Sleeping on the couch

This year was another one that sailed by really quickly for me. Cindy and I are really limited on our little adventures of getting out and doing things, because as you know we are in the midst of a full time caregiving situation with her dad Ray. My computer time is limited most of the time, unless everyone else is sleeping and when everyone else is sleeping that is usually when I should be also.

And speaking of sleeping, have you ever fallen asleep at the most inopportune time?

Photo by Stephen Oliver on Unsplash

I have no problem falling asleep... anywhere or anytime. If you ever have us over for supper and we end up sitting around in your living room chatting, then you want to watch a movie, don't be surprised if I end up with my head flopped back on your sofa with my face looking towards your ceiling and my mouth wide open, no I am not staring at your ceiling in awe, I have fallen asleep... I'm not trying to be rude, but a full belly and the drone of a TV and I'm out like a light, it happens to me every time, I figure that if I am comfortable enough to fall asleep on your couch then it's a compliment saying that you have made me feel so welcome.

Usually before it gets this far along though Miss Cindy gives me a shot in the ribs with her elbow, or "accidentally" kicks my foot, thus saving me from the embarrassment of snoring during the movie you are playing for us.

Watching TV anytime for me is like taking a nighttime cold medicine or some sort of sleeping pill, I rarely make it through any program without my head flopping down with my chin on my chest, or doing the old nod and drop your head side to side routine, you know up and down side to side and then around in a circle kind of like a life sized bobble head doll, Cindy has woke me up laughing at times and given me this description of my actions. Cindy for the most part ignores me unless the snoring begins, and then the rib shots and foot kicking begins, this lasts until I am alert enough to realize that we are now watching an entirely different program.

I'm surprised that Cindy ever continued dating me. Early on in our relationship Cindy wanted to watch the movie Bull Durham starring Kevin Costner and Susan Sarandon, a romantic comedy / sports movie based in North Carolina, it sounded pretty good to me, and being that we were going to be on a date and she wanted to watch a movie, I went ahead and rented it. Cindy came over to my house; we had a nice supper and then sat down on the couch to watch the movie. The previews started rolling and the next thing I see is the faint light coming through the mini blind, I am lying on the couch with a blanket over me, the TV is off, the lights are out, and Cindy is gone...

Source

I didn't see the beginning of the movie, I didn't see the middle, I totally missed the ending, and worst of all I never knew Cindy had left the building. To this day I still haven't seen this movie because every time I mention Bull Durham Cindy laughs and reminds me that she has already seen it and that I missed my chance...

When I woke up, I about panicked right there, I jumped up and turned the lights on, checked the time on the VCR, Bull Durham was lying on the top and my front door was closed and locked. I picked up the telephone and dialed Cindy's number, she answered the phone laughing, said that she enjoyed the movie, but at the end she figured it was time for her to go. I told her not to take it as an insult; if I am comfortable enough to fall asleep around you it's actually a compliment...

Needless to say my explanation was not necessarily a good one and I am reminded of this often, the story does randomly come up when we are in a group of friends reminiscing about old times. I guess that I could say it's a compliment that she remembers, because during the telling of the story there is not much that I can say.

I actually started this post as a look back over 2017 but somehow got off track, so as we all kiss 2017 goodnight, and wake up in a new year called 2018, I want to wish everyone of you a Happy New Year! I have a feeling by the time the ball drops I will most likely have nodded off and Cindy will have to tell me about it next year.

Where would you be?

If I could go back and do it all over again!

How many times have you said this? I know that many times this is the thought process when the results are not exactly as you planned. You think about going back and changing something that you did. But exactly where would you be today if you could go back and change things?

I have often said this about leaving South Carolina when I was 18. "I never should have left home, it was stupid for me to have left like that!"

Me soon after arriving in New Mexico

I drove from South Carolina to New Mexico in 2 days, I spent the night by myself in a motel in Brinkley, Arkansas, feasted on peanut butter and white bread because bringing along enough money to live on never crossed my mind, and I reconnected with my Dad and Grandad which was my intention at the time.

