January 10th, Flashback

 2023   

It is 1:27am on a Tuesday morning and I just left a crowded restaurant. I was sitting at a table with new friends, old friends and family and friends who were visiting from heaven.

The restaurant was an old place that’s been torn down since the early 1990’s called Sauers. It was an old Bierstube located around 2300 south off of Michigan Avenue. It was a Don Shepley joint. A place where he ordered an extra beer for the table that was cleverly placed near his teenage son.

These last couple nights have taken me to the north side of Indianapolis and the near Southside of Chicago. I don’t think it has anything to do with me, but what my purpose is for others.

I’ve been laying here for ten minutes thinking how I’m going to pull this next paragraph out of my rear end.

So here goes…..

Over the weekend someone very dear to me experienced tragedy. A friend that has put up with my shenanigans the last five years. A friend that’s been there more often for me than me for them. A friend that needs the straight F’s. Faith, Family and Friends….

I talk to Don and Ceil, Mary and Jesus often about my friend. They were at Sauers this morning eating dinner with me. I’m not sure why I woke up from a great dinner with an interesting group. I know at one point in the conversation the tragic event that occurred over the weekend was mentioned.

The older we get the more opportunities to experience loss. My age group is losing parents left and right. We are losing siblings and colleagues and some of us have lost a child.

Every other Sunday my redheads leave me. They leave the comfort of my arms and the warmth of my home. Every other Sunday I sit in Betty or on the couch and grieve. Fortunately Hazel and Fritz come home and see George and I every Wednesday. Then I grieve again Wednesday night after they leave.

Every other Sunday and every Wednesday I’m saddened with loss, but they are still around next week to love and cherish. They come back so I can make pancakes for them and prepare showers for them and sing “Moonriver” for them.

I’m a weirdo that talks to my parents while I’m grocery shopping. I’m the weirdo looking at the stars that have become symbols for lost souls. I’m the weirdo waking up before the bars are closed to pray with a Jewish virgin while I’m laying in my underwear.

I’m not sure why I was running through Broad Ripple yesterday or having a late night dinner near Soldier Field an hour ago.

We all have a ton of stress and grief to deal with these days. Sharing it with each other through support, prayer and love is all we have.

If they can do it on a football field in Cincinnati we can do it in the bread aisle at The Jewels and Kroger’s.

2023 is the new beginning for Support, Prayer and Love. Just try not to wake up in the middle of the night too often.

2022

Forty years ago today, January 10th, 1982 the Midwest was hit by a Polar Vortex. The Cincinnati Bengals had a playoff game that day in -40 degree wind chills. I was 15 and about 50 miles up the road in Greensburg, Indiana.

That day was my Great Gramma’s 100th birthday. It was a huge celebration for the family. The whole town celebrated this grand day on one of the coldest days in Hoosier history.

It didn’t stop my Great Gramma or her ten daughters. Most of my Great Aunts actually made it into their late nineties. My Gramma lived to 106. Tough German family running errands and making preparations for the day.

They had a mass and a banquet planned. It was the last mass that I served as an Altar boy. By that time I was the Minnie Minosa of Altar boys.

In fact it was the first time I drove a car on a highway. I had my learners permit and my mom let me drive down from Indianapolis to Greensburg on the interstate.

I was a badass that weekend. An altar boy that can drive….

One thing I learned that weekend was my family had a strong work ethic. If something needed to be done, do it! Find something to do or I’ll find something for you! There was NO sitting around if we wanted this to go off without any snags.

Well it all worked out and Gramma Stier passed away about a year later.

My Great Gramma is one of many that look down on me every morning. They watch me put my shoulder down and scrum into everyday full throttle.

I’m not sure what inspired a German woman who lived from 1882 until 1983 in a small Indiana community. She did instill her strong faith and no nonsense view in those that she raised.

Back then they didn’t wait for miracles. They just got up every morning and went to work.

It’s 2022 and many of the people who gathered on that cold Sunday have passed away, but the Altar boy is getting up and going to work on this cold January morning.

Happy Heavenly Birthday Gramma Stier…..

2021

I don’t know if this gloomy Sunday in January has any answers to where our civilization is heading or where our government is going....

I do know the team I have followed since I was a little boy plays the team I have followed since my first trip to NOLA!

Just like the political party I have backed since my youth The Chicago Bears have tarnished my faith.

