IS LIFE A SILLY SONG?

Behind us on a recent morning walk the sun and clouds provided a wonderful view

While the clouds that loomed ahead of us took on an ominous hue.

The weather man said there was no chance of rain so we kept on strolling along.

Halfway through our walk however we discovered...the weather man was wrong.

We were treated to a rainbow arching high across the darkened sky

And seconds later, weather man be damned, the clouds began to cry.

We took refuge in the covered entrance of a church and here we would remain

As I smiled at Deborah I thought to myself...I like being caught in the rain.

Suddenly I was overcome with emotion, something definitely felt wrong

Was it me...or had my life just been reduced to an inane and silly old song? 

(For those of you who are too young to remember or wince at every syrupy line

Look up ‘Escape (The Pina Colada Song)’ released in 1979.)

“Oh my God!” I thought to myself, “I just admitted I like getting caught in the rain.

I also like Pina Coladas, I am not into yoga and God knows I have half a brain.

I might have liked making love at midnight in the dunes of the cape before...

But seriously how many people do you know who are awake at midnight anymore?

When I realized I also like the feel of the ocean and an occasional taste of champagne

My head dropped into my hands...reeling from the weight of the strain. 

“So that’s it!” I thought to myself as this awareness made my heart twinge

My life can be summarized by a single song that at one time made us all cringe!

“The rain has stopped,” Deborah said with a smile, “the clouds have all moved away.

She looked up as she descended the steps...”It’s going to be a beautiful day.”

I smiled as I stood up and followed her...In truth I had nothing to fret.

Although at times it may resemble a silly song...my life is a lovely duet.

HAPPY SCRABBLE DAY

Happy National Scrabble Day...the game that reminds us ingeniously

That letters are important...especially a triple letter Q or Z!

Thank you Alfred Mosher Butts who despite your unfortunate name

Created a game that has brought joy to many as well as world wide acclaim.

Scrabble teaches patience when with consonants or vowels we are stuck

It helps us understand life’s randomness...and how sometimes we just need some luck.

Scrabble teaches us to take risks and that in losing there should be no shame

It remind us it’s not always where we end up but how we have played the game.

As an extra added bonus Scrabble allows our vocabulary to grow

Because after a few games of Scrabble...look at the obscure words that we know!

XI is the 14th letter of the Greek alphabet, ZED stands for the letter Z

QAT is a shrub from Africa and QI a word for Chinese philosophy.

OE is a Scottish expression and OY can be used quite the same

XU is money used in Vietnam, AUK...a bird with a funny name, 

KI is a Sumerian God meaning Earth, a mountain carved by a glacier is CWM

If you see the letters M L P G H & E...put them together to spell the word PHLEGM.

If you start the game with Z K J I  S U M, don’t get your nose out of joint

Just spell MUZJIKS...a 7 letter double word...and smile...that’s 128 points! 

But knowing an arcane term for a Russian peasant when the Scrabble game is done

As impressive as that is...it’s still only part of the fun.

Because if you think about it, as we thank Mr. Butts for a game that truly transcends...

Without Scrabble, the little game he created long ago...today there’d be no Words With Friends.

TWO LESSONS

I learned two valuable lessons in a short time quite recently

They had to do with my smart phone and, of all things, it’s lithium battery.

Since the day we retired we’ve been recording a 1 second video every day

A 1 second reminder of daily remembrances we’ve made along the way.

We have 1 second snippets of the mountains and the changing of the leaves

Of birthdays, movies, restaurants, of our family on Christmas Eve.

We recorded different foods we’ve made, when we painted our front room

We have s’mores around the campfire and one new bride and groom.

We’ve recorded many of our daily walks, kids concerts, even birds in a beautiful ballet

All these daily memories ended up in our 1 second a day.

They were stored in an App on my phone where we could keep them safe and near

The final viewing would be September 29th...the end of our first retired year.

Well, the other day my phone was acting strange, the battery kept running out

“Can you fix it?” I asked the Verizon lady. She said, “Without a doubt.”

She did something called a factory reset, it was successful and it didn’t cost!

Now the battery is working great...but our 1 second a day App was lost.

“I forgot to mention that App,” I confessed to Deborah, “this tragedy is all on me.

I’m the reason for the loss of all those memories.”

“Jim,” Deborah said shaking her head, “not true, for it seems very clear to me

If we hadn’t made those memories...that would be the tragedy.”

Life is funny isn’t it, as we daily muddle through it?

Sometimes it’s not so much what we see but the way we choose to view it.

Lesson 1: It’s not all that important...the pictures and videos we are taking

What is important, every day, are the memories we’re making.

Lesson 2 Is even more subtle...once shared...this rhyme...I’ll pack it up

If you’re storing pictures on your phone...don’t forget to back it up!

MY HEROES

Let me start by saying I love sports and I’m not too proud to claim

Despite the exorbitant salaries and the criminals I still love to watch the game.

We tend to think of our athletes as heroes, they are admired and embraced

But since we hardly know them...isn’t our hero worship a bit misplaced?

The other day a pitcher for my team--that would be the Rays from Tampa Bay

Was sick but went to the mound and pitched 6 innings anyway.

He was lauded as a hero in the paper just for going in

And giving our team the opportunity to come out with a win.

I think it was admirable and certainly his reputation I don’t want to smear

But wouldn’t it be easier to go to work sick if you made 9.8 million dollars every year?

