A REMEMBERAMBLE 3/24/26

Good Morning Friends!

It is a bright and shiny, brand stinking new, not used, not pre-owned, right off of the showroom floor, Tuesday. That right there reminds me of when we more innocent and naive and could and did get excited about things that today we are too jaded to even consider, for example, the annual rollout of the new car models. We would roll our eyes now in contempt to show that such things are too childish to garner our attention, as they once did. Decades ago the car makers rolled out new models every three years and made mild modifications on them in between the major remakes. The new models came out in the fall of the year, bearing the year model of the upcoming calendar year. It was a big deal to get a peek at the vehicles before the official date when the cars and trucks would be unveiled. It was the automotive version a debutante ball. The dealerships got clandestine shipments and did their best to hide them until the official day and time arrived to unveil them with great fanfare. Today, pictures of them would be all over the internet before the big three's designers had decide what they would look like. Folks would put AI versions online swearing it was not AI and that was what the new cars looked like. The online yammering would draw more interest than the new models would. Today most folks care little about new car models as we did, for many reasons. Now, let us move on from cars a minute. As I was sitting here trying to prepare this daily column, it hit me that I guess few people would commit to a years-long effort to do what I do here, and yes, a few others also do, who share their photographs and writings here. I had never really cogitated on it long enough to suss out the reason why. It has never been a burden but of course there have been times when I struggled with things in life that did make it difficult, but I never considered giving this up. Why? Why work my feeble ole brain like a borrowed mule to put things here to share with you day in and day out? I like creating something to brighten your day. Now, I'm no lil Suzy Sunshine, I am a grumpy old man, a crotchety old cuss, a crabby curmudgeon extraordinaire, who enjoys spreading the love and sparking joy in spite of myself. Now, those characters are few and far between...or far and few between! I guess I enjoy the modicum of attention it brings, but my close circle of friends and family can attest that I really am humble and humbled by it, if that makes sense. Once you have a few folks in this dark world who come to you daily hoping for a small bit of deliverance from the tedium of life, you feel a deep kinship with them and care for them enough to make that effort for them. Which is my convoluted way of telling you I care about you, and that you care about me, is an amazing gift from God. Only a fool would take that lightly...and I am no fool. Well, time to say "whoa mule!" As that singularly special man, Dr. J. Vernon McGee used to say, "may God richly bless you, my beloved."

JOHN 3:16, KJV

we boyz three, babee conway, lil merle, & me