Things are not always what they seem, and names for items do not always give much insight into the actual origin or use of those items. Take hats, for example. Panama hats are actually made in Ecuador.

I remember well the first time I suffered a back problem. I was a teenager, probably about sixteen, and I was at the home of Marie, my youngest sibling on my father’s side. I was playing with her son Billy, my nephew, who was a few years younger than me. Other of my nieces/nephews/Billy’s cousins might have been there, but I only recall for sure the two of us.

I recently received an email with the phrase, “It’s weird being the same age as old people.”

My father had three full sisters who lived to maturity—Duskie, Fleetie and Vallie. One of them was once talking about their names. One sister said, “They gave Frank [my dad], Fred and Faustine normal names.” Another sister replied, “Well, Mother sure whopped it to us!” My uncle replied, “Who ever heard of a man named Purse?”

Why Work?

The Union County Public School System lost one of its very best teachers to retirement this year. Not only was Ms. Kerrie Scruggs a wonderful educator, she was a caring person and good friend. Ms. Kerrie’s husband Steve wrote a book, and my fellow Gideon brother gave me a copy. The book explained why Steve’s father always ate a good lunch at work. I’ll return to that thought shortly.

One of the best favors parents can do for their children is to take them to the dentist very early in life. This prevents so many problems in the adult years.

We are told that teeth are meant to last for a lifetime. That doesn’t mean that periodic maintenance is not necessary. Just like houses, teeth have to occasionally be cleaned and taken care of to prolong usage.

I can’t say for sure when I first met “Mayor” Michael Bailey, but I believe it might have been at one of WMRD’s Saturday night singings.
Michael was a unique person, with an unquenchable desire to sing, praise God, and socialize within our community. He always had a smile on his face, a joke to tell, and a song on his heart.
Meeting Michael was one of many reasons that I soon grew to love Union County and call it my home. Not only because of who he was, but also the wonderful way this community embraced him, enabling him to accomplish so much good with and for those in need.

One of the benefits, sometimes the best benefit, and for some the only benefit, of marriage is the occasional free humor it can provide.

This particular tale goes back to the blissful premarital years when I was dating my wife. My wife throughout our entire relationship has seemed to have an uncanny knack of being the living example of “if it can happen to anybody it can happen to her”. In this particular case she contracted cellulitis. Cellulitis, without referencing Google, is an affliction that can turn to gangrene and cause loss of limbs and even death in some cases.

I met with Lisa Carter, the fine principal of Maynardville Elementary School, last week. She was on the phone when I arrived, so I had a few moments of leisure to look around her office. On the wall directly across from me was a saying—“Education is the most powerful weapon which you can use to change the world.”

I consider myself typical of most of the human race, particularly in one respect. When the car is running fine, it is a wonderful machine. When it breaks down for the very first time after the 60,000 mile warranty expires, it becomes a worthless piece of junk. Such it is with my cable provider.

When I was a “tiny twig”, before I became a “bent branch” (or a “twisted trunk”), I owned a handful of records. Only a few of those were Christmas records, but one of the records advertised a Charley Pride album “Christmas in My Home Town”. I had one Charley gospel album, and I for years wanted his Christmas album. In my adult life, I was able to get my copy of “Christmas in My Home Town”. As irony often dictates, when we want something and don’t have it, there is a void. When we get what we want, it sometimes comes to us multiple times.