A stroll down memory lane...

A brief mini-vacation of sorts back home to Ft. Walton Beach, FL last week. Regrettably, the trigger was a gathering of HS classmates in memory of a couple of us who passed away recently. Still, it was a good trip for me.

A few Jimmy Buffett lines, followed by some pics with brief (I promise!!) commentary on each.

Still I sit in contemplation, and I just don't understand
This mysterious attraction of this salty piece of land
Still I search the constellations and the tiny grains of sand
Where the song of the ocean meets the salty piece of land

Whoa, lookin' back at my background tryin' to figure out how I ever got here
Some things are still a mystery to me while others are much too clear

I know I don't get there often enough
But God knows I surely try
It's a magic kind of medicine
That no doctor could prescribe
But there's this one particular harbor
So far but yet so near
Where I see the days as they fade away
Finally disappear
But there's this one particular harbor
Sheltered from the wind
Where the children play on the shore each day
And all are safe within
A most mysterious calling harbor
So far but yet so near
Where I can see the day when my hair's full gray
And I finally disappear

I wanna be there
wanna go back down and lie beside the sea there...
Yeah now, the sun goes slidin' 'cross the water
Sailboats they go searchin' for the breeze
Salt air it ain't thin
It can stick right to your skin and make you feel fine
Makes you feel fine ...

Kathy, Judy & I went to nursery school, kindergarten, & 2nd - 12th grades together. They both still live down there. (Irony alert: Kathy's a USM grad, as is her Mom the Purvis native...) Judy was the ringleader of making this particular gathering happen.

Ronnie & Patti Ward. Patti & I were in band together from 7th - 12th grade. Great folks! Patti & I were the only two 7th graders who made marching band as 7th graders; in her case because of talent...in mine, because I'm Jim's little brother...I'll take it! *smile*

Sunset on the bayou behind Scully's, where the gathering was last Wed. night. Love it!

Erin, Patti, & Tammie. Erin & I were classmates from 2nd through 12th. Tammie is one of the ringleaders of our full class reunions.

Bev, Judy, & Cathy. They were great friends of the lady from our class who passed away recently. Bev works w/ TBS in GA. Small world alert: Cathy's younger sis & sis's hubby were our Sunday School teachers when Lisa & I were newly married.

Remembering...

Vicky & Patti. Vicky is one of 4 (2 pairs of sisters) that Jim & I have known almost all of our lives. Vicky's Mom taught with my Mom & they remain great & close friends. *best Ron White delivery* "We've met..."

Judy & Joe drink a toast to absent classmate Connie. Small world alert: 1) Joe lives not far from here in Franklinton, LA; 2) his daughter plays softball for the USM Golden Eagles!

Some of the gang...

Cathy & Sharon

Sunset almost complete

Roberta, Vicky, Ronnie, Patti

Nightfall

I need to live where one can drive one's boat to the restaurant for dinner...

Vicky again.

Kathy & Cathy. Kathy (left) is a fellow cancer survivor. Brain cancer 3+ years ago...

Patti again, after dark.

We moved it inside. Tammie, Cathy, Judy, Bev. Bev's expecting grandkid #3 this Fall! I told her we were *far* too young for such things... *grin*

Roberta & Allison. (Sorry 'bout those eyes!) Allison directs the chorus program @ one of the local colleges there.

I still miss him hard almost every day, but then we've covered that before in this space. (My brother Jim is "James E., Jr.")

Choctawhatchee High School! Go Big Green! Me & 690 friends graduated from here in 1977. In my day, it was a very good HS. Good academics, decent sports, great arts programs...and a lot of fun! On balance, this was a very good time of life for me, despite some serious heartache (see the previous pic...). I'm thankful for this place & for friends & teachers & lessons learned...

OK, CHS grads...remember any of these?

--Mr. Jones the awesome band director who also had a huge impact on me that continues until now?

--Mr. Sills the great asst. band director?

--Mrs. Almond, the greatest math teacher ever? Our Sr. year was her 44th year of teaching, and she was as sharp as a tack. She had a tremendous impact on me, even after HS days when she was retired & I was being an idiot. Lona Almond is what I instantly picture when anyone uses the phrase "unconditional love"...I drank several gallons of lemonade & ate many plates of cookies while pouring out my stupidity out on her. And not one time did I ever feel the slightest hint of condemnation.

