See Things For What They Can Be

Archive for the ‘memories’ Category

My current Project

My current project is due to noise I had been hearing from my front end while driving. After examination I narrowed it down to the outside tie-rod end on the driver’s side.

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After I finished I took for a spin and the noise is gone, it handles better and now I have to get a wheel alignment.

A expected project  done unexpectedly.

#whatruworkinon

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No Denial

Not sure where to start after about a month and a half of silence. I won’t deny that I have been out of the loop in many ways for various reasons. While I’m driving during the day, so much is on my mind and some of it takes me on a journey of wonderment. 


I look at the positives that are in my life but the things that go wrong, often overshadow any good that surfaces. I won’t crawl into a shell and become nonexistent or downtrodden, but I do have a tendency to get quiet.

Many of you know that I lost my oldest brother to prostate cancer a couple of years ago. My second oldest brother lost his battle in the same way this past February. I think about my mom and how hard this must be for her losing her two oldest in this way. I have been remembering things my brother Ray (recently past) had talked to me about over the years. One thing comes to mind that we both wished we could have done, but the funds just wasn’t there. I think I was about 17 maybe 18 years old and he said that the price of gasoline was going to rise drastically in the future. At that time, it was unheard of. We were enjoying gas prices well under a dollar per gallon, cigarettes were also less that a dollar a pack. He said that if I could, to put money into oil stock…that was good advice I didn’t or couldn’t follow up on.

Even though I didn’t talk to my brothers on a regular basis while they were here, I do miss them.

There have been other issues that have taken their toll on my mind and I do feel drained emotionally.

Attempts at getting back to a regular routine has proven to be difficult for me, but it will happen. I look to God for strength and endurance….I can’t do it without Him. 

Here’s to moving on and hanging tough.


    

    

I Have Experimented

I’ve noticed that some of my old post have been read lately and that has given me a curious look myself. I’ve opened a couple of them to see what I’ve written and noticed that I’ve done some experimenting along the way since I started this blog.

I recently deleted my second most read post because I wasn’t really thinking when I wrote it and I thought it may have been offensive to women. Thinking back, I was angry not at women, but with TheWife and just happen to blurt out loud my frustration and the post really had nothing to do with why I was upset with her.

In general I am happy to say that my blog hasn’t really changed although I have done some experimenting. 

This post…World Class gets a lot of reads and reflects the core of my blog. I believe that life in general is our place of learning. Not taking away from text books, but they can’t give what life itself does. If we can’t learn from life, all the books in the world are useless….that’s just me.

Life Has…is another post that has been read most recently by a few people. After reading this again brought to mind a post I had written about Steps

Reading these reminded me of the style of poetry I like to write most although I have written a little on the dark side

A stroll down memory lane has brought back the experiences I have in writing this blog and what I’ve learned along the way. It’s not a very popular blog but I do appreciate my followers and those who happen to drop in unexpected. I keep moving along and I’ll see what this journey has in store.



They’re All Miracles

Welcome to the Second Edition of the  Black Birth Carnival. Hosted by Darcel of The Mahogany Way Birth Cafe and Nicole of Musings From The Mind of Sista Midwife.
The Topic: Not Without Our Fathers. So often we talk birth in women circles. We celebrate birth within the feminine community and forget that without the fathers our birth experiences would be non existent. June 17th marks the day many will celebrate fathers in this country. With that in mind we came up with our topic for this installment of the Black Birth Blog Carnival.
This post you will be updated with live links by Noon, linking back to the other participants posts.


I don’t know what the stats are for men of color to be present when their children are born, but I for one wouldn’t trade that for anything. It is definitely life changing. 

I remember when TheWife was in labor at the hospital with Darcel. We didn’t know if we were having a boy or girl. I didn’t know if I was going into the delivery room or not. We didn’t attend any of those Lamaze classes (heck, I don’t know if they had them back then). So it’s time for her to go in and it wasn’t until then I was told to get myself ready. I’m in there nervous and ready. TheWife was in labor for hours so it wasn’t very long after, Darcel was born into this world. I was soooo happy and all smiles….I was so up there I knew then that as a man, that was the ultimate human experience. You see firsthand and robe yourself in as close a birth experience without giving birth, that you will have for the rest of your life. You see what the woman in your life goes through ….I can only imagine how home birth fathers can put into words their experiences.


