Last week we wrote about our long time friend Raymond Overstreet and his recent passing.  Raymond was a great friend and it is hard to imagine our world without him.

You remember we talked about jokes Raymond enjoyed and while we were at the funeral home last week we found out Raymond succeeded in getting the last joke on us.

His brother was telling us how a few weeks ago, he and Raymond came to the newspaper office to visit with us. We were not there and in his usual fashion, he told Kim and the other ladies in the office, he was with the FBI and they were in Russell County looking for Dave Davenport. Needless to say, this created some discussion at the office.

 We had no idea until Russell told us that we had been the recipient of another Overstreet joke. We loved it and actually could see a little smile on Raymond’s face.

***

New Exercise Philosophy

Physical exercise is good for you. I know that I should do it daily but my body doesn't want me to do too much, so I have worked out this program of strenuous activities that do not require physical exercise. You are invited to use my program without charge.

1) Beating around the bush

2) Jumping to conclusions

3) Climbing the walls

4) Swallowing my pride

5) Passing the buck

6) Throwing my weight around

7) Dragging my heels

8) Pushing my luck

9) Making mountains out of molehills

10) Hitting the nail on the head

11) Wading through paperwork

12) Bending over backwards

13) Jumping on the bandwagon

14) Balancing the books

15) Running around in circles

16) Eating crow

17) Tooting my own horn

18) Climbing the ladder of success

19) Pulling out the stops

20) Adding fuel to the fire

21) Opening a can of worms

22) Putting my foot in my mouth

23) Starting the ball rolling

24) Going over the edge

25) Picking up the pieces

Happy Exercising...

***

Is there an imaginary cutoff period when

Offspring become accountable

For their own actions?

Is there some wonderful moment when

Parents can become detached spectators in

The lives of their children and shrug,

'It's Their life,' and feel nothing?

When I was in my twenties,

I stood in a hospital corridor

Waiting for doctors to put a few stitches

In my son's head and I asked,

'When do you stop worrying?'

The nurse said,

'When they get out of the accident stage..'

My Parents just smiled faintly

And said nothing.

When I was in my thirties,

I sat on a little chair in a classroom

And heard how one of my children

Talked incessantly, disrupted the class,

And was headed for a career

Making license plates.

As if to read my mind, a teacher said,

'Don't worry, they all go through this stage

And then you can sit back,

Relax and enjoy them.'

My Parents just smiled faintly

And said nothing.

When I was in my forties,

I spent a lifetime waiting

For the phone to ring,

The cars to come home,

The front door to open.

A friend said,

'They're trying to find themselves.

'Don't worry!

In a few years, they'll be adults.

'They'll be off on their own

They'll be out of your hair'

My Parents just smiled faintly

And said nothing.

By the time I was 50,

I was sick & tired of being vulnerable.

I was still worrying over my children,

But there was a new wrinkle..

Even though they were on their own

I continued to anguish over their failures,

Be tormented by their frustrations and

Absorbed in their disappointments.

And there was nothing I could do about it.

My Parents just smiled faintly

And said nothing.

My friends said that

When my kids got married

I could stop worrying

And lead my own life.

I wanted to believe that,

But I was haunted by my parent's warm smiles

And their occasional,

'You look pale. Are you all right' ?

'Call me the minute you get home'.

Are you depressed about something?'

My friends said that

When I became a grandparent

That I would get to enjoy

The happy little voices yelling

Grandma! Papa!

But now I find that I worry

Just as much about the little kids

As the big ones.

How can anyone cope

With all this Worry?

Can it be that parents are sentenced

To a lifetime of worry?

Is concern for one another

Handed down like a torch

To blaze the trail of human frailties

And the fears of the unknown?

Is concern a curse or is it

A virtue that elevates us

To the highest form of earthly creation?

Recently, one of my own children

Became quite irritable, saying to me,

'Where were you?

I've been calling for 3 days,

And no one answered

I was worried.'

I smiled a warm smile.

The torch has been passed.

***

Last week we published a story about the magician and the parrott. The main line of the story was left off and did not appear in the column. We will start a mini-column in the News-Register this week and will begin with that story. Catch it in Saturday’s paper.

Have a great week.

God Bless