A GRANDMOTHER’S LOVE ☺

On the way to the University this afternoon to take Daisy out out for her walk I saw a young lady carrying a gallon of milk somewhat labored along with a bag with some other items from the grocery store I suppose. It was. It reminded me of my grandmother and mother and all those years that she would go to work, get off the bus at the Von’s, get the groceries and carry the bag home 3/4 of a mile. Back then they had paper bags not plastic ones with handles. When I think back 🤔, full of angst and resentment and anger towards my father among other things… I don’t even have to think back -I know! I never appreciated anything my grandmother did for me! What I did have was a vendetta against the world! Excuse me, but I don’t know the right word for what it was but… There were so many things that weren’t right about my life and so many things that won’t write about me – That’s all I know! 🤷‍♂️

Many years ago I saw a sticker on the back of a car window that said coexist with all these different symbols making up the word. And I thought to myself “Let’s not simply coexist -let’s proexist”. Well I saw a similar sticker today no that reminded me of that other moments in time – God just keeps reminding me moment to moment to come A-day after day things to put down on this website. Some of them from 25 or more years ago. WAYTA-GO-GOD!!!!! 👍 WAYTA-GO! 🙏

My grandmother taught me not to just think of God when something’s wrong but when something’s right. My faith and my affinity towards God I have my grandmother Minnie to thank for.

Well Daisy and I were out walking the downtown mall earlier this afternoon she got frightened by a water fountain and veered right into my foot as I was stepping down on the pavement while walking*. Do you know how easily I could have snapped one of her legs do or stepped on her all together? A-NOTHER GOD-MOMENT!!!! THANK YOU LORD🙏

*Honestly, I wasn’t even looking down and she feared right into my foot falling over practically…Had she gone under my foot or even got a leg caught by the edge of my shoe which would have been very easy to do when I looked down in the position she was in… Shakes his head

WHAT DREAMS MAY COME

I believe if a soul feels strongly enough, in certain cases, God makes allowances! There’s a movie which illustrates such a phenomenon, which is likely where this particular notion came to me -Ana and I loved the movie BTW.

•Title taken from What Dreams May Come, a 1978 novel by Richard Matheson. The plot centers on Chris, a man who dies then goes to Heaven, but descends into Hell to rescue his wife. It was adapted in 1998 into the Academy Award-winning film What Dreams May Come starring Robin WilliamsCuba Gooding, Jr., and Annabella Sciorra. [Source:https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_Dreams_May_Come].

Bout twenty-some year ago 🤔 (probably a tad longer), I figured a $1000 a week clear would probably enough for me to do just about anything I ever wanted to. Now it’s probably closer to $1500.

WE GOTTA GET OUT OF THIS PLACE

I wish I could get out of here -move some place where I feel like I belong. Some place beautiful and peaceful where you’re known by your name and not constantly being hounded for your money by ads and commercials and billboards. Someplace near water,and a large town to see the sights occasionally 😪

TRUST-FUND 👶

I always said that if I hit it big I’d take half of it -and put it in a trust fund for people in need. I mean if I wouldn’t a 100 million dollars I wouldn’t take half for myself. I’d put enough of it in a bank account so I could live off the interest of $75000 a year tax free. Maybe a $100000 by the time… 🤷‍♂️

The day before Thanksgiving 2020 I started “The poem of the Man-God.pdf” for the 3rd time. It’s about a 19 and a 1/2 month read -4 double pages at a time every day (8 pages/ a day-597.25 days (19.90833333 months/1 year 7 months 27.75 days) to complete -i’m growing old each round 😄). It’s August 13th (Friday the 13th) 2021 and I am about to start page 142 of volume 3 of the 5-volume set. I’ve been doing this fairly regularly since 2013 or 14. I mean the poem of the man God I have basically been reading consecutively for effectively for the last 49 months? Then before that I read The Bible 3 times which took approximately 10 and a 1/2 months at 4 chapters A-day. So did I start back in 2013 or 2014? There was a break between The Bible after the 1st and 2nd read. 🤔 let’s see if we can figure this out -even though I should be doing my P.O.T.M-G. reading right now. If I count backwards from Thanksgiving 2020 -40 months, then subtract another 32 months to having accounted for reading The Bible 3 times in succession – That takes me back to November 2014. I believe I1st attempted to read it some time in the fall of 2013 September-October. I tried reading an entire book which took about 3 and a 1/2 to 4 hours. Then I put it down for several months… I’m going to ask God 🤔 The question I asked was whether or not I read that 1st book threw in 2012 and the answer was heads. Then I said -so it wasn’t 2013 and the answer was heads. So it wasn’t 2014 and the answer was heads lol Thoroughly confused, I asked 2011 -and it was tales. So to the best of my knowledge and based on God’s answers, it appears to be 2012, somewhere around September or October was when I read one of the books through for the 1st time. Discouraged I did not pick up the book until sometime sometime around around February-March 2013 – Several weeks in, that was when the bird began to build the nest in the wreath in the door or left out for Christmas. I know my 2nd or 3rd go around was in 2015 because I remember visiting Lenelle and doing the reading on my knees which I started at approximately halfway through my 2nd read and entirely through the 3rd read. I’m fairly certain I took a break after the 1st read – It was never my initial intention to read it multiple times. So if you go back straight from Thanksgiving of last year in successive months you end up at November 2014. If you go by the date above of February-March of 2013 and add 10 and a 1/2 months to do the reading – which puts me right around December 2013. That puts a down time of around 11 months. As I said I didn’t read The Bible through 3 successive times without any break.I may not have even done so the 1st time around with the poem of the man God as I also had no initial intention of reading it multiple times -to the best of my recollection. So there you have it. It would appear that the same year we (God and I) opened up this Web page, 2012 -Some months later I made my one more attempt at reading The Bible after numerous failed attempts earlier in my adult life. So there you have it.*

