This conversation I am initiating has no real plan - I just wanted to reflect on a few things that I haven't been able to do for a while. Due to the fact I have limited space to work and a lot of distractions in the house, I haven't been able to write as much although I probably should have. This sort of makes up for that in regard to the fact that I need to keep things going and active, and this is the way to do it. Let us begin some small retrospections until my creative juices kick in (along with a cup of Southern Pecan flavored coffee with Italian sweet cream - a good way to start the day, by the way!).
With the whole COVID-19 situation, it has been an interesting couple of months - having to wear masks everywhere you go, the whole social distancing stuff, and the fact that only a couple of weeks ago we were able to attend Mass at our parish church again. Fortunately, no one in our house caught COVID (at least that we know about!) and for the most part it has been a challenging but somewhat good series of events. I know, for instance, that there are some who had issues with Trump's generous stimulus plan, and if you do, that is your problem. Personally, it has been a real blessing for our household, in that we have not only been able to keep up our regular expenses, but we have even managed to get a few things in the house we have been needing for some time - our finches have a new cage, the bunny's new cage is on the way as I write this, and we got our storage shed outside. The $1200 that our good President gave us each has been a big boost to our personal economy. In addition, due to being unable to work in my industry, I have a good unemployment package supplemented generously by the stimulus plan passed by our leaders, and that has really helped us out. A lot of our old debt was eliminated as a result, and we were able to get some stuff done around the house that was long overdue. Therefore, in many aspects, the current pandemic situation has been a blessing to us, and thanks be to God for that. Unfortunately, the recent string of riots in response to George Floyd's death at the hands of a bad cop has caused a national stink, and that has me somewhat concerned, so I wanted to very briefly address that as it's an issue I will be dealing with later on in lieu of the overarching picture.
George Floyd's death frankly should not have happened. Yes, the guy was a lowlife and a criminal, but he did nothing deserving of death - a lengthy prison sentence would have been sufficive enough for him. And, the cop who did the killing, Derek Chauvin, is as big of a lowlife as Floyd was, and his conviction for possible first-degree murder is a just conviction. We all agree that Chauvin was a dirtbag cop, and that Floyd was unjustly murdered, and I don't think anyone would dispute that. But, here is where the issue got a bit touchy - Floyd's murder at the hands of a dirtbag cop caused a more violent reaction when a group of thugs, radicals, and anarchists - we call them Black Lives Matter and Antifa - started a series of riots beginning in Minneapolis, where the incident took place, and then spreading to cities around the country. Antifa, frankly, is a terrorist organization, and its partner in crime, BLM, is equally suspect in that - the President rightly called Antifa a domestic terrorist group, and he made a good call on that. As of late, they have taken to vandalizing statues and monuments (even Gandhi and MLK have suffered desecration at the hands of these terrorists), and in an ultimate act of insanity, they recently cordoned off a section of Seattle and declared their own "nation" called the Capital Hill Autonomous Zone (or CHAZ for short), and are seeking to colonize other cities with CHAZ outposts. I won't get into all the details of this now, but to summarize these are terrorists - many of whom are Marxists - who are causing a lot of chaos in our nation, and I am in favor of brute force to bring them down. In my personal opinion, if they want an independent "nation," let them have it - I say good riddance to that riff-raff. Like I said, those are my basic thoughts on the issue, although I have more to elaborate on at another time. For now, that gives at least an idea of my feelings on the subject.
Moving onto lighter subject matter, I wanted to reflect on a few things I have come across in the past couple of months, in that they are some personal revelation concerning my path forward. Being 50 years old now is still a bit to grasp - I now have AARP membership, for crying out loud! And, although I say "lighter" in comparison to the COVID-19 issue and the whole Antifa/CHAZ thing, it is actually quite serious. We are in the process of stepping out onto a new threshold in our lives, as Barb and I have come to some important decisions together. One of those is finally getting my mother out of our house. For those that know me, I didn't have one of the best childhoods, and the story of that is best left for another day as well, but my mother was not the model parent and she has never been all that supportive of me either. Yet, six years ago she managed to end up living with us (against my better judgment honestly), and lately she has been causing some major problems. I will not go into the detail of that, but essentially those things led to her move out of our home. It is time Barbara and I claimed our lives back and my mother was a suppressive force in us doing that, so she needed to go. Thankfully, she is a veteran, so the VA has her covered for most of her needs, meaning she will be fine and probably in better condition. Also, the move may benefit her as well - she needs a level of independence for herself she can't have here, and for all of us it is the best solution. I only pray it goes smoothly, as she didn't receive the news well when we gave it to her, but there are no regrets. At some point, I will share some insights in regard to that, as I know others have similar issues with "problem parents," and it is something I feel I could hopefully be an encouragement to others in sharing my story at the appropriate time. For those reading this, I ask for your prayers, and if you are reading this in the future when all the details have played out, thank you for your prayers and support and encouragement.
Many factors have compelled me to reassess my life recently - the issues with my mother, our accident back in 2016 which almost took our lives, and many other things - and it has compelled me as well to start reflecting on many things. At a half-century of life now, I am at a new place - although many memories of my younger days seem fresh, it is shocking to think how long ago most of it really was. It seems like only yesterday, for instance, that Barb and I got married (in reality it has been 28 years!), and it also seems like yesterday that I was still a struggling college student working on my Bachelor's (which I earned in 1996, 24 years ago). I also just passed my 31st anniversary of graduating high school, and have been doing administrative office work for the better of 22 years. More of a shock is how many people I knew who are now gone onto their eternal reward - at age 50, I only have one grandparent left, that being my 95-year-old grandfather. As overall healthy as he is, he may make it to 100 - time will tell. Then, as I was reflecting on my journal entries that led to these blogs, I have been doing a consistent journal now for just under 24 years. Then, there is my music collection - on October 1st, I will have been collecting vintage big band records for 38 years! It has also been 20 years now since I became Catholic, and 34 since becoming a Christian as a whole - 34 years on February 9th that has passed since I was baptized. Many things that I used to think were a milestone for only being a couple of years have now landmarked at over 20 - where has the time gone?? Stuff like that is what I have been thinking of as of late.
