Today at work an older customer was distraught and crying. I asked how I could help. She explained that she was driving a rental car due to a wreck she had last week, and she had lost a contact lens. The customer was afraid to drive home without the contact lens for fear of having another accident. I told her not to worry, that we would make sure she got home okay.

Cindy, a young lady from the store, agreed to drive the rental car to the lady's home. I followed in my vehicle to take Cindy back to the store. We arrive at her home in one of the more beautiful old neighborhoods in town, and helped her get her groceries into the house. As we left, the customer thanked us and hugged us, but I could tell she was still having a difficult time. I told her I was sure the rest of the day would be better and said g0odbye. As we left I noticed her name beside the mailbox next to her door. She is something of a local celebrity who had several books published in the 1970s and 1980s.

On the way back to work, Cindy told me that she didn't ever want to get old. Of course, we both agreed that there is no alternative. This episode made me think about life and aging. I came to the conclusion that men are the lucky ones in this matter. We nearly always die first, thus we rarely have to face our final years feeble and alone. Of course, the flipside is that the women we love and leave behind often are faced with spending their final years alone.

Morbid? Yes, but it's something we must all face. Life can be difficult, but most of us find the courage and faith to persevere to the end. I think that in many ways women are stronger than men in this regard. Women seem to do better alone that men do in their later years. I pray that when the time comes that my wife must face those final years alone, she will have good health and independence and the faith to carry on until the end.

I had a fairly major automobile accident this evening on my way home from work. A woman in a full-sized van pulled across the street in front of me. I was doing about 45 mph, and I slammed the brakes on, but couldn't avoid the collision. Wow, both airbags deployed, shattering the windshield and filling the car with smoke. I thought for a time that the vehicle was on fire. I stopped, and put the gear lever in Park, but the car continued rolling forward when I let off the brake. For a moment I couldn't think how to stop the car. Then, of course, I switched off the ignition.

After I stopped the car, I went to the van to see if they were okay. Thankfully, the driver and her three daughters were all unhurt. No injuries except for burns and "road rash" on my arms from the airbag. One of the paramedics told me that the airbag frequently causes severe injury in relatively "minor" accidents. This didn't seem all that minor to me, but I guess any accident that everyone walks away from is relatively minor.

The other driver kept apologizing and saying she didn't see me. I could tell she felt really bad about the wreck. I told her that as long as everyone was okay, we had nothing to worry about. Her husband was following her on his Harley. When I discovered that fact, I nearly had an emotional breakdown thinking about what might have happened had I hit the motorcycle rather than the huge van. The lady told me that she had been praying that her husband would be okay on the bike as they returned home to a small town about 100 miles away. Scary stuff.

The police officer wrote the other driver two tickets for failure to yield right of way and for driving without insurance. She repeatedly apologized, and I told her everything was going to be alright. As I left after the wrecker took my vehicle, she apologized again and told me she would pray that I wouldn't be in pain from my (very minor) injuries. I am so thankful to God that the no one was injured. My car is probably totalled, but we are all thankful to be uninjured.

I've been trying to stay away from political posts, but I simply cannot resist tonight. Not that it matters, no one is reading this anyway. I see the Congress is passing legislation that will require states to verify that a person is a legal resident prior to issuing them a driver's license. I see little to disagree with in this legislation on the face of it. Having said that, though, I must say that I do not believe it will make us any safer than we are now. The 9-11 terrorists were in this country legally. They were not illegal aliens.

Secondly, this provision will be quite expensive for the states to comply with, requiring massive new investments in technology and manpower. While I'm on the subject of national security, isn't it time to repeal the Patriot Act? That horrendously expensive monstrosity was foisted upon us during a time of national crisis when the Congress needed to make it appear that they were doing something useful to protect the people. All they managed to accomplish is to spend billions of dollars for no good reason and to infringe upon the rights guaranteed us in the Constitution. Whatever happened to the idea that Republicans are for smaller and less intrusive government?

Randolph Franklin Dial has been
captured. A year or so ago I decided to look up the artist I knew as Randolph Franklin on the internet. I was shocked to discover that he was a convicted murderer. I had sold this man's work in a shop my family owned about twenty years ago. I have photos of him in my albums from those days. He visited in my grandmother's home and she cooked dinner for him. He was an amazingly talented artist, and unknown to us at the time, a murderer.