9 million dollars to pitch once every 5 days...that’s a lot of fortune for his fame

9 million dollars to throw 100 pitches in perhaps 33 or 34 games.

And he’s not even one of the highest paid pitchers, but no doubt he has the riches

For he makes two-hundred and fifty-thousand dollars every time he pitches.

What makes a hero is not a strong arm, a good back swing or a great bat...

It seems to me a hero is quite a bit more than that.

What about the mom or dad who never makes the front page

As they try to provide for their families while making a minimum wage?

What about the everyday people of whom we often don’t speak

Working 8 to 10 hours every day, 40 or more hours every week?

What about the teachers, the doctors, the nurses, there are so many...take your pick

The first responders, the soldiers, the truck drivers who go to work when they’re sick.

Who after working two-thirds of their day would love to be of the belief

That they could call their manager, say their tired, and get some needed relief.

Who would love after coming home early...to have the added perk

Of resting for another 4 days before going back to work.

I do not begrudge this pitcher, certainly he has a talent that’s quite rare

But when it comes to picking the heroes in my life...I choose to look elsewhere.

LITTLE EYES

I remember watching a sunset with Ava and as we gazed out on the sea

She asked if I would pick her up so she could see as good as me.

“Why is that?” I asked lifting her up as we admired the changing sky.

“Because,” she said through childhood innocence, “I have little eyes.”

You have to love the way a child’s mind works, there’s no pretense no deception

There is a candor and a frankness in the innocence of their perception.

Like the little boy who’s mom is pregnant who looked like he’d be sick

When his mommy said, “Hey Adam do you want to feel the baby kick?

He learned a valuable lesson, this boy who’s only 5 

When he jumped up and responded, ‘You mean that thing’s alive!”

There’s the memory of two brothers one mother shall always keep

Of the night when one whispered to the other, “Tell me when you’re asleep.”

When told her shoes were on the wrong feet a little girl’s response was short and sweet

She said, “Don’t try and trick me mommy, I know these are my feet.”

There are many stories of how our children view things differently

As they try to make sense of a world through the little eyes they see.

But eventually we all grow up...and I have to wonder at what cost

For it seems to me as our eyes expand our innocence is lost.

With little eyes we travel through the world without a trouble or care

With bigger eyes we begin to see dangers lurking there...

So the next time we watch a sunset I’m going to squat down to Ava’s size

If she asks I’ll simply tell her...I want to see the world through little eyes.

HAPPY WINSTON CHURCHILL DAY

It seems there was a time in history when our Congress did agree...

Let’s return to April 9th back in 1963.

First let’s step back further...to the years 1939 to ‘45

When Winston Churchill’s during World War II helped democracy survive.

Now back to April 9, 1963, for Congress decided on that day

To make Sir Winston an honorary citizen of the good old USA.

(Churchill joins Mother Theresa and 5 others whom our Congress have all deemed

Worthy enough to be so regarded and held in such esteem.)

He is admired for his courage, his leadership and his wit

And it is to his English drollery I now this poem commit.

When a woman complained about how drunk Winston was, he smiled and said smugly. 

My dear, tomorrow I shall be sober...but you will still be ugly.

Once at a formal dinner this same woman somewhat indignantly

Said, Winston if you were my husband I would add poison to your tea.

“Nancy,” Winston countered, “I need no time on which to think it

If I were your husband,” he said raising the cup to his lips, “I definitely would drink it.”

But Winston was not only known for his witty retorts...his personality could galvanize 

Throughout his lifetime he was famous for being perceptive, insightful and wise.

When asked one day about courage Winston--never known to be passive or weak,

“Courage,” he said with confidence, “is what it takes to stand up and speak.”

Then with his next breath this honorary citizen whom our Congress thought to christen

Reminded us it also takes courage, as he said, “To sit down and listen.”

When I look at our Congress today it seems they heed only half of what Winston said 

As they seldom sit down and listen...preferring to stand up and speak instead.

Which makes me wonder as we celebrate Churchill’s wit...perhaps even he would admit

If Congress only listens to half of what he said...does that make them all half-wits?

LOOK TO THE STARS

If you look to the heavens this evening...if you can remember, or if you care

You will be treated to a celestial event that is relatively rare.

Once every couple of years because of the way their orbits intertwine

The Earth, the Sun and the planet Mars wondrously align.

It means that Mars and Earth will be in opposition and if you’re wondering why

It’s because they will be on opposite ends of a line as you look across the sky.

Astronomers take their defining seriously as they explore our outer space

Which makes me wonder, lately, about some stars in the human race?

Say Gwyneth Paltrow looked at the sky tonight...her definition would be more supple.

She wouldn’t see planets in opposition...just consciously uncoupled.

If I use her logic...when I look into the mirror there’s not a bald man standing there,

Just a man who for whatever reason is taller than his hair.

In the end we’re only kidding ourselves when these definitions we begin forcing

For I am still a bald man and Gwyneth is divorcing.

Perhaps that’s why we love to look to the heavens...for their sheer simplicity

Up there we are relatively sure of the wonders that we see.

Down here on Earth our definitions can be a little nebulous and obscure

And the way that we define ourselves...well...we can’t always be too sure

So this evening I’ll look with awe to the sky and rub my bald head joyfully

As I give thanks that Gwyneth Paltrow doesn’t practice astronomy.