Be Afraid Young Man

There is one place that scares me more than I think just about any other place - the grocery store on a Saturday mid-morning.

The morning of Christmas Eve we stopped by a grocery store in Mt. Joy to pick-up a vegetable tray and it was a zoo. You know you're in trouble when the parking lot is full and half a dozen cars roam the lot looking for anyone who is about to leave.

Now, here the morning before New Year's Day, we have planned a trip to the butcher and the grocery store.

It's going to be crazy.

Everyone's out for last-minute this-or-thats. Everyone's picking up New Year's Eve and New Year's Day supplies.

It's going to be scary.

But I have to work up the courage, have to be brave. We've got to go. We have no food. lol

Plus, I can't start the New Year off without pork and sauerkraut. It just wouldn't feel right going through the first day of the year without the potpourri of sauerkraut filling the house.

We have to go.

It's going to be nuts.

I know. I know. It may seem a little strange. And this is all written a bit tongue in cheek. But there are just those who are built for this kind of stuff, and those of us who just aren't. You can count me in the "aren't" column.

Wish me luck!!!

No News is Good News

I've started to get into a bit of a rhythm about things, a routine that seems to keep me at my best.

There's nothing very exciting about it. But boring is good for me. And no news is good news.

I've always kind of liked boring, as strange as that may sound. I much prefer stirring up my own excitement rather than be randomly bombarded by it. I guess I feel better being in some control.

I've always been a very mellow, quiet guy too. I'm just not interested in a lot of drama. I really have trouble understanding folks who have a short-temper, or like to fight and argue. Boring is good. No news is good news. Just keep it nice and smooth.

And keeping a nice, quiet, predictable routine is working for me.

I still have to build fitness and strength, and that will continue for sometime. The impact of radiation really threw me on my behind for a few months. And that lethargy really weakened me overall. My soccer coach in high school always said that it takes months of regular exercise to be in good shape, and only days without exercise to lose it.

I'm devoted to the routine of the daily exercises and I can already tell the difference they've made. Hopefully by early Spring I'll be back on the Trek bike, and once again become a regular site speeding through the streets of Marietta again.

I've learned to manage the side effects of the chemotherapy as good as I think I can. I can overcome the fatique simply by staying busy and staying active, however simple the activity may be. Of course there are days when the fatique just demands a nap. But I am getting a better handle on it by building daily schedules for myself.

The right combinations of medicines and menu have chased the severe digestive issues away. Again it takes sticking to routines and predictable habits to keep things routine and predictable for me, and my body.

It's not exciting. But I'll take the boring. I'll take the routine. A day where I can control my schedule is a successful happy day for my body, and another step toward continuing to get stronger.

Deep Questions

Over the past two-years our garbage men have mercilessly beat our garbage cans to a pulp. I try to make it easy on them. Everything's bagged in three large garbage bags, all are securely sealed. And it could be as easy as picking up a bag, then another, and another, without even lifting a garbage can.

But pick-up the garbage cans they do. And they beat them against the truck, throw them around to various locales. And I know it sounds silly, but from the look of these garbage cans, I'd say they may just be jumping up and down on them for fun too.

Jeesh.

I tried to save my garbage cans by only take large bags out for pick-up. But then one night a few local critters smelled something they liked in one bag and shred it open and spread it about the place. It was quite a clean-up for me the next morning. But I was half expecting it. We are a regular stop on a pair of Marietta skunks nomadic trail. So I quickly went back to setting out the garbage cans so the garbage men can start meticulously destroying them again.

The past summer has been especially rough on the poor garbage cans and it's obviously become time for some new ones. The handle has broken off one. Cracked holes have formed along the bodies of the cans. The cracked holes almost seem the perfect size of a boot.

Well I got the "boss" on board with the concept of purchasing new garbage cans, and she confirmed that the expenditure could be drawn from the January budget. We both agreed and planned a trip out soon to make the purchase.

I could tell Barb still had a thought stuck in her head though. Then suddenly she said, "How do you throw away an old trash can?"

Hmmmmm. I thought about it for a bit, and said, "I don't know."

If we just set the worn trash cans out would the garbage men take them with? Probably not, they're in the business of taking what's in trash cans, not the trash cans themselves.

If I wrote the garbage man a little note, like - "Please take this trash can with you. It is now trash after you've banged it, bumped it, kicked it and thrown it around for two years." It would have to be a big note, maybe with some pictures and a "LOOK HERE GARBAGE MAN" headline on it. Not too sure they would read it, or take the old trash cans.

It's almost like a George Carlin dilemna, one of those odd little juxtapositions in life, that makes you think and makes you laugh.

Maybe if I beat the old cans up even more, take a hedge trimmer to them, break them down into unusable pieces it will look enough like trash to be hauled away as trash.

But add that one to the ever-growing list of deep questions: "How do you throw away a garbage can?"

My Holiday Blessings

Christmas has been the best this year,
I haven't had to shed a tear.
Things had been difficult,
but not to worry,
life is not to be rushed or hurried.

I had the best time with family in their homes,
for in the recent past tears had shown.
But all is much better now,
and we all made this year through some how.

