It came like a tidal wave on December 19^th and covered the land, then stayed two full months. Two months of winter like I’ve never experienced. It brought, not just snow you could measure in inches, but snow measured by the foot. Before one batch could melt away completely, another wave would come. Roads were impassable much of the time, thousands of folks were isolated or out of electricity for long periods of time, school was canceled almost every day, the  number of accidents from slipping on the ice grew, and we rarely saw sunshine. Just cold, cloudy, dreary days, day after weary day. Most folks suffered in one way or another.

Ordinarily I love snow, but after two months of it, it almost felt like death. Did I grumble and complain? You bet I did.

If it hadn’t been for Harry Hodge, Emory would have been the fastest runner for the 9^th grade track team at Berwind Jr. High school. Harry had just a second or two faster takeoff and was always two or three steps ahead of him. No matter how hard he tried, Emory could never pass Harry. Little did he know that this day was going to be different.

It was the spring 1953 district track meet. Harry was scheduled to run the 100 yard dash and was confident of a win. Then Coach Roco Romeo called Emory over and said, “Emory I want you to run in this race too.”

“But Coach,” Emory reminded him. “There’s no way I can beat Harry.”

“But you might come in second, and that will give us more points.”

So Emory agreed.

God’s Whispers

February 15, 2010

Emory and I take fresh garlic almost every day. Garlic has been called a wonder drug, and is on the top ten list of the healthiest foods we should eat. We chop the peeled cloves in pill sized pieces and swallow them with a drink just before breakfast. It is especially good for cholesterol. Many folks take the capsules, but much like vegetables, fresh is better. Someone has said that we may not be popular, but we will be healthy, so, our sincere apologies go to the folks we have to interact with. At our age we must try to stay healthy and well because we know God is not finished with us yet. We still have much work to do, many prayers to pray.

Not long ago as I was dismantling a fresh garlic bulb I discovered something I had never noticed before. First of all the bulb was attached to the root, then, protected with a couple of thin layers of "skin". I peeled that layer away to reveal a circle of various sizes of large cloves. The "big daddies" and "mommies" I call them. Beneath that was a circle of somewhat smaller ones, and in the middle, all clinging together, were those really thin ones-the baby cloves. Every clove had its own skin covering, but all the skins came together at the top.

Habits! Good or Bad?

February 8, 2010

We are creatures of habit. We know that habits, or routines, are behaviors we learn by repetition because of a need, or to experience a certain pleasure. Most of these routines are good, like flossing our teeth or eating our greens. Some are harmless, like always putting our shoes in a certain place or making our bed a certain way. Personal preferences dictate these kinds of habits. But the bad habits we form, like watching too much television, or sleeping so late we have to rush around screaming and yelling the next morning as we try to prepare for work, school or whatever.