THE MARK OF A MAN......

It was yesterday..... Thanksgiving eve..... I was up at the "Just Stuff" antique booth doing a few things that needed doing and in walks my little cousin Kevin and his wife Terri. I call Kevin my little cousin even though he towers over me by a half foot or so, and he is younger, but has just now retired. It was the first time seeing them in a few years and I really enjoyed our visit even though it was just a short one. As I said, the visit was short but our conversation lingered through the night and into the morning in my mind. As we talked, I asked Kevin what he wanted to do now that retirement was here and he said he wasn't really sure but had thought about doing a little blacksmithing. He wanted to make a few things that would last into the future. Something that would be a reminder to someone that he was here. Of course my thoughts immediately went to our Grandfather who was a blacksmith, but later in the night, the second part of his desire for the future hit me. He wanted to do something that would last into the future. In other words he wanted to leave his mark....... He wanted to make some things that would last longer than his life on earth and make someone look at what ever it was he had made and think,,,,, "Someone years ago spent part of their life to make this,,,, Someone gave of their time to create this and now I am holding it and I'm glad they gave of themselves." Kevin wants to be that someone that gave of himself....... WOW !!!!!!!!....... Talk about a goal !!!!! But in reality isn't that what we all want to do? Don't we all want to leave our mark? We don't all say it or state it as just matter-of-factly as Kevin did, but I think we all want to leave our mark. Our conversation turned to my writing and Kevin asked me if I had always written and I told him never until my heart surgery. I told him I had never known I could write until then and that I still wasn't sure I was good at it. He said he saw where some were encouraging me to publish some things and I told him I really had no desire to publish anything I wrote, but I really like sharing my thoughts.
Later as my mind was thinking on these things, I started to remember the goals I had set when I started to write. As I said earlier I still don't know if I can write but the one thing I do know is that I see life more clearly now than I use to and I just write down what I see and feel. I also know that I have the same goals that I had when I started to put these thoughts down four and a half years ago. My goal was then and still is to let my grand kids and children know in later years that their PaPa and daddy loved them. Years after I'm gone, I want them to remember times we spent and laugh at the memories. As they read what I put down I want them to never be ashamed to tell someone they are loved. As for me, I have no desire for fame. I have no need for lots of money. If along the way I happen to touch one of you and inspire you to tell another person you love them and you are thankful that they are in your life...... then I have been paid a fortune..... Yes, I will have become a very rich man. You see, I also want to make my mark. In years to come when someone ask my Grandchildren what their Grandfather did for a living, I want them to look that person in the eye and say "He lived a good life and he loved" That will be my mark. What better goal could a man have.
God Bless and have a great Thanksgiving and tell someone you love them............... I love you one and all and am thankful you are a part of my life...................................................

THE PERKS OF GETTING OLD.....................................

Tomorrow will be my 67th Thanksgiving......    It isn't what it use to be......  Sure we'll eat turkey and dressing and ham with all the usual fixings.....  We'll tell stories of old times and laugh until tears roll down our cheeks and our bellies hurt.....  It will be a great time but it will be different.......  HMMMMM you say to yourself........ and then you ask......." You mean to tell me you don't like Thanksgiving anymore?".......  And I answer......  "I love Thanksgiving......  Different isn't a bad thing,  it can be better."  You see,  I use to would tell you I'm thankful for family, but now,   "NOW"  I've learned to set back......... to slow down and really see and appreciate family.  I've learned to look at the things that give me that happy feeling all over.

You see,,,now I'm not just thankful because they are my Grandkids but I'm thankful for what some would call the little things that I now see.  I'm thankful when I get a call from a grandchild and the first word out of their mouth is,  "I just wanted to call and say hi and see how you are doing."  I'm thankful for family vacations when we are all together and I'm still made to think I am wanted on the fishing expedition.  I'm thankful when I show up at the little league game and when the little one sees me and his face lights up as he waves and then he points at me and tells one of his teammates  ..."That's my PaPa."  I'm thankful for the times when the phone rings and one of the Grandkids ask,  "Are you going to be home for a while,  I want you to meet someone."  And when one of them has car problems or needs help with a project or has a question about how to fix something,  I'm thankful that they know Peggy and I are there and they can depend on us to try to help.

 And I'm not  thankful just because they are our Kids,  I'm thankful for  the people and parents they have grown up to be.  I'm thankful for the love I see that they have for each other.  I'm thankful when I see them give of themselves to someone less fortunate.  I'm thankful for the compassion each of them have.  I'm thankful for the priorities they have set up in their lives.  I'm thankful for the parents they are.  I'm thankful that they still know our house is their house.

 I'm thankful that when the boys,  and maybe the girls too, go out tomorrow afternoon to throw the football around,  they will still ask this old man if he wants to go out with them and I'm thankful that as they make sure all are included,  even the little ones,  I will see a love that isn't man made but can only come from up above.  I'm thankful that as I get in the car in the morning to go pickup a newspaper with all the sales papers, that the car will have plenty of gas and I don't have to stop and fill it up in the cold of morning.  I'm thankful for the laughter I will hear as  the sales papers pass from hand to hand and the joy and excitement that will be in the air as our Christmas get together is talked of and plans are made.

Yes.....  As I think about it,  getting old has it's perks.  My eyes aren't as good as they once were,  but now I see more clearly.  My ears aren't what they once were but now it seems I hear more.  My old legs don't carry me as far or as fast as they once did,  but now I notice more as I travel through this life.  And now that my heart has  been taken out of my body,  bypasses done and a pig valve implanted,   it seems I feel things in a different way and I like it...........

When I get down on these old worn out knees and ask for God's blessings,  What I am really asking God for is to be happy.  Well,  today, I am a blessed,  for you see,   I am Happy ........  My prayers have been answered......  Yes,  once again I say......Thanksgiving isn't what it use to be.......It's much much better.

TODAY MY PRAYER IS THAT YOU HAVE A GREAT AND HAPPY THANKSGIVING DAY.   MAY GOD BLESS YOU !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!