2000-09-25 - 21:48 MDT

September 25, 2000

Thanks

BTW the time shown -- before I correct it on my entry -- is Zulu time (military) or GMT, Greenwich Mean Time where time zones begin in Greenwich, United Kingdom -- I guess.

Sort of counting my blessings tonight, I seem to do this thing a lot oftener than I used to. Maybe because more and more I realize that I have more blessings than I ever realized.

The blessings I have had around me like forever, Heather and our children. Our grandchildren and their kids. The good friends we have had for many years. The health care by professionals who have truly saved my life many times, and who have cared for Heather and listened to her and tried to discover what causes the things that plague her. Also living in a hometown which spoils me with year round beauty and comfort. I never realized how good we have had it until I spent time in some of the cities in our country and cities in other parts of the world.

The blessings of gentle and easy communication. Journals which can be read at one's convenience, thought about and sometimes replied to maybe in the middle of that journallists night and to be read by said writer at his pleasure in his time. E-mail the same.

I am a former amateur radio operator who hated the inconvenience of being stuck on the air when the need for doing something else arose and who deplored the necessity of someone being at the other end right then. Who dropped out of amateur radio when state-of-the-art, hardware and procedural activities seemed to be more important than the textual content. As a devoted brass pounder I could recognize a friend's hand (individual characteristics of spacing of dots and dashes, rhythm and very personal handling of code) when a sea of code was astir and I could barely hear them, yet could recognize who was out there. This is becoming a thing with me now that I can recognize a persons posting on a forum just a few words in by their mode of wording and connections of words. Their ways of thought and their reaction to the questions asked. The great privilege of having my pitiful diary in front of me to remind me of where I was in relation to now. The feeling of being surrounded by friends who remain friends even when disagreeing with what I just said.

I am probably not being very coherent tonight, being in a bemused state as I usually am when I realize just how much I am blessed.

Being blessed by living in a free country, being able to do what I wish as long as it does not harm anyone else, being able to express my opinions about anything and say what I think without fear of punishment and or reprisal.

(rant - def - declaim violently) I do get carried away on most of my rants -- which are ravings against injustice, cruelty, stupidity, avarice, corruption and or any combination thereof -- plus whatever else is sticking in my craw including the grouchiness of age and impatience with the people who choose not to understand and who "Don't want to hear it."

I am blessed in that I can still hear (most of the time), and after my recent cataract surgeries can see and appreciate the heavenly blue of our sky and all the other colors. That my innards are not in revolt, and my chronic condition is under control.

I am doubly blessed that I still am connected to reality rather than in the depths of Alzheimer's or senile dementia and its sometimes agressive, paranoiac behavior and loss of touch with reality.

I am also blessed that I am listened to and my comments are considered rather than have them subjected to knee-jerk criticism and ridicule. Happiness to find myself in daily contact with people who have the same creed, standards and ethics that I think I do.

For all of that and much more -- what can I do but give -- Thanks

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