Drove past her house today. At which point, my allergies acted up...or something. What a treasure she was!

--"Mama Jo" Yeager, the greatest speech & drama teacher ever? I have recently re-connected with her on facebook, which is just very cool. Her Oral Comm. class was the 1st time I realized that I was fairly comfortable speaking in front of a group. (Note: I didn't say "good"...I said "comfortable"! *smile*)

--Mrs. Preble's French class?

--Mr. Earle's Algebra II?

--Mr. Beck's chemistry? (I'll be nice & say "I have nothing further to say at this time")

--Mr. Kyzer?

--Mr. Brown the principal?

The pressbox: "Home of the Indians"

The field.

The band usually sat down there toward the fieldhouse. We used to "snake" in single file, with zig-zags, 270-degree spins, etc. Thought it was pretty cool then, & still think so now.

The bandroom was just inside this door on the rt.

The parking lot practice field. Tues & Thurs nights for a couple of hours or more, all summer long, & during the Fall too.

Pretty cool band logo, huh? We were the "Style Marchers" (by durn!) ;-{)}

Big Green Indians, baby!

Front of the School.

Clifford Meigs Jr. High. 7th - 9th grades. It, too, was a pretty good jr. high in my day. (May still be...I have no contact there now) Band. Jazz band. Had to ride the bus (for the only 3 years in my educational career!) & didn't particularly care for it, especially as a tiny 7th grader. It was somewhat better when I was a tiny 9th grader...

Any of you fellow Meigs alums remember these folks?

--Mr. Denton - 2nd best math teacher ever!

--Mr. Varner, the awesome band director...who had a gigantic impact on me that continues now.

--Mr. Lathinghouse's English class? I still remember him walking us through Paul Simon's "I Am A Rock" which, come to think of it, was a significant turning point in my huge appreciation of the power of words.

--Mr. Smith the principal? (another friend of Mom's...and one of Bear Bryant's first quarterbacks @ Bama, I found out later). He gave me the only paddling...er...paddlings I ever received. Swung a pretty good paddle, as I recall... (oops! I just confessed to Mom that Mr. Smith had to whip me...perhaps the statue of limitations has run out by now...)

Meigs again.
Learned how to march 8:5 style on this field. (Meigs stadium)
In my day, we were the "Wildcats" not just a "wildcat" *smile*

Poquito Bayou. I spent a *lot* of time here skiing & tubing & such back in the day behind friends' boats. My good friends Doug & Mark both lived near here & both let me hang out w/ them. Mark had an *awesome* ski boat, but even with that and his expert help, I was still just an average skier.

The playground @ Annette P. Edwins Elementary School. Went here in 1st grade. In my day, Annette P. Edwins was still the principal there!
"APE School" as we called it.
On the left is the location of Madaris Office Supplies. (James E. Madaris, Prop.)
Ferry Park Across from Elliott Pt. Elementary School, a short bike ride from home. Played a thousand pickup baseball games there, & quite a number of football games. It's what kids' sports were before the parents all went totally insane about what kids' sports should be. Great times...

Elliott Pt. Elementary School. Went to 2nd thru 6th there, & Mom was the librarian. (The school opened my 2nd grade year, which means Mom was the first-ever librarian). It was a great elementary school (mostly) in my day.

Anyone of my fellow EPE alums remember Ms. Fagan who became Mrs. Sirmans? I was in her first-ever class she taught (4th grade). Mrs. Sullivan? Mrs. Gunter? Mrs. Darner? How about Mrs. Littlefield? Mrs. Pope? Mr. Bowen the principal?

Ferry Park Tennis courts. Played a thousand tennis matches there. Public courts that were/are pretty well-maintained.

The practice wall @ Ferry Park. I hit a million tennis balls against this back in the day.
And of course, there's Mom & Leo's place. The live oaks that were so awesome for climbing are now rather large. The one that was the goal line in our front-yard football games now blocks the field out to about the 30 yard line...