Dial escaped from prison in Oklahoma eleven years ago. The wife of the warden where he was incarcerated disappeared with him. It was presumed that he had kidnapped her. Now they've been found in a small town in east Texas where they were living in a mobile home and raising chickens. Dial is a talented artist & sculptor who once taught art at Instituto Allende in San Miguel, Guanajauto, Mexico. Since learning of his escape I always assumed that if he were ever caught it would be in Mexico as he speaks fluent Spanish and is familiar with Mexico. He was captured, though, right here in Texas.

Today the U. S. Council on Calendars & Time announced that due to Daylight Savings Time the United States has become out of sync with the rest of the world's calendars by 36 hours and 15 minutes. Therefore, President Bush has announced that April 6 is being cancelled this year. The day following April 5 is now to be called April 7. Furthermore, May 3 is being shortened. May 4 will now begin at what would have been 11:45 am on May 3.

A number of companies and government entities have protested the move claiming that it will turn their schedules upside down. "This is the dumbest decision ever," stated the Midland, Texas School Superintendant. "Beginning May 4 children will be forced to attend school in the dark. This will definitely be a safety concern."

Parents have called upon the school board to begin classes at 8:00 pm rather than the usual 8:00 am because of the switch. The school board is said to be considering the move. I certainly hope they get this ironed out before May 3.

Today I had an employee who called in sick. That's not all that unusual except for one thing. This guy couldn't come to work because he had glued his lips together with Superglue. As excuses for missing work this one ranks right up there with the young lady a couple of years ago who fell out of her pickup and ran over herself. I would have sworn that neither of these accomplishments were possible, but evidently I would have been wrong.

We had Caleb's second birthday party today. Caleb and eleven other youngsters enjoyed about three hours together. We had purchased one of those inflatable jumpers for his birthday rather than renting one. For the cost of renting one three times we were able to purchase one. We should be able to use it a number of times over the next few years. At first Caleb was afraid of the jumper, but after he watched other kids having fun in it he wanted in too. The party was a success, and everyone had a grand time. Tonight we are cleaning up and trying to assemble the Power Wheels pickup given to Caleb by his abuelo y abuela (grandparents for those who don't understand a bit of español.)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY CALEB!

Today is Caleb's second birthday. It's difficult to believe the little guy is already two. Mommy went to work today. I took the day off along with tomorrow for his party. Caleb had a stomach virus a couple days ago. Yesterday, Mommy came down with it. Today, it's Daddy's turn. I took Caleb to the park after lunch to see the ducks and turtles in the pond. Then we picked up his Spiderman cupcakes. After we got home I started feeling...well, let's just say that it involves spending an inordinate amount of time in the bathroom.

I'm not certain what we will do about his party tomorrow yet. I sure would hate to make all his little friends sick, and this virus seems to be VERY contagious. Happy Birthday anyway, big boy. Daddy loves you more than the world.

I saw an episode of Monk today that made me cry and think about how much I love this boy. I know, it's just a stupid TV show about a paranoid obsessive-compulsive detective, but it really hit home. Monk was taking care of a 2 year old from an orphanage for a few days, and he had decided to adopt the boy since he realized that he loved the child very much. Monk's psychiatrist told him he was in no condition to take care of a child since he could barely care for himself. That was so sad. The show had a happy ending, though. A nice young couple adopted the boy and took him home. I guess it just brought back a lot of memories of the struggle we went through trying to have children. I don't ordinarily watch much television, preferring to read instead, but this episode was extremely well done. Reminded me to thank the Lord for the blessings He's bestowed.

Well, I haven't posted in months. I guess I became bored with blogging or something. Caleb is about to celebrate his second birthday. It's difficult to believe that he is almost two. My goodness, the boy is smart. The other evening he and I took a walk around the neighborhood. Caleb pointed up at the full moon that was visible in the late afternoon sky. "Up in the sky," he said with a look of fear and surprise on his face.

"That's the moon." I said.

"Moon," he replied. He seems way too smart for a two-year-old. Of course, every parent probably thinks his child is the smartest.