48

So I turned 48 yesterday.

I guess it's normal to think about your life when you turn older.  SO many years to review.

On one hand, Facebook has made our world a lot smaller.  People I haven't seen in 40 years are suddenly part of life again.  Those who I was friends with in high school that I haven’t seen since then are friends again.  I may never see some of them again, but I can keep up with their lives, and they can keep up with mine.

On the other hand, life has, over the years, started to fly by with increasing dizziness.  

I remember being a kid, waiting on Christmas.  It took forever for it to get there.  In a matter of seconds it seemed it was over.  

Now, all of life seems that way.  Here I am in 2014.  How could this have happened?

I sent my wife an E-card on her anniversary of her job.  She started in 2001.  So, naturally, I congratulated her on her 12th year.  She corrected me.  And, as I started to correct her, I counted.  

Yep...12 years.  Oh wait....it's 2014....

How is it that a memory from something that seems like it was just a couple of years ago, is suddenly 20 or 30 years old?

Looking back over my life, I see times that were fun and gave me times of happiness.  Thank you to my brother, Stuart for so many of those.  Thank you to DeWayne (Bubba as he was known) for several others.  

There were many less than happy times as well.  

But through it all, I know I am who I am, and where I am because of all of the good (and bad) times.  So I have to be thankful, even for the bad times, for helping me get to where I am.

So many friends have come and gone.  So many others are currently sharing my life.  All of them have made this life what it is.

In spite of everything, it is a good life.  

There are times I get frustrated.  There are times I'm sad.  There are times I get irritated and angry.  So many times I wish people wouldn't act the way they do, or say the things they say.  But overall, I have a truly blessed life.  And I'm thankful for so many people that God has brought into my life to help me grow along the way.  It hasn't always been pleasant, but I have to be thankful for all of it.

So as I begin another year, thank you everyone.  For whatever it was you did with me, to me, or for me, throughout my life.  You have helped, willingly or not, to make life a wonderfully blessed experience.

Cat On a Hot Tin Roof

So I think I'm going to part-time as a movie reviewer. I'm going to start with a movie I saw for the first time ever the other night.

It was Cat on a Hot Tin Roof from 1958. I know...I'm not always current on the latest releases, but I'm not getting paid for this, so deal with it.

From what I got of the movie, there were main characters names Brick, Big Daddy, Big Mama, and Gooper.  Seriously?  I think that was the first problem. My mind had a hard time paying attention to a movie that doesn't care any more than that about naming its characters.

Maybe they'll make up for the lack of imagination in naming with great lines.

"WHY DON'T YOU GO UP THERE AND DRINK WITH BRICK IF THE CONQUERIN' HERO HASN'T PASSED OUT ALREADY? HE MAY HAVE TO PASS UP THE SUGAR BOWL THIS YEAR OR WAS IT THE ROSE BOWL HE MADE HIS FAMOUS RUN IN?"

"IT WAS THE PUNCH BOWL, HONEY, THE CUT-GLASS PUNCH BOWL."

"WHAT'S THAT SMELL IN THIS ROOM? DIDN'T YOU NOTICE IT, BRICK? DIDN'T YOU NOTICE A POWERFUL AND OBNOXIOUS ODOR OF MENDACITY IN THIS ROOM?"

If the caps are obnoxious, that's what I got from the movie. I think the only time no one was yelling was when I dozed off. How can I sleep through all that yelling? That's the problem. When everyone is yelling through the entire thing, it all just becomes background noise, and my brain tunes it out.

What a shame. I bet Brick, Gooper and Big Daddy could have been marvelous conversationalists.

And "mendacity"? My wife had to look it up for me. I don't remember now what she told me it means. I'd look it up again, but I don't really care.

Overall, I was less than impressed with "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof", in case my review up to this point hasn't made that clear.

Oh, and by the way, I know I dozed through some of it, but I never even saw a cat. And I don't think they ever showed the roof, so if it was up there, I didn’t see it. And it was raining through a lot of the film, so I don't think the roof was very hot at all. And if the cat were up there, I'm thinking he's not very happy.

Maybe that's why everyone was yelling.