What Can Happen In Just A Week? or "Life Has Its Little Ups and Downs"

Have you ever deliberately sat down and cataloged all (at least all that you remember or that was significant to you in one way or another) that happened in just a week, all that you have gone through, things that have happened to your friends or loved ones, events across the nation or around the world that were significant to you?  Have you ever considered the great "roller coaster ride" that we can experience in just one week?  I have to say that the past week was just such a roller coaster for me, for many of my loved ones, and for people I do not even, some of whom have never crossed paths with me.

This past week I experienced one of the most blessed events a person can have, shared in the pain of a friend who lost his daughter in tragic car accident, and learned of the death of my own loved one.  Those were just some of the highlights.  There were some things that happened that did not directly involve me at all, but had an impact on me and on many others as well.  One of those events, one that did not involve me, but had an impact on me and many others, a tragedy, is one that I will write about soon but I did not want to write about it today, on what is the first blog I have posted in several days. With the highs and lows, ups and downs, I suspect that my week was just about like yours, and all of us have stories to tell about last week, just one week out of one month, out of one year of our lives.

Years ago the late Charlie Rich ("Behind Closed Doors," "Rolling With The Flow," et al) sang a song that contained the line "Life has it's little ups and downs, like ponies on a merry-go-round."  If we just look at one week of our own lives, we see that that simple line above applies very much to those seven short days, as well as to a lifetime.  First, whether we are talking about a week or a lifetime, there are ups and downs, whether or not we choose to look at them as "little."  There are sad things, happy things, in-between things, but they can all happen in just those seven short days.  But the second truth is this: our week - and our life - goes on, or turns, if you will, just like that merry-go-round, in spite of all the ups and downs.

Without a doubt, the highlight of the past week was the bringing into this world our second grandchild, by his mother, our own second child.  There were so many things that could have gone wrong with this pregnancy, a high-risk pregnancy for several reasons.  Of course we were concerned for months about this day, but it was coming no matter the risks.  Life has its little ups and downs, like ponies on a merry-go-round.  The birth of Derek Weston and the health of the mother both during and after the birth were both such great "ups" that the "downs" were overshadowed, though not unfelt at all.

Baby Derek came into the world to his waiting, loving parents and his "big" sister (and his large extended family) on July 26th.  Unlike many newborns (just being honest here, not being grandfatherish) Derek was a beautiful newborn right from the start.  Yes, all babies are cute after a couple of days, but many look like little space creatures at hour one!  But Baby Derek came out looking good right from the start, and looks even better now. 

Our first grandchild, Leah (Baby Baby to me) was a little unsure, at first, about what the new little being meant for her.  She knew she would be getting a baby brother, but I think she was not prepared for that baby brother to be a pink little crying thing all wrapped in a blanket.  I believe she was disappointed to find that her little brother could not jump up and play with her right off the bat!  But is appears that in the days that have passed since Baby Derek was born, Baby Baby has (at least tentatively) come to accept him as the newest member of the family.  And no doubt he will play with her some day.  I am sure on that day there will be a huge fight because "those are Weeyah's toys!"

Like all the rest of the family, I took my turn holding Baby Derek, and just like it was for Leah from her day one, my heart is so full of love for this little bundle that it ached.  Really, it almost burst, because it is the same heart that is so full of love for Baby Baby, and now it is twice as full.  It is so amazing that such a little soul, with such perfect little tiny hands and feet, will one day be child, then a teen, then a grown man, and all in such a short span of time.  It truly is a short time.  It seems like only a few days ago that we brought our own children home from the hospital.  Older and wiser people told me this would all pass so quickly, and I thought they were crazy.  Now I find those crazy people were right.  The time has truly flown.  Baby Baby is now over three years old, and not really a baby any more.  My own Child A and B, and our new son Child B+1, are now grown and productive members of society.  But that cliche...it seems like only yesterday!...is so true.

