Tuesday, October 25, 2005
Bless you, Rosa Parks
Every few centuries a handful of people make a change in our lives, our ways of thinking, our world. Some are driven from birth to grab the world by the shoulders and shake it into change. Some decide to use their voice and argue the world into change. On December 1st, 1955, one tired woman simply sat down on a city bus and our world changed forever. Today, Rosa Parks left this earth, and I know that in Heaven she is gathered among the angels and the saints who left this planet a better place than they found it when they first arrived.
I was born a little over a year after Ms. Parks sat down on a Montgomery, Alabama bus, but I can remember, even as a young child (maybe three or four years old), how my grandmother told me a the story of the woman who wouldn't give up her seat to a white man and go to the back of the bus as was expected of her in that day and time. I forget exactly under what circumstances my grandmother has decided to tell me the story, but I do remember her sitting me on her lap to tell me about Ms. Parks. I remember she said that she though the woman was an angel sent to earth to teach us all a lesson about love and what was right.
Rosa Parks, we will miss you here, but we are eternally grateful for your courage that turned a simple act of defiance (even though you only wanted to get home!) into a lesson for us all.
Sunday, October 09, 2005
Halcyon Days
October can be a wonderful month is south Florida. This October of 1988 has been particularly great. We would turn off the air at night and open all the windows and let the smells of the flowers come in. There are always flowers in Florida!
The days were in the low 80s or upper 70s as I remember, so we took to sitting out on out patio for hours on end. The canula setup Bamps had would allow him to go all the way to the mailbox at the end of the driveway, so he had no problem moving about on the patio.
It was World Series time now. Athletics against Dodgers. In the end my grandfather decided to support the Dodgers for old times sake, and because he thought Orel Herschiser was the best pitcher he'd seen in awhile. So far they've won the first two games. Life stops during game time. It all focussed on the Game. There were chocolate brownies for Bamps and Oreos for me. His team is ahead so far and all is well.
There's a doctor's appointment about his Kaposi's on Friday, but he's already decided he's in enough discomfort and doesn't want any surgery or nasty medications. Besides, he was 31 different medications at this time. Just keeping track of the times and pills and dosages was a handful for both of us. When Juanita would come with monthly medication stock-up, she'd use two big shoeboxes to bring everything. Since his heart and lungs would probably only last about five months more, according his pulmonologist, said he'd rather not do anything unless it would really, really help.
Much of the medicine is geared at keeping symptoms under check, since they show no signs of going away. He doesn't have any pain, just some anxiety from dealing with his "not AIDS" as he's taken to calling it. No positive tests, but in the end of November he'll be taking a new test. Maybe that will tell us what we already know.
But his illness doesn't consume his life. For him each day is as great as the last, and he lives every moment as it comes, the same way he did before "not AIDS". Get up at 7-ish, have some Raisin Bran and an Ensure, read the paper: headlines, comics, local, sports. Save the most important for last, he always did.
Harness racing season at Pompano Park was starting and he was getting ready for that. He tried to be a good horse bettor, and sometimes he won. However, I was better. Boy did that irk him! We would both pick horses, I'd go to the track and place the bets, and more often than not, I'd have the winning picks. I don't know why that is, because he he taught me how to bet the way he did, I just have a "second horse sense" I guess. I'd have at the program, but then I'd have to watch the horse and jockey to see how well they were working together that day, then I'd check previous races and how the horse ran on the track conditions like today. Then I'd say a prayer and bet. My personal best night was about $870. He didn't like to be alone though, so I eventually stopped going to the track and we both played armchair bettors.
Juanita went back to Jamaica for a vacation and her replacement didn't quite measure up to my grandfather's standards. He called her a sourpuss after she left. He also asked me if she seemed afraid to touch him. Unfortunately, I had to say yes. She was thereby christened "the Sourpuss", and since there were only two more visits, Bamps figured he could tolerate her.
Besides, he had the World Series to distract him!
The days were in the low 80s or upper 70s as I remember, so we took to sitting out on out patio for hours on end. The canula setup Bamps had would allow him to go all the way to the mailbox at the end of the driveway, so he had no problem moving about on the patio.
It was World Series time now. Athletics against Dodgers. In the end my grandfather decided to support the Dodgers for old times sake, and because he thought Orel Herschiser was the best pitcher he'd seen in awhile. So far they've won the first two games. Life stops during game time. It all focussed on the Game. There were chocolate brownies for Bamps and Oreos for me. His team is ahead so far and all is well.
