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Growing up, my parents always taught me the importance of respecting my elders.
It was always Mr. or Mrs., never calling someone older than me by their first name. If I called an elder by their first name, I was sure to get in trouble. I chuckle sometimes these days when I hear kids calling their parents by their first names instead of Mom and Dad. There were things we did in our lives back in the day that seem to be a lost art these days. My mom never wore a pant suit to church. She always wore a dress, even for the mid-week service. My dad always wore a suit with a tie on Sunday mornings, as did most men in the church. He wore greasy work clothes to his factory job during the week, but when it came to church, he was clean shaven and donned a nice suit. God doesn’t condemn folks for wearing a pant suit or shorts and a T-shirt to church. My folks, especially my mom, lived by the creed of putting your best foot forward and wearing the nicest clothes you owned to church. It didn’t make them better people or more Christian, it was a way of life. My dad always carried a pocketful of napkins everywhere he went. On Sundays, he would wrap up his billfold and comb in a napkin to keep any grease from his work clothes from getting on his suit. Today, like my dad, I carry napkins in my pockets and sometimes forget to take them out and they ended being washed. My Tulsa neighbors to the south where Mr. and Mrs. Watson. I would have expected to get my backside swatted had I called them Frank and Lucille. The couple had a son named Johnnie who was about 10 years older than me and lived in California. The Watsons gave me an Argus twin-lens reflex camera in the early 1970s that Johnnie had as a youngster. I got my start in photography using that camera and still have it to this day. Mr. Watson was a Ford car man. He loved his LTDs. Our narrow driveways were next to each other and were divided by a strip of grass. The strip was maybe three foot across at the street and got wider as it went toward our detached garages. Mr. Watson’s LTD was wider than his driveway, so he had to drive in the strip of grass, which created a mud hole. After work, my dad would go behind our garage and dig up a patch of sod and fill the holes and then water everything down, trying to get grass to grow. It never did any good as here came Mr. Watson, sloshing his way out to the street. One day I was asking for it when my dad told me not to ride my bicycle through his mud hole, as I called it. Here I come to test that theory and rode right through his mud hole. Dad grabbed me off my bicycle and proceeded to tan my hide. It’s the only time I remember my dad doing anything like that. It was usually my mom who ran the roost and took control of spanking my butt when I erred in life. In the early 1960s, my folks had the kitchen remodeled. They had two pantries on either side of the refrigerator and inside one of them, my mom drew a circle just a little bit higher than my nose. When I got in trouble, which I did on occasion, I would have to stand on my toes and stick my nose in that circle for what seemed like an eternity. It probably wasn’t more than 10 minutes. My mom wanted me to learn how to play the piano. It was her dream as a kid growing up in Missouri to play the piano, but my grandparents were too poor to own a piano. When I was a youngster, mom baby sat some neighbor girls and a cousin and earned enough money to buy a piano. I started taking lessons in the second grade with an older cousin on my mom’s side of the family. I progressed to take lessons from Mrs. Murry in west Tulsa. I went on to participate in several recitals where I performed Handel's “Hallelujah Chorus,” twice, the Beatle’s “Let it Be,” and “Joy to the World,” by Three Dog Night. I didn’t stay with the piano as I would rather spend my evenings and summers running around outside with the neighbor kids and school chums. I have no regrets, just lots of good memories growing up in a loving, caring family who molded me into the man I am today. I will always be thankful to my parents for working so hard to give me and my brother, Tom, the best they could. Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day and always.
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I pulled in my driveway last Tuesday and noticed the passenger side rear tire going flat.
