Life in Cayuga

 My granddaughter Mary Elizabeth turned 16 today.  I can’t believe she’s 16.  It seems like she should be 9 or 10, not getting her drivers licence! But here we are.   I told you about her parents, Stephen and Sara, and their “love at first sight.”   It was the same way for me the first time I saw Mary Elizabeth, hereafter called ME. It was a few minutes after she was born. The nurse brought her out to give ME her first bath.  All her grandparents were there staring intently with our noses pressed against the window!  The nurse held her up and she was the most beautiful thing I’d ever seen. My heart just melted.  I loved her instantly, fiercely, and completely and it’s still the same way every time I see her.   There was a time we thought we’d lose her.  She was born with a condition called craniosynestosis, where the plates in a baby’s skull that are supposed to float to make the soft spot, are fused at birth and don’t allow the brain to...

 I love to travel. I love seeing new places and re-visiting places I’ve been before. I always see something new when I go back. I’m fortunate that my work allowed me to travel over most of the continental US. And I was lucky that I could take my family with me a lot of times. I’ve seen so many beautiful, interesting, and historic places, mostly from the cab of a Mack truck!  Niagara Falls. Lake Tahoe. Washington, DC. Alcatraz.  I’ve even fished at the mouth of the Mississippi River!   Susan loves to travel too.  She’s been a world traveller. She has lived all over the US and lived in Europe while she was growing up.  She’s without question the best travel companion I’ve ever had. We enjoy the same type things. She doesn’t complain. She doesn’t rush.  She doesn’t have a rigid schedule or agenda. She may have things she really wants to see or do, and I’m always glad to go along. Otherwise, she just rolls with it.  Her only fault is deciding where to...

 When I was about 12 years old, I discovered rock-and-roll music.  And I liked it!  Ever since, for almost 60 years now, I’ve been a music fan and aficionado.  I started out listening to local AM stations on a little transistor radio. I know a lot of you have no idea what a transistor radio is, but it was an early battery operated radio, usually just AM, that would fit in your pocket. I loved WRBC and WWUN, two AM stations in Jackson. At night, we could pick up the “clear channel” 50,000 watt stations from all over.  My favorites were KAAY in Little Rock, and WLS in Chicago.  WLS played mostly popular music, but KAAY played a lot of deeper cuts, album rock, and some artists who weren’t in the mainstream.  But it was all great music!   In 1970, the biggest station in Jackson, WJDX, added an FM station.  A year or so after that, it became WZZQ, one of the best, if not the best, alternative and progressive rock stations in the country.  Mis...

 A while back, I wrote about the young man with special needs working at the pizza restaurant who touched my heart.   I hadn’t been back to that particular restaurant since, until today. I’m happy to report that he is still working there, still has the same positive, upbeat attitude, and is still spreading love to all his customers.   He came to get my salad plate, again, and I chatted with him for a minute.  Once again, it lifted my spirits and made me have a better day.   Let’s all be like Mike. Let’s spread love and joy wherever we can.