Now Reg was a totally different experience. Apparently TheWife and her grandmother had made plans for the labor time at the hospital to be minimal…without telling me. I knew it was time for us to leave and couldn’t figure out what in the world they were waiting for. Her grandmother finally says it’s time to go. I’m driving like all get out but don’t take the freeway because it’s late with hardly any traffic. I keep checking on her to make sure everything is ok. We’re just about there and I could almost tell by the way she was positioning herself in the seat that things were getting or had already gotten to the point of, we really need to be at the hospital. I miss the turn into the parking lot, get it turned around and she says she’s not going to be able to go in so I run in and tell them my wife is having a baby and I remember a nurse getting a wheelchair and I told her it was beyond that. Before you know it my car is almost surrounded….next thing I know, Reg is born. I didn’t get to see his birth, (I was crowded out) but it was an experience I will never forget.

Experiencing child birth up close doesn’t stop with mine…I have had the pleasure to be there with two of My3Grands. Kiah was the first and Samuel was the third. Although I wasn’t there for Ava’s birth I still feel as if I was a part of it because TheWife and I were watching Kiah during Ava’s home birth. We got updates by phone from DaddyCharles. When we got the ok to come to there place, it still felt magical….like we were there the whole time.


I’m not sure if I captured the moments in words, what I had experienced with these five loving souls that are in my life. I don’t know if I am a different person versus not having the experience of child birth, but there is one thing I know for certain….the sounds of a woman struggling through the stages of labor, into giving birth….the sounds of a baby’s first cry, the sounds of joy expressed by all….can never be taken away….they are all miracles.



Please take the time to read and comment on the other participants posts. Shahmet at Adia Publishing: A Father Before Birth Reggie at WhatrUWorkinon?: They’re All Miracles Nicole at Musings From The Mind of Sista Midwife: #BlackBirth Not Without Our Fathers Darcel at The Mahogany Way Birth Cafe: Are Men at Birth Important? Alexis at The Ivy Expansion: A Fathers Love Mavhu at F.W. Hargrove: I Birth At Home Twitter Hashtag #BlackBirth

This Takes Me Back

I’m tellin ya ahead of time….it’s a picture heavy post.


It was time for me to take a closer look at the engine of my van. This won’t be the first time I had the “dog house” cover off, but it will be the first time I’m taking a good look into what I’ll have to do in the near future.

















It comes apart in two sections.







It’s really pretty easy to 
take apart….two 1/2″ bolts
on the floor….



 ….and two clamps on both sides 
at the top.


Once you get both sections off, you have access to a great portion of the engine.


When I removed the breather cover, there was a strong gas odor. I’ll probably replace the oxygen sensors.

Spark plugs don’t look so hot either.   

I climbed underneath to see why my 
tires were worn and part of the reason, 
the ball joints have no grease. 

I rotated the tires to finish up. The van is in sound condition and once I get the tune up and some tires I should be good for a bit.
I tinted the windows a couple weeks ago…it looks much better from a distance, but not bad for doing it alone. The instructions suggest two people; that is some hard stuff to work with I’ll tell ya! I removed the windows from the van and tinted them that way.

On another note….I’m thinking of designing new signatures for my blogs.

Reggie


                                            


By The Way Ava

I heard you ask Mamaw one day when you were visiting if she slept with the dog you gave her and she said yes, that it is on her pillow above her head every night.


Well….


I used a flashlight the other night to take this picture for ya!



TheRegMystr

I Couldn’t Forget You Ava

If I’m not mistaken, I haven’t highlighted Ava in any of my posts. Yes she has been included as a group or pair and yes I have pictures of her by herself, but she doesn’t have her own post.

So Ava my sweet….this one is for you.

Ava will be 5 this month and like the other two, seems to be older than she is. She’s taking ballet lessons and from what I hear she absolutely loves it.

Ava is the second of three Grands. She has this cute little girlie voice that matches the ballerina in her and a very high pitch screech that pierces every nerve within you when she is playing. 

She is really meticulous when she gets into doing things sometimes and that’s when the tongue comes out. She was doing this before she she could walk and talk. Sometimes it takes her awhile to get things done and it’s not because she doesn’t want to get it done, but she wants it done right….perfect could be a good way to describe it.