Yes, this past week was surely a week of ups and downs, although by far the ups outweighed the downs.  I actually hope for a week filled with somewhat FEWER ups and downs than was the week past, but whether or not that is the case, the coming week will be filled with life's little "ups and downs, like ponies on a merry-go-round."  That merry-go-round would be such a bland ride if the ponies did not go up and down as they turned...ita quoque vita

The "Good Old Days" or Terror In A Small Town In Mississippi

Have you ever heard someone say, "How I miss the "good old days," or "I wish we could go back to the "good old days"?  Maybe you've said it yourself, and I know that there have been times I have wished for the simpler times of "the good old days."  But what could it mean to return to the "good old days"?  Would turning back the clock and somehow living in the "good old days" be "good" for everyone?  Or said another way, the "good old days" were not the same, were not necessarily "good," for everyone.

Case in point.  I attended a party with my lovely bride the other night, a gathering of good friends and some who would become good friends as the night went on.  It turned out that a gentleman I met at the party was a history major (as well as an attorney) and was the newly hired director of nearby museum.  He and I of course had much to talk about.  As we talked about Texas, the Southwest, the relationship of the neighboring states, and so on, evidently some item of conversation reminded the hostess of the party of something she remembered that happened to her uncle several decades before "the turn of the century."  This incident (actually several incidents) occurred in the late fifties or early sixties.

The hostess's uncle ran a drug store in Mississippi during the "good old days" when Black Americans were still not allowed to have their full measure of freedom and civil rights by a large portion of the White population, even though various constitutional amendments had passed which guaranteed everyone equality under the law.  The Civil War was over a hundred years in the past, and many a Black American had fought and died during World War II, while thousands of others survived the war along with "the Greatest Generation" in America.  Yes, all Black soldiers gave some, and some of them gave ALL in the cause of stopping the world takeover attempted by Hitler, Hirohito, and Mussolini.  But when the war was over, the Black soldiers returned to an America that quickly forgot their bravery and sacrifice.  It was clear that they were not a part of this Greatest Generation.

My friend's uncle, unlike many of the White residents of Mississippi at the time, decided to do what was right and what his conscience dictated.  He opened his store to local Black citizens.  They did not have to use the "back" entrance, could sit at the counter, and could depend on being served  courteously and treated fairly.  Well, this was still the "good old days."  Word soon got around that a certain drug store was open to Black Americans in a small town in Mississippi where most of the other business establishments still openly discriminated against Black people.  The Black people were happy; many of the White people were not.  And the local "chapter" of a certain organization was most unhappy.

Within a day or two of opening his store to Black residents, the White owner became the victim of a campaign of terror orchestrated by the still active and powerful Ku Klux Klan.  At first persons unknown hurled rocks or bottles through the front windows at night.  Soon these acts of vandalism began happening in broad daylight.  Shortly afterwards this honest and conscientious man began receiving death threats over the telephone and "Molotov cocktails" in his front yard.  After he received several calls threatening the lives of his family, my friend's uncle called his sister in Oklahoma, who made a quick trip to Mississippi to pick up her sister-in-law and the children.  The store owner continued to serve Black customers in spite of all the mayhem.  I am not sure how long it went on, but he and the store survived the threats and vandalism.  At some point his family was able to return. And also at some point, Black Americans were able to shop or secure services at businesses in that little Mississippi town without discrimination (open discrimination, at least).

This was a most interesting account to me.  I realized that while times were great, or at least good, for most Americans back in the "good old days," and many people might want to return to those good, simpler times, not everyone would want to return to the "good old days" as they were in the America of the 1950's or 1960's.  For some, the "good old days" were a quieter, simpler time.  For others the "good old days" were times of meager living and jobs that paid very little for a hard day's work.  But for others, the "good old days" were days of struggle, uncertainty, and yes, days of grave danger.

I realize that when most people say "How I wish for the good old days," they are speaking of good times, of friends or loved ones who have gone from this world, of the small towns or familiar neighborhoods that have given way to the lifestyle of the 21st Century.  Very few people want to return to the prejudice and discrimination that was a part of a by-gone era.  But when we wish for the "good old days" or reminisce on our pleasant memories, it is good to remember that the good old days were not the same for everyone.  I think it is also good to recall the heroes, especially the ordinary people like this store owner, probably not a hero in his own eyes, who helped in some small way to put "real" good into the "good old days."

May God bless the South - AND the North
May God bless Texas

And of course

God Bless America