Do you have to give up your childish ways?....NO, I say!

When I wake up in the morning I always look over at my night stand to see if I wrote down anything prolific while I was in a semi-conscious state...Nope, nothing there today...but I did have this thought though....what is it about me that makes each day exciting and has me ready to tackle everything facing me?....it's laughter...it's my silly childish laughter.

Now I'm probably as god-fearing as the rest of you... and even though I don't always do the right thing...I kinda go to church every now and then and I can quote scripture pretty well from my early days of having the bible shoved down my throat...but this particular passage came to light after I had my first coffee.

"When I was a child, I spoke like a child, thought like a child, and reasoned like a child. When I became an adult, I no longer used childish ways." 1 Corinthians 13:11

Now if am to believe that there is some kind of after-life and if I am to believe, based on the current teachings of established churches, that in order to get anything close to a front row seat or for that matter even anything in the nose-bleed section, I have to follow "what was written"

Hmmm....could be tough. Cuz based on the above scripture, I don't follow that rule...and I don't want to.

It's not that I refuse to lose my youth...it's just that we are too damn serious sometimes....I want to start each day laughing and smiling and wondering what prank am I going to play on somebody.

I take my responsibilities seriously, but I refuse to quit acting like a little boy....If I feel like skipping, I'll skip....If I feel like playing make-believe, I'll play make-believe...If I don't want to eat my cereal...well, I'll probably do that cuz I fixed it myself.

My whole point is...do we have to give up our childish ways just because we are all grown up now? Let's let children's laughter lead the way...even if it might be our own.

Maybe we need to reflect on what made us happy as kids and use it a little more often. It makes the day so much more fun...and I like fun...and games...and skipping!

Friends..........How many is enough?

Just how many friends does someone need? Me....I'll take just a few, just as long as they are my true friends.

With the emergence of Facebook or rather my emergence on Facebook....I never knew I had so many friends...I've got friends I have never met...I've got friends I haven't seen in forty years.....I've got friends that I don't want as friends (none of you of course!) I have imaginary friends..heck, I even have myself as a friend on Facebook...yep, little Skeeter.

I even created a place where friends, and friends of friends, and friends of friends of friends can go and we even have our own chat room and do make-believe stuff.

I've got friends I play (or rather Pattye plays) Mafia Wars with all of the time. Pattye says I'm doing real well by the way. I've got friends of friends of friends and I think I actually have a couple of friends of friends of friends of friends....Whew...my head is spinning.

I've got relatives on Facebook I didn't know I had. And, I've got friends of relatives that I didn't know I had. I've got a couple of movies stars, well kinda... like George Costanza as a friend...oops, just remembered he is imaginary. I have so many friends I just can't keep up with all of them.

I do have a lot of freinds from Fairview High School, I've got friends from college at OU. I've got friends of friends from OU and I've got friends of friends of friends from OU.

I've got friends that send me gifts, friends that throw food at me..I have friends that poke me and I poke them back....I have some friends that tell me too much, like what they are having for dinner...and I have friends that don't tell me enough. I have friends that are liberal (though not very many) and I have friends that are conservative...I have friends that are really witty. I have friends that I think are like REALLY unwitty. I have friends that review movies, and I have one friend who I think just sleeps all of the time.

And, I have friends that join me here....you are special friends cuz you take the time to see what I have to say.

And for that I am blessed, for without true friends you have nothing.

I sent a message to one my friends listed on Facebook and I told her that in my life...God is first, family is second, my country is third...but right after that are my friends..she liked that and so do I.

What is it with women and packing?

Well, I'll probably catch hell for this.....but was is it with women and their packing to go on a short trip?

Now this could just be me or maybe it is a guy thing...or maybe it goes back to that Men = Hunters......Women = Gatherers.