Don Shepley just whispered in my ear, “The Damn GOP and the F’ing Halas family don’t give a shit about you Moose!”

At that point I picture my dad in heaven walking past George Halas in a Chicago Cardinals sweatshirt!

Geaux Saints!!!

2020

Happy Friday!

2019

Listen to David Bowie Day! Another cold day, but it’s Thursday and that’s better than a cold Monday!

January 10th, 2024

 There is a driveway in Hinsdale that I met twenty four years ago. It’s longs and on an incline and it is perfect for sledding. This driveway is at the end of a cul-de-sac that has very little traffic.

The first time that I drove up this driveway was to pick up a girl for a date. I was nervous because I had to meet her Hinsdale parents and explain why a thirty four year old was taking out their twenty three year old daughter.

Yesterday I shoveled this driveway after work. The whole time I was lifting heart attack snow I was thinking about that first date and all the events that transpired as a result.

It snowed a couple months after that first date and I received a phone call to come over and go sledding down the driveway. By this time the ice had melted between me and this girls parents. So I jumped in my car and drove from Oak Park through a snowstorm.

I arrived and was greeted with a big kiss and a mug of alkalined hot chocolate. We sled for an hour from the garage door down to the cul-de-sac. Twenty four years later I found myself in another snow storm shoveling my former Mother in Laws driveway.

Don Shepley had this rule to keep people in your life that at one point thought you were special. The whole time I was lifting that slush yesterday, I was mother fucking Don Shepley.

….But I never divorced that driveway, so there I was on a Tuesday afternoon pushing snow off of it.

The morale of the story?

Don’t date a girl whose parents have a long driveway. You might end up shoveling it twenty four years later.

January 9th Flashback

 

2023

This is the first Monday in three weeks that I have to work. Next Monday the markets are closed again for a National Holiday.

I don’t hate Mondays, I just hate Sunday night anxiety. If I hear that stop watch on “60 Minutes” I go into a state of anxiousness.

I’ve got these bills to pay this week. I’ve got a meeting after work on Tuesday. Do I have bread to make George a sandwich for his lunch? Betty the Green Blazer needs new tires. I’m standing in the hall at Cathedral high school in my underwear. My tuxedo will be too tight for Hazel’s wedding next weekend….. on and on!

This morning at 2:46am I was running down Indianola Avenue towards 61st street. It was a sunny afternoon and George was with me. We suddenly left my ex in laws at my Gramma's house, with my Gramma! Indianola is in Broad Ripple, a neighborhood in Indianapolis.

I’ve been up ever since…

All night as I tossed and turned, David Bowie was having a concert in my noggin. I shouldn’t complain… on a Sunday night early Monday morning last October it was Christopher Cross. That was not an exceptionally fun night as I was taken away in a sailboat.

George’s lunch is packed, my bowl of oatmeal is ready and the chalkboard will be done by 4:00am.

I looked at a couple of the text chains that I muted on Sunday. The common theme was Lovie Smith should be credited with one more victory as head coach of the Chicago Bears. Another chat was about a kid on the Go Go White Sox with cancer. No Sunday chat is ever complete without one of my buddies calling someone a C word. I’m all caught up.

I must end this anxious ramble on the Monday morning Chalkboard…. Enjoy the above average temperatures in Chicagoland this week. Believe me, we will pay for it sooner than later.

2022

Today's quote is on that The grass is always greener, the glass is half full theme……blah, blah, blah!

Here is what’s going on in our neighborhood today.

The grass is covered with snow, the coffee cup is full of strong and black and the sidewalks and streets are covered with ice!

So….. when the sidewalk is icy the crockpot will simmer!

Today is the last Bear game of the Nagy era. They’ve got to do something really insane to perk my interest again.

You’ve heard stories of bad tattoos of old girlfriends?

I have one!

Just after SBXX I went and got a Bears tattoo on my right shoulder blade. I don’t regret it, but I’d be happier if it was a Moon or a tree or a mermaid!

Alright… lay low and keep warm on this Sunday Funday! We bring in the middle of January this week and soon we will see sunsets after 5:00pm.

So roses on thorn bushes baby!

2021

Up early on a Saturday morning in the early 1970's with a bowl of cereal and the TV guide! I’m marking my cartoonie schedule. Starting with “Hong Kong Phooey” on channel 7 at 6:30am and “SoulTrain” on channel 9 at 11:00 am!