In moving back to this area only 3 years ago, we have also been able to explore some old places over the past couple of years, and the change is evident. Kirby, WV, where I spent a large part of my childhood, is now a ghost town practically, as the old Grassy Lick School where I went to elementary school is now closed and in its location a local community center has opened, maintained by local volunteers. Our old trailer from those years, which was a 5-minute walk from the school, is no longer there, and Cox's Store has closed down. We have made many trips over to Hampshire County in the past couple of years, and many things there have indeed changed, but much has remained the same - the backroads still look pretty much like they did 40 years ago, and some landmarks such as the Rio Mall (where I began my record collection back in 1982) are still there as well. The Rio Mall outlasted many of the people we used to know there years back. Also, a major benefit of moving back here - although we live in Hagerstown, MD, a good hour and a half from Hampshire County - is enjoying old culinary favorites - longhorn cheese and stick pepperoni from the general stores, Utz Chips, Frozen Run birch beer, and Fox's Pizza. It is also good to travel on those roads - in particular US 50 - that we had been on for many years, and I missed a lot of those old towns such as Mount Storm, Scherr, Aurora, Red House, Gorman, and the various communities in my home counties of Preston and Tucker such as Thomas, Davis, Silver Lake, Rowlesburg, Terra Alta, Kingwood, etc., as well as the place of my birth, Parsons, and my hometown of Hendricks. I actually have a lot of personal history in the four hours between Morgantown, WV, and Baltimore, and I live right in the middle of everything here. And, not all the bad from our 27 years of Florida exile is lost either - within a couple of hours of us are Baltimore, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC. In those places are the specialty shops I identify with on a lot of my cuisine - there are Indian stores, Italian delis, Middle Eastern groceries, and Ethiopian markets within a 70-mile distance, and Philly even has Georgian cuisine readily available. And the Amish markets - we are within a short distance of Lancaster here, so visiting "Amish Country" is relatively easy to do now, not to mention large Amish markets here in Hagerstown and elsewhere in the region. We live as well within a reasonable distance of four states 0 Virginia is only 25 miles south of us, my native West Virginia is only a few miles away, and if you go an equally short few miles out of town, you are in Pennsylvania - a couple of more hours out, you have Delaware and the beach, and also those succulent Chesapeake Bay oysters! Despite some challenges, life is good here, and I have no regrets moving back except for maybe the job commute - the job market in Hagerstown is not the best, and many of my work projects have actually been in Frederick, some 25 miles away. But, that too can change thankfully. This gives you an idea of how life is now, and how in many ways it is a revisitation of my past - I fondly remember the good aspects of my past, but also it has been somewhat difficult to face some painful things as well, but also vital. We are beginning though to establish roots, and that leads to some other aspects of my discussion now.
Last year, the leasing office in our park we live in extended to us an opportunity to purchase this home we live in now, and enthusiastically we began pursuing it. We are in the process of completing the paperwork now, and will submit it once Mother is moved out and we can more actively plan. Home ownership has eluded us for many years - along with other things that have eluded us - and this is something we cannot pass up. It is a nice place too, and we have much potential for really developing it into the home we desire, especially with the dead-weight of Mother out of the picture. Home ownership also means permanent roots now, as we are here to stay - those big moves, including the monumental one that got us here, are becoming too much of a challenge for us, and I don't think we could make another large move like that honestly. In addition to home ownership, we are also sending out other roots now too - I am a commissioned Maryland Notary Public now, as well as recently being made a 4th-Degree Knight of Columbus, and we also are an active part of our parish church, St. Joseph in Hagerstown, where we are involved in a variety of capacities. Additionally, I have a Master's degree now, and am starting a doctorate in less than two months, which I want to now devote some discussion to.
It was approximately 22 years between the time I got my Bachelor's (1996) and the time I earned my Master's (2018), and honestly, I am coming to the terminal degree, my Ph.D., almost too late. The road to getting my Ph.D. was a somewhat bumpy one, in that originally the plan was to attend Catholic University of America. Unfortunately, I didn't get in, and it was a huge and disappointing blow to me when I got the rejection letter in February. However, upon careful research and counsel from my parish priest and others, I decided to give Liberty University a try, and I was accepted into their Ph.D. in History program a couple of months back. Liberty was not my first choice to wrap up almost 50 years of formal education, but it ended up being the best option. And, the process went amazingly smooth - I was accepted quite quickly, and I got full financial aid to start, and on August 24th I begin my first term. A Ph.D. in History will more or less give me a broad diversity in my training which consists of an undergraduate specialty in Church Ministries, a graduate specialization in Catechetics, and now a doctoral emphasis in the field of History. I still could use some more specific Catholic training in some areas I know, but all in good time - I have a breaking decision I will talk about at a later date in regard to that. Any rate, it is still somewhat surreal to grasp that I am officially beginning doctoral work after all these years, and it promises to be a busy time the next 3 years or so. But, we can do it, and I have an anticipation about getting started.
That pretty much reflects on what has been happening in my life as of late, and hopefully I didn't lose you reading this as I rambled about mentally in my thoughts while writing this. I will be attempting to catch up on some projects as I have research to do for some important insights I want to share in the coming months, so bear with me. Thanks again for visiting, and we will be back to chat again soon.