* Now keep in mind, the significance of all this reading… The time line is more for me personally. The significance of all this reading however is to find out for one’s self, in this case about God. Perhaps no subject has more fluff and rumor and opinion and buy is floating around than th net of The Bible. “Oh. God” (lol) to be more specific! Where did that “Oh” come from? 😄 George Burns? John Denver? Ha!

•Sub-title taken from “We Gotta Get Out of This Place“, occasionally written “We’ve Gotta Get Out of This Place“,[1] is a rock song written by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil and recorded as a 1965 hit single by the Animals. It has become an iconic song of its type and was immensely popular with United States Armed Forces GIs during the Vietnam War. [Source:https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/We_Gotta_Get_Out_of_This_Place].

God/AA asks that we attempt to show kindness and consideration for every human being as much as possible -it doesn’t say WE HAVE TO MARRY THEM! 😄

a-z sobriety it’s not where ur at that keeps you sober -its where ur going

I used to do things for u so u could appreciate (value) me instead of me appreciate (value) me. My opinion of myself apparently didn’t matter much

They say money and winning solve a lot of problems – I think they cause some too! Many people in Alcoholics Anonymous will tell you that alcohol solved a lot of their problems -but did they really?

I believe alcohol kept me from going insane for a it’s going insane for a time.

I used to tell people in the hospital that drinking was something of a rider passage in our country.. You might be able to get by with it through your mid twenties…. But come on

What does man have a tendency to do when there’s not sufficient evidence to find someone innocent? And what do they tend to do when there’s not sufficient evidence to find someone guilty? There’s a little bit of a difference in both approaches.

In the child support system man chooses aside. With God it with God he looks out for the best interest of everyone.

When one human being commits a crime against another human being God suffers both whereas we human beings tend to suffer 1.

SO MUCH TO 🤔 ABOUT. SO LITTLE ⏲

If it’s such a great product then why do we have to oversell it? Two reasons, well 3:

•Why hold back -GO FOR IT!!!

•It taint such a good product

•My favorite -you really don’t need it (or to buy it from us since someone else…), but buy it anyways cause we really want/need the moolah!

Freedom and things like:

•immaturity

•insanity (that’s why we have prisons)

•Self-will-run-riot… just to name a few uhm 🤔 THEY DON’T GO SO WELL TOGETHER! 🤷‍♂️ In fact, for some people the worst thing in the world is too much freedom -Or too much money!

WHEN YOU’RE ONLY LONELY

You think you’re the only one in the world who has issues with people, or because of people? In many cases, and therefore in many ways… People either have issues or take issue with their fellow human being. If I was to be Frank I’d say that we human beings really do a number on one another! In the final tally I’m not sure we do a better job or a worse one (This question of course is nothing original -people far better, and smarter than me have pondered it many times themselves). I’m certain, in a lot of ways, I took away from rather than added to certain people’s emotional, spiritual, and psychological well being/health. Is particularly in my formative years.