Hopefully mom won’t make me do stuff and dad won’t turn on shows in black and white!

2020

Full Moon tonight!

2019

Well hello Winter! I welcome you... my fear is that 55 degrees on January 7th means 42 degrees on May 7th!

I’m dreading conversation today regarding our horrific government situation brought on through 25 years of partisan bickering!

January 9th, 2024

 Last night I saw a post that made me sad. An old friend posted that she put her dog down after fifteen years. The post had pictures of her dog and her son from when they were both puppies up until just recently. The boy is in college now and his dog is in heaven.

I became melancholy because I thought about Hazel and her companion, Molly. We went up to Wisconsin and picked up Molly when Hazel was still cooking in her mommy's bewlly.

Molly was born in December and Hazel showed up the next July. We picked up Molly on Groundhog Day with George and Fritz in tow. All three Shepkids have grown up with Molly, but she and Hazel have become two peas in a pod.

Molly just turned eleven and Hazel will turn the same age this summer.

I always say that I lost my children, my grill and my dog when I Left Exile West of Mannheim. Molly and I took many walks together before the great schism. Molly is where she is supposed to be, watching the Shepkids grow up everyday.

If Molly makes it to fifteen, she will have gotten Hazel into high school. The day will come when my daughter has her first visit from Aunt Flo. The day will come when my daughter gets her heart broken by her first assclown…..

…. But it is the day when Molly goes to heaven that I dread. That will be the hardest day in my baby girls young life. The phone call will come and on the other end I will hear,

“Oh daddy, it’s Molly! She…..she………she is gone!”

That’s gonna be a tough one.

It’s Tuesday, so it’s alright to daydream. I dream of that big shade tree in the middle of a sunny meadow. The one I will sit under when I go to heaven. Under that tree is Molly with my Alice, my Hughie, my Brigadoon or Briggie for short.

They will be waiting to toss the ball around and run in the open field with me. Because all doggies go to heaven and wait for us.

Just another piece of life many of us have dealt with. The loss of a beloved dog leaves a stinger on the heart.

Speaking of stingers on the heart. Be careful if this snow collects today and gets heavy. It won’t be fluffy and light. It will be slushy and burdensome.

I was watching “Antique Roadshow” last night on PBS, so I have no clue which team won the national championship last night. I can really give two shits. College football to me is played for a bell named after a railroad in Indiana.

Anyway….. go have fun in the snow and take your time on the roads!

Keep the greasy side down and the shiny side up!

  Hic Sum means "Here I Am" in Latin. 

January 8th Flashback

 2023

“That's me in the corner, That's me in the spot-light, Losing my religion” is a line from an REM song that came out yesterday, I mean 1991.

I haven’t been to mass in years. I stopped going regularly when they changed all the words around.

I was behind a guy pulling out of the church parking lot onto a busy street. Another guy was impatiently trying to cut in front of me, but I had nowhere to move. I could see this guys wife was trying to calm him down. The car in front of me pulled away and I creeped up to take my turn.

“You fat fucking asshole!” Came from the car trying to cut into line. This guy just took communion eleven minutes ago and he’s calling me a fat fucking asshole in front of church!

I pulled out of the lot and onto 55th street wondering what is wrong with this picture. Five minutes ago Father told us to go in peace and I’m getting called a fat fucking asshole by a fellow parishioner?

That was when I finally bid adieu to the Catholic Church.

When I called my dad and told him this story he agreed with the guy.

“Moose, you are a big fucking asshole! Why didn’t you just let the poor bastard cut in line?”

I replied that I didn’t have room and that I was already in line and next to pull out of the church parking lot.

“So you’re taking your ball and heading home? You’re quitting something that has been a part of your life since the day your mother and I had you baptized?”

My dad took a break from yelling at me and I could hear him lighting a cigarette. Now I knew I should have kept my mouth shut.

“Son….. the Catholic Fucking Church will still be around long after you and I! You better let that poor son of a bitch cut in line after mass next week!”

…. And then my dad told me he loved me and hung up.

So I lost my religion, but not my Faith! That is my story and I’m running with it…

Something has to be going on that is bigger than the Catholic Church?

