Category: Family

49…

49 years ago, on July 24th, 1971, I married the world’s greatest woman. People used to ask Judy how she has managed to stay married to me all that time, and she used to answer, “I have a really bad memory” and we would all laugh.

Now when she is asked that same question, she responds with, “I have a really good memory…” 

I think that, maybe, my memory is better than hers…

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Is It Too Late?

I started going grey pretty early in life – in my early 20’s if I remember right. The process sped up quite a bit in my very early 30’s – about the time that my oldest child, my beloved daughter, hit 12 1/2 years of age. Not sure why that happened…

Couple that with the fact that I also have 10 younger siblings – 6 sisters (responsible for my learning to dance… Waiting for the bathroom…) and 4 brothers (at least partly responsible for me having hair because my dad gave me his and he loved me so much that he threw in Tim’s, John’s and Bob’s hair along with it).

Well, when I started going grey, I also started getting a lot of “old man” comments from my brothers. I never stopped getting them until this happened:

When It did happen, I decided to take the high road and not seek revenge on the perpetrators. Rather, I attempted to be encouraging, supportive and helpful.

Don’t worry, Tim, you’re not losing hair, you’re gaining face…

Bob, it’s not that bad – you hair isn’t receding, it’s just moving down to your back…

Hey John, just think how easy it will be to find you with a flash light if you ever get lost in a deep cave… Even if the search party doesn’t see you directly, they can still find you by the reflection of the light off your head onto the ceiling… 

I’m such a good brother.

Truth be told, there was a brief period when I seemed to be finding my hair in combs, brushes, drains, and pillowcases, etc.. I don’t know if it was a seasonal or environmental thing, but I wanted to be encouraging to my brothers, not join them in their folliclessness… 

I found some stuff that’s advertised to arrest your hair from falling out. Not sure if it works, but I noticed that whatever hair loss I was experiencing stopped dead when I started using it. 

And now, decades later…

Oh… Hey guys! I forgot to tell you about this stuff:

Is it too late?

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* (You may be wondering “what about your other brother? Is he OK?

Well, actually, yes. He was too young to make verbal attacks on my hair color at the time, so he seems to have been spared the hair loss thing. Good for you, Jimmy!)

 

Another Successful Shopping Season For Santa Bill

Christmas shopping done!!!

Yes, once again, I have completed my Christmas shopping weeks before the blessed event takes place!

Message to giftees:

  • There are 15 people on my shopping list
  • There are 19 gifts bought and paid for
  • Each of you recipients pick one, in order of how much you love me, most to least
  • I get the leftovers

AND…

… I saved enough money to buy that boat I’ve had my eyes on!

Merry Christmas!

This Day, July 24, A Day That Will Live In Famy

Infamy  (Noun, Plural infamies)

The state of being known for some bad quality or deed: A day that will live in infamy

  • An evil or wicked act: one of history’s greatest infamies

Today, July 24, a day that will live, not in Infamy, but in Famy (I’m thinking that Famy would be the opposite of Infamy).

That being the case:

Famy (Noun, Plural Famies)

The state of being known for some perfectly excellent quality or deed: A day that will live in famy

  • A good or perfectly excellent act: One of history’s greatest famies 

(No, there is no actual English word, famy. Yes, I made up the definition.) See all the RED underlines?)

So, let’s look at some pretty impressive things that happened on this date, July 24, in history, shall we?

  • 1132 Battle of Nocera between Ranulf II of Alife and Roger II of Sicily 
  • 1411 Battle of Harlaw, one of the bloodiest battles in Scotland, takes place
  • 1487 Citizens of Leeuwarden, Nethernakds, rebel against ban on foreign beer
  • 1534 Jacques Cartier lands in Canada, claims it for France
  • 1567 Mary Queen of Scots is forced to abdicate; her 1-year-old son becomes King James VI of Scots
  • 1577 Spanish army/German mercenaries conquer Namur
  • 1577 Treason of Don Juan in Brussels
  • 1581 States of Holland/Zealand recognized by Wiliam of Orange
  • 1701 Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac founds trading post at Ft Pontchartrain, which later becomes the city of Detroit
  • 1824 Harrisburg Pennsylvanian newspaper publishes results of 1st public opinion poll, with a clear lead for Andrew Jackson
  • 1832 Benjamin Bonneville leads the first wagon train across the Rocky Mountains by Wyoming’s South Pass
  • 1833 HMS Beagle departs Maldonado Uruguay
  • 1847 Rotary-type printing press patents by Richard March Hoe, NYC 
  • 1851 Window tax abolished in Britain
  • 1866 Tennessee becomes 1st Confederate state readmitted to Union
  • 1870 1st trans-US rail service begins
  • 1911 Cleve’s League Park hosts 1st unofficial ML All Star game (benefit game for Addie Joss’ family). Cleveland Naps lose to All Stars 5-3
  • 1911 American explorer Hiram Bingham discovers Machu Picchu, the Lost City of the Incas
  •  1915 Excursion ship Eastland capsizes in Lake Michigan, 852 die
  • 1929 NY to SF foot race ends (2½ months) winner is 60 year old Monteverde
  • 1936 118°F (48°C), Minden, Nebraska (state record)
  • 1941 Red Sox Lefty Grove, 41, wins his 300th game
  • 1949 Indian pitcher Bob Lemon hits 2 HRs to beat Senators, 7-5
  • 1951 Edward Gomes is born
  • 1953 KEYT TV channel 3 in Santa Barbara, CA (ABC) begins broadcasting
  • 1959 500,000th Dutch TV set registered
  • 1961 Beginning of a trend, a US commercial plane is hijacked to Cuba
  • 1961 Roger Maris hits 4 home runs, in a doubleheader
  • 1965 Bob Dylan release “Like a Rolling Stone”
  • 1967 The Beatles sign a petition in Times to legalize marijuana
  • 1968 Hoyt Wilhelm’s 907th breaks Cy Young’s record for pitching appearances
  • 1969 Apollo 11 returns to Earth
  • 1972 Jigme Singye Wangchuk becomes king of Bhutan at 16
  • …

There are too many events to list everything, but I think you get the picture. 

There is, however, one event that happened on this date in 1971 which, to my mind anyway, blows past all of these events combined. And it is the one thing that qualifies for the description of “Famy“ (as defined above). 

July 24, 1971 Judith Joy French becomes Judith Joy Kammerer.

Happy Anniversary to you, my loving, beautiful, amazing, spectacular, awesome, groovy wife…

wedding party

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