Sniffing, sneezing, coughing, aching, and overall yucky feeling
Sniffing, sneezing, coughing, aching, and
overall yucky feeling
Since Christmas I
have been feeling under the weather so other than a few trips to the store and
the RV show in Atlanta last weekend 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. I’ve felt like crap,
take some Nyquil and hopefully feel better. It may have taken a few days
but at least it seems to work. This cold
& flu has lasted over two weeks but finally I’m starting to feel better. I also burnt my left hand pouring hot coffee
but it has finally blistered and started healing so I’m ready to get back into
the swing of things.
During this down
time I haven’t felt like working on a couple of projects I have going on right
now but I did get in a few hours here and there. I do feed the birds and
deer every day (there need to eat too plus they are great to watch) and have hung
out watching movies or tv shows on Roku. Between my sneezing attacks
making for some funny noises and the constant coughing it has been a mostly
miserable couple weeks. Some of the shows watched were: Killing Fields, Gold
Rush, and Night Shift.
Over the time
between Thanksgiving and Christmas I was able to write the stories of my
Adventures with Johnny and it’s been nice having those ready to post during
this time I haven’t felt great.
One of the movies
I searched for this weekend was Secondhand Lions, a movie I have seen over and
over that is rich in storytelling and flair. I could not find it “On
Demand” and I do not know where my DVD copy of it is at the moment so I was
disappointed I could not see it once again.
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, things to
believe in besides their video games, phones, and mechanical possibilities.
Hopefully I will
feel better tomorrow but these last few days were relaxing just doing nothing
planned at all.
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