I talk to my dad everyday and he’s been dead since 2020. I talk to my ma, she’s been dead since 2016. My Gramma, 2012… my Uncle Charlie, 1992 and my Grampa died when I was five and he’s been watching over me the whole time.

I talk to Wags when I drive to work sometimes. I talk to Debono, I talk to Jimmy O’Brien and just recently I talked with Mrs Hamilton.

….And yes…. All of them answered!

FAITH!

Faith gets me out of bed everyday. It pushes me to be the best Jumbo I can be. Faith let’s me talk with my parents, my family and my friends that have all gone to heaven.

I don’t go to mass to pray to Papa God or Jesus or the Blessed Virgin.

I can be driving in Betty or laying on the couch or even sitting on the crapper… and I can pray to them!

Alright, it Sunday Funday! Last Bear game of the miserable year. We are entering the middle of January and the days are getting longer.

Also it’s the birthday of the guy who stole negro music and died on the crapper…

2022

The bright spots in our lives are often looked over because we get to busy tromping through the monotony of our daily routine.

On a clear night when the stars and the moon look down on us is the time to count our blessings and take a look at our mortality.

It’s bubble bath day… I really need a bigger bathtub on this National Day. All I need is a couple gallons of water and one of Hazel’s bath bombs!

Though……

If I get stuck and you are one of six people I call to get me unstuck….

Don’t worry!

I’m getting cremated and this will be the closest you’ll get to being my pallbearer!

And you’ll get to see me wet and naked……. “Houston Oilers! Houston Oilers! Houston Oilers Number One!

We’re the Houston Oilers, Houston Oilers Number One!”

2021

The first week of 2021 was eventful. Treat yourself to a bubble bath! Today is also “Battle of New Orleans” Day!

2020

Wednesday is gonna be colder! Coffee isn’t!

Don’t let historical events change your outlook on YOUR life! These are the best days of OUR lives! There will always be events out of our control and they can’t define US!

2018

Winter returns on this windy Tuesday.... we celebrate the Victory of New Orleans and some celebrate the birthday of a man who exploited rhythm and blues music!

January 8th, 2024

 It was a wonderful weekend filled with cleaning up teenage vomit and spilt pancake batter.

…..But that’s what parents do.

It’s the anxious Monday morning blues and as we head into the middle of January, we have the threat of winter. We’ve been lucky in Chicagoland to get this far and not have any major snow storms or dreaded Polar vortex events.

The network weather girls are trying desperately to make this into an Armageddon event, but the people at the Jumbo weather bureau are calling for rain and wet snow. Maybe an accumulation of a couple inches, but two inches of heart attack snow, so be careful.

It is Bubble Bath day, but when you have a bubble butt and a standard bathtub… you don’t get to celebrate with your rubber ducky.

I’d love one of the claw foot tubs from the Cialis commercial. I’d have one of those wire baskets that hooks on each side and stretches across the tub. Something to put my martini glass and Charcuterie board onto.

I’d have Hilary, the Riverside soapmaker put together a lavender, mint, eucalyptus bath bomb for me. Hazel loves Hilary’s bath bombs.

Next to my claw tub would be a coat rack with my robe. A robe made from virgin wool from the Andes Mountains.

I’m in a daydream and it isn’t even Tuesday, sorry Freddy Jones.

No bubble baths for me today, just my daily James Bond shower.

Tonight is the championship for college football. I’ll be watching “Antiques Roadshow” on PBS and wishing I had a bathtub big enough for me to take a bubble bath!

January 7th Flashback

 2023

I turned on news radio this morning and the first thing I heard was late actor Dustin Diamond would have been forty six today.

I was looking to hear about the weather or the Speaker of the House fiasco or if the Pacers won last night and instead… it’s Screech’s birthday.

That whole “Saved by the Bell” phenomenon was never my cup of tea. I knew the show had some young hotties on it and I knew Screech.

We even had a Screech on the trading floor…. Poor bastard. I accepted my Chicago Board of Trade nickname. I grew into the legend that everyone knows as Jumbo. This poor kid shivered and shrieked every time someone called him Screech. He was probably happy when the floor closed and he could go back to his real name. I wonder what his name was?

Back to poor Dustin Neil Diamond. Another child actor that crumbled in adult life. I didn’t even know he died. I thought he was in jail.

