Living Large… Through It All

You’d think I would be an expert by now. But the last article in December is always a tough one for me. Every journalist on earth, and his brother, does some type of “year in review” write-up on sports, foods, fads, movies, music, highlights, remarkable achievements, political blunders, people of the year….

I am not intellectually astute enough to be different.    

But, at the same time, I am not qualified to tell you which foods you should have eaten, or avoided like the bubonic plague, this past year. Let me give you an example. The list of the ten best Italian dishes of the year came out just this past week. Spaghetti and lasagna were the only two items I had ever heard of on the entire list!

Now, if they had been talking about Martha White all-purpose, self-rising flour (with Hot-Rise), verses Dixie Lilly, Gold Medal or Pillsbury when it comes to making those extra-large, melt in your mouth “cat-head” biscuits that could sop up an entire plate of extra thick, extra dark homemade maple syrup…then I might could point you in the right direction.

I can sum up the sports year for you quickly. My St. Louis Cardinals were ten sheets shy of mediocre. They reminded me of the 1958 team. The only ray of sunshine in the sports world was the Port St. Joe Sharks making it to the final game in their high school football division.

Cathy and I did not go to a movie this past year. Makes it kinda hard to comment on that scene. The last fad I got personally involved with was the hula hoop. And I don’t care who the person of the year is…just as long as it is not Jane Fonda.

I don’t believe there can be a top ten country music list. The last real, genuine country song was George Jones singing, “He Stopped Loving Her Today.” I haven’t heard a song, regardless of genre, that measures up to that one in almost half a century.   

Now, you must be thinking the year was a total loss for me. You would be dead wrong! It might have just been my greatest year ever….

Hannah called me last week. Didn’t want to talk to Cathy, who quickly handed me the phone. Hannah is sixteen. A beautiful busy young teenager. Who just got her driver’s license and has places to go and things to do. But she made time for me. We had a private, personal granddaughter-grandfather parley. She laughed long, and often. My heart swelled up 15 feet tall.

Back in April a group of young students from Faith Christian School took me on a trip to Washington, DC. It was triple amazing! We went by Savannah and Fort Sumter in Charleston on the way up. And the University of Virginia and Chickamauga on the way home.

Adam and Sophie made sure I didn’t “embarrasses anybody” on the trip. Micah and Annie took me to a major league baseball game. Peggy and Libby let me eat with them at the chicken place. Peyton knew more about the Bible Museum than the guide at the Bible Museum knew. Kimberly leaned in close and listened intently to every wild tale I was telling. Which, of course, is a God given gift of encouragement.

Celie and Molly taught me a whole lot about eating on this trip. And they cared enough to buy me the definitive book on one of my favorite places, Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello. Kara, every single day, made me feel like the most important person on the trip. You talk about another wonderful gift from God….

I fulfilled a lifetime dream in March by seeing Moe Bandy in concert. I stood up in my chair when he got down to the chorus of “Hank Williams, You Wrote My Life” and started yelling, “You tell’em, Moe!”

David Mark had open heart surgery in July. He is my only little brother. Hearing the doctor say, “everything went well, he’s going to be fine” made the year for me. I don’t need to bother with anybody else’s thoughts, lists, or opinions on what we need to applaud or repudiate over the past 12 months.

My eldest grandson turned 20 in October. Luke is a sophomore at the University of Tennessee. And I am still his hero. I ponder on that late into the night.  

Cory Carroll came into my life in November. We were at Living Waters Assembly of God Church in Apalachicola. And I heard just a small part of his testimony. WOW! He was a young man doing everything wrong until he met Jesus through a Gideon placed Bible in a jail in Franklin County.

Now, by God’s marvelous grace, Cory is doing everything right. It is the ageless story of redemption…brought to life, close to home. Cory’s story has encouraged my heart, renewed my faith, lifted my spirits.

And, in my book, that beats any “10 best list of the year” from here to eternity, and then some….

Respectfully,
Kes
kesley45@aol.com