The World of Grandpa Don
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Back to grandkid .
A work in progress - complete but not finished |
What's New In the world of Grandpa Don On this page I have recorded what I found significant during the past week as well as my thoughts about those events and other reflections. I started doing this before the practice became popular on the internet This is my diary, written a little each day and published weekly. At times I may seem to pontificate on a subject that comes to mind during the week. I do not intend it as a demand or even a suggestion that everyone should think or act as I do. It is rather, intended to let you know what goes on in my mind ... how I am motivated to live as I do. If The World of Grandpa Don appeals to you, you are free to join me in it. Be warned, however, it is not always what some would call "The Real World". |
Week Ending Friday |
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Or to learn more of Grandpa Don and his remarkable family ...
Many of the quotes found on this page are from the daily messages I receive from Covenant House  |
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HAPPY BIRTHDAY KELLY And congratulations to my granddaughter. By her next birthday she will be an experienced driver in addition to her newly acquired skill as a Kolochky baker. It is a delight to watch all my grandchildren grow and mature into responsible adults. And ... speaking of descendants ... .We now know that the baby's room in the home of Dominick and Sarah will be pink and frilly. I will have a great granddaughter. I have suggested that they give her a name ... right now. I have been praying for her and it will be a lot easier if we can refer to her by name, even if it is a temporary one. If they don't, I will and it will be a secrete name known only to me, God, and my Great Granddaughter. (I'll tell Anne too.) Silly idea? I don't think so. See .Name the Unborn .But wait ... there is more. Sarah has been attending RCIA introduction sessions at St Julie. She has been going to her local Catholic Church with Dominick but they do not have a year around RCIA program there. I have spoken to the people who conduct the program at St Julie and they assure me that with her Christian (Lutheran) background and obvious faith in God that she will be accepted into full communion in the Catholic Church before her daughter is born. That is something that Sarah wishes very much.
I had sent the link to Name the Unborn to Dominick and Sarah. Her reply, in part, was:
Grandpa,
That is funny that you sent that link. Just yesterday Dominick had told mom
the girls name we would like to have for our new baby. Mom was telling
Dominick that she had never heard of people having names picked out before
the baby is born and kinda chuckled about the fact that we did. At least I
know we are not crazy and since our child is living and breathing I feel it
deserves a name other than "Baby." I think it is a great time to bond with
my baby and talk to her everyday! The name we chose was....
▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓▓ Just don't put the new name on the Web page...you need some of
your viewers to be surprised. I hope you have a great day!
Love, Sarah
And so, a secrete name it is, but it is a beautiful one, chosen by her parents. I love it.
But ... shame on Me! I have been so happy and feeling so good that I have become lazy and complacent. My recent visit to my GP reveled several indications that I am heading in the wrong direction ... medically, that is. Sure, my heart is in great shape but not so with other things. I have not been exercising! I have reduced my evening snacks to munching on some nuts. This has been accomplished by reducing my TV watching considerably and retiring earlier. It has shown up in reduced glucose readings when I do my morning blood sample. I was feeling a little proud of that fact. However, my afternoon test has been showing in increase in glucose. And, my weight has goon up. I MUST exercise! God has been doing His part, but I have fallen down on my part. Lets see if I can turn that around!
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Wishing to be friends is quick work, |
Sunday's homily, delivered by my friend, Deacon Bill Lubin. was an eye opener. I never understood the parable of the man who found a treasure in a field, reburied it, and sold all he had so he could buy the field. There were simply too many absurdities. First of all, he already had the treasure in his hands. Why not just keep it? But wait, that would be dishonest. The field, and therefore the treasure belonged to someone else. So he reburied the treasure and bought the field. Now it was legally his. ,But wait, isn't that a bit divisive on his part? Wouldn't it be more honest of him to notify the owner that the treasure was not very securely hidden? Maybe the owner would reward him for that. But wait, if the field's owner knew of the treasure, he would not sell the field without retrieving the treasure first, so it must have been buried by someone else ... Who's treasure was it? The questions could, and in my mind, did, go on. Bill's homily did not touch on these questions but it was presented in such a way that I realized that this sort of thinking is what kept me from faith for so long. I was trying to find the logic when I did not see the point at all. The fact of it is, that it is a parable and not subject to human logic at all. The treasure is heaven! When we discover the true existence of heaven and the reward it offers, nothing else that we have is worth holding on to because giving up our grasp on mortal possessions will give us heaven. Moreover, the value of this heavenly treasure is so great that it's ownership is moot. It is large enough to be shared by everyone and will not be exhausted in the sharing. It is just that we must be willing to relinquish everything else for it.
