Home for the holidays and returning home for the holidays are not the same thing. This year, we are not staying home for Christmas. Instead, we are returning home to where we grew up in Illinois to see family and friends. The DRIVE in winter can be a challenge, but we have done it so many times over the nearly 40 years we he have lived in Virginia, that our car is on autopilot.
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Cath and I have been watching two or three episodes of the old TV show “Cheers” each evening. Cathy recalled it was the same way we watched it in the late ‘80s. We were stationed in Germany and our friend Howard was a lifeline to America. He sent us VHS tapes every couple of months with recorded TV shows and movies. We were binge watching before they invented the term.
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Cath and I are among the diminishing number of people who send out Christmas/Holiday cards. In our busy digital world, fewer people send them, and among the younger generations, it is almost nonexistent. That is just life today. Me? I still enjoy the annual “old fashioned” event of exchanging Holiday cards.
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We West Point Whiskey Warriors gave it our best shot on the Bourbon Trail in Kentucky. By the numbers, there were fourteen of us ‘78ers, along with eight wives, from twelve states. We sampled at nine distilleries in four days, and had one helluva good time. Numbers of course don’t capture everything, or for that matter, much of anything.
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It’s not a requirement to like your brothers-in-law, but it’s a good thing when it happens. I have been blessed with three GREAT brothers-in-law – Shawn, Don, and Jack. In my book, requirement one for any B-I-L is to love and care for your wife and family. All three do/did that and so much more.
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The coffee cup is old and has chips and a crack in it. It was a gift from my buddy Tim Stouffer in 1980 when he visited us in Germany, while returning from a trip to Russia. I think he bought it in a train station somewhere. Tim passed away a little over a year ago, and I’ve thought about whether I should continue using the mug, or put it on a shelf somewhere.
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The Nat’s pitchers and catchers reported for spring training last week on February 12th. I’m excited, but also a bit sad. My old friend, Bill Wagner, passed away last September. He was the owner of the season ticket group I belong to and there will be a hole in my heart on Opening Day.
Continue reading “Play Ball!”
A little over a year ago, I met Suhas Subramanyam for the first time. Last Friday evening, I attended a party for his swearing in as our Congressman in Washington DC. We are lucky to have him represent us, although it was not luck that elected him. It was hard work.
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I still see the chunk of tractor-trailer tire flipping end-over-end in slow motion towards us. Growing bigger and bigger, it slammed into the front of our car and bounced off the hood, before disappearing in a flash. The actual elapsed time was perhaps one second from start to finish, but it was enough, and the damage was done.
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Cath and I recently saw “A Christmas Carole” at Ford’s Theatre, our 12th year in a row. I always find it renewing and every year, a different character or part of the play touches me. Not just Scrooge, or Tiny Tim, or the Ghosts, but sometimes a minor character like Old Fezziwig stays with me and provides inspiration.
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Live Life Exuberantly 