Not that I’m a genius or anything close to it but I have stumbled upon the source of all of America’s troubles and I am happy to report that is it not me. And it is not you. You want to know what’s really destroying this country? You want to know what’s really breaking our backbone? You want to know what’s gotten us beat down so low that we think the ant’s belly is the Goodyear Blimp? Look no... Read more
I arrived home from Seattle on Saturday. It had been an eventful last week of radiation for Mama. We learned on Thursday that she had blood clots in her legs and a tinsy brain bleed. The problem, of course, was that the treatment for the blood clots — blood thinner — can make the brain bleed worse. We met with the very fine doctors at the University of Washington Medical Center and after a grueling day of tests on Thursday,... Read more
When Neil Armstrong died much was made of that awe-inspiring walk he took on the moon on July 20, 1969. “One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind.” It was Armstrong’s last mission to space. He only made two in his lifetime. The one aboard Apollo 11 and a previous one aboard Gemini 8 in 1966. His former wife, Janet Armstrong said all that attention showered upon Neil made him uncomfortable. “He feels guilty that he got all the... Read more
Students have come to expect it from me, and I will not disappoint. Yes, especially in this election year, they will still get that lecture I give about voting and about how men and women died to earn them that right and how if they aren’t going to exercise that right then by golly they are low-down yellow-bellied egg-sucking dogs. Okay. I don’t go quite that far but it’s the gist of it. Voting is important. I believe that.... Read more
It’s the veterans she served as a nurse that Mama remembers best. Bruce. Homer. Mike. “There are a lot of names I remember,” she says. Her memory is a virtual wall. The names of many of her patients are etched into her brain like the black marble etching on Panel 9E Line 71. People she gave morning and evening meds to, people whose pillows she fluffed, people whose feet she checked for swelling, people she prayed for and ministered to... Read more
Mama was engaged to a man after Daddy died. He was a nice enough fellow, a graduate from a fine southern university who had done very well professionally, financially. She met this fellow on a blind date. A friend and her husband invited Mama along to go bowling. They brought along this man and afterwards he began calling Mama everyday. I wrote about the man Mama almost married in After the Flag has been Folded. He bought me a Billy... Read more
Mama likes to talk. This is a random and new thing for her. Unlike my kids, I’m not used to a talking Mama. When I woke her for her 5 a.m. meds this morning, Mama said, “I thought you were going to talk with me earlier. (Mama was referencing the 2 a.m. med time)Your sister always did.” Comparing one child to another has long been a useful form of getting one child to do what the others would not. I’ve... Read more
These words kick-started my day: “I hold the heady doctrine that no pleasures are so frequent or intense as those of the grateful, devoted, single-minded, whole-hearted, self-denying Christian. I maintain that the delights of work and leisure, of friendship and family, of eating and mating, of arts and crafts, of playing and watching games, of finding out and making things, of helping other people, and all the other noble pleasures that life affords, are doubled for the Christian; for, as... Read more
Have you ever noticed that the dying are far more discerning about how they spend their time and money than the living? The dying are the most reluctant of all consumers. They can talk themselves out of buying most anything. They don’t feel a need for useless stuff. It’s health and comfort they seek. A dying person will hardly ever ask you to read to them from People magazine or Glamour. They don’t have the time or the interest in keeping up with... Read more
We can all agree that Prince Harry is a wild card. A good boy with a self-destructive streak. Not unlike his mother’s brother, Charles Spencer, who had a knack for grabbing the attention of the tabloids in his day, too. And for the record, it is clearly not true what they say about What happens in Vegas, Stays in Vegas. Somewhere in New York City, a marketing team is already at work on a new catchy slogan, one that will undoubtedly... Read more
Karen Spears Zacharias
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