Memorial Day

I grew up in a small town on the Mississippi River in the Midwest. That helped create a real God and Country attitude and belief for me. I used to joke with a friend of mine that my upbringing in that location made me a real American. 

Memorial Day for me, growing up, was important because I was taught the meaning of it by my parents and my community. We did all the cooking out with extended family and friends, played games outside, made homemade ice cream and we took time out of the day to go to the cemetery to pay our respects to all those who had passed and in particular the veterans. Wreaths were taken for every family members grave and additionally, flags for the veterans in our family.

I am very thankful I was taught those important things about God and Country. I live too far away now to visit the cemetery but my way of paying respect is to send my monetary donation to that little cemetery on the hill overlooking the Mississippi River and the tiny town I grew up in. It is maintained by donations and towns people who care. Some of those same people who helped instill in me the respect and honor I feel today for our veterans.  Thank you to those people in my little home town who helped instill in me the respect I have for our great country and those who fought for my freedom and gave the ultimate - their tomorrow for my today.

DON'T LET YOUR CHEERIOS GET SOGGY

 

I was in the middle of a phone conversation with a good friend this week and because we are good friends I continued to eat my morning cereal. I did apologize and say I needed to continue eating because I was starving and sorry for the chewing sound.
He said:

“you don’t want to let your Cheerios get soggy”

I began thinking about that and how my Cheerios were really a metaphor for so many things, especially life.

Every one of those little round things can be compared to moments in your life. There they are floating in a bowl of milk and stand the chance of becoming soggy and eventually disintegrating if you don’t eat them right away. Just like life, you have to take advantage of the moment and enjoy it before it becomes soggy and eventually turn to mush.

It is easy to get distracted by all sorts of things and our cereal (life moments) gets soggy and is no longer enjoyable.

Learn to enjoy the moments in your life and don’t be left with a bowl of soggy Cheerios and regrets for not eating it while it is crunchy and good.

MOTHER'S DAY AND BASEBALL

My mom was a rabid St. Louis Cardinals baseball fan. You can’t grow up in the St. Louis area without being that way. I grew up there but later became an Atlanta Braves fan. The Cards were always my childhood favorite though. When the Cards and Braves played each other it was always a win for me.

Before I moved mom to NC with me it was not unusual for us to call each other during televised games just to say “did you see that?” especially during the Mark McGuire/Sammy Sosa home run contest.

Mom was a patient at the Lower Cape Fear Hospice and Life Care Center the last month of her life. They taught me all the physical aspects of the dying progress. One of those is hearing becomes acute and you should talk with them just as if they were awake and hearing you. The night before mom died a Braves/Cards game was televised so I “watched” it with her and talked to her about the game as if she was seeing and hearing it with me.

It is fitting today the Braves and Cardinals are televised so I think I will just sit down and watch this ballgame and honor my mom. Happy Mother’s Day Mom….. Play Ball!