The Rock Wall

My friend, Angela, Kenney, told me last Friday that her mother-in-law, Linda Rose Budd Kenney, had died at age 81. I’ve heard for years that my mother-in-law, June Miller (Long), babysat the Budd’s first born, but I didn’t hear any details.

Gary Vickers brought by a list of things Vietnam soldiers had to carry with them. He read the list at the Veterans Day assembly at the El Dorado Springs High School on Nov 10. I don’t know how those guys could move. Gary said that they could run carrying all that stuff, but if they fell down they needed help getting up. The one thing I specifically remember him mentioning was that they carried Kool Aid and he still can’t drink the stuff. His last paragraph read, ”They carried the tradition of the United States military and memories and images of those who served before them. They carried grief, terror, longing and their reputations. The soldier’s greatest fear, the embarrassment of dishonor. They crawled into tunnels, walked point and advanced under fire so as not to die of embarrassment. They were afraid of dying but too afraid to show it. They carried the emotional baggage of men and women who might die at any moment. They carried the weight of the world and the carried each other.”

I told Gary at the conclusion of the Veterans Day assembly that every time he open his mouth he makes me cry.

The season is officially here. We have a new Miss Merry Christmas, Miss Perry Allison, the Park is all lit up and Black Friday is upon us. I know several people that won’t miss a Black Friday I’d just as soon miss every black Friday.

May you have a lovely Thanksgiving. May you enjoy your loved ones, eat too much, go to sleep in the middle of a conversation or the middle of a football game and make it safely home to get ready for Christmas.