“I think the tire is going flat,” I told Debbie as I stepped into the garage while taking a double look at the tire. With only one vehicle in the Parker household, a flat tire puts a halt everything. Thanks to my family, I was able to hitch a ride to and from work on Wednesday and got my tire fixed in the process. Flat tires are part of life. I put them in the category of running out gas a mile from the station. I’ve done that several times, including when I was moving to Iowa from Oklahoma after accepting the editor’s position at the North English Record. I ran out of gas on Interstate 44 four miles from Joplin. After calling the Missouri Highway Patrol road service and waiting for an hour, I ended up walking to a nearby rest area and calling for auto road service a second time through my insurance company. The highway patrol offered to call for me and the officer gave the tow company wrong directions. After three plus hours, I was back on the road and made it to Kansas City. Back in my days of youth, I was job hunting in my hometown of Tulsa and ran out of gas. I had $3 in my pocket and a gas can in my trunk. I walked to a neighborhood gas station and used my last dime to get all the gas I could. Back in the late 70s, $3 would almost fill up your tank. I remember gas wars where gas was 19 cents or less per gallon. That’s a far cry from $3 plus gas prices today and nearly $5 a gallon a year ago. More than once the low gas light has come on in our van. It’s my own fault. There is something about pulling into a station and filling up the van with a half a tank of gas. That’s enough gas to get to work for a couple more days. Debbie often reminds me of the time when we were on our way for a weekend get-a-way to Hannibal, Mo. It was late and we were rolling south along Highway 61 in Missouri when I realized we were almost out of gas. Thankfully, we found a gas station a few miles down the road and I was able to top off the tank and arrive safely in Hannibal. Another time, I was in the Bootheel of Southeast Missouri doing a story for the Missouri Magazine at Lamberts Café in Sikeston while in journalism school. I forgot to top off my tank and ran out of gas on Highway 60 between Sikeston and Dexter. God sent a couple hillbilly angels along to help me out. I got in their old beater and wondered if I would get out of alive. It all worked out as they took me to a nearby town and got me some gas and helped me get on the road again. At least running out of gas or getting flat tire is better than smashing into one of the thousands of Iowa’s deer lurking in the road ditches. I’ve hit four deer since moving to this fine state. The first came in the spring of 2001 shortly after moving to Montezuma from North English. I was on my way to a playoff basketball game at English Valleys when a big buck rolled out of the ditch and smashed into my company van by the East Iowa Bible Camp near Millersburg. I just kept on driving. I stopped in Millersburg to check out the damage. I could barely open the drivers’ side door, but the old girl was still running and nothing was leaking. The second time came as Debbie and I returned home from our honeymoon to the Great Smoky Mountains in October 2004. A big buck hit us by the Highway 63 entrance to Diamond Lake. That was an insurance nightmare that I don’t want to repeat. All I can say is, if you rent a car, buy the overpriced insurance. I’ve hit a couple deer on the Ewart Road. One in March 2019 on the way home from an indoor track meet and a second one in September 2021 on the way to work. My brother-in-law straightened out the big dent and we replaced the headlight and all is good with the world. Our van has 223,000 plus miles on it and it keeps on going, dents an all, like the Energizer Bunny. Life can presents lots of challenges far greater than running out of gas, getting a flat tire or even hitting a deer. When that happens, my advice is to dig into your heart, keep believing, keep praying and keep on walking. The future is looking bright! Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day and always. My hat goes off to the young people at the Poweshiek County Schools who participate in sports and other school activities.
