The Christmas season seems like the perfect time to bring the ‘ol blog out of storage and yeah, and me sort of out of retirement. We don’t have a schedule in mind, but when the urge strikes, beware! This can’t be blamed on Covid, but our friend John Saied is a totally different matter!! I know this is rather long, but here’s to 2023…..
In spite of the distractions, it’s a slower time on Grand Lake now, with many of our weekend friends spending a majority of their time in the metroplex. It affords those who make a living in this recreational environment we call home, a chance to reflect on a year gone by, and to look ahead to the future. As I write down these thoughts, I’m reminded today is such a day, like so many others in previous years.
The last few weeks have featured some drought-buster rain, higher than normal temperatures while the nights, when not cloudy, have featured a beautiful moon shimmering on my great big ‘ol pond. And now an Artic front is just around the corner and I can’t think of a better setting to stimulate thoughts about the “Reason for the Season” and to contemplate “Peace on earth, good will towards men.”
From my family to yours, I would like to take this opportunity to wish you and yours the merriest of Christmases and the happiest of New Years. It truly is a season of love and cheer. Let us never lose sight of the opportunities the season presents for healing of all types; and may it be the best one you’ve ever had.
Without the baggage, which seemingly becomes more attached with each passing birthday, every New Year seems to offer a fresh start, if not for but a few hours on New Year’s Eve. The New Year has always brought with it an excitement about things to come, resolutions to be made and even sometimes kept, but always with an eye out for the better things tomorrow holds. It’s a human thing I like to call the renewal of the spirit…..so let’s get going.
Many years ago, when I started closing these ramblings of thoughts with a parting of “See Ya’Around the Pond,” I had some readers inquire as to why I would refer to this great body of water as a pond…and the answer is simple. I was born and raised on the red clay flat lands surrounding the Oklahoma City area of our state. The biggest bodies of water I was familiar with were the red colored farm ponds south of Oklahoma City. My Dad had an 80 acre spread where he raised a few head of white-faced cattle and played farmer and rancher….Kind of a throw-back to his roots near a remote place called Faxon, Oklahoma.
It was on that spread where he taught me about hunting, fishing, farmin’, ranchin’ and a hundred other things my city friends would never know existed. How tadpoles became frogs, where the quail hung out in the mornings and afternoons, and that any job was easy when compared to stacking bales of hay ten high in a tin barn on a one hundred degree Oklahoma day. But my fondest memories are of the times we spent around those ponds filled with that ugly red water.
We never owned a boat, and my Dad had never learned to swim, but I was always drawn to the water. I can remember spending hours shooting bull frogs with our air rifles and dragging them home for Mom to cook their legs in a skillet. When we were out of Dad’s sight, we would wade the pond’s waters catching crawdads and tadpoles. And there were birds, rabbits and even skunks, which left a lasting impression from those days around the pond.
As they say, everything is relative. It doesn’t matter if the shoreline is 1300 miles or 130 feet, the draw is obviously the water and all those who call it home….or is it that positive/negative ion theory? I can never keep it straight, but there you have it.
Lessons from the Pond Tutor!
This will mark the 27th Christmas I have spent without the guy who served as my “Pond Tutor.” There was never a doubt about who the patriarch of the family tree was. He led by example, and was a wonderful Dad and husband along the way. He had a full life with few regrets, but he still leaves a huge void, especially at Christmas time.
For those of you who have lost loves ones over the past year, I share your sorrow. For those of you with sick or aging loved ones, don’t leave any unsaid words put off for another time. I’m always reminded of the lyrics from old recording artist Glen Yarborough’s song; “A friend lie dying and I could have said, raise your head and I’ll try to show you Spain. Now he’s gone and I’ll never have the chance again.”
My Dad knew I thought he was a special Dad. We had a few differences along the way, but he knew I loved him. I’m grateful nothing was put off till another time. Let this Christmas season serve as the inspiration to leave nothing unsaid…..And you know what I’m about to say……
See Ya’ Around the pond!!!
