A REMEMBERAMBLE Monday, May 04, 2026

Numbers 6: 24-26, KJV

I looked away for a moment and another Monday had "jumped flat-footed, turned a sommerset, caromed off of Sunday, then flounced right here on the ground in front of me, like a mullet on a 'strang'!" I had a hummigbird buzz me Friday morning as I sat outside, you know how they do, when they return in the spring and figure every house oughta have a couple of feeders out for them. I had not had any since moving from the old house just up the road, but I reckon the hummingbird recognized me, or Charles Rich and his wife had them when they were living here. I am sure if you ever had feeders for them, you have had them come tell you if a feeder is empty, or that thy are back if you have not put the feeders up for the new season. They will hover nose to nose with you, and fly back and forth to the empty feeder or where it should be hanging, to inform you of their need. I have had them be so adamant that I was beginning to think they were trying to tell me that lil Timmy had "done and fell" down the well again. You know, every Lassie epsiode would leave me thinking that they needed to get rid of the well or Timmy one or the "t'other." Getting back to the subject of hummingbirds, that is what made me realize my daddy had gotten old. When I went to see him and he was in his recliner beside a front window, with the curtains open, watching the several hummingbird feeders hanging outside, just a few feet away, as the small flock cavorted, sparred, and did aerial acrobatics to their advantage for their turn at a feeder. He would just sit watching them, happy to do nothing. That was not the man who raised us, but I liked him. Another thing on my mind is how impatient youth is with old age. Now, I have great patience with my peers, in line at a store, or wherever, I do not get impatient as I once did. Now, I am quite capable of generosity while I wait, as well as being forgiving of goofs, lapses, and blunders. For instance, maybe thirty years ago, I was in the Swainsboro (my hometown) McDonalds, to get what was my favorite McDonald's burger, a double quarter-pounder with cheese. I was in my mid-thirties, and had consumed maybe a ton or so of McDonald sandwiches, and felt as if I were truly a connoisseur of fast food. I walked up to the counter and was greeted by a lady I knew was the assistant manager, and had worked there since it opened some eighteen years before. As usual, she welcomed me to McDonald's and asked what I would have. I answered, "a double quarter-pounder with cheese, please, just the sandwich." She chuckled and said, "ha, you are always so funny, what do you really want" I said, "uhm, a double quarter-pounder with cheese." She giggled a bit and said, "you know we don't have a double quarter-pounder with cheese." Taken aback, I asked, "are y'all out or just not serving them now?" She got serious and said, "we have never had double quarter-pounders with cheese." The manager-lady came up, as if to see if there was a problem, and the assistant manager lady said, tell him we don't have a quarter-pounder with cheese." I looked up at and pointed to the menu board sign above and behind her and asked, "well, why is it on the menu then?" She looked dumbstruck, and her friend the manager looked at her with a concerned look indeed. She stammered and asked her, "when did we start selling those?" She replied, "the day we opened, the day we both started working here, eighteen years ago." I thought it was funny, and for a long time afterward when I came in and she waited on me, I would make a smart-*ss comment about whether they had started serving double quarter-pounders with cheese, and if so, I wanted one. I have thought about that so many times in recent years, and I thank God, that age has tempered my patience and my tongue, such that I would never make someone feel bad about a lapse like that, now, I would say, okay, give me a Big Mac, please, be glad I spared her feelings, and be happy with my Big Mac. Time teaches us that it is NOT always just about US. It is more about the person in front of you, and how you can interact with them in the best way possible. God is kind when He gives us an old age where we can make amends for the young and inconsiderate ass we made of ourselves in our youth. Use it...use it well. I do so appreciate the visit with you. We remain your humble servants:

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