No matter if you are a starter or sit on the bench, your hard work and dedication is much appreciated. Everything you do makes the team better. And thanks to the parents and family members who haul kids to practice a make sure they show up on time and have clean uniforms, shoes and whatever else they need. And thanks to all the coaches, assistant coaches and volunteers who spend hours coaching and working with young people making them better. And thanks to the students for going to practice and playing your hearts out each and every game. It’s a joy for me as a journalist to be at the games and school events taking photos and supporting the teams and events. Both Montezuma teams had great seasons on the hardwood as did the Grinnell Lady Tigers. The Braves lost in the district semifinal round to a tough Baxter team, 82-69. The Bravettes lost in the regional championship round to a good North Linn Lynx team, 69-40. And the Grinnell Lady Tigers also made it to the district final round, falling to Vinton-Shellsburg, 52-43, in Class 3A action. And there were five wrestlers who advanced to state from the three area schools. Thanks for all your hard work and dedication to the sport you love I don’t want to leave out speech and drama, FFA, school plays, music concerts, honor choirs, honor bands and so much more. I always enjoy promoting what the area young people are doing and their many successes, no matter if it is sports, academics or extracurricular activities. Outside of a brief stint running the mile in ninth grade, I didn’t participate in sports. I do remember one race that featured three ninth graders and two seventh graders. I ran my heart out and finished third in my grade. I was ahead of the second place finisher for three laps. I had some kick at the end, but it just wasn’t enough to catch him. I got a ribbon and I couldn’t have been happier to have finished the race. I went out for football my junior year, but didn’t make the cut. In the 1970s, Oklahoma high schools held spring drills. My good friend, David, and I showed up at the spring meeting our sophomore year. Some of the big football players laughed when we walked in the room. We didn’t pay it no mind as we were there to try. David had played football in junior high. I had not played before. Neither of us made the team. I kept falling down during drills and the coach sent me home. I went out for basketball in junior high and didn’t make the team. I was big, but not coordinated enough to play the game. And I played baseball in second grade, but spent more time star gazing then looking for the ball. I think I was scared of the ball. I do remember that when we won a game, we all got a cold Pepsi in the bottle. I enjoy high school sports, but also like college sports. My favorites are football, basketball and softball. Debbie and I enjoy watching softball and are OU Sooner fans. We are looking forward to going to watch the Sooners in late March when they play at ISU in Ames. We’ve seen OU in Ames three previous times. Two years ago, we met Paige Lowary at the game and got her autograph and had our picture taken with her. Lowary, who played her prep career at Dallas Center Grimes, started her college career at the University of Missouri-Columbia (2015-16), where she played two seasons before transferring to Oklahoma and helping led the Sooners to a second national championship in as many years in 2017. We hope she will be there again this year. I also had a chance to get OU Softball Coach Patty Gasso’s autograph at a game at ISU. After the end of one of the games, I saw her by the dugout and called her name. She came over and talked with me and autographed a softball and Sooner cap. Our dream is to attend the College World Series in June in Oklahoma City down the road. And soon it will be March Madness and basketball craziness in the Parker house. Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day and always. It was Veterans Day, November 1997. I was on a cross-country trip with my brother in his semitruck hauling furniture for Mayflower Van Lines.
I had just wrapped up my college degree that fall and was looking forward to spending some time with my brother and family. We had been in Denver, Colo. and Omaha, Neb. and then drove northeast through Iowa and Lake Okoboji into Minnesota. After making a stop in the Twin Cities to pick up a load, we were staying a couple days in Minnesota to pick up a second load before heading east to the State of Maine. Then it was off to New York City and West Virginia before heading home to Oklahoma. We pulled into a truck stop in Southern Minnesota after our stop in the Twin Cities and there must have been a foot of snow on the ground. My first thought, “Who the heck wants to live in a place like this?” In Oklahoma, I might still be wearing a T-shirt and no coat on Veterans Day. Not in Minnesota or even Iowa. A few weeks later in mid-December 1997, I was riding in the back seat of Ford Focus on my way from Williamsburg to North English while being interviewed for the editor job at the NE Record. I had interviewed that previous fall for the Williamsburg Journal Tribune editor job and didn’t get hired. This was my second try with Marengo