Who Was the Father of our Country?

My life partner is Greek. He speaks beautiful English with a Greek accent. For much of his life, he has longed to be an American citizen. Since we have been married, I have encouraged him to make that decision, and he is now in the process of studying the questions he must be able to answer. We hired an immigration attorney who has directed us through the procedures. It has been a more-than-a-year process that appears finally coming to a resolution. He has received information that he will have his citizenship interview on February 5th in Tampa. Of course, I have been going over the 100 questions for which he will be responsible for correct answers. He has learned them amazingly well. After asking the questions from 1 to 100, I made out a tally sheet so I didn’t have to ask them in order. That made a difference. Recently when he was asked what Benjamin Franklin was famous for, he answered, “He freed the slaves.” Then what was Lincoln famous for? His response: “He was the first postmaster.” He has, of course, straightened out those answers. Pray for us on February 5th as we may have a new U.S. citizen soon.

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Unorthodox Ways to Read a Book

I guess perhaps to some, I have several unorthodox reading habits. First of all, I so far have refused to let someone read a book to me nor have I listened to a book on a disc. Now, I wouldn’t call that unorthodox as I haven’t been told that the old way of reading with a book in hand is obsolete yet. I read slowly; never took a speed-reading course or anything like that. Because of my being a slow reader, I always check the number of pages in the book I am reading to determine how much I must read daily in order to return it to the library on time. I actually print out a schedule and use it as a bookmark while I’m reading. Perhaps the most unorthodox method of reading a book occurred in 1995 when I visited Europe–Paris, Vienna, Salzburg, and Milan. I knew there would be time to read, but I didn’t want to risk losing a hardback book during my travels so I picked up a discarded paperback copy of David Copperfield that our school library was throwing away. As I read throughout Europe, I would tear out the pages I had read and would toss them into trash cans. By the time I reached the airport in Milan, the paperback was down to only a 100 or so pages. Now, I call that efficiency.

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Reading Words

I am always reading two books at one time: one, when I am riding the stationary bike at the YMCA gym; the other, when I’m relaxing in my blue recliner in the living room at home. One of my latest readings is the biography of Bobby Kennedy A Raging Spirit by Chris Matthews. As I was reading this morning about the period just after the assassination of Jack Kennedy and the trauma it caused to Bobby, his brother, who idolized him, I read that, at the time, hoping to boost Bobby’s spirits, Jacqueline Kennedy recommended he read some poetry. One of poems that became a favorite included this line: “He who learns must suffer. Even in our sleep, pain that cannot forget falls drop by drop upon the heart, until, in our own despair, against our will, comes wisdom through the awful grace of God.” As I read these words, I was perplexed with the phrase “awful grace of God, which, to me, seemed to put a negative slant on God’s grace. The more I thought about it, the more I decided that the word “awful,” which we use as a negative, must have in its original meaning, to have meant “full of awe.” Certainly, that is my reaction to the grace of God.

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Just One Trophy, Please

Because I was never athletic, I envied guys who had trophies. They had received them from baseball, football, or some other competitive sport. I dreamed of a trophy for myself. As it turned out, it took me many, many years to finally earn a trophy. My first chance came when I joined a church bowling league. I had never before bowled, but I bought a used bowling ball, had it re-drilled, and began playing with our church team. I wasn’t very good, but the fellowship was great. One evening, I was bowling with my team, and I began to get strikes, one after the other. My final score was a 237–incredible. Because of that one score–which I believe had nothing to do with accuracy but was pure luck–I was awarded the prize for the high game. My reward: a belt buckle. When I joined the Navy, I found myself at Naval Air Station, Pensacola. During my time there, I was sought out because I had been a tennis player of sorts and was commanded to work with a serious tennis competitor who needed a partner for doubles. The tennis expert asked me, “Can you serve?” When I expressed some confidence that I could, he replied, “Then just serve and get out of the way.” Believe it or not, we won the base championship. The award: A TROPHY.

