Documented (Boy oh boy is it Victor) daily routine.
Woke up Fell out of bed. If Mother Nature, bladder permit, coffee is made in route to the loo. Pee. TMI, but hey, you pee too. Wordle, previously completed during one of the insomnia moments in the middle of the night.
Compare score (get my butt kicked) with youngest niece, who has gosh awful early awakened hours like me because her hubby has a Frito route. Daily Sudoku. SPORTS Section. Then finally......
Obituaries.
That's weird Victor. Is it? I absolutely DO NOT find enjoyment when someone physically departs this Earth... but, I find there is a Peace at hand, lessons to be learned from the pen of those they left behind.
Calming. A look back. What did they do? Was there a Why to it? HIghlights? Struggles? ANYTHING WE CAN LEARN FROM THEM? Anything we may applaud, emulate?
Uh huh, my take anyways.
"Her children and grandchildren were always confident in her unconditional love and respect. She trusted our decisions, celebrated our successes, and held us together through our failures. We will miss you, Mom."
Far friggin' out ma'am. Kudos. "Trusted our decisions" my oh my if only that were universal. "Celebrated our successes", I think, large part, we're all decent backpatters. "Held us together though our failures." Glue. Not, "whyintheheck did you do that?" Not, "I've told you time after time after time...." Again, well done mom, granny.
And anudder. Lifelong school teacher. "Tough but fair. Kept candles in his desk, coaxed cake from the cafeteria ladies to give to a child on their birthday. Got to work an hour early to tutor students in need." Today's teachers get a bad rap based upon minority complaints "Too many hours, not enough pay, buying things out of my own pocket" yada. Well done Sir!
Next up. "Spent one year at the University of Colorado... his love for the outdoors.. mountains.. the call of the Rockies... he became a self proclaimed "ski bum', living in 'Ed's Beds'', working in the attached restaurant to earn enough money to ski." Trust me, more on this guy in a sec, he certainly wasn't done in life.
*** Skipping around a bit, NOT an obit, but a real life today story of a young lady. She happens to pour me Miller Lites in between her across the World gallivants. Reminded me of the beach bum guy. Three years ago, "I'm going to Breckenridge to teach snowboarding to kids." Do you know anyone there? "No, but I've always wanted to do it. Applied last year, didn't get accepted, did, this time around, sharing an apartment with 3 others. I'll seeya back in April...." TBC
April comes around. "Hey, how was Colo?" "Very cool, except I broke my collarbone... saving up again." For? "I've always wanted to learn how to surf. I'm going to Hawaii to live in a hostel... learn" Cool. Do you know anyone there? 'No. I'll be back come Winter." Winter comes, :HEY, how was it? "Awesome, thanks, and beautiful. Back to saving up." For? "I'm going backpacking, hiking in Thailand." With? "By myself." She's due back at any time, but my two cents here, how amazing... she explained to her folks "Everyone else gets to go off to college... I'll miss that... but these are things I want to do." Is there a better education in life than something like this? AND, kudos to mom, dad for trusting her decisions and celebrating her successes.
Back to the 'beach bum' guy. With perhaps a tug on the ear by mom, he returned to college. Enthralled with flight, joined the Navy. Top of his class in flight school, the pick of any plane (F4 Phantom, fastest there was, twice the speed of sound.) Missions in Viet Nam. The Naval Commendation medal with 'V' for actions involing personal hazard during combat (And much, more.)
If you are like me.......sometimes simply getting up off of the sofa is a big chore. Not with this guy, back to the beach bum, and a 'condensed version of his life'... loved sailing. To the tune of the Bahamas to Bermuda, no cell phone, no GPS, the STARS. "Come on family, let's go." Puget Sound, San Juan Islands, Virgin Islands, Intercoastal US waterways....... and, oh yeah, 35 years as a pilot for TWA which, included, being hijacked early in his career and concluded in the Captain's chair. (TBC)
Family. Don't forget family beach bum. He didn't. Back to me being a simpleton. A love for humor within life. This guy too. "His goofy faces, noises, jokes, stories will all be sorely missed." All passions involved the wind. The noise the Aspens make in the mountains, the wind for flight, for sail. the sometimes hot air of his jokes, the mouth to finger trumpet noise when he entered a room, and yes, the wind he demonstrated when he coaxed a grandchild to pull his finger.
These are just a few folks. It's like this every day. People who set the table in life for us. People are amazing. I know I'm weird in the obit thing but I'm huge in celebrating life, for learning of goodness, kindness, get up and go... and sure, levity.
"A great soul serves everyone all the time. A great soul never dies. It brings us together again and again." - Maya Angelou
Oh Boy It Teaches.
Love, Victurd