I wonder if the pressure of being Screech was too much? His life got so big at an early age. Did he ever learn who Dustin even was? Did he learn how to be compassionate for Dustin or did being Screech destroy him?

Why in the hell is Jumbo talking about Screech on a Saturday morning Chalkboard?

Because Screech died incomplete! Dustin “Screech” Diamond probably never learned to love himself….

….like Don Shepley always said, “If you can’t love yourself, you’ll never be able to love anyone else.”

Oh and the Pacers won last night, Congress found weak leadership and we might get a glimpse at some sun today!

2022

I’m not walking down the boulevard with rainbows and unicorns flying out my rear-end, but I do have some whoopie cushions and firecrackers in my pockets.

Spreading happiness is better than being a dick to people. I think I’ve been a better person since my dad went to heaven. Simply because I think he can see everything I do.

My Oldman lived 180 miles away from me during high school, but he somehow knew before my mom whenever I pulled a stupid stunt!

Heaven is much closer than 180 miles. So I really don’t have an option….

It’s Bobblehead Day and I’ve picked one of my favorites this morning…. My Houston Oilers Bobblehead.

I’m glad my dad wasn’t in heaven in 1994 when I was in a hot tub with a half dozen Houston Oiler cheerleaders.

This is a story for another day and it happened in Vegas… so that story is packed tight in Nevada!

Dress warm! It was -17 wind chill when I cranked Betty this morning….. relax!

Betty is my Blazer!

Wipe the dust out of your crockpot and cuddle with someone nice!

2021

Last summer we were LEFT with a bad taste in our mouth. RIGHT away in the new year it continues to be ugly...

Could this be the final straw that brings us together?!?!

2020

Long Mardi Gras season makes sense as we start Twenty Plenty! Keep yourself positive because the shadows are getting shorter everyday now!

2018

Going from Da Bears into Who Dat mode! It’s Monday! it’s Raining! It’s 53 degrees?

January 7th, 2024

 Hazel learned how to play football last semester in gym class. I noticed on her long list of Christmas presents that she asked Santa for a football. Santa brought her a football and now she wants to play catch all the time.

She has a pretty good arm and isn’t afraid to catch the ball.

“Dad, I want to play football on a team.”

I didn’t bat an eye because I figured this will follow soccer, rugby, school band and Girl Scouts. All were Grand Openings; Grand Closings.

“If you want to play football, you’ll need to put a shit ton of work in before August.”

...and with a full hearted reply, “I will Dad!”

“I am serious Love! You need to work your ass off to be a good football player, better than most of the boys… because they will look at you as “just a girl.” They will patronize you and try and defeat you… because you are a girl.”

Hazel and I have watched several football games together ever since. She asks smart questions and notices things on the field.

Last night she wanted to watch a football movie. So I picked a movie that will teach her how rough it can be. I picked a movie that shows the struggles and challenges she would face as a girl. I picked the movie “Remember the Titans.”

In those two hours, Hazel received a lesson in racism, unity, toughness and hard work. The hatred that team had for each other because of skin color was a good lesson for Hazel to learn.

If Hazel can get into better shape, both mentally and physically…. Let’s strap them up honey.

If Hazel asks me to buy her Taylor Swift’s boyfriend’s jersey…. Let’s pack it up honey.

She wants to be a middle linebacker…. so she could put the beating down and run the show.

I told her the best middle linebacker we ever had wore number fifty one. I told her that her mom wore the same number when she played roller derby.

Maybe I’ll be buying a Butkus jersey in 2024?

I coached two girls during my tenure at The Saint Cletus.

One of them was my best lineman her 8th grade year. She played boys baseball in high school and earned a degree from Lake Forest on a softball scholarship. She’s now a successful adult who recently moved out of state to pursue her dreams.

The other girl was a little spitfire who pushed her team to be better. She ended up taking that leadership trait to high school. She became the coxswain on the boys rowing team. She went to Columbia College in New York and is now a published writer.

Anything is possible if you have passion.

Today is Packers versus Bears. Either the Monsters of the Midway strap it up today and finish strong….

…or they’ll be packing it up for the last time as a Chicago Bear.

My dad always said that you can judge someone by the way they finish a job.

Father Kelly always said, “Play well Gentlemen.”

Bear Down, Chicago Bears…

....play well and finish the season with a win.