This of course brings us to another famous and troublesome Gospel message, the one that tells us how difficult it is for a rich man to get to heaven. A rich man is often very much attached to his possessions. It is not the possessions that are the problem but the attachment. I love my house ... my garden ... my gazebo. I am very comfortable in my big car with its comfort and all it's bells and whistles. But I know that some day I will give them up. A time will come when I can no longer drive. I will sell, or more likely give the car away. A day will come when I will no longer be able to afford to maintain the house or I will need its equity on which to live. It will be sold and much of its comfortable and familiar furnishings will also be gone. We must realize that all we have in this life ... and life it self is transitional and will eventually be gone. It is tough to let go of the familiar and even tougher when the gaining of all this "stuff" has been our life's work. But there is the mistake. Our life's work should be to prepare ourselves for heaven while we provide for our basic human needs and those of our family and others. All this "stuff" is merely the byproduct of a job well done, not the goal.
Therein lies one of the secrets of happiness. If we are attached to our possessions because they were all that we had sought ...they have become our god and their loss is monumental and a tragedy. We have lost everything that is important to us. On the other hand, if our goal is heaven and our possessions are considered to be merely gifts to be enjoyed while we have them, they are never actually even lost, but passed on in transit as the normal course of things. After all, the big reward is yet to come ... much greater than the candy we have enjoyed and far more enduring ... eternally so. Truly the ultimate treasure, a perfect pearl.
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Forgiveness is the way to true health and happiness. |
Pork chops with tomato gravy and scalloped potato was the fair at the Albano's on Sunday. It was a as delightful as the family companionship. There were stories of recent baseball games and of what goes on between games. Mikey, as always was eager to go there and visit and as eager to return home and relax. .I always enjoy a home cooked meal and keeping up with family events, the joys as well as the concerns. I also enjoy returning home, kicking off the shoes and the comfort of my lazy boy.
Monday morning was the occasion of a visit of another kind. Dr Yung removed a basal cell from the middle of my chest and another from my lower back. It was not and unpleasant visit, certainly not painful in any way. The old "saw bones" of frontier days has been replaced with a gentle doctor and effective local anesthetics along with pleasant nurses attendant to your and the doctor's every need. Frequent quires ... "are you OK?" ... "Am I hurting you?" accompany the work and the answers were "Yes" and "Not at all". I was soon on my way home with bandages applied ... paper tape of course to accommodate my sensitivity to the normal adhesive bandages and a prescription for antibiotics to ward off infection.
After lunch, I made the circuit ... gas station first, then Walgreens to drop off the prescription, and then the grocery store for about 10 day's provisions. After putting the groceries away and feeding Mikey I returned for my pills, already packaged and charged to my account. They call it "express pay". The fact is that I usually get all my meds through their mail service and so it is all charged to my credit card with the Medicaid and supplemental insurance applied.
There was a call from the parish office. A web site visitor had notified them of a problem with a particular link. Detailed information was provide so I could immediately identified the problem. It was a glitch in an interactive button, triggered by the fact that the page had been work on by two team members with different files for the same page. I had been warned about possible problems with these "interactive" buttons and had forgotten about it. I guess you could say that it was one of those unexpected problems that I should have expected. I did a search and found several applications that are used to create buttons and navigation bars. I selected SWGSOFT's package with which you can custom design you own individual buttons and "navigation bars". I had soon downloaded a free trial, saw that it was fast, easy and versatile as well as being no where near as complex as another product that i already had. The full version was purchased and I was soon absorbed in playing with my new toy. This will be a major project since every page of the parish web site will need to have the buttons replaced.
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We must make the best of those ills which cannot be avoided.
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I made (another) mistake. I am also very stupid in not realizing it beforehand. My computer calendar said I was to be at the eye doctor's office at 10:30. When I got there the door was locked. I immediately realized that I always make my eye doctor appointments for Monday and that he is at the hospital on Tuesday mornings. Sure enough when I got home and found the appointment card it was for the 9th month, not the 7th! I need to get my eyes examined! Oh well, it was a nice morning for a ride.
