GOOD MORNING, FRIENDS

A REMEMBERAMBLE, January 13, 2025

"Holy Toledo, Batman, it's Tuesday already!" "So it is, my young 'ward,' Robin, so it is!" "Wards" were fairly common back then, well, let me say in early TV and radio broadcasting they were common, If you ever listened to old time radio, a goodly number of wealthy older men had them. No one has ever see a ward in real life, not by that name at least. They were usually nice looking young men without families, so whoever handled the local ward distribution would dole them out to lonely older men with money. You do know that I am being facetious, or "facitious," as Barney said to Andy. Okay, let us change topics, I was thinking about stereo component systems of my youth, we all had them, did we not? Okay, I see you over there raising your hand and saying, "ooh, ooh, ooh," as if you are about to pee on yourself trying tell me you never had one. Okay, we all had them except for you. I wonder if Batman bought one for Robin? Or maybe Robin saved his allowance and bought one for himself. A lot of brand shaming surrounded stereo systems, back then, Anything below Pioneer, Kenwood, and JVC, you know like, Emerson or Soundesign, were kept hidden under old horse blankets in teens' bedrooms and only uncovered when the family alone were home, and no kids were visiting. These teens lived in fear that their "friends," would rag on them at school by teasing them that their mama bought their stereo system at Kmart!! My older brother Joseph bought a new Pioneer system with Bose speakers. You didn't have to hide his system under old horse blankets, nah, when our parents were gone, we would have it blasting Steppenwolf, the Doobie Brothers, or Aquarias, with the picture window's drapes pulled open to let the sun shine in (huhuh, get it, Aquarias, uhm, let the sunshine in...ne'er mind) and highlight it like the summer solstice at Stonehenge.

Some folks had those big, bodacious stereo systems, so strong they would blow you away!

Stereo systems have gone the way of ice trays, car wax, magazines in doctor's waiting rooms, whitewall tires, pull string lights, vinyl car tops, lawn darts, yard dogs, outdoor children, gathering and selling pine cones, automobile carburetors, grape arbors, bug zappers, pulley bones, and common decency. Okay, one more lateral move to a new topic. I was remembering when in 1982 retired dentist, Dr. Barney Clark, aged 61, had his heart removed and was the first patient to be connected to the Jarvik artificial heart. It was hailed as a miraculous thing. To me, it was a sad day indeed, when I saw the quality of life that man endured, for 112 days as he was tethered to an air compressor and hoses, while the Jarvik 7 heart beat and battered his blood cells and made him miserable until he was dead. Now, you are free to feel differently than I did, but I felt that the artificial heart should have not used on a patient as it existed then. It was hailed world-wide as a great event and doctors Jarvik and DeVries were celebrated as heroes. It was the epitome of, "the operation was a complete success, but the patient died!" It was a gift from God when his struggle to live ended. Okay. let's finish on a high note. Have you noticed how often when you are conversing with someone, with each of you on your cell phone, if either or both of you are in a bad service area, one of you will ask, "can you hear me?" The other person replies, "yeah, I can hear ya, and that phrase is the last thing either of you are able to glean from your interchange. I never fails. Okay, off you go, do something today that pleases God, and you will carry a smile inside you.

NUMBERS 6: 24-26, KJV

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