Starting Off The New Year . . . Terrorizing The Elderly

Today is January 1st, 2010! What better way to start off the New Year than to get back into my daily routine of taking an early morning walk?

So this morning I eagerly got up, looked outside. It was still pretty dark, very cloudy, and raining. Not at all ideal conditions for a morning stroll.

Not deterred, but rather, with greatest determination, I donned my fleece hoodie to guard against the chilly, wet, “out-there“ and set off to dodge the intermittent light showers.

I like to walk with my MP3 player and listen to music while I exercise, and this morning was no different. I enjoy the way that I can get lost in the music and the beautiful scenery and not think about the exertion that my body is having to endure. (Okay, I know that it is just walking--but that’s just where I am right now!)

Normally on my morning walk, I encounter more than a few other walkers and joggers, but today that was not the case. I didn’t mind though, because it allowed me the freedom to sing along with the music that I was listening to without worrying about who might hear my vocalizations. (If you’ve ever heard someone singing along with music that only they could hear, then you know what I mean. It can be pretty scary sounding!)

Those of you that have seen me lately know that I am a big guy. Let’s just say that at six foot, six inches tall and about 255 pounds, I’m not easily overlooked! But this is something that I don’t think about often, until something happens to remind me of that fact. Something like what happened on my walk this morning.

So here I am walking along, listening to my music, when I noticed an elderly lady and her dog approaching me on the sidewalk ahead. She was a small, thin woman who was hanging tightly onto the leash on her small dog as if she were holding back an attack dog. Though the dog was no attack dog, he could have easily overpowered the woman and pulled her down, but he seemed to know not to pull too hard.

It is my custom when I pass by a fellow walker, to smile and greet them. It just feels nice to acknowledge my comrades in fitness. So, in anticipation of that moment when I would be close enough to be heard by this sweet elderly woman, but not too late for her to respond, I put my hand in the pocket of my hoodie, and started to pull out my MP3 player to pause it, out of courtesy to her, so that I could hear her response if she answered.

But as I was pulling my hand out of my pocket, I noticed the poor lady shrinking back from me with quite a frightened look on her face! I quickly smiled and said, “Good morning!” She had no response for me.


It wasn’t until I had passed by her that I realized that I was the one who had frightened her! But by then I couldn’t very well go back and apologize to her. That would have only served to frighten her even more!

I can’t help but wonder what she was thinking, if she felt vulnerable, as I approached her on the sidewalk, when there was no one else around. Or how her fears increased exponentially as I fumbled in my hoodie pocket for my MP3 player!

Perhaps, if I had realized the impact that I was having on her at that moment, I could have done what the angel of the Lord did for the shepherds "abiding in the field," when he showed up on the scene and scared them half to death, and said something like:

“Fear not! For, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy! It’s a brand new year and I’m not here to mug you!”

May this new year bring you peace, prosperity, and love . . . and safety from terrorists . . . real or imagined!

After All, It's A Small World

My grandson, Jacob, started preschool this year. Thankfully, he is enjoying it very much and was even upset that they didn't offer it on Saturdays!

On the first day of school, however, he did suggest to his mom that maybe he shouldn't go because, "you won't be there . . . and I love you!"

But later at school, he made the adjustment a little too abruptly, as far as his mom was concerned, when he sat down with the other kids on the carpet for story time and looked up at his mom and said, "Okay, Mom, see you later!"

He is especially enjoying making new friends. There are a large number of Hispanics in his class and because Jacob didn't want anyone to feel left out, he told his teacher that he would be friends with any of the kids that didn't speak English.

So you might be wondering how he goes about breaking through the barriers of communication and culture. His approach is quite simple, actually.

He just goes up to them and with a sincere and welcoming heart says, "Hola amigo! Want a taco?"

Can you imagine the possibilities that await him as he grows into adulthood? Could we be looking at a future Ambassador to Mexico? Whatever he becomes, God has great plans for him!

The Elusive Two-Headed Rocky Mountain Sheep

Check out this incredible photograph that I captured on my trip up Mt. Evans in Colorado!