If I had never left, my Dad would have come back home to South Carolina like he did anyway, and my Grandad would have still died when he did, leaving me 1600 miles away from home without the people that I came there to reconnect with. I would have missed out on my failed marriage to my first wife, and nearly starving to death in Texas back in the early eighties. There are a lot of bad things that you go through, we all have serious issues and situations that we have endured, some that you wish had never happened, but happen they did. And you are who you are because of the things you have experienced in life.

There is no telling how my life would have turned out, if I could only go back and change the fact that I drove away from my home over forty years ago. But if I had not taken that little road trip, I most likely would not be in California right now, I would have never met Cindy, and all of our little adventures that I have shared with you would have never happened.

You touch a lot of people along the way, you meet good friends and sometimes you find the love of your life. You are actually right where you are supposed to be in life. If you had the chance to go back and change something you did, how much of your life would actually change?

It would be nice if I had stayed in South Carolina, but had I stayed I know that I wouldn't be the person that I am today. I could speculate on how my life could have been, but what scares me is to think about the good things in my life that would have never happened had I stayed home. What could have been would definitely erase a lot of good memories.

Like I said before you are right where you are supposed to be, the experiences you have had, made you into the person that you are.

Things that happened in the past can't be erased, you have to live through hard times to sometimes appreciate the good things that you have in life, be happy with yourself for who you are, be proud of the fact that hard times in your life actually made you stronger, bad people have taught you to recognize the good people that you now call friends, and that your life has really been filled with a lot of good things...

If you could go back and do it all differently, would you?, I don't think that I would! For me the good things that would be erased far outweigh the bad things or decisions that I made. If I could go back and do it all over again, I think that I would do it all the same.

Would you change anything?

A Special Christmas

The stockings were hung by the chimney with care...

When I was a kid mom always hung stockings for us on the mantle above the fireplace, even though there were never any gifts in our stockings on Christmas morning, there was always an orange in the toe and the rest of the stocking was filled with various fruit, nuts, and candies, I loved those stockings.

We didn't have much when I was growing up, so there were very few gifts underneath our tree, but that was OK Christmas was still special to me.

Cindy and I around Christmas of 2000

When our kids were still at home, Cindy did the same as my Mom, she hung stockings on our mantle above the fireplace. Cindy really loves Christmas, if she were shorter and closer to the North Pole I know she would have a job working for Old Saint Nick, she has so much Christmas spirit that there is no way he could say no to her.

Cindy taming the Bumble

Cindy could tame the abominable snowmonster aka "The Bumble" quicker than Yukon Cornelius and Hermy, and she wouldn't even have to pull his teeth.

Since money was tight when both Cindy and I were growing up, she always filled our kid's stockings to capacity, sometimes to the point that gifts were stacked on the floor below them. (kind of like Benjamin's Santa Box), Cindy and I were never rich by any means but the kids never did without on Christmas, we always did our best to keep Christmas special.

(Source)

Now the kids are grown and have lives of their own, Cindy and I will celebrate our first Christmas this year without at least one of the kids coming home for Christmas. I kind of feel like Bob Cratchit when he thought that his daughter Martha wasn't going to be there on Christmas day. For Cindy's sake I'd like to see the kids jump out from behind the door to surprise us on Christmas morning.

This Christmas we will celebrate with Cindy's Dad Ray, we will open gifts in the morning and save the gifts for those who can't make it for a later date. Cindy's brother and his wife will come over for dinner, our usually large group will only be five people this year.

Our Stockings, Dixie's has something in it already

Cindy hung stockings on a door because we don't have a mantle here, and there is not going to be anything placed into these stockings, not even an orange in the toe (except for Dixie's stocking, she already has a surprise there as you can see), but with all of the blessings that we have had this past year, the fact that we have a safe place to live, food on the table, and each other to lean on, I want you all to know that for me Christmas is still as special as it ever was.

