Gone but not Forgotten

As the week begins on the Memorial Day Monday, I remember those who have come before me.

I have walked past Metsker Maps of Seattle so many evenings after its closing time throughout the years.

I finally walked into Metsker Maps yesterday. I looked at the maps and the globes as I imagined my previous residents fighting wars in other countries so I could live free.

My residents have repeated their stories over and over and rightfully so about their service to our country. Then there are the residents who can no longer remember. Their loved ones remembered for them and shared their stores. I thought about my residents in the latter category when I recently found a copy of “He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands.” My residents remembered the words and performed the gestures with little cuing. They sang about their world as they recounted it.

These residents are no longer among us. I remember them because they have made me a better person by traveling on their journeys through the remnants of a world only in a History book to most of us.

Memorial Day - We Remember Them

We Remember Them 
by Sylvan Kamens & Rabbi Jack Riemer

At the rising sun and at its going down; We remember them.
At the blowing of the wind and in the chill of winter; We remember them.
At the opening of the buds and in the rebirth of spring; We remember them.
At the blueness of the skies and in the warmth of summer; We remember them.
At the rustling of the leaves and in the beauty of the autumn; We remember them.
At the beginning of the year and when it ends; We remember them.
As long as we live, they too will live, for they are now a part of us as We remember them.

When we are weary and in need of strength; We remember them.
When we are lost and sick at heart; We remember them.
When we have decisions that are difficult to make; We remember them.
When we have joy we crave to share; We remember them.
When we have achievements that are based on theirs; We remember them.
For as long as we live, they too will live, for they are now a part of us as, We remember them.

Live Your Life at Full Throttle

Janet Guthrie's Wildcat 3-DGS, which she drove to ninth place in the 1978 Indianapolis 500.

On this Sunday of Memorial Day weekend, I first reflected on the running of the Indy 500. It is not only a race as I grew up in Indiana. My Grandma Shaffer listened as I did and maybe my sister, brother and cousins to Jim Nabors sing “Back Home, Again in Indiana.”

I appreciate that the Indy 500 has kept its traditions, such as a prayer offered during the opening ceremony and the winner drinking milk at the conclusion.

The Indy 500 offered a dream to a little kid, who gave her friend and neighbor, Tom a push down his driveway in his go kart. Why Tom did always accepted my help in propelling the go kart and never let me drive?

Janet Guthrie drove into history 40-years ago as the first woman in the Indy 500 in 1977. I sat quietly in front of the television and watched Guthrie as she until the 27th lap when her car had mechanical problems.

I will drink a glass of soy milk in honor of Janet Guthrie and the other women, who have driven in the race today.

I encourage all people to move toward your dreams and to live your life in full throttle.

TBT: Class Changes & Dreams Yet to Live

TBT:  As I fingered through pages of the infamous green North ’79 yearbook, I realized the back of my head was in a handful of photos.  The one photo that the yearbook missed was the bowling club. I believe Betsy talked me into this weekly bowling challenge.  I don’t like bowling except for the Wii, where I rule.

Instead of journalism, art, photography, history, speech (and, yes, I said, “speech.”  I did not want to be on the Speech Team my senior year. Imagine that. I already had the gift of gab.) I should have taken band, orchestra and choir – especially choir. I love to sing. One minister said that I had to know how to read music. If I hear the part sang through once, I can sing it.

I enjoyed home ec too much and that’s because of Betsy.  Betsy was a common denominator. I did not learn to hem. My pants were masking taped or stapled during high school.  The taped came loose during a speech meet. I wanted to take shop after leaving home ec. I was not allowed, and it’s probably better. I have my digits and limbs.

I believe that times of reflections provide answers. I still have more to learn and songs to sing and maybe a road trip to see Betsy or not. We need adult supervision, and I do not have money for bail.

I am not here to wish a do over because I had great teachers with learnings at Northrop. It’s time for me to sing “The Impossible Dream” and fight a windmill or two while I continue to learn and live my dreams. I still have many of them.

As the week begins...Reading, Receiving and Living the Signs

As the week...How do you read, receive and live the signs that come across your path?