Sidenote: You know it’s pretty sad when you look back at how badly you treated some people in the past, make a summation of all your experiences with the human race back then-thru now, and what you end up with is the sense that you really don’t regret the way you treated a lot of those people (because… what you’ve learned up till now about the human race is that in one way or another, most people act either out of ignorance, indifference, or maliciousness -often without even giving it a thought it seems.*

*THE OTHER SIDE OF THE ⛰ (mountain)

*The better you play the game (intentionally or unintentionally) the less likely you are to see “the other side of people”. That’s how you get people in the world who think people are just great and you have other people in the world that think people suck. It’s all in the way you play them, it’s all in the way you come across to them. You see an animal is going to react the same way consistently whereas human beings are going to react in various ways depending on their moods, their perceptions, their biases, their fears, their principles, their values, their emotional health, their memories… That’s how you get a person with multiple views from the people around them. Some people think they’re great and some people think they’re an a-hole. Because some people have the capacity to be wonderful and an idiot all in one body (me @ Xs) 😒

When you scratch the surface… which most people don’t like very much, you see what’s really beneath, what’s really inside. That’s what they do when testing for gold in a pawn shop.

I think it’s a real tragedy, arability our ability is human beings to give one impression on the outside and to be something be something completely different in many cases on the inside. I think it really screws with peoples ability to see themselves accurately and realistically and compassionately and sternly…. I think it really plays tricks on young children who are developing and looking around them for some kind of buoy or tether or standard to assist them rapidly evolving.self. How is anyone supposed to form properly in an environment (the good old US of A inthis case) with so much diversity of values, conduct, moods, attitudes, cultures… Think about it!!! It all seems to be great for the economy… It all seems to be great for bringing disunity among the masses – But just WiTF is it doing to our children???

SINCE WHEN???

First we were complaining there’s not enough minorities like Blacks and Hispanics and Asians on this television program. In commercials…. Now we’re complaining there’s not enough mixed breed people on television. It did and all of a sudden on a commercial there’s a black Chinese person-how interesting. Except I don’t see anything civil about doing something to make money

The government took decades to do something about domestic violence, back child support, welfare mothers (which they’re still working on apparently. Well they wer.e until women started complaining that “between a low paying-job, and child-care expenses….” Which is where they were prompted to start going after the fathers**) Drunk driving… till they figured out a way to make money off of it or save money. It’s always about fucking money man because as far as I can tell most people don’t give a shit about the problems of other people.

SINK OR 🏊‍♂️ (swim)

**My Uncle complained and complained and complained about his son losing his license because of backchild support. His reasoning was that his son couldn’t hold a job to pay the child support without his license. Then one day God explained it all to me: A certain percentage of the population are sacrificed in order to warn the majority of the population that if they don’t obey the laws… A certain percentage of the population are sacrificed in order to warn the majority -if they don’t comply…. This will happen to you too!” Much of our law is based upon this. Which is why in many instances the punishment does not fit the crime -atleast with regard to mankind itself. Now God on the other ✋…

SWINGING THE PENDULUM THE OTHER WAY

A lot of men started to to incur the full wrath of many decades of unpaid child support. They were going after them left and right with no excuses. I was just another one in the bunch during this time.

•They didn’t care how much I was earning calm llthey came up with some fictitious number based on minimum wage the the 40 hour work week -Now last time I checked, parents with children are not legally bound to work a certain number of hours every week, or to work at all for that matter -parents are not ordered to spend a certain percentage of their paycheck on their children either (free country baby). Now where was the government with all these parents parents who could not afford to raise their children properly? Where is the government with all these parents who are spending their money on drugs and gambling and buying cans of beans for their children to eat instead of proper nutrition? You see the bottom f”ing line is it’s about (self) interest not about concern. You really want to know what God thinks when he looks down here on this Earth**

•When I was one year sober as per the suggestions in the Alcoholics Anonymous program (wait a year) -I contacted the mother of my child* and told her I wanted to pay child support and be a part of my daughter’s life. She told me to keep the money and basically wanted nothing to do with me. 8 years later she came back filing a back child support suit against me. With a little digging I found out she had been injured on the job and also had taken out a loan on her property which she was apparently struggling to pay. So I guess she (or someone else) came up with the bright idea to come after me for an easy payoff. When I went to court I explained to the judge that I had reached out to her 8 years earlier. The the woman came back with “he was on drugs he was on drugs”. The judge slammed his gavel and said “pay the money”. I had been sober for 9 years calm going on 10 by this time – Which really didn’t warrant her argument for not allowing me to pay the money and visit my daughter. But they didn’t care (Who ever heard of a job that requires a person not to care?***). One last thing, when I address the lawyer for the state about the issue of being held responsible for this back pay after the mother had refused ongoing child support 8+years prior; She said “You should have saved up money every month.” A person living below poverty level-right! And a history of mean income of $2700 a year to that point in my life -and they wanted $400+ a month to cover ongoing and back… These people aren’t too smart are they? It wasn’t so much that I didn’t want to pay it was that I couldn’t pay what they were asking (although I wasn’t real happy about the mother coming back later… and the state charging interest).****