Reader, if you are not a follower of my blog, I hope you will become one. Go to http://www.bobosbest.wordpress.com and on the bottom of the right hand corner you will see the opportunity to sign up so that you receive this blog every time it is published. Click on the word FOLLOW and enter your e-mail address. Thank you.

Snow

I was raised in South Carolina, a southern state where the winters are fairly mild when compared to northern climes. Growing up, I prayed in the wintertime that somehow it would snow. Frequently, when it was cold enough, I would sit at a window, waiting and watching for the snow. It rarely came. Therefore, when I had to make a decision when I joined the Navy to either go to San Diego, California, or to Great Lakes, Illinois, I chose Great Lakes as it was January and, for sure, I would see snow. Well, I did indeed see snow. However, in Great Lakes that winter, the snow would fall and blow away quickly. Most of the heavy, beautiful snow fell in New England. What I did experience in abundance was zero weather. Before I left, I clinched my fist and raised it to heaven, repeating some words similar to those I had heard somewhere else. “As God is my witness, I will never be this cold again. If I have to lie, cheat or steal, I’ll never be this cold again.” So, what did I do when I got out of the Navy, I came to Florida, and I love it.

Reader, if you are not a follower of my blog, I hope you will become one. Go to http://www.bobosbest.wordpress.com and on the bottom of the right hand corner you will see the opportunity to sign up so that you receive this blog every time it is published. Click on the word FOLLOW and enter your e-mail address. Thank you.

 

Diagnoses

As you readers know, I just missed a couple of “blogging” days, something I seldom do. Usually, a miss means that I am out-of-town on a planned trip. However, on Saturday morning, the fifth, one day before I was scheduled to post my next blog, I went to the Emergency Room, having had some severe chest pains. In the week prior, I had experienced some symptoms and had been taking antibiotics hoping to take care of my health needs. At the Emergency Room, I was quickly admitted, given an EKG and a chest x-ray and entered into the hospital as a patient. The next three days were filled with a head-spinning number of different machines, designed to figure out why I had had the chest pains. The first diagnosis suggested it might have come from AFib, short for Atrial Fibrillation, a heart condition that causes the upper chambers of the heart (known as the atria) to quiver. This quivering prevents the heart from pumping effectively. After several stress tests that indicated that my heart was strong, the AFib diagnosis was dismissed and I was given two ultra sounds, to see whether some liquid on my lungs had increased or decreased. When that results showed a decrease, they sent me home. Hallelujah. It’s mighty good to be home again, and anyone who has been in the hospital for several days knows that I mean.

Reader, if you are not a follower of my blog, I hope you will become one. Go to http://www.bobosbest.wordpress.com and on the bottom of the right hand corner you will see the opportunity to sign up so that you receive this blog every time it is published. Click on the word FOLLOW and enter your e-mail address. Thank you.

 

Please Don’t Cancel…but if you must

I don’t like to be sick and, when I’m sick, I like to keep going unless it’s a desperate situation. Another thing that I don’t like are cancellations. Cancellations are one-sided changes to a situation where one side doesn’t know what the other side did to make the appointment. Yes, I know I can’t be greatly upset every time someone cancels an appointment as there are reasons, both on their side and my own. Recently, I had an appointment to eat dinner out at a Longhorn Steakhouse. We had made the decision to meet and eat over a week ago. The day before the agreed date, I began to feel puny–headache, achy body, absolutely no energy. I called my doctor who asked me to come in. The result was my being diagnosed as having some form of the flu. Coming home, I took two extra strength Tylenol before going to bed and waked feeling better. However, as the day progressed, the fever came back and the discomfort returned. I e-mailed my friend asking for a rescheduled dinner out. I think he’ll understand.

Reader, if you are not a follower of my blog, I hope you will become one. Go to http://www.bobosbest.wordpress.com and on the bottom of the right hand corner you will see the opportunity to sign up so that you receive this blog every time it is published. Click on the word FOLLOW and enter your e-mail address. Thank you.