I want to wish everyone a Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy Hanukkah, Seasons Greetings, Merry Xmas, or even Festivas for those who loved Seinfeld. I'm not going to be politically correct no matter what I say, but I love you all and wish for your holidays to be happy, so I'll end this by saying...

Our newest Christmas wreath

Thank you for being part of our little family. And here's wishing each and every one of you a Merry Christmas, and however you celebrate this season I hope you have the Happiest Holidays ever.

Checking it twice

Decorations and ornaments are a big part of the holiday season for a lot of us, I added a few new items to our stack of stuff to store until next year this year, and wanted to share a couple with you.

Our Reindeer and Dollar Store ornaments

Well more than a couple I suppose, we now have semi mechanical reindeer that move their heads while they are shining brightly in the night. I know you remember when we went to the Dollar Store for ornaments at least twice and walked away with no ornaments for my tree outside, once we went inside and I completely forgot them, and another I never made it inside because of the crushing cars situation out in the parking lot.

The third time was a charm, Cindy actually went without me and came home with a bag of ornaments that were exactly what I was looking for. I guess the key was to leave me at home.

Dixie's Doxie and Candy cane

The candy cane and the Dachshund are new this year, they came in a box with "Some Assembly Required", Yes folks that means you have to put them together, the candy cane was easy, just three parts, front, back, and base, run a cord and plug em in...

There was a little more to the Doxie though, there was a bag of ears and a tail, a bag of legs, a body, a head the hat and collar, and of course a bag of zip ties and anchors to hold him down.

Our little Dachshund Dixie watched patiently while I assembled the Doxie, I got everything in place after a couple of trial runs, zip tied them all together, hung the tail on the correct end, and stood him in the yard next to the candy cane.

Then came the running of the power cord and "plugging em in." After making sure everything was in place and checked twice I had to hide the cords. With no grass in the yard it was a really easy cover up. I'll spare you all the details, Cindy says that I am anal about things like this, I just like everything to look good. And speaking of anal...

Dixie checking him twice

After everything was done and the Doxie was in one piece, Dixie walked over and strutted around the Doxie, stood back and wagged her tail, then walked around and sniffed it's butt (that's the same as shaking hands in a dog's world).

Dixie posing with her Doxie

She said that it wasn't like she thought it was a real doxie...but she did check him twice.

Covered in chocolate

Don't you just love Chocolate covered cherries? I have a special relationship with chocolate covered cherries myself. It has become a habit, a habit that I continue to  repeat over and over and probably will continue repeating for quite some time. I can't stop myself, I just have to do it, once I started I simply cannot stop...Now before you consider a covered with chocolate intervention for me, allow me to explain.

I have bought a box of chocolate covered cherries for my mom every Christmas that I can recall, I can't remember one that I didn't get a box for her, well ever since I was old enough to buy gifts that is.

When I left South Carolina and moved to New Mexico I started mailing a box wrapped up as a gift to her every year, just a cheap box that you can buy anywhere, nothing fancy and she always loved them. She said that the grandkids were always happy when she opened the box, because she always shared the chocolate covered cherries with them, needless to say the box didn't last long, so I started sending two boxes, one for her to share and one for herself.

Since Cindy and I are now living in California the tradition continues, the only difference is that a few years back, rather than buy the cheap box of chocolate covered cherries we invested in a pound of assorted milk and dark chocolate covered cherries from See' Candies.

Mom's box of chocolate covered cherries from See's Candies

For a brief history on See's Candies, A Canadian chocolate salesman named Charles See opened a shop in Los Angeles California in 1921, where his mom Mary See made and sold her own chocolate and candy recipes, a successful business bloomed and is still going strong today.

Being raised in South Carolina I knew nothing about See's Candies, but with my Cindy being raised in California, she knew all about them, she talked me into taking her there to get candies for herself.

When you go to See's Candies the first thing they do is offer you a candy sample as you walk through the front doors, Man that candy is good! As you figured it's a little pricey but as they say "it only costs a little more to go first class."