I read on an electronic sign last week: "God gives peace when you are in pieces." This message stayed with me during last week when I first read the message as I sat in traffic. I remembered the message because I openly received it. I lived the words throughout the week by offering a kind word to others and passing the peace of Christ. I had been given that Monday when I read the sign to others in need through a small kindness – even if it was through a smile. Live the Word.

As I drove through the streets of Renton, Washington yesterday, I read the following two signs:

Go and pass the peace this week!

Toby the Dog

I have enjoyed books and movies like:  “A Dog’s Purpose, Rin Tin Tin,” “Lassie,” “Marley & Me” and “The Art of Racing in the Rain,” which is set in Seattle. And a big shout out to Edmonds, Washington author Kizzie Elizabeth Jones and her books:  “How Dachshunds Came to Be: A Tall Tale About a Short Long Dog (Volume 1”  and  “A Tall Tale About a Dachshund and a Pelican: How a Friendship Came to Be (Tall Tales).”

With the darkness and overcast of the Seattle winter, I have left my apartment windows closed until now. I also have left the blinds down because the tenant across the alley, who watches reruns of “The Office,” looks, smiles, gives me two thumbs up and mouths “Good form” as I play the Wii.

I have opened the blinds every evening this week in hopes of Vitamin D reaching me. Instead, I have found a dog, who guards the alley from his owner’s apartment window. I have named him Toby. His inquisitiveness delights me.  He is better than Lassie and hearing, “Timmy fell down the well.”

Last Man NOT Standing

I am sorry that "Last Man Standing" has been cancelled. I am a liberal, who lives in Seattle, and I faithfully watch the show. I like that the show honesty speaks the characters truth and talks openly about church and Christianity - especially family values. Freedom of speech comes in all forms. People are welcomed to speak there truth as long as it is in peace and love.

If ABC is short for the "American" Broadcasting Company, you are not being American at Broadcasting a message that certainly has a place in our world. ABC is living the Company or corporation in their name. Syndication of "Last Man Standing" will add to your bottom line.

I am disgusted with ABC's programming of "Match Game." Then to hear the language of Randall Park from "Fresh off the Boat" used on "Match Game." I have stopped watching Park's sitcom.

I like watching "Blackish" with their messages. I like watching "The Middle." Do you plan cancel "The Middle?" Sometimes we need to live our lives in the middle.

I will miss Mike Baxter and his family on Friday evenings.

Enter the Hall of Mirrors & Honestly Express Yourself

Always be yourself. Express yourself. Have faith in yourself. Do not go out and look for a successful personality and duplicate it. - Bruce Lee

Look n the mirror. What do you see?  A distorted reflection of yourself, masked by the perceptions and expectations of others? Or do you see your true self, shining from the inside out? Spend time in the Hall of Mirrors or look in any mirror, and reflect on Bruce’s words. Take a few deep breaths and meditate on what they mean for your life. Ask yourself how you can now turn that meaning into action.

Better yet, look at the reflection in the mirror and ask, "How can I honestly express myself?"

From a Day in the Life of Bruce Lee: Do you know Bruce? Part 3 at the Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience

With love for my mother on this Mother's Day

The original movie “Beaches” that opened in December 1988, and I gave my Mom the cassette tape from the film’s soundtrack for Mother’s Day 1989. I wrote a message in her Mother’s Day card about the song, “Wind Beneath My Wings," which was a personal one only between mother and daughter.

The following lyrics resonant with my today:

“I can fly higher than an eagle,

For you are the wind beneath my wings…

Fly, fly, fly away. You let me fly so high…”

And some may find this song a sad one so I encourage you to think of it as a song about mother and child and good parenting. When is it time for a child to leave the nest? Have you allowed your child to fly? My mother did even though it was hard.

I thank my Mom because she has allowed me to fly, make my own mistakes, learn from them, and be my own person.

Happy Mother’s Day, Mary Jane Shaffer!

https://youtu.be/jorJh8DTMVM

Interface

May Day in Seattle. May all interface peacefully.

Interface by Phillip Levine circa 1982 — at Gene Coulon Memorial Beach Park, Renton, WA