Mom & Leo's again. I had a tree fort of sorts in the middle one once upon a time.
The new dock @ the back of Mom & Leo's coming from the seawall into the Bay. Regrettably, my dip in the Bay was lightning'ed out. Oh well...next time...
Mom & Leo's from the back of the lawn by the Bay looking toward the house. The old tennis court has seen better days...
An *amazing* rainbow behind Mom's. (more pics of this below)
There's one pot of gold out in the Bay...

And there are both ends of the 'bow. The right end is on Destin somewhere.

And the beaches themselves. Have mercy! I only cried for a little while this day when I sat out on the beach at sunset...I am absolutely convinced that Heaven will contain white sand beaches with waves & seagulls. I can't wait! But in the mean time, times like this evening's beach time will have to suffice.

Dad & I--very average fishermen that we were--caught a number of king & spanish mackeral from this pier back in the day.
My piggies where they belong...the white sand beaches of NW FL!
Sand in my shoes...which means that I'll have to keep returning to these beaches. I'm beyond OK with that! *smile*
Sunset on the beach...

Good waves this day...I was *sorely* tempted to show those amateurs how to properly catch & ride a wave, but dusk = "feeding time"...a singularly bad time to be out in the Gulf...

My piggies in another place they belong...in the Gulf of Mexico!

I also drove past this Bingo parlor that I seem to recall. Victor's it was called back in the day...and it wasn't a Bingo parlor.... Busted many a move there, & first learned how to play backgammon. (And "Shining Star" by Earth, Wind, & Fire is still the best dance song ever...with "Brick House" by the Commodores as a close 2nd...) Then there's this small plot of grass out on the island that stands as an empty reminder of this place where we used to congregate. "Hog's Breath is better than no breath at all"...still one of the great marketing slogans ever. Across the street was the Sand Flea restaurant, which is fairly irrelevant, except for the time I spent in the "Top of the Flea" um, social gathering place. There was this great solo guitar picker/singer who frequented the place. Through him, I grew to really love the music of Jimmy Buffett & Jerry Jeff Walker & the like.

Neither Victor's, the Hog's Breath Saloon, nor the Top of the Flea are still there. Actually, I think Hog's Breath is still around somewhere in the area.

But the house on Bay Drive is still there...and the Bay's still out back...and Mom's still there...and the beaches are still as white as ever just across the bridge. And I have a million memories all over town. I am so very blessed to come from such a place. And from such people.

Truly, the bb

A Patriotic Confusion

So, July 4 always sparks multiple thoughts & emotions in me. And a bit of confusion (or maybe "concern") as well.

First, tremendous patriotism. I am so thankful to be of long American ancestral heritage that actually pre-dates our Revolutionary war. I cherish the freedoms we have as Americans to succeed (and to fail!) based on our individual gifts & dreams. I honor those through the ages who have fought and died in the defense of the idea(l) of America and freedom. I am so very proud to be the brother of a Navy veteran (pilot), the son of an Army Air Corps veteran of two wars, the grandson of a WW1 doughboy...there are Civil War vets & KIAs back there in the family tree, along w/ War of 1812 home guard leaders. Plus, as of last November, I'm the stepson of a decorated Vietnam-era fighter pilot. There are also teachers, professors, politicians, farmers, Drs., lawyers,...

A grad school classmate from Iraq told me back in the mid-80s, "you guys should read your founding documents regularly...there's nobody in my country who has even begun to think at that level about government and freedom..."

Note: I am well aware that our 230ish-year-history contains some stains. Slavery & women's rights, to name two huge ones. But I also celebrate the fact that our country was created with a self-correcting government that--with time and a brutal war--fixed the slavery problem, and with the built-in provision for constitutional amendments fixed the women's suffrage problem. Are we perfect? Nope. Never have been. Never will be. But ours is a mighty good nation.

Interested in civil rights as a member of a minority group? Better stay here. Check the status of minority groups in many countries around the world. As I say, better stay here.

Like to gripe about government & those running it? You should particularly stick around. Anyone remember Tianamen square 20 years ago?

Want the freedom to worship...or not...according to the dictates of your own conscience & intellect without being told how, when, & where? I'd stay.

