Sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, stuffy head, & fever


This weekend I have been feeling under the weather so other than my Saturday breakfast meeting I have stayed around the house resting and trying to get rid of a nasty bout of sneezing, wheezing, and coughing.  They call it the nighttime sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, stuffy head, fever, so you can rest medicine and oddly it’s true.  Feel like crap, take some Nyquil and hopefully feel better.  It may take two days but at least it seems to work.

During this down time I haven’t felt like working on a couple of upcoming bids but I did get in a few hours here and there.  I did feed the birds a bit and hung out watching movies.  Today the house has been mostly quiet as my wife and father in law headed down to Seward to go fishing.  Gus and I have enjoyed a couple of brief naps between my sneezing attacks making for some funny moments as he is trying to figure out what is going on with me and all of the noise.

One of the movies seen this weekend was Secondhand Lions, a movie I have seen over and over that is rich in story telling and flair.  This movie is about a boy whose irresponsible mother drops him off at his uncle’s ranch in rural Texas where the boy learns about life and what it is like to be a man.  This movie inspires me, and the two characters Garth and Hub played by Michael Caine and Robert Duvall respectively give some of their best performances.  All three actors have won or been nominated for an Oscar.

Our lives are immeasurably enriched by larger-than-life eccentrics who seem to burn more brightly than the rest of us.  They stand before us with stories that take us in and spin us around.  They amaze us with antics that continually surprise us.  They engender within us a fresh appreciation for the deep mysteries of the human personality.  They stretch us with all the wild possibilities inherent in every situation, no matter how small or seemingly inconsequential.  When we are in their presence, we feel that anything is possible, & that life is an adventure that deserves our intense participation.

Many of us know people like these two and hang onto their stories and presence.  It may be an uncle, grandfather or parent who has over the years provided us with a commonplace attitude that life is to be lived, experienced to the fullest possible extent.

One of my favorite scenes and speeches is given by Robert Duvall who is giving advice to Haley Joel Osment’s character Walter about life and people.

Duvall as Uncle Hub to Osment’s character Walter: “Sometimes the things that may or may not be true are the things a man needs to believe in the most.  That people are basically good; that honor, courage, and virtue mean everything; that power and money, money and power mean nothing; that good always triumphs over evil; and I want you to remember this . . . that love . . . true love never dies.  You remember that, boy.  You remember that.  Doesn't matter if it's true or not.  You see, a man should believe in those things, because those are the things worth believing in.”

There is power in that statement.  What a positive message to give our youth, to believe in besides video games and mechanical possibilities.

The movies this weekend for your information were: Jaws, Secondhand Lions, Tin Cup, Sleuth (the remake), Being There, and Last of the Dogman.

Hopefully I will feel better tomorrow but these two days were relaxing just doing nothing planned at all.


Ice

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