"Can I have a chocolate covered cherry for my husband to sample?" Cindy asked the clerk behind the glass candy case. And after tasting that sample I have never bought another box of .98 cent chocolate covered cherries for my mom, the price has jumped up enough now that one box costs what a quarter of a centuries worth of the cheap cherries would have cost, but that is OK, it's worth it.

As a matter of fact the tasting of that sample is when Mom's first pound of cherries were bought, and of course a box of assorted dark chocolate nuts for Cindy.

After that first See's Candy Christmas for my mom I was talking with her on the phone. "What did you think of that candy Mom?" I asked. "That's some really good candy" she replied. "What did the grand kids think?" "They don't know anything about it" she said. "Really, did you eat it all already?" I asked. "No, I only ate two pieces and then I hid it in my closet, I'm going to make this candy last...it's too good to share."

So now we have a new tradition for mom, no more cheap cherries, but rather a pound of assorted milk and dark chocolate covered cherries from See's that she enjoys for as long as she can make them last from their spot safely hidden in her closet.

Do you have a tradition that you repeat every year? And what is your favorite candy?

And the time is...

When I was growing up if you wanted to know the correct time, there was a telephone number that you could call. You would hear a monotone woman's voice saying something similar to "At the tone the time will be nine thirty six am and the temperature is fifty four degrees." I'm not sure if this service is available now or not, but when I was younger we called this number frequently.

Now everyone has a cell phone with the time and temperature on it, your computer displays the time, your tablet has the time, and there are even those fancy bracelets that monitors your heartbeat, number of steps you have taken, calories burned, fast food joints visited, how well you slept, and yes even the time, oh I almost forgot there is another tool that you also wear on your wrist that tells you the time...your watch.

Benjamin with his Santa Box

And speaking of watches I want all of you to know, "Benjamin got his box!"

You will remember that after packing and unpacking Benjamin's box, then moving everything into a Bigger Box, that I packed and unpacked two more times before I finally got his new watch packed inside. Now after going through all of the other goodies inside the box Benjamin did in fact find his new watch.

If you want a good and much more accurate replacement for the old time of day telephone number, simply give a watch to a seven year old.

Cindy was on the telephone with Tim and in the background she could hear Benjamin talking, "Hey Dad! Did you know that it is two thirty five pm and thirty seconds...in twenty seconds it will be two thirty six, and nowwww it isss exactlyyyy two thirty six...and ten seconds now, eleven, twelve...

Cindy and I were laughing at Tim's plight with his newly acquired source of time, when I said, "Just wait until Benjamin finds the stopwatch feature," Tim laughed and said "he already has."

Tim said that he and Elisa were sitting on the couch when Benjamin ran into the room and suddenly stopped, looked at his watch and then ran all through the house, Benjamin ran back in and stopped right back where he had started and yelled "Yes thirty two seconds!" Tim asked Benjamin to explain what he was doing and he replied "I'm testing the stopwatch...do you know what time it is now?"

WFW - Doctor visit battle

This months Words for Wednesday prompts are being posted on Elephants Child's blog and provided by Margaret Adamson and her friend Sue Fulton. As always join in by using the prompts in a story, poem, song, or whatever you choose, the idea behind it is for us to write.

When you join in either post your piece in the comments on Elephants Child's blog or leave her a link to the post on your blog. This week the prompts are a couple of phrases:

The show must go on
And /or
The straw that broke the Camel’s back

Doctor visit battle

We have had a really hard time getting Cindy's Dad over his last bout of chest congestion and flu like symptoms, we have had him down to see his doctor several times, and also for tests, x-rays, specialists, and back to his doctor. Yesterday was a repeat performance to go see his doctor again.

"What do you mean that I have a doctors appointment today!" He yelled at Cindy. "Exactly what I said Dad, your appointment is at 2:15" she replied. "Well What if I don't want to go?" He asked. "I can't make you go Dad, all I'm trying to do is keep you out of the hospital!"

