted.  His smile was warm and quite disarming.  His confidence and friendly nature made quick work of any nervousness or awkwardness upon first acquaintance.

It became the habit of the “parking lot crew”. as we later jokingly referred to each other, to arrive early  just to get in some extra chat time before school was dismissed at 2:45 pm.  Willie is a retired car dealer and Korean War Army Veteran.  Since both of us are retired we had a natural commonality.    It was during these conversations that our friendship blossomed.  While waiting for my child to get out of school I meet a man, who most likely I would have never met had I not had cancer, who would become one of those men in my life that I would like to emulate.  Willie is an honorable man.  High praise  that I limit to but a few.  He really is a man that does what he says and says what he does.  A personal philosophy that I have adopted and find it refreshing to know someone of the same ilk .

More on Wille tomorrow.

Comments (0) Jan 10 2010

As is my habit I tend to read blogs and news articles during the early morning hours.  Recently,  I have been introduced to some bloggers from my home town that has broken me of the habit of  reading the headlines of the New York TImes.  Now I go to the glimpses of moments in time from other bloggers such as myself.  Often times these blogs evoke happy and sad moments.  The happy memories make you feel good and the sad memories are bad because it usually involves pain and suffering.  The latter is unavoidable,  using a blog to impart a feeling of loss or suffering is good therapy for the healthy contributor of the blog.  It is also good therapy for this reader.  At least that is my story and I am sticking to it.

Having met recently with a classmate I have been reticent to post on the meeting because of my inability to post pictures of the lunch date.  My wife is at CES(Consumer Electronics Show) in Las Vegas this week.  She is the webmaster in this blogger’s world so that is not going to happen until she gets back from Vegas,  but I am looking forward to posting the meeting and how much it meant to me to have been able to spend time with such a great couple.  I will save the gushing for the real post but suffice to say “ecstatic” only touches the tip of the bountiful harvest of feelings gleaned from the long awaited meeting.

But getting back to reading old blogs…The memories that these recent blog sites bring out in me when I am perusing their archives gives me fodder for future posts.  I certainly am not going to write about the early years since not much was said about those times.  Grandpa Erickson died before I was born and Grandpa Hage died when I was approaching 10 years of age.  No memories of them …really…?  Lots of Aunt and Uncle  memories.  I am thankful.  Cousins on both side of the tree are in abundance.  Farm life…oh yes!!  Looking back it was wonderful and I lived through it.  How …?  Lucky would be the first thing to come to mind.  Blessed is the last thing…I know!!!

I am slowly working towards some subjects that are of interest to me to add to my post count.  There are important people in my life that have made a difference to me.  None of the important people would be considered famous but that does not mean that they are of no less import.  I met a Supreme Court Justice in Juneau in 1973.  He was famous in Alaska.  Pretty good athlete but was on the way down hill physically.  You know the type… the body’s spirit was more than willing but the body’s engine had lost a lot of compression and  could not get a head of steam.  Even though he made court rulings and made an effect on the life of Alaskans he really had no effect on me.  Hmmm ..Let’s see…? slow, short and old?   I am now of that same condition albeit not short… he still has no effect on me other than to marvel that he was still “able” at his age.

So… maybe my life was not full of famous people…. do I consider it bad?  No!   Would I like to hang around Tiger Woods these days? He famous these days.  Not a chance!!   He didn’t do anything that I didn’t do or attempt to do.  I cheated on my first wife.  I spent twenty years hating myself.(so will Tiger!)  I made phone calls to women.!?  I stayed out late and partied!!  But I did not have children and I did not have any money.  Which,  in retrospect,  is probably why I did not do worse things.  It always cost more money than I had.   Mitch Album wrote a book about his meeting with a man who got old and died.  He spoke of the way that this man had lived his life and his involvement with that man.  The story brings out the good things in this not so famous man’s life.  That is what reading blogs is about for me.  Bringing out the good things on the not so famous.  I have lived a life that was full of bad things and I should have known better.  I had a lot of not so famous people to use as a guide.  Even though I choose a life that may have been less than stellar I had wonderful not so famous guides with which I could have used to guide me along the way.  It is with these memories that I will,  in future posts,  start writing about the guides in my life.  All of them are not famous but some of them may be infamous.  Time will tell,  when I write(read) them the “riot act”,  on my blog.  HA!

Comments (0) Jan 09 2010

I know I had made a wish for a Happy New Year in my previous post but today is the first day of the year that we get to live that wish.  I am excited!!  I know…why is he in such a good mood?  Oh, I don’t know… maybe it is because I am lucky?   or maybe it is because I have been blessed?  or maybe … this is the way it is supposed to be?  You know what?  I think it is all three and I will tell you why through the course of this post.

Lucky…?  Ya, I would think so.  I lived through a farm accident involving a PTO, tractor, and loose clothing.  I lived through a traffic accident in which everyone went to the hospital by ambulance and I walked away unscathed.  There are to many construction accident stories to recount so I won’t even go into those but you get the idea.  I think these all had a commonality besides me being in them.  I think angels would be the common denominator.   Angels come in different forms.  My little brother Karl, was my angel the day of the farm accident.  What would prompt a little boy to shut off the PTO at exactly the right time to save his little brother?  I say an angel did.  I say an angel was with me when I was held upright while all around me was turning, toppling, or smashed in the traffic accident.  I say an angel was with me each day of my work keeping me safe as I go through the daily grind.  Oh sure…everyone tries to be safe.  No one tries to cause an accident.  There were those times when you have to wonder…. hmmm… that could have been me.  Yep, it has to be angels.

Blessed…?  Ya I would think so.  I am still here am I not?  Without regard to the aforementioned accidents there are other things to give thanks for as well.  First I was blessed to have been born to a loving family on a farm in Iowa.  another lucky?  Possibly, but this is more than lucky.  This is a blessed event that I will give thanks to God for the rest of my life.  I was given a life to learn and grow in a safe and loving environment.  I was shown how men act.  I was shown how friends are treated.  I was also shown how friends were made.  Ya I am lucky but I am blessed as well.

Yesterday,  I met with the Rockhill’s,  now from Virginia,  who were married almost 39 years ago in Kansas with me and several other high school friends in attendance.  Rex, my former classmate, and his wife, Pam,  came to town to visit with me and my wife.  We talked, laughed, and hugged.  Although we have never met in person since the wedding day I felt no change in the intensity of the friendship that once was.  Here was a friend who had reached out to say hello.  It was warm, refreshing, and the way it is supposed to be.

So yes,  I am lucky!  I have to many lucky stories to NOT know that I am.  Yes, I am blessed as well.  I thank God for that very thing each day!  But the way it is supposed to be,  is something that I am most appreciative of on this date.  It is another sign of what normal is becoming for me.  It is not the old normal.   That will never be again.  I am living a new normal. Meeting a friend of 40 plus years and having coffee with them for the soul purpose of saying hello, wishing each other well and being happy is a new normal that I relish.  This is the way it is supposed to be is it not?

Comments (0) Jan 01 2010