Publishing Company and a newspaper job in North English. I was hired on Christmas Eve and landed in Iowa on Dec. 28, 1997. And of course, it snowed my first week on the job. It’s not quite as cold and snowy in our neck of the woods as it is in Southern Minnesota, but the weather here can still be quite frightful at times. I witnessed some big snowstorms, ice storms and some 20 plus below zero nights. And I remember the time I parked my company Geo Metro on Main Street in North English and it snowed overnight. The next morning, my car was buried in a pile of snow and I had to dig it out with a snow shovel. I wondered why there was no parking on Main Street after 2 a.m. And the wind, it’s crazy how much it blows around these parts. There’s lots of wind in our Nation’s Capital and Iowa has lots of wind, too. No wonder we have windmills all over the place. Some folks love the cold and snow. I’m not one of them. I’ll trade a snowstorm for a beautiful spring day anytime of the year. And to make matters worse, not long after moving to Iowa, I discovered the road closing gates on Interstate 35 outside of Ames and further north. “What the heck,” I’m thinking. “If it gets that bad to close the road, that’s too far north. Take me back to the south.” I may have moved back south, but God had other plans for me. Not only have I enjoyed and continue to enjoy a rewarding career, I met my beautiful wife, Debbie, at the Iowa State Fair in August 2003. And she just happens to be from Montezuma. I once drove through Montezuma and stopped on the south edge of town to grab a Pepsi out of my cooler. I never knew that I would work at the Montezuma Republican, met and marry Debbie, buy a house and much more. Life is good! I am more than happy to send this winter weather north to Minnesota. They love it up there. Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day and always. Who remembers video games from the 1970s and 80s like Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, Pong, Mattel Auto Race, The Oregon Trail, Space Invaders and more?
I do! As popular as the video games were back in the day, my favorite was playing pinball machines. I wasn’t that good at it, I just enjoyed spending my quarters and playing the latest pinball machine. Some of the top pinball machines of the day were “Wizard,” “Evel Knievel,” “Harlem Globetrotters On Tour,” “Hokus Pokus,” “Bow and Arrow,” “Kiss,” “Star Wars,” “The Addams Family,” “Fun House,” “Travel Time,” “Crazy Race,” “Capt. Fantastic,” “Old Chicago,” “Eight Ball,” “Fish Tales,” and “Flip Flop,” a four-player flipper pinball game. These are just a few of hundreds of pinball machines. I would love to have a pinball machine. Maybe something fishing or bowling. I used to enjoy traveling to Dallas from Tulsa and while there would visit Dave and Buster’s Arcade and Sports Bar. I could spend hours playing pinball machines and arcade games there. Catty-cornered from my boyhood home was Cue City, a pool hall and arcade. I spent many days at Cue City trying to be cool. I even had my own cue stick. Like pinball, I did all right, but never really mastered the game. I was much better at bowling. As we all know, video arcades are somewhat a thing of the past. Like newspapers, they are around, but not like in the heyday. One of our favorites stops when at the Lake of the Ozarks in Missouri is Dogpatch Arcade on the Bagnell Dam Strip. They have what seems like 100 Skee-Ball machines along with video and pinball machines. I can play Skee-Ball for hours. Today, everything is on our cell phones. I enjoy playing Solitaire and just recently added a new video game to my phone, “June’s Journey,” a hidden objects game. I am able to earn points by finding hidden objects and have already masted a half dozen levels. It’s mostly an unproductive waste of time, but it sure is fun! According to one article I read, it said there are nearly two million apps on the iPhone. Another one said there are 4.567 million apps and games in the Apple App Store. I’m sure it is an always evolving business of keeping people busy. No wonder folks these days are distracted and buried in their cell phones. I would like to have a cell phone that cooks supper and does the dishes. All I have to do is drag the cell phone over the plate or piece of silverware and it cleans it like new. Now that is an app I could get into. Debbie wouldn’t have to encourage me to do the dishes. Wouldn’t it be great if our cell phones could cook supper? How about a sirloin and baked potato from the cell phone café? In my opinion, one of the best things we can do for ourselves is leave the cell phone on the kitchen counter or the bedroom dresser and take time to relearn the art of conversation. Visiting is good for the soul. I enjoy spending time talking to Debbie and figuring out life together. It’s fun! We need to have more gatherings with friends and neighbors where everyone sits on the porch on a nice day, drinking an ice cold glass of ice tea while catching up on old times and talking about the good old days. Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day and always. Back in the day, Sears and Roebuck was known for its catalog sales and huge department stores.