Ray's tone was starting to get ugly, and it appeared THE STRAW THAT BROKE THE CAMEL'S BACK was when he said, "When you take me to the doctor you need to keep your mouth shut!"

Cindy stared at him for a long minute and then said "Excuse me, what do you mean by that?" "Just what I said, you always go in there and tell him everything, and here I go having to get all kinds of medicine and tests!" This is when Cindy told him that he was on his own and walked out of the room.

Cindy went outside and drank a coke, Ray watched a little Gunsmoke on TV, and at 1:45 I sat up the wheelchair ramp at the back door and brought in his wheelchair, after all THE SHOW MUST GO ON, he did have a doctors appointment and all of you know Cindy would never leave him without her help.

We got Ray loaded into the car and headed down the road towards the doctors office. Ray looked over to Cindy and said "Now you need to remember to tell the doctor how congested I have been, and short of breath, and also how tired I have been getting." "OK Dad I have it all on my list" she said, and he replied "Good I knew that I could count on you."

Gates, Doorways and Packages

I stopped our mail carrier to talk with him about how he delivers our packages. This time of year a lot of packages are both arriving and being sent from your house, and just how many are being delivered to your satisfaction?

Just this morning I found a box sitting about five foot inside our locked driveway gate. Sitting right there on the concrete just as pretty as you please with the corners all rounded and crunched. Thank goodness the glass scented candles inside were packaged securely by the seller, or else Cindy would have had a box of glass, wax, and wicks.

Also just a few days ago I found two envelopes containing gift cards, sitting just inside the gate sticking into the top of a Gardenia bush. The gate was not locked and was partially opened that day. With the Santa Ana Winds blowing it's a wonder that somebody over in the next county didn't find them, I did double check the name on the envelopes to make sure they were ours and didn't belong to someone up the street.

Cindy has had three different packages arrive that were left at the front door, fairly large packages that arrived very quickly after she had ordered them which was great, all except for the fact that they were sitting right against the front door. At our front door there is a carpeted step with a piece of trim at the edge. With a box sitting against the front door, it will slide into the trim when pushed with the door, basically trapping the door shut. So on three different occasions I have had to go out the back door and around the house to move the boxes, so we could open the door and bring the boxes in, that's the long way around I'd say.

These are just a few package issues we have had in the last few weeks, and every one of these problem deliveries came from the big brown truck or the little book store that sells everything from A to Z who are now making their own deliveries. As for our local mail carrier I wish that these other guys would take a few lessons from him.

Photo by Pope Moysuh on Unsplash

If we have a package delivered from the US Postal Service our mail carrier gets out of his truck and brings that package to our front porch, he sits the box on a chair that is in a corner hidden from view of the street by hedges we have there, but in full view of our front door, but yet far enough away that we can actually open the door. He has always done this since we have lived here, a man who uses his common sense, a rarity now days.

The reason I stopped him was to say how much I appreciated him taking care of our packages, he smiled and said "It's just the right thing to do, just common sense."

You can't argue with logic like that. We did show him our appreciation inside a Christmas card.

We have had no damaged or lost products this year, but common sense tells me that if a gate is locked and you have to leave a package, drop it over at the side of the gate into the grass rather than toss it onto the concrete, and with envelopes when a gate is open, you should at least walk to the door and ring the bell, if no one is home you can leave them on the porch rather than toss them into the shrubs, and as for placing a package against a door, oh come on I don't even have to explain this one...

Have you had any package delivery disasters?

I need a bigger box

Sending goodies to the grandson always turns into quite a project. At Christmas Cindy always sends a big box with gifts for the whole family. This year the box for Tim, Elisa, and Benjamin was packed and mailed off with a postage amount high enough to leave me wondering just what in the heck did we have in that box, the lady at the post office gave me the postage amount for that box and I think I literally grabbed my chest.