•I had a cousin who had 3 children by a man and was owed some $28000 in back child support. They caught the man speeding in Phoenix one year and held him in jail for warrants for back child support. So of course mommy and daddy mortgage to the home and paid the $28000. So of course mommy and daddy mortgaged the home and paid the $28000. The state I think kept all $28000, and once again my cousin got stuck with an arrangement to continue receiving monthly checks for back child support (he continually refused to pay) as the children were still minors some of them. So they got their money of front and stuck her with this nightmare of a situation. Why didn’t she get the money and let them haggle with the father if the children come 1st -that was the argument they kept giving me all the long. Just a bunch of damn lies!

*How many parents use their children against the other parent? How many parents destroy the chances of any kind of relationship with the parent outside of the home by destroying their reputation-whether that reputation is deserved or undeserved?

** If you really knew it was going on out there in the world…. at the next door neighbors house or across the street…. on capital hill… your pastor’s house… with your wife or husband… YOU’D NEVER LEAVE YOUR 🏠!!!

***Well on 2nd thought… a woman I knew very well, a very caring woman at that…. drove some 150 miles to another town to do an interview as a child support representative. They told her that she would not be hired because she was too caring and sympathetic pathetic and that they were looking for hard asses it is to simply get the money.

****Remember what I told you about taking my own advice…. About looking out for your neighbor because you might be next! Well I had actually given it a lot of thought but never went through with it. But. With all the so called injustices I pointed out above I was very very close it close to going after the legal system for what they were doing. To help other men who were getting hung out to dry. You either go into people’s homes and make sure the children are being cared for properly or you allow parents to be parents it can’t be both ways. It can’t be one way when there’s money on the line and another way when it’s only about the welfare of a child. F’ing politicians (so many merely motivated by votes, money, public opinion).

Sidenote: I haven’t really got enough money to contribute to a household family or a marriage which is why so many women are disinterested. Do you know how important it is for any human being, especially a man to be able to contribute to the household? The state or the federal government barely gives you enough to take care of yourself. They don’t recognize the importance of a man contributing. The importance of having a partner – A big part of which has to do with the man’s ability to contribute when when a woman is making her selection. My point is this: There seems to be little or no regard for what I mentioned above. But when it comes to divorces and alimony some men are paying 10020 1030 1032 $1000 a month to their ex spouse to keep them in the manner in which they are accustomed and avoid hardship. The government is very liberal with its thinking when it comes to somebody else’s money huh! And tide is all hell when it comes to theirs. What about addressing the emotional needs of (all) peoples -instead of just going by the money game?*****

WASTE MANAGEMENT

*****The worst thing that could happen to our government is to have a bunch of people spending money that doesn’t belong to them (or who can’t manage money well). People spending money with the attitude “they’ll be more next month”.

WHAT IS ❤

BUT ON THE OTHER ✋ (Randy Travis)

I noticed very early in my recovery that people in my family didn’t want to be inconvenienced. What is love -or rather, of what use is love under the most favorable of conditions? Unlike the financial system -LOVE THRIVES UNDER THREAT OF… WHEREAS, AT THE FIRST SIGN OF RISK -YOUR BANK/FINANCIAL INSTITUTIONS COWER (fold like a cheap suit 😏)! IN ADDITION, LOVE CAN ACCOMPLISH THINGS MONEY SIMPLY CANNOT! MONEY IS A FINITE RESOURCE (IF WE’RE KEEPING AN HONEST, ACCURATE ACCOUNT OF IT -AND NOT SIMPLY PRINTING IT LIKE…). LOVE ON THE OTHER ✋ (I’M AFRAID), IS (ONLY AS) INFINITE… AS WE OURSELVES DETERMINE SO.

Stinky feet -it’s not your feet that stink -actually it’s the microbes… Just like badd breath… 🤷‍♂️

LOVE IS THE ANSWER

How many people do you love? One? 2? 3? 5? 10? The more people we love the stronger the bond of humanity becomes. Again, we pick and choose the people we love based on their qualities rather than our own. From a certain perspective, love is about us not about them!

WHEN WILL I BE LOVED

“It’s better to be(come) love than it is to be loved”

If you’re gonna be nosy why not say hello. I absolutely hate it when a person looks at me curiously/👃-ily, and says nothing. Is looking purely out of their own (self) interest.

Some people we have harmed will never forgive us there was others will seemingly take their sweet time and those who are really have a vested interest in us will seem to forgive us almost immediately. When we go to make an amends to people, the act, combined with their response, says as much about their character as it does ours.

