Winning Words 5/31/13
“You don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone.”  (Arlo)  Do you read the comic, Arlo and Janis?  Jimmy Johnson has designed the strip to appeal to baby boomers.  I wonder how old you have to be to realize the value of the here and now?  Today will be gone tomorrow.  I’m in the process of cleaning out the basement, and I’ve come across things that have brought back some good memories.  My old tennis racquet….    ;-)  Jack

 FROM MICHIZONA RAY:  I think it is true. Kierkegaard said that understanding occurs through reflection -- meaning that we really understand something as we look back on it. While you're swimming in the pool, the experience of being wet doesn't truly occur until you get out of the water. Life wouldn't seem as immediately significant if death didn't exist along side it. Otherwise we could put life off until tomorrow. The temporality of a thing makes for its appreciation. I like Solomon's take on this as he considered all his power, wealth, and wisdom, and how it served no enduring authority -- enjoy one's blessings that one has because, in the end, as great a king as he was, he will lay dead right next to the fool.====JACK:  I like these words from the Bible (Ecclesiastes 1):  "Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity.  One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever.  The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose.  The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to his circuits.  All the rivers run into the sea; yet the sea is not full; unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again.  The thing that hath been, it is that which shall be; and that which is done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun.  Is there any thing whereof it may be said, See, this is new? it hath been already of old time, which was before us.  There is no remembrance of former things; neither shall there be any remembrance of things that are to come with those that shall come after."

 FROM WALMART REV:  ...just cleaned out at least a four or five foot stack of filed papers on many subjects from my file cabinet these past two days...all kinds of themes and programs I did and would work on if asked to over the years...haven't needed to nor touched them in quite a number of years...thinking I won't be in need of them any longer...someone else won't have to throw them away for me in the future. It did bring back a lot of memories of the churches and pastors I've gotten them from...even a few from the Holy Spirit Lutheran Church, West Bloomfield, MI...you remember that one, Jack...the "Charismatic church" with the dove?! I think I remember the story as someone asking you about that...and you sent them on down the road to the Assemblies of God church.====JACK:  Just like our files need to be cleaned out and reorganized once in a while, so do our minds need occasional reorganization.  "Remembering" helps that to happen.  I do remember recommending your A of G church to a woman who was looking for a "charismatic" congregation (and pastor)

 FROM SHARIN' SHARON:  Just spent quite a long time on the phone last night trying to offer solace to a friend whose mother-in-law died. The problem is there is now a whole lot of crap going on with regard to the will and family relations are in disarray and considerable pain and hurt. My hope, with my friend, is that previous happier times were really truly real and happy and now it is grief speaking that, in the end won't prevail over the truth that love exists in that family, love for my friend. That their previous relationships weren't some big lie or pretense or something. Pray and hope that healing will come and just advise her not to do anything rash but trust God in this. Thanks for your WW.====JACK:  "What a friend we have in Jesus, all our sins and griefs to bear."  Martin Luther said that we are to be as "little Christs" in this world.  You were there for your friend who needed to bear her grief to you.  Thank you for being a Christopher (a Christ bearer).

 FROM RP IN MICHIGAN:  So true and so real.====JACK:  I understand.

 FROM HONEST JOHN:  What did you play with?    I had A Wilson Jack Kramer.====JACK:  Kramer was a great player.  Mine is a Wright & Ditson, still with its original strings put in by Bill Gustafson at Temple's in Moline.  (Bill was the last of the male-only cheerleaders at MHS, before Jolene came along and broke the glass ceiling).  BTW, the racquet is still in its press and ready for a game.  However, I'm not! ====HJ:  My high school racquet is long gone....there have been many since then....I played in a lot of leagues here in the area....until I was in my 50s and began to only play with my kids....Now I hit about five or six times a year....too many other things that I am doing that take up my time....I remember the old Wright and Ditsons....great racquets....There was also a Spalding Pancho Gonzales that was a good racquet...And, yes, I loved Jack Kramer as a player....had my pix taken in front of his when i attended the US Open in NYC....that, by the way, was a really neat experience....

 FROM RI IN BOSTON:  Probably a lot of us when rummaging through our storage areas have come across our first tennis racquet...with a wood frame that was strung with natural gut.  Regrettably, in my case, I keep coming up with the new racquet that I bought some years ago, and that doesn't get any more use than the "antique" from my youth, that my parents gave me.====JACK:  I still have the first drafting tools I used when I had other life directions in mind.====RI:  Maybe you chose the better direction.  I read recently something about the graduate degrees least in demand, and architecture was right up there near the top. ====JACK:  I know of some architects who were able to take advantage of their degree.

