"Welcome to the first Friday of the rest of my life." ~ (You can quote me on that one.)

Hello out there in that vast digital domain known as Bloggerland. It's Friday and I am happy to bring you greetings from the Home Office on this November 2, 2018. As soon as the United States Postal Service, USPS, came out with some special Christmas stamps I've been on the hunt for them. The wife tried all the local facilities but they didn't have them. I never wanted an account with the USPS but I opened one so I could get my hands on these stamps. These stamps recreate the paintings done by famed artist Haddon Sundblom, commissioned by the Coca-Cola Company and used between the 1940's and 1960's. I ordered 200 but I may need to get more before they run out. Why did that particular group of stamps catch my attention? I'll let you think about that one, but, I would imagine many have already spotted 'the family resemblance'.

For Flashback Friday I go back to early November 2007. I was still reeling from the diabetes diagnosis and had been called back to see the doctor as a followup. Here's what I had to say about it, eleven years ago: "I know this is a part of how business is conducted but this fellow went in and stayed a good long while. Meanwhile, a room full of people waiting to see the doctor continued to do just that, wait. I finally got in, one hour and ten minutes after my appointment. Stuff like that agitates me. It has something to do with basic courtesy and respect. I didn’t want to even see the doctor but he had a lecture he wanted me to hear. Since I had been sending him the faxes on what was going on with the new medications he had given me, I guess he thought I was being a little too intense in trying to help manage my situation. Who would ever think that I would be like that? The lecture was all about retraining my brain and how that over many years I had allowed it to tell me what was good and bad due to a long conditioning process. It was a good story but to be honest not one single thing he said about what he had seen in people hit me as being even close to what I had experienced. He also chided me for being too much of a micro-manager in trying to pursue each little detail involved in the treatment process. This was an accurate assessment and I had already recognized that I had been a little over the top in my reactions. I went on to tell him how at the very beginning I thought it must be a wrong blood test or diagnosis. When that didn’t pan out, I thought I could lick it with diet and discipline. Now that this appears to not be the case I suppose I was a little let down by it all. I asked how it could be that I went for sixty-one years without any need for medications and suddenly I’m popping handfuls. He laughed and said that perhaps the warranty on my pancreas had expired."

Let me pause right here, right now, and give thanks to God for that good doctor and the one I had after him and the new one I am currently working with. In the summer of 2007 I was confirmed as a diabetic but with God's help and through the assistance of these medical practitioners, I am still here. And, kicking. Not so high anymore, but, thankful to still be kicking. Or as an elderly Church member I once knew used to say, "If I kicked, I ought to be." (Kicked implied) This brings to an end an event filled week. I've had a lot of accolades thrown in my direction and I do greatly appreciate the sentiment. I'm not being modest here but the thought has often crossed my mind that if I could only be the person people think I am, but, the truth is, I am still in the hunt, and still trying. I am glad to report the wife of my youth hasn't run away from home yet, but, she does have a trip planned for next week. When I started with my last job assignment in 2006, I had no thoughts about this thing called retirement. Time, however, marches on. I am content. The Apostle Paul said he was content in whatever state he found himself in. (Philippians 4:11) In my Bible teaching, I used to add as a joke how he obviously had never visited and then I would call out the name of a state. I quit doing that because some people took offense if their home state was called out. Oh well, two days in, I can report that so far I am content. I say Amen to that. Take care and may God bless each one. Amen.   ....More later.