Then for Benjamin Cindy sends a separate box, with random things she has bought for him, small toys, candies and such. She actually does this for every holiday. There have been holidays I have never heard of where she sends off a box to Benjamin. I can understand his birthday, Christmas and even Easter, but what about Halloween, Thanksgiving, Veterans Day, National Grandparents Day, National Hotdog Day, and Justcuz Iwanna Day...I'm not so sure about that last one but still Benjamin gets a box.

And when his box arrives he gets to open it immediately, and he is always so excited that he calls Mimi (Cindy) on the phone and talks to her as he opens the box. He oooh's and aahh's  and is always so excited at his newly acquired box of goodies.

Benjamin had been wanting a wristwatch, a digital wristwatch he said, so he asked Cindy if she would buy him one, and she promised him that he would have a new wristwatch in his Christmas box.

We ordered a digital watch that is also a stopwatch and some other things that I would never use much less remember, this is a nice looking watch just his size but not a kid's looking watch. I know that he will be pleased when he finds this watch in his box.

I love getting things for our grandson, but I am the one following Cindy around telling her "If you buy anything else you are going to need a bigger box", we try to limit the size to the large flat rate box that the post office provides, and I thought that her sack of goodies was going to fit until she dumped them into the box, I didn't know that you could get that much stuff into one little bag.

Now it was up to me to "make it fit", "come on Jimmy I know you can do it!" She tells me.

Now picture this I have the large flat rate box on one side, and a random pile of toys, candy, crackers, flash lights, and I don't know what else on the other. It was like a three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle, I stacked and twisted, filling in the empty spaces, then added another layer, layer after layer and low and behold I ran out of stuff just in time to close and tape the box shut. I only had to leave out one thing, a box of whoppers in the little milk carton shaped container, they just wouldn't fit and I figured rather than getting a bigger box for one little carton of whoppers, that I would tape this box shut and eat the whoppers myself.

I made out the address label and deemed Benjamin's Box ready for the post office. That is until Cindy came out of our bedroom with a bag. "Jimmy can you fit this stuff into the box for Benjamin?", I told her that nothing else would fit.

"Come on Jimmy I know you can do it." She said, I told her "Cindy, you are just going to have to save that stuff for the next box.", "I can't save it for the next box!", "Yes you can, you can put it in the New Years box", "But this is Christmas stuff, it won't work in the New Year's box, it has to go in this one!!"

I said the only thing that made sense to my health and well being, "I need a bigger box."

I got a bigger box, yes it's bigger than the flat rate box so I have a feeling that the flat rate no longer applies. I packed my new three-dimensional jigsaw puzzle with the layers from the flat rate box, plus the Christmas stuff from the bag that magically appeared, and even added the box of whoppers that Cindy found on my desk, "Hey Jimmy, what are these whoppers doing over here?, I bought these for Benjamin."

Perfect fit, I held the box shut, taped it solidly, added the new address label and again deemed Benjamin's box ready for the post office. And just about the time I was going to carry the box to the car, Cindy found a small box and asked "What's this", I about died when I saw her holding the box that contained Benjamin's new wristwatch...

Living without a home

The number of people we have living without a home is staggering, our communities seem to have more and more homeless people showing up every day, standing on the street corners with their cardboard signs asking for help and saying God Bless You, and being completely ignored by the majority of us.

Homeless Veteran(Source)

We have about 2,400 people living on the street within the same county that Cindy and I live.

There are approximately 10,300 homeless people living in the state of Georgia.

Well over 16,000 are homeless in Detroit, Michigan.

Upwards of 58,000 people are living in Los Angeles County, California without a home.

And on any given night there are well over a half a million people in the United States who are sleeping on the street, and over 100 million homeless people in the world.

The numbers I am using here are examples of homeless people mainly in the United States, I know that our friends who live in outside the U.S. see similar situations, and if you want to share numbers from where you live with your comments I welcome and appreciate your input.

