“Giving up on a purposeful journey of life is as deadly as death! When you pursue with tenacity, and strive through the adversities and the vicissitudes of life with a mind of fortitude and get to the end of the journey, you shall surely see life. Awake! Arise and go! Never ever give up!!!” ― Ernest Agyemang Yeboah, Ghanaian writer and a teacher.

You never know what you might see on any given day. This is what I had swirling around agitating those gray cells this morning, on this Wednesday, November 15, 2017. Yesterday, I came into work at my regular time. My last turn onto the dark country road is at a four-way stop. I saw the other car already stopped. That car had the right away but they were not budging. I signaled and turned and lo and behold I saw an older lady at the wheel. She had the lighted mirror down and was putting on her makeup. I've seen that being done as ladies are driving down the freeway. But, there she was, at a four-way stop, working on her face. I know that Solomon, in the inspired text of Ecclesiastes said there's nothing new under the sun. (He certainly got that right when it comes to recycled stuff in movies and television.) However, that was a first for me. She appeared to be oblivious. She didn't even glance at me. She was working on her eyebrows. My guess is that she will be okay until one of those hillbilly rednecks runs up behind her in one of those jacked up trucks, slams on their brakes, and hits their fog horn. That lipstick will probably leave a mark. I suppose Dr. Seuss got it right when a part of one of his poems had this phrase, "Oh the sights you'll see."

You may have thought I exaggerated my story about the dangers of driving in and around where the deer and the antelope roam. Yesterday, someone posted on Facebook a photo of a huge buck all the way through the driver side windshield drooped over the steering wheel. The photo was directed to a specific individual in order to reinforce the warning to be careful out there. I just wanted everyone to know that while I do write a lot of anecdotal stuff, but, some of what I share does reflect the reality of things that can happen as we go along our way. When I mentioned the other day about people asking after my health, which my wife reminded me that she is now not the only one, well, it reminded me of something that happened many years ago. I was doing a consulting project for a large enterprise and the people there were very skittish regarding exactly what I might find and write about. The information technology director was particularly worried. He had reason to be. Yet, one of his tired old tricks was to ask about my health everytime he saw me. Out in the elevator lobby, "Hey, good to see you, are you sure you are okay?" In the hall, "Man, I think maybe you should get a check-up." He was trying to plant a seed and maybe get me off my game. Long story but it ended this way, he was demoted and shipped off to a remote location. And, while I hate to see anyone impacted negatively, in his case he had well earned what happened to him. That was back in the mid-1990's. I don't know where he is today but I am glad to say that I am here and able to write about it. Thanks to everyone for their concerns. I can hear Paw Paw Mac's assessment of the situation, "Son, you'll feel much better when it quits hurting."

Lest anyone get the wrong idea, I am far from having any ideas of invincibility on the part of this well-worn body doing business in this fallen world. Going to the doctor today is quite different than it was when I was growing up as a kid. We had only one doctor in our little town. He had been the doctor there for as long as most people could remember. He had no computer equipment, medical test equipment, or any other of the modern tools available. He would listen to your chest. He would look in your mouth. He would ask questions. When I go in tomorrow the nurse will come in and ask me to sit on that little table in the examination room. She will then log into the clinic's computer system. She will call up my records. She will verify the information to make sure it really is me. She then weighs me and takes my vitals and records the information into the computer. She then leaves and tells me the doctor will be in shortly. He comes in, we shake hands, and then he sits down and logs into the computer. He covers some of the same information but begins to ask about any changes and how I am doing with the current treatment regimen. He goes over the medications. We talk. Maybe a couple of minutes. He then listens to my heart and checks out any other complaints I might have. We then go back to the computer and he updates everything. We stand up, shake hands again, and the visit is over, 10-15 minutes max. The good news? It all seems to work. The old town doctor typically helped me get over whatever I was ailing from and the new 21st-century doctor has pretty much done the same. My bottom line, I am blessed. And, I do thank God for all that He has provided to us to help in every facet of life. Amen and Amen. ......More later.