Jewells of Thought

Life is fast. I remember hearing about the date of the company family picnic, but was surprised to know Friday, that it was on Saturday. Like it just came out of nowhere. On top of that it was also my niece’s birthday and a party after the picnic.

Once we arrived at the park in Brazil there seemed to be a slight decrease in attendees. However, the food was pretty good chicken pieces and barbecue pork and fried green beans among the menu items. Then dessert has been consistently the same business each time the picnic has been in Brazil. Dilly Bars from Dairy Queen are still a favorite to be had on these picnic days. Although I had a bit of trouble with mine melting too fast. Or the problem was I wasn’t eating fast enough. They generally have 3 to 4 flavors: chocolate, cherry, last year they had a yellow and it was dreamsicle, but this year it was butterscotch.

Usually I am a chocolate lover for sure with ice cream, but I have gotten the cherry the last 2 times at least. I sure wish I had gotten the butterscotch though, once I realized that’s what the other flavor was.

Each year there is a band that performs. For some reason it seemed louder this time. They sounded pretty awesome though, the word Stampede was on the drum. There was a song, when I hear this it takes me to a movie; The Renaissance Man. My Uncle Tony and Mike were the movie buffs in the family and they had us watching this show probably when it came out.

One scene that seems iconic to me is as they are in a van they took a trip to see Shakespeare in a Theater in Canada. One of the songs on their trip was the song I heard Saturday afternoon. It’s John Mellencamps, “R.O.C.K. in the USA”.

How can an American not want to hum, sing or dance to this song? It’s absolutely infectious.

In that van all of these Army guys and one gal are dancing and singing. I love this scene and always find myself singing along. This movie is also a very poignant film with a message that says don’t forget our Veterans!

My Uncle Tom married my Grandma Rosie’s little sister Helen. He served several tours in Vietnam and Grandma Freddy set in motion an interview. I will never forget this interview, I was so nervous asking him where he wanted to talk and what time. Yet when he arrived he got nervous and needed to smoke. I don’t know if I realized my tolerance to smoke was very low at that point or not yet. It allowed him to talk and he looked like he was ready to talk. Grandpa knew that I believe.

I tell you what, I asked one question and he talked for 45 minutes. He also showed me his amazing big book of clippings his military discharge papers photos it was so big. He had served a long time though. It was an amazing experience and I think he needed it as much as I needed to let him talk. He wasn’t welcomed home like he should have been. That is a stain on our government. He was one of the few Veterans I got the sweetest Thank You cards from and I did get a few. His cards though, meant a lot I still have them.

Just as we have this time at Great Dane for families, we need to continually honor the memories of our Veterans and work to find solutions for our homeless Veterans and those who need our help. I am fortunate I got to have that time to listen to Uncle Tom and let him know that someone cared about him and what he went through. His story was pretty radical in so many ways… yet now I understand him more and what he said to be the absolute truth. Perhaps one day I will share a bit more on our interview in the future.