 FROM OUTHOUSE JUDY:  Joni Mitchell used those words in one of her songs.  As we age, I think we appreciate more and more the "things" we have....our health, our family, our friends, kindness, our pasts even, and most of all, God's Grace.  We realized we are reaching the stage of our lives where we do appreciate each and moment.====JACK:  Two grandchildren will be graduating from high school in a week.  I hope that they will be able to remember and appreciate their high school experiences as much as I do mine.====JUDY: Oh yes, my high school days were wonderful....I played every sport...softball, basketball, volleyball, field hockey, badminton...was on Homecoming Court, had tons of friends, tutored in downtown Detroit, was in Girl Scouts, oh just had a wonderful time.  I pray they enjoyed it AND learned something too.

 FROM BS:  Is your tennis racket in a wooden press?====JACK:  You must be using Skype, because the racquet is beside my chair "in its wooden press" ready for a set or two at Wimbledon.====BS:  I had one just like it-------do you have Skype?====JACK:  No Skype...yet.

 FROM MM IN FLORIDA:  Don't forget to watch The Ultimate Gift ====JACK:  Another gift story that I like is O. Henry's, Gift of the Magi.

 FROM DOCTOR J IN OHIO:  did you come across the wicker bug???====JACK:  In fact, I have two of them and slip them into my granddaughters' beds when they come to visit.  Somehow, those bugs seem to fly back into my bed.

 FROM TAMPA SHIRL:  Good luck  with your basement.  In Florida we have garages that always have to be cleaned out.  We used to be able to get two cars in. Now it's a collection of balls, beach stuff, lawn stuff, bicycles, and just plain stuff.  A few tennis rackets, and a pogo stick, too.====JACK:  Do you :"pogo" after that guy on his 3-wheeler?  I can just imagine it....

 FROM HR IN MICHIGAN:  That quote is from Joni Mitchell’s song Big Yellow taxi. One of my favorites when in college. Her, Judy Collins and Carole King. I met King in 2008 at a home in West Bloomfield. I was star struck, and like a stammering fool, and couldn’t say anything intelligent to her. I said the most stupid thing you could say. We both got out of our cars at the same time and I told her who she was. I said, ”you're Carole King” and she smiled and said “yes I am”. I couldn’t have been more embarrassed.

They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
With a pink hotel, a boutique
And a swinging hot SPOT
Don't it always seem to go
That you don't know what you've got
'Til it's gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot

They took all the trees
And put them in a tree museum
Then they charged the people
A dollar and a half just to see 'em
Don't it always seem to go,
That you don't know what you've got
'Til it's gone
They paved paradise
And put up a parking lot
 ====JACK:  Why does the brain stop working and the mouth keep working at the most inopportune times?

  FROM JK IN CALIFORNIA:  I remember you and Jeanne going to Stanges park to play Tennis whenever you visited Merrill. :)====JACK:  It was Nicole, when she was on the Bluejay's tennis team... and the old racquet did it's stuff.

 FROM BLAZING OAKS:  THIS IS OFTEN TRUE, BUT AS WE AGE, WE SAVOR SPECIAL TIMES AND PLACES MUCH MORE DEEPLY, AND CERTAINLY OUR FAMILY AND FRIENDS, AS  WE BEAR SOME LOSSES!!  AMAZING THAT SO MANY (METOO) HAVE OUR OLD TENNIS RACQUETS WITH THE WOODEN PRESSES, AS  WELL AS  MORE MODERN ONES. DID YOU EVER PLAY  IN THE MAURITZ JOHNSON CUP  TOURNEY AT RIVERSIDE?  JAN AND I BOTH PLAYED IN IT, AS DID PAT TILLBERG, BUT NEVER  WON THE  CHAMPIONSHIP. MY BROTHER (79) STILL PLAYS DOUBLES IN THE OLD MEN'S LEAGUE...I'VE GRADUATED TO OCCASIONAL GOLF ROUNDS!!====JACK:  I used the Wright & Ditson when I played tennis with Pat at Stephen's Park.  I never thought that I was good enough to enter the MJ Tourney.  My golf clubs were hot items years ago at a Rummage Sale. 

 FROM PEPPERMINT MARY:  reminds me of that great joni mitchell song..."don't it always seem to go that you don't know what you've got til it's gone...they paved paradise and put up a parking lot" ====JACK:  What a descriptive line..."They paved Paradise and put up a parking lot."  They tore down a house where I once lived and made a parking lot, but they couldn't wreck my memories.