January 6th Flashback

 2023

My mother and I were southbound on I-65 going to Indianapolis in the summer of 1974. It was a bright afternoon and we were singing songs to pass the time.

A white car with all its windows down passed us and was swerving lanes when it was ahead of my mom's Chevy Vega. I can remember her saying, “this doesn’t look good!”

Suddenly the white car left the asphalt and was driving across the grassy median. It slammed head on with a northbound car. That car was red. This was the first major car accident that I witnessed in my life. I had just turned eight.

My mom pulled to the side with many of the other cars. I’m not sure if a thirty eight year old mom had much to offer, besides prayer. The man from the car that pulled to the side in front of us walked by our car and said, “It looks like the northbound car was a family! I’m sure they are all dead!”

Those words have stuck with me my whole life. To this day when I drive past the crash sight I think of that family.

Another thing stuck out from the conversation between my mom and the other driver. The two men in the white car were black men. The driver of the other car said something else to my mom that has stuck with me.

“We’ve been following that car since Lafayette. It’s been swerving the whole time. I bet them n****rs were drunk on payday….. darn state troopers ain’t never around when you need them.”

My mom replied quietly, “I noticed the car was swerving as well.”

If my dad was in the car he would have kicked the shit out of that guy for saying a racist word. My dad came to punches many times whenever that word was said around his young son.

The point of this story isn’t about me seeing my first major car accident. The story was after we pulled away and the crash scene was miles behind us. My mom started singing “The Our Father” and reminded me to always pray. She also pointed out how ugly that man became for using that word.

“Never make yourself look ugly with hatred Pumpkinhead, Never!”

That afternoon became part of who I am. This story is a perfect example for today’s quote.

Our travels in life become part of us. It is what we see during our journey that builds who we are.

One last thing…..

I’m not going to justify the ugliness that occurred two years ago today. Today is the day to celebrate the men who brought our Savior the gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

Today is Epiphany, also known as the Day of the Three Kings. The Three Wise Men…..

…. They never traveled between Chicago and Indianapolis on I-65, but that baby they saw in a barn has made that trip millions of times.

2022

When I walked into my Office building this morning the security guard asked me if it was cold enough for me.

….and I replied, “What are ya gonna do?….it’s January in Chicagoland!”

When I got into the elevator I thought to myself….. for over 30 years I took either the CTA train or the Metra. I stood on train platforms that I walked to during the icy dark mornings.

At this point in my life I’m in paradise. I walk to my Chevy Blazer…. It starts, it warms up, it doesn’t smell like ass, I don’t need to wear a mask or earphones.

I arrive in a parking garage attached to my building. I don’t have to walk across the Chicago River or across the Loop.

The work commute makes winter more enjoyable…. As long as my baby starts up and the roads are clear…. Let’s Roll!

The warmth of Summer is 140 days away. We celebrate America in 180 days. The sweetness of summer or the sweetness of summer will return…. So enjoy this brisk January morning!

Today is January 6th. It is not December 7th or September 11th. Don’t let the media give this day historical value. WE as Americans…. Republican or democrat must learn from the destruction from this day in 2021.

Today is not a statue that can be torn down.

Today isn’t a page we can rip out of a history book.

Today is just January 6th and in 2021 our Capitol was attacked. If you want to remember January 6th as “Us against Them” then you better remember what happened on August 24th, 1814….. Burning of Washington.

Stay Warm! Stay Positive! Stand together! Eat Pizza!

2021

Today marks the end of the Christmas season with the arrival of Caspar, Melchior and Balthasar.

So as our Christmas decorations disappear our Mardi Gras colors go up!

If you want to keep decorations up as we get closer to the year anniversary of Covid quarantines.... put up your Purple (justice), green (faith), and gold (power).

20 + c + m + b + 21 Christus mansionem benedicat

2020

Happy Monday.... Peace, Love and Soul is always a good way to start the week!

2019

Today is already 15 minutes longer than just before Jesus’ Birthday Bash!

2018

Hazel helped make the bed and do the daily chalkboard this morning!

January 6th, 2024

 It would be pretty easy for the mob to whack me. My routine is pretty simple and doesn’t take me too far off my warn path across the western suburbs of Chicagoland.

I’m pretty comfortable with the schedule I keep during this period in my life. Maybe I will look back at this era of single parenthood someday and find satisfaction in my contentment?

