Pappa Hardy’s Musings on Life.

Well, no one reads blogs anymore, as for some reason they seem to have become no longer relevant. However, having said that, my campaign for city council has turned into a sign war. Signs are popping up all over Payson like mushrooms, and I am adding to the debris. I find myself looking at locations, saying to myself, “My sign would look good there”, or “I wonder who I need to talk to about putting a sign there”. Morning, noon, and night I am thinking about signs. Sign here, sign there, sign everywhere. Can I trade someone something for a sign. This is getting ridiculous. Well, some may say that man makes the sign, or signs make the man, but as for me, they are giving me a headache. I am looking to the time when I no longer worry about campaign signs.

I have been doing some thinking lately about the march of time. Days come and go, they march by sometimes quickly, sometimes slowly, but always marching. As I have marched, I see less and less of my fellow marchers, as they drop off because of this or that ailment. I myself have a few challenges. Yet, amidst all of this, I do have things that keep me busy, and people that keep me company and march with me. Most of all I am so grateful for my beloved wife, who has marched at my side for all of these years. I can’t imagine life without her, and should she go before I, I know I will know and understand true loneliness. I love her deeply. So, the sands of time move us on in our journey, pushing us, swallowing us, and sometimes burying us, but as long as we have others, the march is bearable.

Today we went to the hospital and Julie had some knee surgery. It was a testimony to modern medical miracles on the one hand, and to the incredible cost of medicine on the other. It was a very impressive display. In any event, Julie’s knee will hopefully be better in the future.

Well, as the Beatles used to sing, “They say it’s your birthday”. Today is mine. Birthdays to me are a double edged sword. I don’t like people to remember them. That must be because I don’t want to grow old. At work, I would rather no one know, or pay special attention to my birthday. The bank was good today at remembering. I am touched, yet I also wish they didn’t know. I do like those loved ones of mine to remember my birthday, but I am historically bad at remembering others birthdays. Maybe that is why I don’t want mine to be remembered, because I have such a guilty conscience when it comes to these things. It is getting worse as I am getting older.

Long story short, today is a day much like any other day, but it is the day that we celebrate my coming into this world. I am glad to be here.

First Day back to work. Oh, it never pays to leave in my profession. You go to work, the work starts to pile on, and alas, none of the stuff you worked so hard to make sure got done while you were gone actually got done. It is just a never ending mess. I sometimes think I should have stayed home.

That little ditty of a title describes our return home today. I always hate coming home the worst, because the fun and anticipation of the vacation is over, and you know that tomorrow you have to go back to work. I worried about that all day long, but finally we are back to home sweet home and now we can get on with life. Home Again, home again, jiggity jig.

American History came alive for me today. We drove up to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, and visited the historic Gettysburg National Military Park. It was fascinating to drive around the fields, realizing that 143 years ago soldiers were engaged in pitched battles that decided the fate of the Civil War and changed the course of our nation’s history.

It was especially interesting to stand atop of Little Big Top, and look over the fields. All of a sudden, the battle lines, the locations of different brigades and battles all of a sudden made sense for me. It was a revelation about American History. It makes me grateful for who we are and how we came to be. I am proud to be an American.

Spent some time today at Mt. Vernon. This was the home of George Washington. It was a wonderful afternoon because we had a chance to follow the life of the Father of the Country. George Washington was a wonderful person, at least from the exhibits we saw. That time in the history of the nation was truly a time of sacrifice to see the launch of this nation. I am grateful for the role that our founders played in the development of this nation.

It was a hot, humid, and steamy day though. I am so wishing that it was a month later from a weather standpoint. This has been a good trip, at least for me. I hope that the fellow travelers are having a good time too.

Yesterday we spent more time in hot, humid, Washington DC. We were on what is known as the mall. It is a beautiful area of the Nations Capitol, and is home of many wonderful museums. We first went to the US Holocaust Museum. It was a sobering experience to revisit the Holocaust and the killing of 6 million Jews during World War II. After walking across a wind drenched mall, we next spent a little time in the Natural History Museum.

Next came my favorite place. I love space, and we went to the National Air and Space Museum. It was wonderful and I enjoyed that visit immensely. I don’t think I shall ever tire of the exploration of space. It just hit me that I will never make that trip. I am sad about that, but yet, I still love this place.

We spent the balance of the day at my cousins home being fed and having a good discussion.

I watched the launch of the Space Shuttle tonight. I will never tire of watching the shuttle as it climbs to orbit, a view of the shuttle being provided by a camera on the external tank. Especially of note for me was that Barbara Morgan, the teacher that was Christa McAullife’s backup on Challenger was on this flight.