Jack’s Winning Words 5/26/17
“I remember the time I knew what happiness was.  Let the memory live again.”  (Lloyd Webber)  Have you ever seen/heard the musical, Cats?  One of its great songs is, “Memory.”  I can imagine it now..the words..the tune.  Of course, Monday is Memorial Day, a day when some of you will walk through a cemetery..and remember, or look at a picture..and remember.  What a great gift is the ability to recall, and what a great loss when not.  “Memory..” (sing along with link)!    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-L6rEm0rnY      ;-)  Jack

FROM ST PAUL IN ST PAUL:  a quote from Rabbi Harold Kushner:  memories is one thing that death cannot take away.====JACK:  So..."Let the memory live again."  Choose one...right now!  Isn't it great to be able to do that?====SP:  how true.  btw,  one of my favorite memories from Michigan days was being asked to do an invocation down by the Sylvan Lake Boat Club memorial day morning.  there was a band,  a fly-over (small plane that dropped fresh flowers into the lake), a short speech or two, and lot of good people from the community,  some of whom attended SLLC.  we were young then and in our prime.  all good memories!

FROM LBP SOON TO BE IN K-ZOO:  That may have been the first musical I saw. I used to know all the songs.====JACK:  I like the religious undertone of Lloyd Webber's compositions.====LBP: Ed sheeran What do I know?"  Just heard it. Worth looking up :)====JACK:  I, too, looked him up.  Lots to read.  I liked the lyrics to "What Do I Know."  Especially..."We could change the world in a moment with a piano, a bass, a guitar, a beat and love.  But, what do I know?"

FROM HONEST JOHN:  We always went to the graves when I was a kid.    Mary Lou and I were up in Saginaw two weeks ago and decorated her parents' graves.   Mine are buried in Moline Memorial (used to be Valhalla) so I don't get to them.   We plant a flower here each year to honor our parents.   I think we need to do those things.====JACK:  What a great idea...to plant a flower each year to honor your parents!  Valhalla...the great hall in Norse mythology where heroes who die are received.  IMO, something is lost when a burial place named, Valhalla, is changed to Memorial Park.  My memories of Decoration Day include going to Galesburg to visit the graves of the grandparents I never met... and bringing peonies to place on the graves.====JOHN:  That's interesting...we always brought peonies to the graves, also....they bloom about this time of year....one memory Zi have of Memorial Day is listening to the Indy  500 on the radio.====JACK:  Indy's not the same when it's not on Memorial Day.  Son David and I once attended the event.  It's certainly different in person, both inside and outside of the track.

FROM PEPPERMINT MARY:  I never saw "cats",but I know the music.  Beth and Thom saw it when they visited Auntie Pat on their own. they were middle schoolers and it made a big imprint on them.====JACK: I hope that you played the "Memory" link attached to the WWs.  I could see you doing that song.====MARY: I did and sang and hummed it all day long.

FROM OUTHOUSE JUDY:  How wonderful it is to remember those special memories!  The song is a classic too.====JACK:  One of the benefits of aging is the chance to pile up more memories... especially the good ones.

FROM COPPER COUNTRY BOB:  I bet I’ve shared this with you before, but it is worth repeating.
When Ronda died the Jewish Rabbi at Chicago used this analogy.    If you get your toe cut off by a lawnmower but if you pick it up and go to the hospital where the surgeon sews it back on.....  what has the surgeon done?   He has re---membered your body and made you whole.  That has had a powerful impact upon my understanding of Holy Communion.     I am a member of Christ’s family, often cut off by sin but  I recall the Christ who comes to re-member me and make me whole. ====JACK:  No, I hadn't heard that story before...nor did I hear how the rabbi became involved.  In Merrill, a funeral director told me of a man who wanted his amputated leg buried in his cemetery plot so he would have it with him at the resurrection.

FFROM CHESTER THE GOOD:  Applause, Applause!====JACK:  What's with the apple sauce?