A Deserved Reprise

I offered this a couple of years ago on this date, since on this date years ago, and every year on this date since, it is my youngest brother's birthday. 

I called it (less than imaginatively): 

On My Brother's Birthday

I'm fortunate to have two brothers and three sisters. I concede that, as the oldest of the brood, lucky was NOT always the first word I would have reached for to describe my condition in terms of my siblings.

As my parents' practice child, I had, and have, the smallest heart, the slowest brain, and the most easily bruised feelings. By the time Joan and Bill Senior's last production model, Adam, whose birthday is today, rolled off the familial assembly line, they had a set of mighty fine children.

A brother is someone with whom you share both childhood memories and grown-up dreams. I've known Adam every day of his whole life, and any stories I would tell you, he would know, and in the telling of them, they would no longer be just ours but would belong to the world.

I suspect Adam would be okay with that, but I know I wouldn't be at all, so I'll save them for us and offer to you instead words from Clara Ortega that read as if she could be a sister we never knew, but she's describing the family, not just her family: 

"To the outside world, we all grow old. But not to brothers and sisters. We know each other as we always were. We know each other's hearts. We share private family jokes. We remember family feuds and secrets, family griefs and joys. We live outside the touch of time."

As each of us knows, including Adam, that's not really true, but it is a lovely thought, especially on your birthday. And he was just able to read that line and wince thanks to me. Happy Birthday Adam!
-bill kenny

 

"I Could Check with the Kitchen"

I once knew someone who was born in Puxsutawney, Pennsylvania, on this date, but whose name is not Phil, though that would seem to have been low-hanging fruit at the time of his nativity.

My brother, Kelly, would be somewhat disappointed to learn his name also isn't Bill, as in Bill Murray, which might seem to be an acceptable alternative as an homage to his cinematic tour de force.

I think Kelly is on to something with his regard for the movie, since, as I've aged, I have a growing sense of us living and reliving the same day over and over again. The fear of the End of Days may be misplaced, as it could, for some of us, actually be more of a new paragraph than the closing of a book.

More people believe in a rodent's prophecy than believe in climate change

Look at our world, then at our nation, and then, if you promise not to blink, look at your own life. What do you remember of where all of this was this time a year ago, a decade ago, or perhaps a score of years ago? The rewind button is stuck, and all that changes is the characters while the play rolls on.

Lest you think I'm depressed or distressed, nothing could be farther from the truth. I love this day because it's all the excuse I need to listen to this and smile, at least usually in that order.
-bill kenny 

Lest We Forget

On February 3, 1943, at the height of World War II, the SS Dorchester, a converted cargo vessel pressed into duty and refitted as a troop transport ship, was torpedoed in the early morning hours as the convoy of which it was a part was sailing from Newfoundland, Canada, to a port in Southern Greenland.

The ship with 904 troops and a civilian crew aboard sank bow-first in about twenty minutes. The severe list as the ship sank prevented the launch of some of her lifeboats, and the subsequent overcrowding of the remaining lifeboats caused some of those that were launched to capsize, spilling their reluctant and unfortunate passengers into cold North Atlantic waters whose temperatures were barely above freezing.

Because of the ship’s sudden sinking, no distress signals could be sent, delaying the start of any rescue attempts. When help did arrive the following day, many who had survived the sinking were floating in their lifejackets, dead from hyperthermia. Only 230 men were rescued. The sinking of Dorchester was the largest loss of life of any American convoy during World War II.

Among those who died on board the ship were four US Army chaplains, who helped frightened soldiers board lifeboats and gave up their own lifejackets when the supply ran out. The four, (Methodist minister, Reverend) George Fox, (Reform Rabbi) Alexander Goode, (Roman Catholic priest, Reverend) John Washington, and (Reformed Church in America minister, Reverend) Clark Poling, then joined arms, offered prayers for the living and the dead, and sang hymns as the Dorchester sank.

Their deaths serve as an example of courage for us, the living, especially now at a time when, as a nation, we face challenges and uncertainties from without and within. They continue to this day to inspire.

The Peter Gallan American Legion Post 104, on Merchants Avenue in Taftville, will conduct a Four Chaplains ceremony this afternoon at 2, honoring their selfless sacrifice and celebrating their lives.

I've attended this event in many years past. It is both thoughtful and thought-provoking, and you come away with an appreciation of lives truly lived with grace under pressure in a spirit of caring and generosity for others that I fear sometimes is lost in the tumult of our lives. 

History is the sum of our collective remembrances, and such memories remain our best hope for the future. Remember and honor their sacrifice.

-bill kenny 

Equal Parts Rise and Shine

I've been going to classes/training twice a week for the last month (actually started in the last week of the last year), and this morning was my graduation. 

Thanks to Jess, Kayliegh, and Lauren (and way too many others for this old person's brain to remember) for the patience, encouragement, and perseverance in dealing with a somewhat very frightened senior citizen forced to learn a new skill set if he wanted to remain above ground. 

Thanks and love, always, to my wife, Sigrid, for the truest expression of 'in sickness and in health' I'll ever know. And yes, I am aware that every other Wednesday is recycling day in our neighborhood, so I'll be avoiding the curb.

I'm still an apprentice in terms of proficiency, but I made it through my first night of peritoneal dialysis and can look forward (not my first choice of words) to the same routine for every night of my life for the rest of my life.

Übung macht den Meister. Drück mir die Daumen!
-bill kenny

This Might Come in Handy

I'm not much for 'how-to' articles. I have close to no mechanical ability, so unless the article has pictures (or even better, video), I have trouble visualizing what the writer is talking about. Besides, as I ask myself all the time, how often do I need to know how to circumsize a drunken wombat?

Recent weather events, on the other hand, have persuaded me to think hard(er) about everyday tasks like driving on and in snow. Based on the number of bozos behind the wheel I encountered in the last few days after last weekend's SnowMageddon, and bracing for what may be coming later this weekend, I found this instructive and informative. 

Just remember to steer in the direction of the skid.
-bill kenny

Sweater Weather Would Be Better Together

My thug name is 'Willie the Whiner,' because of my non-stop lamentations about our weather, no matter what our weather is at any given moment. I spend a lot of my life unhappy with the weather, but I am very pleased to live on a planet with an atmosphere, even when the current meteorology isn't to my taste. 

Truth is, I've never lived anywhere that didn't have four seasons (okay, in Greenland, north of the Arctic Circle, some of the seasons were more notional than others), but that doesn't mean I wouldn't like to try it out for myself, at least a little bit before deciding.

My mom had a lifelong dislike of winter and, most especially, snow. After retirement, she headed to Florida many years ago. I think the only reason she didn't move to Panama was that Cuba prevented the Florida peninsula from reaching there.

If anyone deserved the sun's warmth, it was Mom.

And judging from the weather forecasts, that's all the warmth a lot of us in the Northeast, and parts elsewhere, too, are going to have in the coming days. We had a LOT of snow last weekend, along with a lot of other folks, and there's a not inconsiderable amount still in the forecast.

I just had a memory of a daytimer AM station we listened to as kids when my parents had a vacation house in Pennsylvania, WARM, the Mighty 590. No matter how bitter the winter weather, you could always rely on the Ronnie Radio-Voice announcer to pass along the time and temperature in 'DEgrees' while demanding to know 'is it cold enough for you? It's only WARM for me!' Talk about the greatest little station in the nation, not.
-bill kenny

A Nose in Need

Our world is so complex, and our environment can be so complicated. 

Dust and pollen are big culprits, but food allergies are primary offenders.  

Runny nose, itchy eyes, and dry mouth are all reactions. Even sneezing.

No wisecracks, okay?
-bill kenny