Okay, not so incredible!


Okay so, not even believable!

Turning the "Double Nickel" -- 55 and STILL ALIVE!

I'm going to break down my thought process on this one for you.

I was thinking about turning 55 years old and how that's a number we often associate with a speed limit which made me think about how fast time seems to go now, which made me think about how for me one year represents only 1/55th of my life, while for a child who is two years old, one year represents 50% of his or her life, or actually some less if you hold the belief that life begins at conception, but still a very large portion of their existence, and so it must seem like a relatively long period of time to them, which reminded me of how a young child on a trip will often say, "Are we there, yet?" over and over driving his or her parents "over the edge" and how that's because for the parents that time period doesn't represent nearly as large of a portion of their life and so for them it's no big deal, but for the kid, it's HUGE and so that's why time seems to go by faster as we get older, kind of like how if you're driving a car at one mile per hour, it's going to take you a much longer time to get there, but as you increase that speed, it take less and less time, which makes me wonder what it's like for my Dad who is going down the road of life at 86 miles per hour, and at his age I think that's entirely too fast for him to be driving, which makes me think about life after death which must eventually be like traveling faster than the speed of life. (I was going to say faster than the speed of light, but my fingers typed "life" which says it much better!)

Kind of scary! By that, I mean the creative process of my mind.

Flying High in a Bright Blue Sky

Have you ever snapped a picture and been pleasantly surprised with the resulting image that you captured?




Last weekend, my wife and I made another trip to the beach--this time on the "Gulf of Mexico side" of the state. It was perfect beach weather. I had taken my Canon Power Shot camera with me and as we relaxed on the beach, I tried to take some pictures of the seagulls that were pestering some neighboring beach goers for food.


Because the sun was bright and my eyes are advanced in age, I wasn't sure that I had anything worth keeping, but that is one of the nice things about digital photography. You can push the shutter as often as you like without incurring a great deal of expense, and then just delete those shots you don't want to claim as your own!


I clicked off five shots before the seagulls went off to find more willing patrons, not realizing until I got home that in my last attempt I had captured the image that I had been going for.


It reminded me of a time when my college roommate (the now famous photographer, Gary S. Chapman) and I went to the beach and tried to capture photographs of seagulls back lit by the sun. (If I remember correctly, he got the shot he wanted and published it in a supplement to the university newspaper.)


No award winning shot here, but a nice reminder for my wife and myself of how perfect the day was for "beach going."


And even more amazing--the photograph was captured without either one of us getting pooped on!

How Quickly Things Change

I was downloading some pictures onto my computer and came across a couple of photos I had taken during a trip that Nan and I had made to the Atlantic coastline in late March. I was struck by the difference in the two pictures which were snapped one right after the other. Looking toward the South, the first picture depicts a beautiful day to enjoy the beach.

However, looking to the North, tells a much different story!

Nan and I spent maybe ten minutes on the beach, before the cold winds of the approaching cold front encouraged us back into our car.

We tried driving South along the beach and stopped again in a sunny spot, only to be driven back into our car within five minutes, because of the relentlessly approaching storm.

Still, it was beautiful--mostly because we were sharing it together.

Space . . . The Final Frontier

I've been wondering if there is much excitement over space travel anymore. This summer marks the 40th anniversary of man's landing on the moon. I was fortunate enough to witness the launch of that historic flight. It was a time of great excitement in the space program, but many of the people alive today missed out on America rising to the challenge of that monumental achievement.



Today, there is a much different feeling about it. I would guess that most people didn't even know that the space shuttle Discovery launched into space yesterday evening. I, myself, just happened to hear about it and decided to take Nan to the east coast of the state for a better view of the 7:43 PM lift-off.





We, along with many others parked along side of a highway not too far from the Kennedy Space Center. The sun set in the West. Then a star quickly shot out from the horizon to the East.






In a very few minutes it was well on it's way. The people watching around us broke into spontaneous applause. Pretty neat. Well worth the time it took us and a nice reminder that mankind is able to accomplish some pretty monumental tasks.