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It all depended on the levees. So many Americans have been watching record high flood waters rising all around them this past spring, and desperately hoping that the wall between them and all that water was high enough to hold it back.
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A long time ago my friend, Art, got stopped for speeding, although he was a little baffled when the police officer didn't get out of his car for a couple of moments. So, he thought, "Well, I'll be obliging." Art got out of his car. Oh boy! Immediately he heard the policeman yelling at him, "Get in that car and stay there, and don't move!" as the policeman reached for his gun. Poor Art! I mean, the poor guy was only doing 37 in the 30. That's not really that bad an offense most of the time.
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The five members of the Hutchcraft family have the same last name, of course, you know except for our married daughter, but that's pretty much where the sameness ends. And I think it's good we're different.
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Class reunions are always enlightening, and one thing is obvious after 20 years - people change. Yeah! Oh, people remember me as being 210 pounds at about 5'9". I was like the Goodyear blimp then. And they freeze me in their minds as being the fat guy, you know? I'm sort of a fat memory in their mind. Well, I'm happy to say that I don't weight nearly that and I haven't been that heavy for a long time, and so, you know you go to the reunion and they're surprised to find 50 pounds less of you. I'm delighted that they do.
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You know it's tough the first time your child goes to camp...I mean for the parent. The kids probably have a ball; it's just tough for the parents. It all comes together when you have to sign that permission slip, and then a medical release, and then insurance forms. You start to think of all the things that could go wrong - the bad things that could happen.
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My friend was telling me about the investment he bailed out of just before it really took off. He said, "I have a habit of doing that." I said, "Why?" He said, "Well, it kind of runs in the family." And then he told me an unforgettable story. He said, "My dad was approached by the founders of ServiceMaster, which is this of course, huge multi-million dollar corporation in America. And they were neighbors, and they came to him when they were just starting and they said, 'Hey, would you like to get in on the ground floor and help us get started?' He said, 'Well, guys, why don't you just go clean your carpets, um, no thanks.'"
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The key to environmental comfort at our house is a little dial on the wall in the hall. It's most often visited when someone is cold at our house. They will announce, "I'm cold!" And then they'll head for the thermostat. Of course they turn it up. So, if it's say 65 degrees in the house, maybe they push it up to 70 - what happens? Well, actually nothing for a while. But 45 minutes later, the adjustment starts to take effect, and the temperature starts moving toward 70. Now, you could just get impatient waiting and say, "Hey! I turned it up and nothing's happening." So, you could push it up to 75, 85, 90 degrees. It won't make it any warmer any sooner. You just have to set it like you want it and wait patiently.
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I was all alone on that Atlantic Ocean beach that day. It was almost dark, and all the sun bathers had gone home to take another kind of bath, with creams, and lotions and so on. I was walking along the edge of the water, playing a little game of dodge-em with the waves. And I looked back, and I noticed the long trail of footprints I'd left behind me. I said, "Hey, I'm making a mark." Well, I had a distant jetty in my eyesight; that was going to be my goal. So, I walked that far, turned around and came back. I looked for that bold trail of footprints in the sand. Of course, there was no trail. They were gone. I thought about that Hollywood theatre where celebrities put their footprints in cement instead of sand. Maybe that's what I should try if I want my mark to last.
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I don't think it's that I'm incompetent when it comes to technical things. I think I was just born a hundred years too late. I probably would have fared better when they hadn't invented so many machines and appliances, and computers. I would have done fine in those simpler days. I mean sometimes it is just so embarrassing. I can't you know, get a lamp to work, or I can't get some appliance to work, and no matter what I do it doesn't go on. The ending is too often the same. My youngest son for example would come in and say, "Dad, is it plugged in?" "No." Oh, I didn't check that! I hate that! So many times we tinker with everything and miss the one simple factor that needs to change.
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Now, I'm not in the business of advertising any particular ice cream spot, but let's face it, it's kind of fun to go to Baskin Robbins. You know, they have all those flavors they advertise. Now, you can write to me and tell me that maybe you like another place better, but listen, I know you like to go where there's a lot of flavors. And you know what? It takes me an hour to decide sometimes which one I want. Well, not really, but seems like an hour to the person whose waiting on me. But the variety is a lot of fun. Now, can you imagine an ice cream store that offered only vanilla? Yeah, uh-huh...boring! After a while you get tired of the same old flavor. Can you imagine a person who said, "I only eat vanilla. I never tried anything else." I'd say to them, "Man, look at the list! You're missing so many flavors. You can have ice cream so many different ways." How boring to think that all ice cream has to be the one flavor you like.
