“You know it's a small world when you bump into friends you haven't seen since grade school on the, It's A Small World Ride, at Disney World.” ― Kilburn Hall

The young lady on Santa's left is Emily. She is helping to take care of mom.

I know you can hardly wait to see what ends up on the page for today. I am aware of how that would be presumptuous on my part, but, to tell the truth, I am often the last one to know what I will be sharing. Since I am in a confessional mood, I have to say that I sometimes come back to something I've written after being away for a few hours and I don't even recognize the stuff I see. Sorry. But, for some reason, as my mom often says, "That's the way the cookie crumbles." And, I guess that is an appropriate description of how things end up on my blog's electronic page. With that said, I both digress and move on in welcoming one and all to today's visit, here on this Tuesday, January 10, 2017. We often hear people say it's a small world. They use that term when they encounter the same people, events, or situations in an unexpected place or they have discovered that someone knows a person they also know. Last Saturday when I went to Louisiana to visit mom in the rehab center, I was surprised to see a young lady who was there helping to take care of her. Her name is Emily. She is a part of the family we visited in The Woodlands the day after Christmas. I called her into the room and introduced her to mom. I told mom she is the granddaughter of a lifelong close friend of our family. Mom said she didn't care who she belonged to because she is so mean to her. Emily just laughed. She has to help mom out of bed when they get her up and mom would rather not get up at all. We are glad that Emily and others are there to help mom, even when mom prefers to just stay in bed.

Near Leesville, La., posted last Friday.

Okay. If you are one of those who has had enough of the cold, well, welcome back to a high of 75 today with, believe it or not, some low 80's predicted for tomorrow. This past Saturday and Sunday gave us all a taste of the frozen tundra. On the trip over to Leesville, Louisiana, we saw plenty of ice and once we neared our destination, there was still quite a bit of snow around. We were constantly showing in the high teens and low twenties for an outside temperature as we traveled on down the road. I did see some of the cold haters posting their thoughts about the icy world we found ourselves in. ~ If you want to experience a blizzard go to Dairy Queen. ~ I hate January, it's the Monday of months. ~ I honestly can't remember how my toes feel. ~ My favorite thing about winter is when it is over. ~ Can't wait for winter, they said. It'll be fun, they said. ~ And the proverbial 'It's so cold .....' ~ I actually saw a teenager pull up his trousers. ~ I'm shaking as bad as a couple of jelly donuts at a Weight Watchers meeting. ~ And maybe the one we've heard the most over the years, "It's so cold I actually saw a politician with his hands in his own pockets." Early Sunday morning I was at the place where our local fellowship meets. It was in the low 20's but clear and crisp. Once I got everything done I needed to do I went outside and walked the parking lot. It was a little nippy but oh so refreshing. Those central air systems are likely sending out a message today: Heat or cool, could you please make up your mind.

I'm not making fun of those who prefer the warmer weather because as bad as I hate to admit it, I really can't take the cold as well as I did when I was much younger. I suppose I could come up with a list of stuff like that but I also know it comes with the territory. I'm not saying I'm happy about it, but, I'm finding out that complaining about things that develop in the 4th quarter of the game of life doesn't really make any difference. It goes like this one I saw the other day: See no evil. (Because you forgot your glasses.) Hear no evil. (Because you forgot your hearing aids.) Speak no evil. (Because you forgot to put your teeth in.) I know it could be worse. Like when rock and roll has to do with chairs. One is for rocking and the other for being rolled around. Yeah. I'm peeved a little when I see the toys I played with as a kid now selling as antiques and collectibles. And, I get it. I realize folks are just trying to be clever when they say I should be glad to have had so many birthdays because the way it works is the one with the most birthdays lives the longest. Thank you very much. I actually had someone recently say they hesitated to call me on a Sunday afternoon for fear that I was taking a nap. Really? Me? Guess what? When they called I was sound asleep and had to call them back. I guess given all of these indicators one of my regrets is that I didn't buy stock in the Company that makes arthritis strength time release pain tablets. Oh well, I'm thankful that I can still make a mark when I breathe on a mirror. I used to advise some of my employees to do that occasionally to see if they were still among the living. Now I do it just to make sure I'm not fooling myself. Just a lot of joking around today because no one is more thankful than I to be able to still get up and go each day. Have a great rest of the day and may God bless us all. Amen. .....More later.