You could buy about anything through the Sears catalog, including a house at one time. I wonder if there are any Sears homes in Poweshiek County? I saw an article the other day that it has been 30 years since Sears last published its Big Book catalog. It was as big as the New York City Yellow pages and could keep any kid entertained for hours. The giant retail store isn’t much more than a Skelton of its heyday. The store has been through bankruptcy and has been bought and sold by various holding companies. According to an article I read on the internet, there are 42 Sears retail stores left as of mid-January 2023. There is also the independently owned Sears Hometown Stores and other various outlet stores. I don’t know a lot about those stores or how many are in Iowa. It was much different when I was a kid in the 1970s. A trip to Sears was like eating a fried chicken dinner with all the fixings on Sunday after church. The Sears store at 21st and Yale in my hometown of Tulsa, which was closest to our house, had a huge candy and popcorn stand. The popcorn was the best. The store featured a restaurant and three floors of everything from bicycles to furniture and clothing. They had tools, paints, housewares, appliances and much more. There was also auto repair available where you could purchase tires and DieHard batteries at Sears. It was hard to beat a DieHard battery. I liked riding the escalators up and down the different floors. As a senior in high school, I worked briefly (six weeks) in the customer pickup department at the Tulsa Sears. I carried my share of fireplace screens, televisions and buckets of paint out the door. I won’t go into detail, but my career with the company didn’t last long. I’m thankful for the experience. My mom often bought items through the catalog on numerous occasions. The Sears on Yale had a huge in-store catalog department. One Saturday, Mom stopped at the store with plans to order something. There wasn’t a soul at the counter. She could see them milling around in the back but no one came to take her order. It upset her, so she went to the pay phone inside the store and called the catalog department to let them know there was a customer waiting to be served. Like an army of ants, here they came. That’s the best dime she ever spent for a phone call. I bought my first 10-speed bicycle at Sears, a red, white and blue Free Spirit model, in September 1972 using money I had earned on my paper route. I still have most my Sears Craftsman tools that I received in 1978 as a high school graduation gift. I also have a 70s model Sears shop vacuum that still works more than 40-years later. It needs a new vacuum hose. They don’t build them like that anymore. We also bought many items from J.C. Penneys and Montgomery Wards. There was a Montgomery Wards catalog outlet less than a mile from my boyhood home. My mom bought a gas-powered weed trimmer there for my dad in the late 60s. I still own a Timex watch that my great-grandmother bought for me when I was age 7 at Montgomery Wards. It still works. I bought my first VCR at J.C. Penneys. I still buy clothes from J.C. Penneys nowadays. Shopping on-line is handy, but I miss the days of the giant retail outlets. At least I still have the memories. And I can make a tasty batch of popcorn as I order on-line. Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day and always. Since Iowa is one of the nation’s top producers of corn, beef, swine, ice cream and no telling what else, I figured a food column was in order.
