Tuesday

I guess that we are all having a hot time in the ole town today. We have been setting some real heat and humidity records, lately. I have had my joy juice IV today and am now getting ready to send out some email smoke signals. I am making good progress on kicking free from this infection. It improves each day and I can tell by just feeling my right calf that great improvement is occurring.

I got a sad surprise late last week. A Springhill friend and neighbor and classmate died suddenly. He and I started in first grade together, in Mrs. Upchurch's class. (Isn’t that a great name?) We went all the way to high school graduation together. Jimmy and I both lived on Hickory Street, just four houses apart. We spent much time together and he and I were roommates on Banks Street in New Orleans when we were both freshmen at LSU Medical School. He went ahead and finished and I decided to acknowledge that medicine really wasn’t where I needed to be; so I began the process of being a Presbyterian minister. I think it turned out to be the right decision for me.

I talked with him while I was sick and that is the last time we talked. We did homework together; he was in the band and I played sports; his mom made great lemon icebox pies and served us generous pieces with good cold milk; we put rear speakers in our cars and did all the small town things that mean so much to us now. We would talk about those days and how great a time we had growing up in the 1950’s in a great small industrial town. It a was an idyllic time and was probably one of the golden ages in the life of the US. It is quite something to be over seventy now and reach back for those memories; it is great to have them and great to be able to remember Jimmy and smile about it. He and his wife lived in DC and were together over forty years. I wish him and her well and appreciate the good memories of the good times that we shared.