One of the beautiful things about the program about Alcoholics Anonymous is that:

•I don’t have to be forgiven and;

•I don’t have to be made amends too

•I have to forgive and

•I have to make amends, and therefore

•my own recovery is essentially in my own hands

And another beautiful thing I love about the program of Alcoholics Anonymous lies in its perfection of social structure and… Let me explain: I need you and you need me. So chances are if you come to me for help -I will; chances are if I come to you for help -you will. “The gift of desperation” in action. Something people out in the real world either lack or fail tor fail to recognize the necessity of.

One day the thought came to mind that God-made Alcoholics because it was the only way He could get “we” human-beings to take seriously the principles He had afforded us.

When you spend time with people do they draw nearer to you or pull away? With me they tend to pull away -can’t imagine “Y”.

•Title credited to “What Is Love?” is the second single by musician Howard Jones. Released in 1983, from the album Human’s Lib, it reached no. 2 in the UK Singles Chart, becoming the singer’s highest chart placing to date. In the US, it peaked at no. 33 on the Billboard Hot 100. [Source:https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/What_Is_Love%3F_(Howard_Jones_song)].

GOD’S PERFECT PLAN 🤷‍♂️

•You can’t improve on perfection!

•Many people have an issue with Christianity -even God Himself (which essentially amounts to “the principles themselves). So, I ask you this question: What are you going to… let me preface this question by first inserting this…:

•Satan has a problem with God, Christians, Christianity… and what I mean by that is he despises everything about us. His way of showing it is by doing everything in stark contrast to God and His teachings (His principles). Now this is the most extreme example that could possibly be. But my point is two-fold:

•To veer away from God’s plan is to say you have a better one. So I ask you this, if you have a better plan what are you gonna use in place of things like honesty, charity, love, compassion, industrious, grateful, humble, friendship, mercy… (towards your children if nothing else).

•I used to tell people up at the treatment center that if you have a problem with the principles of the program (AA); The Christian principles taken from The Bible… Think of it like this; These principles have been around since the beginning of time like any principle or law in the universe (nature); long before there was organized religion -But not before God Himself of course

A lot of people either have a problem with the world or they are in different to the world. Sure, they go out into the world and follow its rules although it’s rules, are cordial…. But not much more than that. Hardly the practice of showing love to one’s fellow man. Oh, they’ll never say that they have an issue with the world outside, but their actions say it all!

IS IT REALLY WORTH ALL THAT?

I saw a movie where a child was in the bathroom of a public facility…. He was listening to his father speaking to one of his competitors, opponents, enemies (Michael Douglas?)… and not too fondly I might add 😠. Needless to say, I think that little boy’s picture of his father was drastically altered (forever?).

When we use principles other than God’s -People wake up, or shake up and take notice. If the use of principles other than godly ones is all that…. Then why do so many of us go to so much trouble to conceal them, or rather -the actions centered around them? “Act as if the people you love/admire most are watching” -God certainly is!

I always wonder why it is that we place so much emphasis on what other people will think of our actions and so little on what God will think of our actions? We do things… presumably in secret…. When God is right there 🤷‍♂️ I say treat God with more respect and with a greater sense of presence than you would any other place, thing, human-being on this planet!

As I had stated previously, one of the interesting things I’ve observed about Daisy, our Chihuahua, is her readiness to reach out and ask for love when she needs it. She doesn’t always return the favor lol kind of moody that way -that’s a woman for you lol (j/k sorta ☺). But I always accommodate her. My point is this, people have rejected me on a number of occasions when I needed love, assurance…

AFTERTHOUGHT: I’ve had a rough time of it here in the town I’ve lived in. About 5 years ago we had some new neighbors mov in across the street. I went over there with a cake and ice cream and knocked on the door. Not a real warm bunch apparently. A 65 year old mother with several older kids, a husband as well? The girl that answered the door took the cake in the ice cream and the mother came to the door and said thank you… No smile. Then they shut the door on my face. The husband has waved a couple of times in the last 5 years but the rest of them… That sort of attitude I have found to be quite common -towards myself anyways.

My friend Dave Rothermel gave me 2 pieces of advice (on photography):

•Get your work done before noon

•Just keep taking pictures

DIDN’T CLEAR CUSTOMS 😒

How many customs have been lost? How many do we trample on knowingly or unknowingly?

What is the most significant event in mans history January 1st?

What is the most significant event in man’s history January 2nd?

The Highlander went through many different phases in his 400 years of existence to include alcoholism. I don’t think I have 400 years lol