It's been quite a while since I've posted anything here. But, as I said in the beginning, there was no set schedule.
Sadness
In the last three weeks there have been 6 deaths of people I knew. A cousin passed away from breast cancer. She was younger than me and I hadn't seen her for several years, but it's still sad. It makes you think about your own mortality.
I also learned of the death of a dear lady. She was a kidney transplant from the same place as Bill's heart transplant, but more importantly, she also lived in our area. I remember her calling me while we were in Florida waiting for Bill's transplant. She was also there for her annual check-up.
As I was talking to a friend about her passing, we found that one of my clients, and college classmate, had passed. She was my age. We didn't have any classes together that I remember, but she was in the group of us that always sat in the student center before class. She always had a funny joke or story to tell.
As I was looking for these obituaries in the newspaper, I saw one for a woman that I had worked with many, many years ago. I hadn't seen her since I left the travel business, but as soon as I saw her name the memory was there.
I had been seeing some comments on Facebook about a person passing and I wondered if I knew her. My sister told me last night that it was another cousin. This one was older and also had cancer. But the cancer was not the cause of death. I also hadn't seen this cousin in years.
The final passing was also yesterday. A dear lady from church passed away and I think this one hurts more than the others. She was the pianist when Bill and I first started attending the church. When she found out that I could play, she resigned from playing and would only substitute for me. She always had a smile for everyone. She hadn't been able to attend services for quite a while, but she will still be missed.
If you are wondering about all of these people that I hadn't seen in years, it's because I left the area 40 years ago and only returned periodically.
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Confusion
With all of the news coverage of the basketball owner and his remarks, and now the other sports mogul's remarks, I am confused by our country. As far as the basketball owner, I don't think the punishment fits the crime. To have a huge fine, and be told that he can't own the team anymore, or attend any basketball functions seems to have gone a little overboard. I also thought the same thing with the Paula Deen controversary, especially since's hers happened so many years ago. I'm also confused by how the recordings got released to the press. Both parties said they didn't release them, but they are the only ones who had them.
As to the remarks made by Mark Cuban, he just stated how his mind works when encountering certain types of people. His remarks were not specifically racist as the media and others have tried to portray them. I too have crossed the street when meeting certain types of people, whether black or white. And that's what's confusing me. He didn't single out a single race. He just brought to light what appearances can convey to others.
My confusion stems from this...why can't people voice an opinion if it doesn't agree with someone elses's opinion? That's one of the things that has made this country great. Yes, some opinions can be hateful and hurtful, but they are just what that person thinks. I remember when the Oklahoma bombing happened and one of the radio announcers referred to the "towel heads" that had done this terrible thing. I wonder if they were ashamed or apologetic when it came to light that this was done by "good ole American boys".
I could go on and on about this, but won't. Maybe this will be a discussion for another day.
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Pride
We spent some time with a couple of the grandchildren this week-end. These are 2 we don't see often. As we were sitting down to eat, the oldest one, 9, asked who was going to pray and his little sister, 6, raised her hand. Usually it's up to Pa to pray, and this little one had told me once that she would bow her head, but she wouldn't close her eyes. These 2 also don't attend church on any regular basis, but they have been attending a tutoring program run by a local church. At any rate, after everyone had filled their plates she told all of us to bow our hears and close our eyes and she proceeded to pray the standard children's prayer. It just goes to show that you never know what they are listening to. The older one of these two is going to church camp this year for the first time. His 2 cousins are also going to the same camp, 1 as a camper and the other as a counselor.
And, speaking of the one going as a counselor, she ran the children's church services a couple of weeks ago in the absence of the children's pastor. No, she did not preach, but she made sure that each section had everything they needed. She also ran the sound for the song service. This may not seem like much...until you realize she's only 15 years old! Her sister, the other camper, is on the dance team for the children's services.
I'm very proud of these 2 in their church work and proud of the other 2 for starting to participate. We'll just continue to pray for all of them.
So, there's my post for this time. In time the sadness will dim, maybe the confusion will go away, and I will always be proud of my grandchildren.