When ever we go on a trip..I just count the number of days we will be gone and then I simply gather up the same number of underwear (blushing right now!).. the same number of pairs of socks....the same number of shirts and then 1/2 of the number of pants....any maybe one extra pair of shoes....Bing, bang...I done...""Honey, I'm ready to go"...Maybe it is because the men were the hunters and everything they needed they could carry on their back.

Women are the other hand need at least three different sets of clothes for each day...that means if you are gone 5 days...THAT'S 15 DIFFERENT SETS OF CLOTHES!

Now granted, I'm not the one doing the packing so I shouldn't be complaining....but I'm the one loading, unloading, loading and unloading the car each time we stay at a different location.....and God forbid, if I don't bring EVERYING into the room.

And me, hey...I got everything I need....right here in my one bag....I could stay out in the wilderness for a year with the few things that took me a few minutes to pack.

And even then that's not gonna be enough clothes for you because you are gonna buy shoes and shorts and this and that, which you probably could have found back home, but you saw it while you were on vacation and just had to have it.

Nope...I just like it simple and easy.

I'm Baaaack!

After receiving hundreds of emails and comments about my taking a breather from Facebook, I have felt obligated, well not so much obligated...but it's more like a calling... and then hearing a voice in my head saying ..."Tom...we need you back!...please, Tom come back" , I have decided to return.....So, the doctors have said if I limit my Facebook time to about 7 hours a day, I should probably be okay. So watch out everybody, I'm coming after you!

Farewell To Facebook

First, I want to say thanks to those who made the effort to follow this link (probably all two of you ) but that's OK, because I am writing this partly for you but mostly for myself.
As most of you know writing is my passion...other than my wife, it is truly the only thing that I love, the one thing that I could spend the rest of my life doing without ever getting bored. My mind races all day long wanting to permanently record my thoughts, tell my stories, make people laugh, make people cry and bear my soul...it's cleansing for me...it's happiness for me and always challenging for me. I want to be able to finish a novel I have committed to do and start several more.
But I have strayed from this passion. I have let it slowly decay as I found other diversions to escape the challenge of pulling the words from my mind and tongue and placing them in a readable form.
And sadly, Facebook had become one of those diversions.
Why all of the melodrama?
Why not just stop spending the hours I accumulate each day thinking of gags, commenting on every item on my Wall, typing then deleting and typing and deleting until what I think is the perfect one-liner? Or why not just cut back? Just have 4 drinks a day instead of 5.
Well, with an addictive personality like mine, I can never get enough. I always have to have the funniest line, the last laugh.
Even this posting has become part of the melodrama itself but I knew it was the only way that I could stop and say I'm done. I'm finished. And say goodbye to you and at the same time invite you to my world.
Here in my world I can be me. I can say what I want to say. When I am happy...I will be happy. When I am sad...I will be sad....I can laugh, I can cry and I can say naughty, naughty words without any worry of hurting someones feelings....This is my safe haven...my port in the storm that I can anchor my ship when seas become treacherous and then sail away to whatever island paradise I choose.
Sound odd? It is....but then so am I. Odd in a way that makes me want to entertain you and entertain myself.
Another reason for this melodrama is that it will allow me to thank the friends that I have met in the last couple of months..some new, some old, and even some that are imaginary and FB didn't have the space or platform to do so.
Although I have referred to FB as an imaginary world..it is far from it.......I have actually heard the sounds as people have "stomped, stomped, stomped" out of a room. I have embraced your political passions when you have openly expressed your opinions. And I have cried, when I heard your positive results from medical tests and thanked God you were okay. It is a real world even though I have never met some of you and others I haven't seen in 40 years.
Darla, ....see, I can't even break away from the Lil Rascal name that you and Pam fought for, you have been an inspiration....you restored my youth....you helped me regain my sense of humor...you have been my wingman when my FB foes tried to take me down....so many gags, too many late night chats and too many giggles that often left me spewing coffee on my monitor as I tried to suppress my laughs. Thanks so much for challenging me to be funny...and improve my typing
Ed,.....who we immediately designated Bu'wheat for our Lil Rascal skits...(did we ever actually have any?)...you have been my conscience in this fantastic on-line world. Whether we like it or not we have to hear both sides of an argument...I hope we can bring you back from the "dark" side.
ML,.....thanks for allowing me to be a friend once again...with your retirement your gonna have a lot of time on your hands and I hope you can fill the void I leave on FB.
Pammie......isn't it strange that we have never met....wouldn't know you if I saw you.. didn't know you after I saw your picture, I thought you were somebody else ...sometimes I think you are still trying to fool me.......I feel like we have become friends and I would be invited over for one of those afternoon "salty dogs"
Any there are many, many more of you who have listened to my craziness...have had their Walls cluttered with my quips and have often left me more confused than you.
And to Pattye...who has been such an understanding wife as she has watched me spend hours at my keyboard smiling as she knew that I was doing what I love to do...tell my stories......and make you laugh.
Pattye will keep my FB page open so she can continue to play her/my role in the continuing saga of Mafia Wars and it will give me a chance to keep tabs on some of you....it will be hard for me though..kinda like an alcoholic hanging out in a bar with the temptation of taking a drink...but I'll be strong and all of my energy will be spent here.
I'm happy I was able to bring chaos into your world. If I have left you with some broken pieces..well, for this I am sorry. My intentions have always been honest and true.
So.....let's stand and raise our glasses and give a toast to ....friends and humor...for without either of these we would be lonely and sad people.
I want so much for you to visit me here in my world....tell me when you think my musings are funny and when they are not...allow yourself to laugh, cry or even get angry...but tell me...and continue to be my friends.
And now I bid you adieu.........FB will certainly live without me, maybe not as funny...but it will survive.

