Happy Father’s Day!

First to my Dad! 97 years young! Who would have believed!

Love you, Dad! Hang in there!

Then to me and all the other fathers out there!

These are difficult times. Unless you are a banker or involved with Wall Street, things are not as they should be. Not as had been anticipated. Disruption everywhere.

The disruption extends to the family unit also. There are more and more dysfunctional families. Family members not talking to each other. The young screwing the old financially. Children throwing Dads/parents under the bus for financial gain. Greed affecting the very core of families to the total destruction of the family unit.

Things change. The world is not as it was. Nor as it was expected to be.

Change has become the constant.

Dads everywhere, enjoy the day with whomever and whatever you have. Make the best of that which is.

I am feeling better. Yesterday was the best day yet this week. I would say I am ok in every respect, except appearance and ability to speak normally. Jaw still swollen and bruised. Is my upper lip going to be purple forever? I still have trouble talking. Enunciation non existant. Words get garbled. I am difficult to understand.

I know. I have always been difficult to understand in many respects. This is a new and different type difficulty, however.

Larry Smith and I had an interesting conversation friday. On the telephone. With Larry having a bit of difficulty understanding me. I understood him, however.

Larry called to ask if I needed anything. Though we do not always agree, he is a friend and loyal reader of this blog. I told him thank you, but no.

We chatted a bit.

Then he told me what his charming wife Christine was up to. Christine was in Saratoga. Relatively close to my home town, Utica. Relatively close to her former home town, Woodstock.

Why Saratoga? The racing season does not start for a month.

Turns out Christine was there helping out family members. If my recollection is correct, a neice and her husband. If I have it wrong, I apologize. But relatives they are.

The wife has cancer and is undergoing chemotheray every day. The husband recently lost both kidneys and is on the dyalis machine every day. They are being treated as out patients in different cities. One in Saratoga, the other in Albany.

Larry and I got into a discussion of the relative illnesses of Christine’s family members and me. I am going to get better. The family members…..questionable. All of a sudden, I felt ashamed for only having thought of myself all week. There are many others in the world far sicker than I.

I immediately felt better.

Which reminded me of something I had heard many years ago…..I was unhappy I did not have shoes till I met a man who had no feet.

Sorry if today’s blog is a bit heavy, thoughtful. It’s the way it came out. I never know what I am going to say when I sit at the computer in the morning. It just flows.

Enjoy the day!

5 comments on “

  1. Under the heading of thinking of others, my niece in law is running a blood drive in memory of my wife on July 1st — her birthday. N-i-L came up with the idea all on her own. So instead of being sad that day, we'll be trying to help others. If any of your readers are in NJ, we'd love to have them. And, even if they're not, give blood. It's truly the gift of life. Fourth of July, and any holiday weekend, any week end in summer, is hard on the blood banks. Increased demand, diminished supply.

    # – # – #

    Blood Drive
    in Memory of Evlynn Reinke,
    July 1 , 2011 (her Birthday)
    The Blood Drive will be held at Midco Waste – 5 Industrial Drive- New Brunswick, NJ 08901 Hours – 12:00 to 6:00 Please call to sign up- 732-565-5880. Prize drawing for attendees.

    In her last year, Ev was given more than 125 pints of blood and 75 bags of platelets. There was never even a hint that they wouldn't be made available. Although they often came from strange places. Let's pay those donations forward so some one else has a chance. It's truly the gift of life.

    If you can't get to New Brunswick, then give in her name locally. Just give.

    # – # – #

    (Note: We're just repaying a "karmic debt"; not any kind of legal or financial IOU. So you don't have to go crazy getting the name right. Just the intention to the Universe is enough for us.)

  2. It is the young of this nation I feel somewhat sorry for as the fraud that has run rampant throughout the land will definitely smack their future lifestyles forevermore. I read that the current US Mayor's Conference has voted to ask Congress to stop both the Iraq and Afghan Wars and divert the billions upon billions being wasted there to our own nation's cities who have crumbling bridges, roads, facilities and are laying off police, teachers, firefighters, etc. None of which says much good about our future in education, the global economy and especially the much vaunted "Homeland Security". Not much security if we layoff our domestic police and can't even seem to control our southern border! How the heck does the Guvment believe it can therefore control the Pakistan-Afghan border? Utter nonsense and very costly. Nonsense we can no longer afford.

  3. Good morning Louis, a very enjoyable blog this morning. Today you came across as a very sensitive person, a person who has feelings and compassion for other people. Its difficult dealing with our problems, wheather its health, family issues or whatever, but we get through them and do realize other people are in much worse cicumstances then ourselves. Enjoy your fathers day with your daughter and her family.

  4. Happy Fathers Day! A very thoughtful blog today. It is so true that we get so focused on our problems that we forget that others go through much worse. Everytime I start to feel like things are too hard, I think about my dad. He had a very difficult bout with cancer and eventually passed away. He handled it with such dignity and without ever complaining, it is a model for me to keep things in perspective. What he went through was far more difficult than anything that I have gone through.

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