There was an email from Judi, my sister Rita's daughter. Her father who has multiple and serious medical problems to begin with fell and chipped his pelvic bone. He has been unable to walk and it may take another month for him to come home. In the mean time Rita's ability to walk has become more of a problem. I have been meaning to call Rita for ... well, too long. You know what it is like, time slips by and nothing happens. I did make the call and spoke to Rita for some time. I promised Rita I would pray on their behalf and she thanked me saying they need the prayers. So, I ask you to join me in asking God to ease their situation and that they have the strength to cope with the changes in their lives. May He also ease their physical pain and bring them to better health. .
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No one can sincerely try to help another without helping
himself. |
July 30, 1955. Fifty three years ago the odyssey began, a journey through life that has been amazing with some storms and many glorious events. Little did we know of what was to come, just that we were going to do it together. Maybe that is all one needs to know. We had rented a basement flat, one room with a bath room in the home of a Lawler family friend. (It flooded twice) A pull-out sofa was at one end, a kitchen table with a couple of chairs in the middle and a stove and refrigerator at the other end. "Miss Lawler" was an insurance underwriter for Meeker-Magner Co and I had just found a job as a draftsman for Western Electric. We joked that I had married her for her money. For a wedding present my mom gave us the Hudson Jet that she never learned to drive after the death on my dad. The wedding took place in the little St Christina church on Homan Ave (now a school building) It was not air conditioned and it was a sweltering hot day. I forgot the ring and Anne, Fr Donald Duffy, and all had to wait while I drove home to get it.
The photo was taken in the back yard of Anne's parent's home after the wedding. She was still able to smile! The reception was in the basement of Senora's Polish Restaurant on Archer Avenue in Chicago. After the meal, we stood aside while the tables were cleared away to make room for a dance floor and the chairs were placed along the walls. We convinced the musicians to play an extra hour because we were having too much fun to leave. But before leaving we had to open the gift envelopes to pay the band and the restaurant owner's bill. There wasn't much more than hope, trust and love, but plenty of that.
After we set sail, our odyssey continued for a few day short of forty five years. most of that can be reviewed in the chapters beginning at Becoming Domesticated . (I promise to finish the story --- some day) During the voyage there was the birth, growth, maturity of two sons and a daughter as well as the birth and growth of nine grandchildren. It is obvious to me that goals and plans are secondary to the voyage itself. It matters little where the voyage takes us in earthly terms but how we conduct ourselves to keep the ship afloat. In the final analysis, at the end of the voyage, if Hope, Trust and Love survive and thrive, little else matters. I was blessed with copious amounts of each of those gifts. Thank you Anne. Thank you God.
The following is a baseball story. But ... it is about people. It was written by Rob Hilliard, President of the Midwest Sliders and appeared on the Frontier league website:
In a season that often seems
like Homer's Iliad ... and where one long and meandering 104-day bus
ride is akin to the Greek poet's Odyssey, our Midwest Sliders have
captured a mythic moment that has little to do with wins and losses
but everything to do with love, mutual respect and the beginning of
lasting relationships.
On a hot and hazy Tuesday afternoon (July 29th to be exact), Sliders
Manager Eric Coleman called to give me "good and bad news."
"Ya' want the good news or bad news first?" asked Coleman. In a
season punctuated by heartbreaking one-run losses for a team
desperate to grab any close game and tack it onto the plus side of
the ledger, I now routinely asked for the bad news first.
"Ryley Westman's retiring," said Coleman.
A bit of panic set in ... which one wouldn't expect when facing the
loss of a back-up catcher "hitting on the Interstate." But for a
travel squad wandering through a 96-game season, you look for
stand-up guys who love the game and won't let their teammates get
too down when mental as well as physical fatigue set in and the
losses begin to mount.
It's the all-too-illusive search for team chemistry. And while two
of our objectives for the season were to gain experience in
operating an independent ball club and to identify a core group of
players who'd form the nucleus of a competitive team for our first
"regular" season, our most important goal was to go through a season
and not have guys quit or represent our organization (and community)
in any way other than with consummate professionalism.
"Ryley Westman's retiring," Eric repeated as I re-focused on what he
was saying.
"So what's the good news?" I asked.
"Ryley's been hired by the Texas Rangers to be a player development
coach for their Dominican Republic operation," came the answer.
