Saturday, November 30, 2013

THANKFULNESS

 

                        LIVE AS IF YOU WERE TO DIE TOMORROW
                                LEARN AS IF TO LIVE FOREVER.
                                                Mahatma Gandhi


     Now that the Thanksgiving holiday is past I have time to reflect on the blessings that I have received.  It is no secret that many good things have been imparted to me in my life.  Even with the problems that come with life, I cannot but marvel at what is in my life.  Even through some health problems and trying to find what is causing a lot of pain, I have to be amazed at what comes into my life.
     At one point in my life I lost all my closest friends in a short period of time, mostly from Cancer.  I cannot say that I had a good outlook on the rest of my life at that point.  But as they say "when God closes a door he opens a window."
     To deal with the loss I started to write poetry for no other reason than to express the loss and make some sense of it.  With the life experiences that I brought to the verse it, of course, it turned into country and cowboy poetry.  And from that I turned back to the vocal music that I always loved.
      Through the fortunate grace of Ol' Mike Oatman I was invited to several of the Cowboy Poetry Gatherings.  While with Old Cowtown Museum I started singing more and discovered the Western Music Association.  And with the discovery of this group I gained a whole new set of friends.  The numbers keep growing and it amazes me the new friends that I have.
     And when you have a bad spell of health you find how good friends you have.  I was very afraid about going alone to the Western Music Association Convention and Awards in Albuquerque NM.  A ten and a half hour drive from home, plus everything held in the hotel complex and then the awards downtown at the KIMO Theater.
      I was on a walker by this time with a lot of pain.  Just as I about gave up I had two calls from my friends Jim Farrell and Jeff Davidson.  They decided to ride with me and help with the driving.  With the help of the WMA crew, Rick Huff and Marsha Short, a power chair was delivered to the hotel for my use.  With the whole place helping I had a great convention.  And a new level of appreciation of friends I had never foreseen a few years ago.  I did not even run over anyone.  I will save the controls caught on high in the men's room.  The staff at the Marriott was also outstanding and helpful.
     We had another scare with the weather and news people telling how bad the storms were down there.  They are not anymore accurate down there than here.  The one reporter had to drive a ways to find a snow bank big enough to stand in front of.
     We had a group of family and friends with us for Thanksgiving and it is a great privilege to have so many who mean so much.  It is also a time to pause and hope that those who spend this holiday season alone will have the comfort of new friends takeing them in and support them in bad times.
     Hopefully the source of my pain will be fixed soon.  I turn to think about the ranchers up in South Dakota.  A couple of WMA friends were up there for a fund raiser last weekend.  In the 'important' news cycle of the government shutting down, the tragedies up north have been basically swept under the rug.  But then it has always been up to us to take care of our own.  Let's get started on that.
    

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