Want to have a say in your own government & who sits in the seats of power? I'd *definitely* stay.

Don't like kings? 8 years, max.

This is a great and blessed nation.

Having said that, July 4th always brings out this one significant nagging concern that I've never quite been able to get a handle on. On the one hand, clearly God has blessed us and given us much to celebrate and to be thankful to Him for providing. But on the other hand, for decades now...perhaps even centuries?...I fear we have confused incredible political structures & ideas & freedoms with being THE object of God's love & favor. We Christians have all too frequently commingled America's progress with God's work in the world.

Ken Myers described it this way in a podcast I listened to recently: (severely paraphrased) we have decided that America's culture & progress & such is God's work, and our role as the Church is simply to act as chaplain, finding ways to bless & encourage our culture & progress. (As I say, a substantial paraphrase there, but it captures his point, which is mine too).

Let me state it this way:

God is FAR greater & grander than America, and is doing amazing things all around the world. He was doing incredible things long before there was such a thing as America the nation. He is UTTERLY NOT bound by American labels & priorities. He is NOT working solely within the confines of the Republican party, nor those of the Democratic party. He is doing His deal, and to the extent that we as a nation honor Him and His work, I believe he will bless us. But do not be mistaken--He does NOT need America!! It is a very small god who relies on just the one particular nation--ours or any other--or just the one political party to accomplish his purposes on earth. (note carefully: "relies on"...)


Tony Evans, an African-American pastor in inner-city Dallas, said it this way...Republicans think the Kingdom of God is arriving on Air Force One; Democrats think the Kingdom of God is coming via the next social program...God does not need elephants nor donkeys to transport Him around & accomplish His purposes! (paraphrase ends)

And then there's this concern, which is sort of the opposite of the previous concern. There are those who suggest that true patriotism is expressly NOT celebrating the country's heritage, and definitely not celebrating anything Christians nor political conservatives have done. The military is tolerated so long as the military objective is deemed pure & noble, which endeavors constitute a significant minority of military engagements. Pretty much neither Iraq nor Afghanistan qualify.

This is the "spit-on-returning-soldiers" crowd. Agree with their politics completely & without reservation, or you're a blinded scumbag not worthy of the ideas of the country, & especially not worthy of our political freedoms and especially not worthy of freedom of expression & being heard.

(To be sure, that last sentence goes in both directions, but for whatever reason, I've heard it more frequently from the "spit-on-soldiers" crowd.)

My challenge to non-Christians this week:
Recognize that with all of our flaws, we are a greatly blessed nation. Which, of course, requires a "bless-or" *smile* Also, recognize the good that Christians do and that Christianity has done throughout our history. Spotty, to be sure, but that's because Christianity is carried out by flawed, sinful people who get things wrong at times...sometimes badly wrong. People like me...But sometimes, we get things right too. (see "abolition of slavery")

My challenge to Christians this week:
Be thankful to God for blessing us and giving us freedom. But do not conflate "America" with "God's Kingdom". There are multiple accounts in Scripture of peoples who have done that with their own nations, and it always ends badly. Also, recognize the good that non-Christians do & have done throughout our history. Spotty, to be sure...because that worldview, too, is populated by flawed, sinful people who get things wrong at times. "And such were you"... In the midst of the fireworks and patriotic songs & celebrations, my challenge is more aimed at us Christians to take great care not to equate "America" or "American Power & Wealth" with "Christianity" or with "THE Kingdom of God". Let us strive together for the perspective of Moses in his last words to Israel before His passing:

There is none like God, O Jeshurum, Who rides through the heavens to your help, through the skies in His majesty. The eternal God is your dwelling place, and underneath are the everlasting arms...
So Israel lived in safety...
Deuteronomy 33:26-28


My challenge to ALL:
Challenge your own political convictions & beliefs about America. Test them. Hold fast to what is good, and be prepared to adapt what needs adapting. And never make the mistake again of demonizing all who happen to disagree with your politics. I realize that's the M.O. of modern politics, but I also realize that I'm dang tired of it. (A lawyer joke, adapted: isn't it sad how 98% of politicians give the rest of them a bad name? *rimshot*)

Happy Independence Day! America is great! God is greater!
bb