Maybe I’ll rearrange the furniture in the living room or move my bed to a different wall today?

I have taken a slightly different route to work recently and I’ve added a new concoction to my mornings. I’ve been drinking turmeric, ginger and cayenne with lemon water. It is supposed to change my overall wellbeing.

I’ll let you know as it becomes more of my routine, if my wellbeing has improved.

I woke up to a dusting of snow this morning. It’s going to be a wintry postcard feeling when I take my walk down the DesPlaines.

Today is January 6th. For me it is the Feast of the Epiphany. It is the day the Three Kings finally came across the baby Jesus. We mark this day by taking down the reds and greens and golds of Christmas and replace them with the green, gold and purple of Carnival season. Purple symbolizes Justice. Green symbolizes Faith and Gold represents Power.

“Laissez les bons temps rouler!”

It’s Mardi Gras season and time to let the good times roll. That is what January 6th is for me. It will never be a political day to be ashamed of or to celebrate.

For me…..

Three Gentile Kings found a Jewish baby in a manger. They stopped and gave the future king some gold, frankincense and myrrh. Then they helped the babies parents take the Christmas lights down from the barn they were staying in.

The baby and his parents went on and made history. The three kings continued their travels until they ended up in New Orleans. They found lodging on Bourbon Street and looked for a bar that served hurricanes and shrimp po-boys.

Enjoy the first Saturday of 2024. I’m going to change it up a little today and take the kids to different hotdog stand.

Don’t get snow in your underwear if you go make a snow angel…..

January 5th Flashback

 

2023

You know what would be perfect?

If my wife and I were about to become empty nesters. Maybe thinking about downsizing our four bedroom house. Our kids are all in college or out on their own.

I pulled into the country club over the weekend and received a ton of compliments on the new Mercedes that I bought over Christmas.

My wife and I decided next Christmas we are going to celebrate in Europe. Just the two of us for ten days celebrating twenty five years of a wonderful marriage.

John Shepley, you really do have the perfect life.

Sure sounds better than a divorced father of three living in an apartment by the river. Fifty six year old man with a daughter in fourth grade. A guy who spent five decades in the same business scraping enough together just to get to the next month. A guy driving around with the check engine light on hoping that light stays green.

This guy sounds like a loser…

Whenever I felt sorry for myself around my dad, he would start making a whimpering sound and say,

“whoa is me! This isn’t fair! Ohhhh, whoa is me!”

Suddenly the whimpering act would end and in a stern voice he would say, “nobody gives a flying fuck about old poor John Shepley! Quit feeling sorry for yourself, you look pitiful!”

My dad didn’t have a “Play like a Champion” sign above the front door. My dad had a blunt tongue and a sharp comment to do his motivating!

The successful guy living in the affluent suburb sure seems to have a perfect life. He doesn’t have a worry in the world.

“And you may find yourself in a beautiful house, with a beautiful wife

And you may ask yourself, ‘Well, how did I get here?’”

Life might not be perfect… what might sound perfect or look perfect has just as many flaws.

I think I’ll keep waking up in the illusion that I live in. It is the only imperfect one that I get.

Because I’m too legit, too legit to quit! Which is a hint for the code on the bottom right corner of the chalkboard.

2022

I think the best thing with the Covid numbers going up is we see less news stories of passenger violence on airplanes.

At least I haven’t seen any the last couple weeks.

I haven’t been on a plane in a few years, but I took the Metra into the city during the first ten months of Covid.

It DID piss me off when the same selfish assclowns sat in their same little seats without wearing masks.

We have all seen these guys! We know what towns they boarded the train in. Many of them had tassels on their loafers.

I’ll admit the thought crossed my mind that these guys needed a little coaxing. But it wasn’t my job and like the Princess in the winter movie sings…… Let it Go!

Crockpot weather is in full force! I think my old crock has one last season left…. This weekend I’m thinking chicken fajitas or pulled pork.

2021

A Jewish comedian from the 1960’s has nailed the state of where my Faith has gone through the years.

Sunset is creeping later and later......January 28th will be our first sunset after 5pm.

Find a friend and grab some mussels today! Or grab your friends muscles!

2020

Sunday Funday going into the first full week of Twenty-Plenty!

“Let’s Roll!”

2019

Exclamation on the sun and temps today!