It’s hard to beat a good old Iowa breaded pork tenderloin. They’re a staple at the Iowa State Fair and many eateries across the state pride themselves in dishing out pork tenderloins that are as big a spare tire in a 1948 Desoto. They are big and Iowans love them. I saw a breaded tenderloin on Facebook that was as big as a pizza box. There are even yearly contests seeking out the biggest and best pork tenderloin. I enjoy them, but I would rather have a cheeseburger and order of onion rings from Culver’s. One of our favorite lunch spots at the Iowa State Fair is Beattie’s Watermelon Stand. Debbie usually eats a tenderloin and I have a ham or roast beef sandwich. And of course, some tasty hot French fries and cold ice tea. Another Iowa delicacy is the Maid-Rite or loose meat sandwich as it is often called. An article I found on the internet called it “A messy culinary rite of passage,” an Iowa tradition with just the right combination of spices and meat. First created in 1936 by Fred Angell of Muscantine, the sandwich was declared to be “made right” by a happy customer, and the name, Maid-Rite, was history. Top it off with mustard, ketchup, onion and pickles and it is a favorite of many Iowans. Growing up in Oklahoma, we often fixed sloppy Joes. My mom would brown a pound of ground beef in the skillet and pour in a can of Manwich or make her own mix. She’d then pour the mixture over a toasted open-faced bun and we’d eat it with a fork. I was living in Missouri and attending the University of Missouri-Columbia when I experienced my first loose meat sandwich. I was rolling down Broadway when I saw a sign for Mugs Up Drive In. It looked inviting, so I pulled in for lunch. I scanned the menu and found the Zip Burger. That looked good, so I ordered two. I opened up the packaging and about half the sandwich fell on the floor of my pickup truck. “Where’s the beef,” I’m thinking. In short, Maid-Rites are not too bad. One always has to have a spoon or fork handy. I guess that is the lure of the sandwich. Sweet corn is another Iowa favorite. Come July, the sweet corn vendors pop up on street corners in small towns all across the state selling their tasty treats. Slather some butter and add salt and pepper to taste and it is hard to beat Iowa Sweet Corn. Another tasty Iowa delight is the Hot Roast Beef Sandwich, which includes well-spiced roast beef stacked onto white bread with a pile of mashed potatoes and gravy poured all over it. It’s another popular Iowa State Fair food served at the Cattleman’s. Ham balls is another Iowa favorite and a food that has grown on me. I don’t recall eating ham balls growing up in Oklahoma. My mom may have fixed them, I just don’t recall it. We ate a lot of fried chicken, okra, barbecue Spam, fried fish and fried potatoes. My dad enjoyed wilted salads and fresh onions pulled from the backyard garden. Chili with cinnamon rolls is another favorite Iowa food. Not long after moving to Iowa, I was at a football game between English Valleys and Bussey. It was the last game of the season and the good folks of Bussey would all bring their chili and everyone poured it a large pot at the concession stand. It looked inviting, but I passed. Talk about a gas explosion. Real chili to me is a meat dish, not a soup, as it is often called. It’s good poured over a cheeseburger or over spaghetti with onions and cheese for a three-way. Toss in some beans and make it a four-way. Something that I didn’t see listed anywhere was corn dogs and polish sausages, two of my favorites. It’s also hard to beat a good steak cooked medium or tasty pork chops, baked, grilled, fried or however you like them. And it’s hard to beat Anderson Erickson anything from milk to cottage cheese and various varieties of chip dips. And Nutty Bars, another Iowa State Fair staple, or a dish of Iowa-made Blue Bunny vanilla ice cream is always a good way to end any meal or just enjoy while relaxing and watching a game or one’s favorite show on television. Next time you are out and about, stop and try something different. And while you are there, say hello to a stranger or find someone visit with. You’ll be glad you did. Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day and always. I was driving in Montezuma the other day and saw a fellow wearing short-legged pants crossing the street by the Presbyterian Family Center.
