Saturday, May 31, 2014

Sometimes, nothing else matters.

When was the last time something happened in your life that made you stop thinking about or perhaps even caring about other things? This 'something', whatever it was, sort of took over as number one on your list of important stuff and all the other things became a distant second. It made you feel, at times like nothing else mattered. That would have to be something pretty big, pretty important I'm sure you'll agree. Unfortunately, that 'something' has happened to my family.
A few months ago my beautiful little granddaughter Kaitlin started having problems with headaches and she woke up each morning throwing up. Her mom and dad became quite concerned and took her to the doctor to try and find out what was causing this. I might add that her mom and dad are two of the best parents a child could possibly have. Several doctor visits later the problem is still there. Their pediatrician decides she should go to the emergency room where an MRI was ordered. A tumor was found, a brain tumor. A couple of months later another MRI and it was discovered that it had grown. A neurologist decided, after consulting with a bunch of other neurologists that it would have to come out. This little five year-old angel had brain surgery. It went well, the doctor said they were able to remove over 95% of the tumor. They thought up to this point that the tumor was benign, but a pathology report a couple of days after the surgery confirms that it's not; it's cancerous and it's malignant. They were able to get almost all of it out, which was of course a good thing, but there's still a little bit of it there. Even one cell of a cancerous brain tumor is cause for concern. So now she begins six weeks of daily radiation treatments to try and take care of the rest of it.
I could give you all the usual metaphors for how we feel after all this, like run over by a truck, hit by a freight train, had our legs chopped out from under us, but those don't really describe it. What do we really feel like? Like nothing else matters. Human nature causes  us to first ask ourselves why, why would something like this happen to such an innocent, beautiful being as this little girl? This sweet, little person is as close as a mortal can get to being an angel. Mother Teresa herself, no offense intended, was no closer to being an angel on earth than Kaitlin. I suppose about as good an explanation as any is we live in a physical world. Car wrecks, explosions, airplane crashes and tumors. They happen. God doesn't will things like that to happen to us but He is there to help us find the strength to get through them. We can wonder how and why these things happen till we drop but the important thing is to do whatever we have to do to get through it. First, get good doctors. She's in the care of doctors at Texas Childrens and M.D. Anderson, it doesn't get any better than that. In fact, the little lady who was the chief neurologist that performed the brain surgery on Kaitlin is now my hero. Dr. Lam, any human who can do what you did for Kaitlin or anyone else is a true hero. The world is lucky to have you. Second, pray. No more needs to be said. Pray. If there is anyone who can help get us all through this, it is God. Just pray and have faith.
As grandparents, the most valuable and precious thing we have ever had around our necks is Kaitlin's arms. Nothing compares to having that sweet, little angel hug our necks and say I love you. In fact, nothing else matters...

Saturday, May 17, 2014

It's time for Walden again...

Ah yes, it's May, the time for my annual weeklong sabbatical. I look forward to this week each year when I get away for a solo trip to the farm. The purpose is to unwind and decompress, but also to write. My current project, as yet unnamed, I have code-named the BVP project. BVP simply stands for Buffalo Valley project. For the past year I have found it very difficult to find enough time to write. It has been sporadic and infrequent. I have about 60k words so it's getting toward completion but there is still a lot of work to be done. I think this is going to be a very good novel so I'm not about to abandon it. I have put a lot of work into this project. I have no plans to ever write a book like this again, but I think this one is going to turn out nicely. And my week at the farm is going to be my opportunity to get some work done on it. It's the perfect environment, I can see Mr. Thoreau's train of thinking now. If you want to get some serious writing done, get rid of people. All of them. Go and live off the land, deliberately. Oh I'm going to do some physical work too. I'll be doing some mowing, the place is growing over with grass, weeds and briars. I'll cut some firewood and stack it up, you can never have too much firewood. One of my favorite things to do to pass a little time in this world is to build a nice fire at the farm, sit back in a nice comfy chair and enjoy a glass or two of whiskey on the rocks. Yes. That's how to get your head right. Meditation and yoga can't touch the firewater for relaxation. And it just so happens that the moon is near full now. Have you ever experienced a full moon while you were alone in the woods at night with the sound of howling coyotes in the distance? I've even heard a cougar a few time out there. Now that's a real attention getter. Before we went and put up that stupid area light you could enjoy the magnificent storybook sight of fireflies by the hundreds twinkling in the darkness. There are few modern conveniences out there, like no running water, though there is an old abandoned farmhouse I have cleaned up and use to sleep in. It's actually pretty nice except for the occasional mouse running across the floor, a spider here and there and yes, I did encounter a snake in there once. It was just a little rat snake, harmless little fellow.
It's all those things that make it special. Buddy and I, my boxer, roam the place exploring. There's a lot of history there, hence the inspiration for the book project in progress. It's a fascinating place that I  thoroughly enjoy, especially for that special week each May.

