Missed My Chance?

Back again, Karen is busy.   So you are stuck with me.

It was 1961 when I came out of High School and entered college.   As it turned out, the same day I went for orientation at DU, I applied for a job on a radio station and got the job.

To me, being on the air…working was more important than anything else.   No question   that college was important and I was good about going to all my classes.     It would have been helpful if there had been online degrees back then, because there came a point in my college career that I decided it was better for me to have a job than be attending classes.

While I have had a great life, I know that a better education most likely would have opened more doors.

Kids Don’t Have All the Fun

The other day Norm and I were talking about our memories of family vacations.   When I was young we usually visited my mom’s relatives in Missouri during the summer.   My grandparents had a farm right outside of Springfield.   One summer when I was about nine years old we had a huge family reunion and all the aunts and uncles and my cousins were there.   We spent more time in Branson then we did in Springfield, so I should refer to them as Branson vacations.   Branson was a little place back then with only a few attractions with Silver Dollar City being the main one.

That summer, back in 1974, was the first time I visited Silver Dollar City.   We all went — my parents, my brother, and three sets of aunts and uncles with all of their children.   After we got to the park we split up — the kids went one direction and the adults another.   Back then I used a manual wheelchair and my parents decided I would be safer with them rather than spending the day with my cousins.   I was very disappointed with the decision, but I soon realized that it was going to be a lot of fun.   My mom’s sisters and brother and their spouses were fun people and I couldn’t believe how silly adults could be.   I discovered that day that kids don’t have all the fun.   Some adults really know how to have a good time, especially in an amusement park.   And what’s even better is that there was no alcohol involved.   Who knew grown-ups could have so much fun?   I think it was at that time when I decided I couldn’t wait to grow up.   Unfortunately now I wish I was still a kid.

Smile

For as long as I can remember I’ve always been a smiler.   When I make eye contact with people I just naturally smile and it’s amazing how disarming it can be to total strangers.   Smiling can be a secret weapon when you’re in a tense situation as well.   I think smiling is great because it shows people that you are content.   Most people like being around someone who is content and so smiling can be contagious.   The only drawback to smiling is the wrinkles you get around your eyes.   I’m sure there are natural wrinkle treatments available for those who are bothered by them.   Fortunately, I’m not one of those people.   I’m going to keep smiling and everyone will know when they see the telltale evidence around my eyes.

Use It or Lose It

Due to my lifelong disability of Spinal Muscular Atrophy my hands are extremely weak.   I was taking notes the other day on something and realized I don’t write as well as I used to.   These days I use the computer for most everything and so pen and paper are rarely used.

Sally’s Secret

The other day I was recalling my college years in San Diego.   I was quite active in my church young adult group and had several friends that I hung around.   One of those was a young woman I’ll call Sally (not her real name).   She was a friend of a friend and would go out with my group of friends occasionally.   Susan was an outgoing person who became an RN.   A lot of us girls didn’t date very much, but I remember Susan often had dates.   What struck me about Susan was that she had a problem with eczema that was quite bad on her arms and legs.   But she never seem to let it bother her.   I don’t know if she was getting any kind of eczema treatments.   I think the reason why she had dates and a lot of us girls didn’t was because of her self-confidence.   When you feel confident with who you are and you don’t let the way you look bother you, it usually doesn’t bother other people either.   There’s a lesson to be learned there.

Memories of a Friend

Today was the memorial celebration for a friend of the family who passed away just before Christmas.
I was not able to attend the memorial service as it was held in San Diego, so I decided to have my own little memorial in my mind.

While Norm and I were eating lunch today I told him of my memories of Larry.   He and Francine, his wife, were a lot of fun and I always enjoyed getting together with them when I lived with my parents.   Larry was a computer engineer of some sorts and had worked for AT&T.   When I met Larry and Francine they were preparing to move to Belgium to do some work there with a mission group.   Larry and I enjoyed talking about computers, because at the time I got acquainted with him computers were just becoming a popular item for families to purchase for home use.   Larry was the kind of guy who knew what KVM switches were for and yet he wasn’t boring at all the way you would think an engineer type person would be.   He was quite funny and love to make jokes about the way words were spelled.   It was from him I learned about the word stuph which became my new favorite word.

I look forward to the day when I will see Larry again in heaven.