I once saw a man sleeping in the doorway of an office building (before business hours) wrapped in a blanket trying to stay out of the cold wind, another man sitting with his arms wrapped around himself sitting on the side of the road in between shrubs, I swear there was frost on his hat, and people huddled together underneath an underpass trying to stay out of the rain. Scenes like this breaks my heart.

Some of you have seen homeless people showing up on the streets in the early morning hours. I always wonder where did they sleep last night? And what did they have for breakfast?

(Source)

The vast numbers of homeless people need to be fed somehow, they need shelter from the elements, but a whole lot of them never show up at any shelters to receive help.

What can you do to help? I don't have the answer that will fix the whole problem but I think that if each of us provides just one meal for someone living on the street then that will be one less meal that they have to ask for.

Cindy and I have provided meals for people in lieu of giving them money, if you see someone hanging around near a restaurant you are going to, buy an extra burger, fries and a drink, hand it to them on the way out the door.

Just the other day Cindy was at Wienerschnitzel picking up lunch when she saw a young woman and man who were obviously homeless sitting at a table inside counting out change between them, the young woman brought her change to the counter, it was enough to buy one hot dog and a drink, she paid and went back to the table to wait for their food, Cindy told the clerk to add five chili dogs and another drink to their tray, and to not say who paid for it. The looks on the homeless couples faces were priceless when their food arrived, I was really proud of Cindy, and to think that five chili dogs were that valuable to them.

You can feed people without putting yourself into harms way just like Cindy did, or by buying extra food and giving it to someone you see waiting around looking like they need a meal.

Why do we avoid making eye contact with homeless people? The simple answer is they scare you. The aggressive ones especially, but what about the silent ones that just sit and stare, they can be scary also because you don't know what they will do. Put yourself in their shoes for a minute though, sitting there with no home, no food, and no one who cares, I'd stare off into space too.

You have to be choosy, you don't want to approach someone obviously aggressive or high, but for those that you can tell are just down and out, they will gladly accept food in lieu of cash.

If you buy a meal for someone that is a perfect thing to do, if you give someone a little cash don't worry about what they are going to do with it, wouldn't you rather get snookered once than to hold back from someone who is actually hungry?

(Source YouTube) 

I always liked the song, What If Jesus Comes Back Like That by Collin Raye and I think of it often when I see homeless people.

The next time you see a homeless person he most likely won't be Jesus, but I guarantee you this person was born with a name, they have a face, they were once someone's baby, they are somebody's brother or sister, husband or wife, parent, friend, and sad to say a whole lot of them are down and out decorated veterans that we don't recognize anymore, each of them have the same feelings that you do.

These people will be a lot better off if we can give them at least one meal to help curb their hunger, they will also be better off if we simply look them in the eyes and say Hello as we pass by, this means one less person looked down on them today, or even worse refused to look at them at all.

A little bit of compassion goes a long way. If I were in the same situation that they are, homeless and living on the street, I would hope that at least one person looked at me as if I am a human.

Accidental Backspace

I read a post a couple of days ago called 'Tis the Season written by our good friend Susan over at I Think; Therefore, I Yam that got me to thinking about our homeless population.

I sat and wrote down my thoughts, then we had lunch and I did my "wifely duties" as Cindy likes to call my chores, later on I sat back down and edited some of my wording and did a little research on numbers of homeless people in different cities and counties, I came up with a rather shocking list, but I wanted to share some of these numbers with you.

I went back to my blog and answered your comments on Don't diss the grits and then read and commented on some of your blogs. early the next morning I went back to the post I was writing for you. I write most of my posts on a notepad that I have on my Kindle, simply because it's easy and it doesn't mess with the formatting when I copy and paste it to my blog.

I answered the new comments on my blog and then had breakfast with Cindy, after breakfast I added some more to the post and then went back and took out all of the irrelevant thoughts I had added. I double checked the numbers and added a closing statement.

