OH, I'VE BEEN GOOD

I've tried. But when I came across this blacklight poster from 1974, I thought. Obama? Does Mad Magazine's Alfred E. Newman look like the BO?

And what about the play on Mad? How many voters were just that? Don't forget that mad also means crazy as well as angry. How many people are at least one of the Mads?

I know, mad can mean crazy about, too. Evidently a lot of the people were just that. But it keeps echoing in my mind. You know, Alfred E.'s motto, "What me worry?"

JUST MAYBE I SHOULD HAVE EATEN MORE RADISHES

I've always wanted to be taller. I guess I'm not going to make it. Even though my dad, my brother, my uncles on my mother's and father's side and I are all the same height. Thankfully our son took his mother's side and wound up a respectable 6'2".

Despite heredity, I blamed my stature on my lousy eating habits as a youth. Once when friend Blaine who had moved to Midlothian came to visit, he commented "All you eat are hamburgers and grapes." And that was about right. A few years later I added fish and chicken. A few years after that, salad.

Not so with or 5 year old grandson. While our 8 year-old is picky, Nathan will eat anything. At a school luncheon for Thanksgiving, he was filling up on white grapes. He spied some black olives on the table which he mistook for black grapes. No problem. He just ate those thinking they were grapes. He probably won't stop at 5'8 1/4".

But now, there's relatively very few things I don't like. I do like radishes, but my favorite are the white ones. Every time we went to the store this past year I checked for white radishes. None available. All year long. If I ever find them again, you can count on me buying them all. Because hey, maybe it's never too late to add an inch or two.

KOUFAX: NOW THIS GUY KNEW WHEN

So many people in all avenues of life don't know when to hang it up. Case after case of athletes who try to hang on to a career when it's past time. Same in business or any occupation.

Sandy Koufax knew. He won 27 games his last year for the Dodgers. Twenty-seven! What would that be worth in today's market? Yet he knew when. The antitheses were Steve Carlton, Willie Mays, Pete Rose.

Willie McGee used to say,"hey, one day you'll look around and I won't be there." Which reminds me of what Coach Mike told me years ago. He got it from Rend Lake College founder and later President, Dean Howard Rollinson who shared the poem on his retirement. Part of the poem is duplicated below:

Sometime when you feel your absence

would leave an unfillable hole,

Just follow these simple instructions,

And see how it humbles your soul.

Take a bucket, fill it with water,

Put your hand in it up to your wrist,

Now pull it out fast and the hole that remains

Is the measure of how you'll be missed.

No one is indispensable. Yet we act as if the world couldn't turn on its axis without us. We are an arrogant lot.

But that's ok. Because it you believe the poem quoted by Dean Rollinson, we won't be missed anyhow.

SIT DOWN AND STAY AWHILE

Not in that chair. Those are made for impermanence. Just awhile may well be just that in a chair like that.

And it got me thinking. What encapsules a memory. What our brain has room for in our recollections. So this is what I conjure up when I hear a person's name.

Hank Aaron--he charged me a lot for an autograph baseball, yucked it up with a promoter at the table, and gave me (or sold) me a bad autograph while he paid no attention to me at all.

Lorraine Smith--my 2nd grade teacher. One day she allowed us to crawl under her desk. We all lined up and very orderly took turns crawling on our bellies under her desk. And that is all I remember about 2nd grade.

Bill Goode--my all time least favorite student. He could push my buttons and turn my crank. He knew it, too. How we survived each other even one semester I'll never know.

Ron Copenhaver--a good friend, former teacher, golf partner. We were playing in a tournament one time when he hooked a ball out of bounds. In his low key demeanor, he pleaded, "Watch out horse." The horse didn't hear him. The ball smacked him on the right side of his rump and he took off.

an elderly neighbor lady--We lived across the street from her and her husband for a few years. Neither ever waved nor spoke. One day as I was driving, she waved me over as she stood by her mailbox. She only said, "Slow down. You're driving too fast."

Fred Mitchell--waddled when he walked. Looked like the least athletic person imaginable. Could smack the golf ball and was one of the best players at the club.

Jeannie McCartney--one of the prettiest girls in our graduating class; also very nice. Rarely dated in high school because guys figured she'd reject them.

Thanks for sitting just awhile. If you don't know any of the people mentioned, then you know a little about them. Think of or write out your list. You'll be surprised what's in that storehouse of a mind.

AND HE REVEALS HIMSELF THROUGH HIS CREATION

and through His Word. Today I want to talk about His creation.

As perfect as the starfish is, the human form is more unique, more perfect, more intricate.

I have a real feel good feeling today. It's been there all day yesterday, too. It started at about 8:25 Sunday night. I hope it doesn't go away.

Our oldest granddaughter called to tell us we had another granddaughter born 10 minutes earlier. Veronica Joy. At 7 lbs, 6 oz; 20 3/4", she made her appearance. She is also joined by two big brothers.

We are so proud and blessed and thankful.

As I opened my e-mail yesterday morning, I received pictures of a new grandson of one of my best friends, also born on November 30. To think that we would have grandkids born on the same day, took me back to high school when he and I were running around together, getting in and out of jams. Well as Yogi once said, or should have said, "Who'd a thunk it?"

Welcome to the world VJ! Thanks for making it a better place. I can't wait to see you and hold you and get the spoiling started.

NAP TIME

I'd say it all started in kindergarten, but I never went. We lived by a private school pre-school, Kox Kiddie Kollege, that I attended instead. Bu I don't remember napping there.

I've napped about everywhere else though including baseball and basketball games. Not the ones on tv, though I've done a lot of napping there, too, but the ones at the stadium or ballpark.

The only difference between this guy with the couch and me is that I need a chaise lounge outside. When it's cold, no problem I just cover up as I did yesterday. The only thing that stops my outside nap is rain, but living where I do, that's not usually a problem.

A ten to twenty minute nap is my requirement. Once, ok, sometimes twice a day. My worst nap is the one when I fall asleep watching tv about 30 minutes before bedtime. I'm trying to break myself of that one.

I'd share some more, but you know what? Just writing about napping got me sleepy. Sweet dreams.