There's a doctor's appointment about his Kaposi's on Friday, but he's already decided he's in enough discomfort and doesn't want any surgery or nasty medications. Besides, he was 31 different medications at this time. Just keeping track of the times and pills and dosages was a handful for both of us. When Juanita would come with monthly medication stock-up, she'd use two big shoeboxes to bring everything. Since his heart and lungs would probably only last about five months more, according his pulmonologist, said he'd rather not do anything unless it would really, really help.
Much of the medicine is geared at keeping symptoms under check, since they show no signs of going away. He doesn't have any pain, just some anxiety from dealing with his "not AIDS" as he's taken to calling it. No positive tests, but in the end of November he'll be taking a new test. Maybe that will tell us what we already know.
But his illness doesn't consume his life. For him each day is as great as the last, and he lives every moment as it comes, the same way he did before "not AIDS". Get up at 7-ish, have some Raisin Bran and an Ensure, read the paper: headlines, comics, local, sports. Save the most important for last, he always did.
Harness racing season at Pompano Park was starting and he was getting ready for that. He tried to be a good horse bettor, and sometimes he won. However, I was better. Boy did that irk him! We would both pick horses, I'd go to the track and place the bets, and more often than not, I'd have the winning picks. I don't know why that is, because he he taught me how to bet the way he did, I just have a "second horse sense" I guess. I'd have at the program, but then I'd have to watch the horse and jockey to see how well they were working together that day, then I'd check previous races and how the horse ran on the track conditions like today. Then I'd say a prayer and bet. My personal best night was about $870. He didn't like to be alone though, so I eventually stopped going to the track and we both played armchair bettors.
Juanita went back to Jamaica for a vacation and her replacement didn't quite measure up to my grandfather's standards. He called her a sourpuss after she left. He also asked me if she seemed afraid to touch him. Unfortunately, I had to say yes. She was thereby christened "the Sourpuss", and since there were only two more visits, Bamps figured he could tolerate her.
Besides, he had the World Series to distract him!
Tuesday, October 04, 2005
Have I mentioned Frank Sinatra?
Nope, I haven't but one of Bamps' favorite singers was Ol' Blue Eyes. Mine too. Yes, smack dab in the middle of my classic rock CD collection, right between Santana and Steppenwolf lies more than a few Sinatra CDs. That's part of the reason this blog is named the way it is. You see, one of my grandfather's favorite Sinatra songs is Live Till I Die.
Here's the lyrics:
It was written by Al Hoffman, Mann Curtis and Walter Kent in 1959.
I just noticed I hadn't mentioned Sinatra, and figured it was about time I did because Frank was a passion my grandparents, my mother and I shared. I actually am quite a Rat Pack freak.
My favorite movie of all time is The Manchurian Candidate, the original obviously. It has to be one of the scariest movies ever, because it is something you image could actually happen. Angela Lansbury is positively E-vil and glorious in this movie. She was nominated for an Oscar and won a Golden Globe for her performance as Mrs. Iselin, the mother of Raymond Shaw, played by Laurence Harvey, who was only three years younger than Lansbury! Sinatra was fantastic as Sgt. Bennett Marco. The original is so much better than the remake. Much more tense.
Here's the lyrics:
I'm gonna live till I die
I'm gonna laugh stead of cry
I'm gonna take the town turn it upside down
I'm gonna live, live, live until I die
They're gonna say what a guy
I'm gonna play for the sky
Ain't gonna miss a thing,gonna have my fling
I'm gonna live live live until I die
Those blues I lay low, i'll make them stay low
They'll never trail over my head
I'll be a devil till I'm an angel
But until then hallelujah
Gonna dance gonna fly
I'll take my chance riding high
Before my numbers up i'm gonna fill my cup
I'm gonna live, live, live until I die
Those blues I lay low, I'll make them stay low
They'll never trail over my head
I'll be a devil till I'm an angel
But until then Hallelujah
Gonna dance gonna fly
I'll take my chance riding high
Before my numbers up I'm gonna fill my cup
I'm gonna live, live, live, live until I die
It was written by Al Hoffman, Mann Curtis and Walter Kent in 1959.
I just noticed I hadn't mentioned Sinatra, and figured it was about time I did because Frank was a passion my grandparents, my mother and I shared. I actually am quite a Rat Pack freak.
My favorite movie of all time is The Manchurian Candidate, the original obviously. It has to be one of the scariest movies ever, because it is something you image could actually happen. Angela Lansbury is positively E-vil and glorious in this movie. She was nominated for an Oscar and won a Golden Globe for her performance as Mrs. Iselin, the mother of Raymond Shaw, played by Laurence Harvey, who was only three years younger than Lansbury! Sinatra was fantastic as Sgt. Bennett Marco. The original is so much better than the remake. Much more tense.