Tom

Nancy Marker Steinert

This is hard to write.
The tears have stopped and now the memories begin to flood my mind.
Nancy Marker Steinert was my friend. I didn't know her like most of you. Our relationship didn't begin in elementary school it began later in high school. But it flourished many years later, long after I had moved away from Dayton.
For years she had encouraged me to come to our class reunions. It seemed like I always had a schedule conflict, or had just recently made my 3 or 4 year pilgrimage to Dayton to visit family...or maybe I was unsure about seeing old friends.
I finally made it to the first of my reunions.... our 35th Reunion. I can remember going to the Holiday Inn in Englewood. Nancy met me at the door and immediately made me feel comfortable as I stumbled while trying to remember past classmates names.
She could remember every person, every event, every detail of my life at Fairview. Much better than I could. She was a who's who and where's where and what's what of everyone that I asked about. She had pictures and poetry and news clippings and was an encyclopedia of Fairview High School. It was her passion.
I can remember going over to her house while I was there for the reunion. I had never known George but in the few minutes we were there she told me about him and her love for him and her aching heart. I felt like he would have been my friend as well.
After the 35th, we continued to write back and forth always filling me in with details about my close friends. Always asking about my family....sending a note when my Mom had passed away...always keeping me close to Fairview.
When the 40th reunion was nearing she was adamant about me being there. With Nancy...no was not an option. She lovingly pestered me for my updated bio....making sure my flights were scheduled.....making sure my reservations were made. I remember the look on her face when I got to Dayton told her P.J. and I would be rooming together as if......."here we go again".
This past summer, my wife and I journeyed to Dayton for my brother Rick's wedding. I told Nancy of our planned visit and she arranged a luncheon with old friends, Bruce Trowman, Guy Kennedy, Susan Ritter, Dwight Woessner....that was Nancy. She was a friend's friend.
I know there is much more to Nancy than my small snapshot of her life but it is what I want to remember. It is my part of her.
I don't know what the next reunion will be like without Nancy...I think all of us are a little scared of the tears that will flow, it will be hard. There is no one who can replace her and I am fearful that without her we might drift away.
Selfishly, I wonder who will be my connection to my home.
I miss her. I'll always remember her. And when I think of Dayton and particularly Fairview High School I will always think of Nancy first.