A Father's Advice

This past Father's Day was wonderful.  Here is some words of wisdom that my grandfather passed down to my father, and him to me (and my siblings).  Take it for what it worth, but I find it to be wonderful insight on the importance of being a father.

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Another Fathers Day, so I'm sending out this little memo again.

Hope you enjoy.

Things My Father Said...

* When I was around ten my Grandma passed away and My Father Said, "When I die don't cry for me I'll be in a better place."

* When I was growing up and had to face new troubles My Father Said, "If you can't talk to me or mom, talk to someone. Don't keep it bottled up inside." (I would talk to the cows while I was milking. The cows knew all my secrets. My sister knows a few of them too.)

* When I got my first paying job My Father Said, "Do what your told. If you have to dig ditches, dig them the best you can and someday you'll be telling others how to dig."

* When I got married My Father Said, "Have patience."

* My Father Said, "If you have to do a job you don't like, make a game out of it and you'll be done in no time." (Sometimes my brothers and I would have to much fun and break something)

* My Father Said, "Learn how to fix something and you'll always be able to find work."

* My Father Said, "Finish what you start, don't stop in mid-stream."

* My Father Said, "You don't learn anything by quitting."

* My Father Said, "I'm proud of you." (three times)

* My Father Said, "Listen to both sides of the story before you open your mouth."

* My Father Said, "If you hit someone, hit them in the stomach so you don't have to pay for a dentist bill."

* My Father Said, "Don't spend more than you make." (Yeah right)

* I told My Father I loved him three times.

* When my family was getting ready to go some where or to church, My Father would say, "Go to the bathroom because I'm not stopping," or "go to the bathroom because your leaving in the middle of Church."

Hope you all had a nice Fathers Day.

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Thanks, Dad.

Month of June's Eternal Moment

The following article was published in the June 28th edition of the 1962 Gibbon Gazette:

The beautiful weather of the past few days clearly emphasize the poet's verse, "What is so rare as a day in June?"...
The following item clipped from the Memphis Commercial Appeal tells the story:
Under the high June sun... vines climb and snake up fences, growing with almost visible speed.  The thick smell of honeysuckle lies close to the earth.
The strident voices of children now free from school, carrying from nearby yards and mingle with the chirps of food-hunting birds.
A tall oak rustles lightly as it flaps like a sail in the breeze.  Unseen tiny creatures scutter through grass and creeping ivy.
Daisies stand tall and silent like sentinels of the flower garden - unpeturbed by curious bees.
This June - the languid month - gentle and soft as a mother's arm.  It is a time of ripening, a month of green opulence and velvety beauty.
Though it may seem restful... this is deceiving.  Nature is seething with the quiet toils of transition.  Hidden roots thrust downward in damp ground and energy drawn upwards explodes in the leafy, blooming elegance of early summer growth.
Just as the fruit of the fresh gardens and fields feed man's appetite, so the June verdancy sustains his beauty-hungering soul.
It's sounds are sibilant, its languorous odor intoxicating, it's effervescence contagious.  The happy quest of life spreads across the horizon from earth to sky, and all possible aspirations now seem fulfilled.
Only those who have seen June come and go can know that the moment cannot last forever.  But June is not concerned with this.  For this instant it is eternity, reassuring us that nothing can die.