I happened to know him and I was going to the family center, so I asked him about wearing short-legged pants in the middle of winter. “I wasn’t going too far,” he said with a laugh. It was a fairly nice evening for almost mid-January. The one thing I’ve learned about living in the Midwest – there are some tough cookies here when it comes to the winter weather. People get out and drive around in a winter snowstorm. Others wear short-legged pants in freezing cold and some go without a coat or even a pair of gloves or hat. They’re just running up to the grocery store for a loaf of bread, a bag of chips, a case of cold ones and some hamburger meat. They’re planning to push some snow off the patio and grill out later in the day. A few buddies are coming over in their four-wheel drives to eat and watch the game. I wear more clothes in the summer months than some Midwestern’s do in the winter. I’m not one for wearing a big heavy coat. It kind of weighs me down and I don’t like that. My typical winter wear is two shirts (one being a long sleeve), long johns when the weather gets too cold, a mid-heavy jacket (a cotton jacket with a liner), stocking hat and gloves. It’s warm, but not too heavy. I’ve heard it said in Oklahoma, “If you don’t like the weather, wait a minute and it will change.” I’ve witnessed my share of ice and snow storms in my native state, but here in Iowa, the weather can change faster than the score of a Iowa basketball game. When it starts snowing, I’m headed home. Even though the Iowa DOT does a good job keeping the roads clear, when the snow starts blowing, it’s time for J.O. to start rolling. My comfy chair is a lot better than a road ditch. Some years ago, I had traveled to see a friend near Princeton, Ill. I left his house on Sunday afternoon headed home and stopped and fueled up in Davenport. I bought a Pepsi and a Sunday paper and headed out the door. The fellow behind the counter told me to be careful. I never gave it any thought nor had I checked the weather forecast. I wasn’t too far west of Davenport when I ran headlong into a winter blizzard - snow, sleet, wind and icy cold! Cars and trucks were in the ditches on I-80 and I was in my S-10 pickup with no extra weight in the back. It was by the grace of God that I didn’t get hit or slide into the ditch. I stopped in West Branch at McDonalds to take restroom break and I was shaking like a tree in a windstorm. I could see the imprint of my steering wheel in my hands. Not a wonder I didn’t yank the steering wheel out of the dash. Some years ago, Debbie and I were headed to Oklahoma for Thanksgiving with my folks. It was Thanksgiving eve and a storm brewed up along I-35 in southern Iowa. So, I came up with the brilliant idea to take Highway 63 south. Debbie was not in favor of leaving that evening. Her Iowa wisdom told her to stay home and leave on Thursday. We left on Wednesday. It was not one of my brightest decisions in our marriage. South of Ottumwa, we drove into a snow blizzard and I couldn’t see a thing. We made to Macon, Mo. for the evening and ended up having Thanksgiving on Friday instead of Thursday. Another time, Debbie and I were in Oklahoma and where getting ready to head home. We noticed a winter storm had brewed up in Southwest Missouri. I didn’t think it was too bad, so we headed out of Tulsa toward Joplin. It got worse the closer we got to Missouri. Debbie knew what was coming and she tried to warn me and I wasn’t listening. I wanted to make it to Kansas City and Debbie wanted to stop in Joplin. We ended up staying in Nevada, Mo. after watching a truck zoom past us and fly off the road into a farm field. It spun around a half dozen times. That had to be a scary ride. If I’ve learned anything about winter in Iowa, the best advice is listening to my wife. Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day and always. How are those New Year’s resolutions coming?
According to a search of the internet, 38.5 percent of U.S. adults set New Year’s resolutions. Of those, 9 percent see them through to competition. Most give up within a week or by the end of January. According to the internet, the top three New Year’s resolution are: exercise more, eat healthier and lose weight. Other resolutions include saving more money, spending more time with family and friends, spending less time on social media, reducing job-related stress and reducing spending on living expenses. I’m sure it would safe to throw in buying a new or better car, paying off bills and getting out of debt, getting a new or better job, making new and more friends, decluttering and clearing your home, reading more, going back to school, taking time for yourself or taking that much-needed vacation. These are great things to living a good life. Setting goals is never an easy task. Exercising and eating right is probably the hardest challenge most of us face on a daily bases. There are so many options from pills to surgery to diet plans. It’s enough to make my head spin. I’ve lost 60 pounds since I was my heaviest in 2013. It’s not a lot of weight, but I feel much better and my clothes fit me better. I’m eating better (most of the time) and I’m walking and moving more. I stopped drinking soda pop, I stay away from alcohol and I try and eat more meals more often. Sometimes it’s the small things that net the biggest results. Unrealistic goals Instead of setting unrealistic goals each year, I offer you