This is when I read it a couple of times to make sure it sounded right, all I need to do now it to copy and paste it to my blog, so I went through and deleted everything I wasn't going to use, copy and delete, now all the extra words are gone, copy and delete, now all of my research notes are gone. I read it once again and really liked what I had written.

Select all and copy is all I had to do and then paste it onto my blog...Easy enough right? I selected all and noticed the cursor was about four lines below the ending, so rather than drag the cursor back up to the end, I mistakenly hit Backspace...Noooooooo!

That is when I decided to write this post while I start over on the other one, the other one I liked so well is Gone, sorry folks but I'll do better next time.

I mistakenly told Cindy what I had done and she had the nerve to laugh, she tells me that she doesn't think it's funny but that little grin for no reason and when she breaks into a little giggle when I mention it tells me different.

Have you ever lost an entire post with a simple mistake like this?

Don't diss the grits

Where are you from? I actually get asked this question a lot. People I meet can tell right away that I am not from California, I suppose my accent gives it away the minute I open my mouth.

Just last week Cindy and I were joking back and forth with one another at the post office, while the clerk was weighing the gigantic box filled with goodies for the grandson, the clerk we were dealing with asked me, "Where are you two from?" I told her "We live right here in The Valley", and she said "Yeah, but where are you from?" I told her that I was born and raised in South Carolina, and that Cindy was born right here. She smiled and said "I knew you weren't from here!"

OK I guess it's no secret that I don't sound like a California boy, but on the same token my California girl is beginning to sound like she's not from here either, because over the last 20 years she has evidently picked up some of my accent, we sound like real life Beverly Hillbillies I guess you could say.

But what else other than an accent reveals you as being out of place? Food!

Yes food can give you away in a heartbeat, you just go ahead and order something out of the ordinary for a particular area, or even worse diss a beloved dish and see how fast you get a raised eyebrow, or even worse the old "Chicken eye", Oh come on now, you know what the chicken eye is! That is when someone turns their head slightly away from you and glares at you with one eye, go ahead and look in the mirror and give yourself the "chicken eye", I dare you to do it without smiling.

OK back to food outing you as a foreigner.

Once when Cindy and I were visiting my hometown in South Carolina, we met my sister and brother in law for breakfast at the local Waffle House.

Our waitress brought out our drinks and was taking our orders, my sister and her husband ordered first, then I ordered bacon and eggs with grits, a waffle, and raisin toast, and there had to be a gravy biscuit (biscuits and gravy) involved. Yes I kind of went all out on this order.

Cindy ordered the same thing but when it came down to the grits... First off you really need to know that Grits are a staple in the South, Grits come with nearly every breakfast meal, and rather than simply asking for hash browns my little California girl instead looked the waitress in the eyes and said, “Don’t put grits on my plate, I don’t eat those things!" The waitress slowly leaned down and said “Yall ain't from around here are you honey?”

My sister, brother in law, and I almost in unison said, “I was born right here, see I ordered grits”, while Cindy at the same time said “Not me, I’m from California”, this is when the whole restaurant went silent and everyone slowly turned to look at her, kind of like one of those old EF Hutton commercials where everyone listens. Well when Cindy said "California" everyone was suddenly listening. The waitress just looked at her for a minute and then said "Well bless your heart" and walked away scribbling on her pad. Everyone else turned back around and went back to eating.

Cindy has picked up enough of an accent to blend in when we go to South Carolina, but to this day she still disses the grits and right after always hears, “You ain't from around here are you honey?” and sometimes she even gets a “Bless your heart” thrown in for good measure.

If we lived there she would make South Carolina our home, just as much as California is our home now. But she can't help dissing the grits in South Carolina no more than I can change my accent in California.

Be proud of where you are from, and at the same time wherever you are living do your best to make it your home, be happy where you live because the Good Lord has you there for a reason.

If you speak with an accent, that's OK your accent makes you who you are, and if you like a certain food, enjoy it ever chance you get, and if for some reason you are like Cindy and won't even allow grits on your plate, that's OK too..."Bless your heart."