I was overjoyed. If anyone ever deserved to go on in this game, it
was Ryley. And I was extremely pleased to see that a Major League
organization recognized his high baseball IQ, mature demeanor and
passion for the game.
Minutes after I had congratulated Ryley and went back to some other
chores, I realized I needed to call up to Traverse City again.
"Eric. Does Ryley want to retire immediately? Or does he want to
play tonight?"
"No, he wants to go tonight, drive with us to Chicago and take off
tomorrow from O'Hare."
Fast forward to 10:20 p.m., when my cell phone rings. It's Eric.
"Oh, man. You wouldn't believe it! MacFarlane goes seven, Albury
pitches the 8th and Oakes strikes out the side in the 9th for a 4-3
win. And Westman goes 3 for 3 with 2 doubles, 2 runs scored and
throws out a pair of guys trying to steal!"
My mind is racing now, as the baseball museum curator part of my
brain kicks into high gear. "Eric. Can you retrieve the big dugout
lineup card?" I ask.
"Yeah. I haven't left the field and it's still there."
I ask Eric to get the card, have all the guys sign it and bring it
home in A-1 shape. "Is Ryley there? Put him on!"
As Westman takes Eric's cell, I congratulate him and joke that he
should have been offered the job a month ago. "Thanks, boss! Thanks
for the opportunity. I know you were debating whether to even ask me
to Spring Training. And I can't thank you enough because I don't
know if this offer would have come had I been released."
Right then and there, I had to tell him what I had in mind ... to
take the signed lineup card, have it placed on kelly green matting
and placed under specially treated glass with a navy acrylic frame.
"We'll have it packed very carefully and shipped to your home in
Missouri," I said.
As he choked up, he was barely able to get out the words, "That
would mean a lot to me, boss." And, as tears welled up in my eyes, I
knew this would be one of my life's memorable moments ... realizing
yet again why I've had a lasting love affair with our national
pastime.
Yeah ... it's not whether you win or lose. It's how you play the
game!
The team bus arrived in the Chicago area about 3 am on Wednesday morning and Anthony brought Riley Westman home with him for a couple hours of sleep. The boys left at 6 am to deliver him to the airport to catch his plane. The team is in town for a few days playing the Windy City Thunderbolts in Crestwood so Anthony gets to spend a little time at home. Anne Marie called from the ball park Wednesday night at 10:20. I had been in bed since 9:30 but was watching (kind of) the Benny Goodman Story on TV. (Great music). The game was still in progress but when it did finish the Sliders were on top 9 - 6. Anthony contributed a two-run double in the fray.
My daughter was frantic when she called on Thursday afternoon. Friends, relatives, neighbors ... everyone planned to go to the baseball game in the evening and several were tailgating before the game. After the game Anthony was bringing half the team home for a late dinner. Anne Marie was on her way home from work. Joe and Marc had been sent out to buy ingredients and to start preparing and she wasn't sure how it was all going to come together of if she could go to the game. To complicate matters thunderstorms were running through the area. None-the-less the game was played but Anthony's 2 hits and RBI weren't enough in the 10 - 4 loss.
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Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that. ~ Martin Luther King, Jr. |
As I had my breakfast Friday morning, the lawn guys were doing their thing. This time, in addition to the usual, the stone borders were sprayed to get rid of immerging weeds. By the time I went out to the gazebo, all was neat and trimmed, my little piece of paradise. The red daylilies are in bloom, rich and regal looking and speaking of regal, the royal purple salvia that we planted this year are in their second bloom. I didn't expect that. The Susan climber near the patio just won't quit, having reached the top of it's trellis, it is now beginning to take the shape of a huge mushroom sending tentacles in all directions searching for something on which to climb to the sky. And, its neighbor, the more delicate climates is showing vigorous growth after catching it's breath and settling in to it's new home. Biscus (say HI! Biscus) continues to present its big orange-red tropical blossoms and all the varieties of little flowers around the trees are a delight.
The morning was quiet, peaceful and the weather was perfect There is no darkness here, and there is no hate. We try to promote light and love in the World of Grandpa Don. It just doesn't get any better than this. (But it took Anne almost 45 years to get me this way). Thanks again Anne. Thanks again God.
Grandpa Don Plefka
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Anne wanted everyone to be 'Nice'. This button was in one of her dresser drawers I cleaned out in August of 2004
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