a different option. Spend your days and weeks doing good things for others instead of yourself. Following are some ideas: • Open the door for someone on a daily bases (in public and at work) • Let someone go in front of you at the checkout stand at Wal-Mart or the grocery store • If you have some extra changes, pay it forward • Leave an extra tip when you go out to eat • Make friends (even to strangers) – people have so much to offer that can enrich our lives • Invite some neighbors over for a summer barbecue cookout • Purchase and give gift cards to neighbors and friends • Participate in a Christmas giving or angle tree to make life better for others • Mow your neighbor’s yard or offer to clean out their garage or help in some way • Offer a ride to an neighbor or elderly person to the doctor or grocery store • Get involved in a community betterment group. If there is none in your area or neighborhood, start one • Work to make your city, town or community a better place now and into the future • See challenges as opportunities • Volunteer at the local food pantry or at a community event • Donate to the local food pantry • Host a food or coat drive • Give blood at a local blood drive • See the positive in everyday things I’m sure with some digging, there are many other ways to make life better for others and yourself. My parents were good people. They loved God, they loved their family and they believed in working hard and doing good for others. I appreciate all the good things they taught me from the good book and taking me to church and teaching me to give more than I took. There’s so much division in our world and political up evil and craziness. You may not be able to change the world, but you can change the world around you by doing good for others. Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day and always. I have always wanted to act in a community play, but being in the newspaper business and working a day job has put the brakes on that undertaking for now.
I’m sure acting in a community play is fun but with it comes a lot of work from learning the lines, attending practices and then putting on the performances for several evenings. Anyway, I have it on my bucket list for down the road. Maybe after I fully retire, I will be trying out my acting talents in a local production. Retire! I’ve already retired once, but for only a year. I’m working more now than I was before retiring. I’m a people person and I love to make people laugh. I’m hoping to make my acting debut soon. Anyway, I recently attended the Brooklyn Community Theatre production of “A Carol Play,” a one-act, faith-based play written and directed by Josh Gerard, the Brooklyn Librarian and local minister. The performance was about a director on the eve of the big Christmas play who had entirely forgotten the reason for the season. As with the popular “Christmas Carol,” the director is visited by the ghosts of Christmas plays past, present and future. It was an upbeat and delightful production and brought many laughs from the audience at the Brooklyn Opera House. After writing and directing several faith-based plays, Gerard said he found himself becoming a demanding perfectionist and started forgetting the message behind them. “This play shows how ugly we can let ourselves become when we forget grace and chase after unattainable perfection,” he said in an interview. Gerard has written eight plays and a musical, saying what he loves about writing is how he is able to put his sense of humor into his work. The cast, which was a mixture of adults and local students, did a great job and put a different spin on a well-known Christmas production. I have covered numerous school and community plays throughout my journalistic career. They all have been enjoyable and the acting has been outstanding. Young people these days are so talented. I wasn’t too involved in acting or participated in much of anything when I was in school. I was good about going to school, but being involved was not my strong point. I did play the part of a snowman in sixth grade. My mom made me a dress-like snowman costume from a white bed sheet. It wasn’t fancy and it didn’t have any hoops to make me look robust and round like a real snowman. I showed up with what I had and did a fine job. I doesn’t take a whole lot of talent to stand in the same place and say nothing. I’ve had other small non-speaking roles in several church productions through the years. I carried presents and placed them around the tree in tenth grade in a Living Christmas Tree production at the First Baptist Church in my hometown of Tulsa. And while in college at the University of Missouri-Columbia, I played a part in an Easter production at my church in Columbia some years back. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed a wonderful and blessed Christmas with your family and friends. In spite of the rough patch of weather, this Christmas was one of the best in the Parker household. It was so good to be with family during this time of the year. As we all look to the New Year, I hope you take time to reflect on your many blessings and keep your focus, dreams and resolutions on the positive and being difference makers in your neighborhood, community, town, city and in all you do. Have a great week and always remember that “Good Things are Happening,” every day and always. |
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