I have prayed and pondered on what is to be,
but most of my prayers are meant for someone very special to me.
I feel as though my prayers have been answered in many ways,
in the passing of 365 days.

I have been blessed with my continued husbands health,
for in this world it's not all about wealth.
In all of this my daughters wedding was wonderful,
and I need not boast,
I shed tears at the hearing of the toast.

I am grateful for so much in life,
too many to name,
but those involved remain the same.
I thank those of you that truly care,
for I feel I have alot to share.

Christmas Notes

Well Santa did stop here and there is not a lump of coal in sight. I don't know how good we were this past year. But I must have been at least a gas leaf blower kind of good. lol Thanks Alyssa and Charlie.

Sunday morning we got together with my family. It was a miserable cold, rainy, foggy day outside, but warm inside up on the hill. My niece Heather provided entertainment for all. It was great to have everyone together. We get only so many opportunities to all be in the same room.

And Monday evening we got together with Barb's family. Another little one stole the show as Barb's nephew Ellis bounced continuously through the living room, doing complete laps through the dining room to the kitchen and back to the living room again. Again it was great to see everyone together.

Tuesday I woke up at my normal 5 a.m. But Barb slept into almost 7 a.m. That's crazy! Doesn't she know there are presents down here that need opening! lol

During our first Christmas together, I tried to pick-out some clothing and shoes and stuff that I thought she would like. I just wanted a test run first and showed her some catalogs with my ideas. She carefully looked over what I had picked out and then politely said, "These are kind of lesbian clothes."

LOL Not what I was expecting.

I think I'm coming along now though. You really just have to pay attention. And I'm zoning in on Barb's Victorian Gypsy kind of style. I actually picked out two pairs of earrings that seem to be on target. Scary. Who would think I'd be able to pull that off?

We enjoyed not having to travel on Christmas Day. And enjoyed waking up with hot coffee and tea and some banana muffins and each other. We took turns exchanging gifts and listened to Christmas music amongst our decorations and lights.

Thanks to everyone across both families for such continued kindness and generosity. And thanks to all for such a Merry Christmas.

Merry Christmas

Yep. That's right. I said "Merry Christmas" instead of "Happy Holidays." I just don't understand a benefit of taking the Christ out of Christmas.

Is political correctness smashing everything into a soft, lifeless, mush.

It's all gotten a little silly. It's fine to wish someone "Happy Hanukkah" or "Happy Kwanzaa." But don't wish someone "Merry Christmas."

I'm interested in other religions, beliefs, cultures, backgrounds. It gives me broader understandings. And, if anything, only serves to strengthen my own beliefs.

Why can't we celebrate diversity and celebrate differences? Why can't we enjoy each of our cultures and backgrounds?

A few years ago a Jewish family in Lebanon County threatened to sue a school district over a Christmas concert that included Christian-based Christmas songs. The school district, with no time to change the material for the concert, chose to simply cancel the concert under the threat of legal action.

Why work to destroy rather than build? Why work to subdue music and celebration? Wouldn't it have been more productive to organize a concert featuring Jewish music for Hanukkah?

I think I'd enjoy seeing a Christmas Concert, a Hanukkah Celebration, and a Kwanzaa Festival.

When it comes to our diversity, I'd rather live to enjoy it, immerse myself in it, rather than try to squash it into one giant, lifeless paste.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Ready for Christmas

I'm probably looking forward to this Christmas more than any other since I was a kid.

When I was working I was always so busy. Christmas just seemed to get in the way of my busiest business times of the year. I hate to say it. It sounds terrible. But it's true.

I've always worked long hours all of my life, too long.

Once I worked somewhere over 50 days consecutively, including Sundays, and I worked 12 to 14-hours a day. Hundreds of color corrections, masks and silhouettes, stripping photos of models into photos of landscapes, I needed to make an impossible deadline, and I did. Then I collapsed.

For newspapers I've worked every time of the day or night, any day of the week, to cover events, meetings, you name it.

I've always taken my work home, tweaked and edited and re-did things until I felt I could be proud of presenting a design, illustration, or photograph. I was my own toughest critic. But at the same time was always very interested in my craft, and continually improving and keeping up with ever-changing technology.

And when I finally started my own business I was a one-man show, so it was record-keeping and customer service and sales and fulfillment and well, you get the picture.

Although I find great virtue in those who are passionate about their work and put in endless hours (and there are a lot of us) - I think we work too hard.

Looking back, yes hard work offered me positive life experiences that helped me learn and helped me build certain characteristics. Yes, hard work helped make me successful and offer me a home, a family, a meal, a chair to sit-in.

But it also led to me thinking that Christmas was more of a nuisance than anything else. And that's not good.

Now that I'm "retired" I have the time to see Christmas a little more like I did when I was a kid. The magic, the warmth, the giving, the sharing - I'm moving slow enough that I can soak-in the meaning of the season. My uncle always said, "You can see more in a canoe then you can a speed boat."

We work harder, and longer hours, than just about any country in the world, perhaps with the exception of a few asian countries.

There are rewards in hard work. But it is important to have balance.

This Christmas, don't forget to take the canoe, rather than the speed boat, soak-in all the blessings around you, enjoy the comfort offered through your friends and family.

Work will be there waiting for you.