Friday, May 2, 2014

These are strange times indeed...

Kind of an understatement really. They could arguably be called much more than strange times. Or might I say much worse than strange times. I don't like to consider myself a political commentator but I suppose Charles Krauthammer said the same thing at one time.  Don't get me wrong, I have no illusions that I'll ever be a Charles Krauthammer. But, I do have a few things to say.


It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to Heaven, we were all going direct the other way...


Recognize those words? Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities. They seem to be so eerily relevant to all that's going on in our country now, don't you think? It depends on your perspective which of the contradictory phrases you like best. I consider myself a pragmatist. I'm optimistic, but I'm a pragmatist. Facts are facts. Period. One of my favorite expressions is "It is what it is..." Let's go to one of the most talked about events of our time. Benghazi. It has been revealed in the last few days that there are emails that have surfaced that gave the talking points for U.N. Ambassador Susan Rice to say regarding the cause of the Benghazi attack on the embassy. And of course we all recall that she said the attack was the result of protests to a You Tube video. Ben Rhoades, a White House communications advisor wrote that one "goal" for Rice was to "underscore that these protests are rooted in an Internet video, and not a broader failure or policy." If it looks like a duck and walks like a duck; well this looks like a bunch of ducks trying to distort the truth to me. Or to put it in simple terms, fabricating a lie. The White House knew this had nothing to do with an internet video. So why did they decide to lie about it? I'll put that in simple terms as well. This happened in September and Obama was facing re-election in November. A policy failure would not have bode well for him right before the election. But now we know that the script for Susan Rice to talk about the situation came from inside the White House. Because that's what they wanted the public to hear. So a black woman in a high office who should have been able to think for herself simply read what they told her to read. Yet once again, Obama and his slackers lied to the people of the United States. In the Senate inquiry Hillary Clinton said the talking points came from the IC, Intelligence Community. No, Hillary, they did not. And you know they didn't. They came from the White House. A close aide to the president to be more specific. In context, she made light of the situation by saying, "whether it was a protest or a bunch of guys out for a walk and deciding to go kill some Americans, what difference does it make?" What difference does it make you ask? I'll tell you what difference it makes. It was neither. Not a protest or a bunch of guys out for a walk you idiot. It was a terrorist attack. And boots on the ground at the time it happened told you all as much. But you chose to ignore them and make up some bullshit about a You Tube video. What difference does it make? Four good Americans serving their country died. And you and the president don't even have the decency to tell the truth about the circumstances of their death. And you knew the truth. 
That's but one case of the president and his slackers lying to the people. There are more. The IRS scandal, Fast and Furious, "If you like your doctor you can keep your doctor. Period." I don't know about you but I feel embarrassed. In front of the world our president is lying to us. Repeatedly. And he is dumb enough to think that we're dumb enough to believe him. You don't need to be a political scholar to see that the government is growing. It is expanding it's role and it's authority in the details of Americans' lives. Do you need evidence of that? You shouldn't. It's more than obvious. Take Obamacare. Federal law now dictates that you will buy and keep health insurance. If you don't you will be fined. That choice has been taken from you. Oh, you HAD health insurance you say. No problem, Mr. Obama said if you like your plan you can keep your plan. Period. No, you can't. Most of those plans no longer meet the federally mandated requirements. Like providing condoms to idiots who can't keep their zippers up and dresses down. 

Yes, these are strange times. But I don't think strange is the best adjective. It was the age of wisdom it was the age of foolishness... Need I say more.

When Does it end? For now, it doesn't...

An incident that happened some time back when a high school basketball player sucker punched a player from the opposing team causing serious...