It's
Monday, April 14, 2014, and guess what? Or perhaps that should be, Knock, Knock? And then you say, Who's there? And I say a little old lady. Then you say, a little old lady who? Finally and might I add mercifully as well, I say I didn't know that you could yodel. Get it? Little old lady who? Well, forget the whole thing then. Hope you are well and welcome to my version of What's My Line? That's the show that ran on television from 1950-1967 where a panel tried to guess the occupation or accomplishment of a guest based on questions being asked. I suppose it is a good metaphor for my daily visits since I typically leave us all guessing, yes, including myself. That reminds me of what I said to myself the other day, "Self, why were you upset when you heard on the news that they are going to kill off Archie in the comics in an upcoming edition?" That puzzled me. I know about the Archie comics. I've never been a reader of the Archie comics. But, for some reason it just didn't seem right to me that they would kill off the guy the comics are named for. See what I mean? Why should it bother me? I think I need help. Is there a 1-800 number for my condition? Maybe I could figure out a way to warn Archie.
With President Obama being in town last week it reminded of something. I recently ran across an old local news video clip from a presidential visit to Houston back in 1974. It was Wednesday, March 20, 1974 and President Richard Nixon was in town to tour NASA and to make a speech. I worked in a highrise building on the 9th floor at that time. One of the fellows I worked with named Ben always got to work early and he and I would play a quick game of chess. He told me there was some commotion going on down at the Keystone Drugstore, about a block away. He said he had seen the President with a very small number of people with him go into the diner inside the drugstore. I didn't believe him at first but grabbed the binoculars to try and catch a glimpse of what was happening. By the time I tuned in there was a fairly large crowd assembled on the street. The old clip I watched showed an interview with a waitress who had taken care of the President. She talked about him joking forth and back with her. He was staying at the downtown Hyatt and had wanted to go for a walk and pretty much surprised his guard detail as they scrambled to accompany him. Needless to say, we didn't get our chess game in or anything else done until things calmed down. That visit came just 5 months before he would become the first US President to resign in disgrace. Pretty heady stuff back in those days. Still pretty heady just thinking back on it. Pretty heady indeed!
Is there a day in the year that is not designated for some family connection? It does get a little old if you know what I mean. I understand the major ones like moms, dads, husbands, wives, children, and siblings. But folks wishing each other double first cousin on my mother's side day just goes beyond the pale if you ask me. We know that beyond the pale has come to mean an out of bounds behavior of some kind. It originated from way back in time when certain property lines under the control of England but located in Ireland were designated and called a pale. Thus, the beyond the pale idiom was birthed. But getting back to my point, how many specific family connections can we come up with? And, with all due respect, don't even get me started with all the shenanigans going on promoting pets of every species. It sounds to me like a mutual admiration condition that has gotten out of hand. As it relates to this preoccupation with family connections, I guess I should be glad they typically haven't gotten into the technical designations involving once, twice, thrice, etc., removed. I thought I would throw in a little cousin-ology just to kick it up a notch. Maybe I'll be able to get my act together and calm myself down before I do my best to show up again tomorrow. We can all hope. Take care and may God bless each one.
Amen. ...More later.
No comments:
Post a Comment