It looks like Ava is going to be the neater one between the two girls. Here she is putting the puzzle pieces back in the bag…without being told to do so. She handed the bag to me when she was finished and went on to play something else.

Ava my sweet, sorry it took so long to get ya featured but I hope you like it.

Wheeeeee!!!!!


TheRegMystr

It’s About Time

I think it’s about time to let you in on what has been going on in my life these past few months. It took a lot of prayer and searching within to make the major decision that took place in January. I talked to TheWife and Reg and we all agreed that it could be done. 


So in January I gave my two weeks notice with a company I had been with for 5 1/2 years, but an occupation I have been doing for the past 35 years. I believe I had mentioned in a previous post or two how over the years my income was depreciating. Like many big businesses, it was becoming customary that employees get paid by production. It’s not like I remember back in the day when raises were awarded yearly. I do understand that times change and companies have to restructure in order to stay afloat, but it was becoming more difficult for me to adhere to the fact I had to work harder and harder as I grew older and the wear and tear began to take its toll on my body. Sure I could have stuck it out for many more years, but my speed was becoming an issue which played a part in my income. 


If you’re not aware of the work I am talking about….it’s auto glass replacement. I remember when I first got into this type of work. I was originally a warehouse driver for a auto glass distributor…..that was in 1977. At the location where I was employed, they also had a retail shop for installations. Customers would bring there cars in to have broken windshields, door glasses and back glasses replaced. On a daily basis I walked past these cars and the guys working on them. I was fascinated at how complicated it looked but also amazed at how they got it done. They would prod me often about getting into that line of work but I would always refuse.


I was in my early twenties at the time and started thinking about the future and what I would do to support the family TheWife and I talked about. I began to see how becoming an installer (what we were called back then) would be beneficial to me and my future. 


A guy by the name of Tom K. trained me. He was a top notch installer and everybody had a lot of respect for him and his quality of work. That rubbed off on me big time. I was gradually becoming a mirrored imaged in the quality of training given to me by Tom. Speed wasn’t important to me but quickly became a factor in the changing times. So I stepped it up quite a bit and the years of that and the decrease in pay was too much for me to deal with anymore.


I have to admit this wasn’t the only driving force to have a part in my decision to quit, but it was major.


So what’s in store for the future?…..stay tuned…..

What Is The Right Thing To Do?

Our internet service went down last night and was restored a couple of hours ago. After the restoration, I really noticed how much email I had accumulated and decided to clean house. While going through my two major accounts it came very clear to me how different things are for me right now. One of the accounts showed me how much I had strayed away from poetry and the online friends I was beginning to become acquainted with. Not only that but a couple of blogs I was reading on a regular basis.


As I continued through the old mail, the dates brought to mind what I had already remembered long before starting this venture. The 1 year anniversary of my oldest brother’s passing. I called my mom and talked to her for awhile and that made me remember even more how much I miss him. It was good to hear my mom’s voice…still strong in my ear….realizing how much I miss her too.


Events in life never stop…they keep coming. How they affect us and how we choose to deal with them rest solely on our individual shoulders. Deleting those old emails did bring back memories but they also triggered a need….no….a desire to restore what I miss about me. Even though you may not have heard from me as much as before, I have not been idle. Changes have been taking place and the journey continues.


Eliminating that which hinders us sometimes may not seem the right thing to do in the eyes of others, but others don’t have to live our lives. Remembering is not always a good thing, but forgetting can sometimes be the wrong thing to do. How we handle these rest solely on our individual shoulders.


Time doesn’t stop, events continue to happen and changes do take their place. We must also take our spot and do what is right for us…even if others may think it foolish…they do not live our lives…and we don’t live theirs. 


Making decisions are all a part of the journey and they have to be made…good or bad, right or wrong. 

Hey MahoganyMama!

I just wanna say
It’s your birthday
I just wanna say
It is today

I hope it’s a good one
Even if you don’t see the sun
I hope you have fun
When it’s all said and done

Nope it’s not here either
Don’t even look in the freezer
I can’t pretend
This will come to an end

At some point or other
I’d much rather drother
Be there right now
I’d give you a bow

To show some love
As tight as a glove
That goes on a hand
As sure as you stand

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