I managed to fit both Joni Mitchell and Cameo on the Morning Chalkboard. It’s kind of like the friendship between Martha Stewart and Snoop Dog.
One of the smartest and most successful men that I have met turns 81 years old today.
At first I didn’t like him. He was always correcting my Chicagonese when I visited family in Indianapolis.
He was in Chicago for business on Christmas Eve when I was about ten or eleven. When he was done with his meeting he picked me up on the Southside and took me to Indianapolis. We listened to Christmas songs all the way down I-65. We pulled over about halfway to Indianapolis to grab dinner at Burger Chef. I loved Burger Chef because we didn’t have them in Chicago. They didn’t have a drive thru back then, so we ordered our food, went to the rest room and got back on the road.
Sitting in the car, listening to Christmas music, eating Burger Chef and visiting family for Christmas. One of my fondest memories with the smartest man that I know.
“Gramma got run over by a reindeer” came on the radio. I said that I thought this song was funny and the smartest guy in the world said it was sophomoric.
I didn’t know what dat meant?
Does he like it?
The weekend my mom passed away my son Fritz was sitting on the porch with the smartest guy. They were talking about compound words and vocabulary. I was proud my son could have a solid conversation with this man. I could never do that when I was his age.
Many times we talk about how life can be unfair. We’ve talked about life’s cruelty and how our faith has so many mysteries.
The smartest guy I know has developed dementia. The smartest guy I know probably won’t remember our trip on Christmas Eve. He won’t remember hopelessly teaching me how to serve a tennis ball. Soon he won’t remember the time we went sledding and I nailed a tree. He won’t remember how happy it made me to mow his lawn on his riding mower.
The smartest guy I know is eighty one today. I hope he reads the Chalkboard today and realizes how much I love being his nephew.
It is Saturday, the first weekend of June in 2023. The moon is full and the cotton is high.
Put some pork on the grill and some love on the mattress this weekend.
