Well...this is kind of a surprise for me!  I found this Blog by some strange intervention because I do not remember starting this blog nor do I recall putting all of this together.  I must have been a busy person.  I had considered opening back my web site at jatexas.com but the URL is still for sale for $3800. US Dollars....of which I will get NONE.  Go figure!

Anyway it is September 3, 2021 and I have a few things to update but will only start with this:

We are still alive and as well as we can be having been in lockdown since our last Carnival cruise which ended Feb. 22, 2019, the day we found out about Covid 19 from our President.  We went into "Lock Down" mode at once...and have not truly come out.  It has been a trip for sure.  We have learned to mask, distance, check our temperature and O2 Sats every day and yes we learned to survive alone.  We curb side shop a lot and eat out very little.  Our next cruise is April of 2022.

The photo I will try to post is from our last cruise on the Carnival Vista taken by one of the amazing photographers on board ship.  

My bride of 47 years, Shari Angelo and me somewhere on the ship with a fake background.

More to follow!

Reflections.....on Ones Self

It has been too long since I posted.... I sure hope that there are some followers to read this.  We are both doing fine on the Upper Tx Coast and enjoying our days on the beach.  We were struck with a major setback in our old age...our big screen TV (TEE VEE as I call it)...blew up after about 5 years and we were forced to watch the bedroom one which is a 42" so life was difficult at best.  Two days later they delivered our 70" Ultra HD 4K Wizz Bang...Tee Vee, Soundbar and new UHD Blue Ray player...whew.  Life is grand again!

That being said I have had some strange things in my head which I hope will temper now that I have decided to talk about them.  Our lives together since we met in 1973 has been good.  We often, no...more than often, daily give Thanks to God for allowing us to meet, marry and be well enough to see our children grow to the fine adults that they all have become.  We had a wonderful home life, blessings too many to count but we keep trying and a working life we both enjoyed and gave lots of effort to for many years.  During those years we built our own home, raised 3 kids and are still after nearly 43 years are madly in love.   We were both lucky to retire before 60, travel in our RV for eleven years which was a year longer than we had planned, still use the motor home for short trips mostly to fish and crab locally and evacuate from the infrequent hurricane evacs.

Now, we reflect on the simple fact that from the first day we were born....we were headed to the final day of our lives.....ending in death.   Looking back, there is not much we would change.  Sometimes I am saddened by the feeling that we could have spent more time with our parents in their last months....but we did all but move in with them for their last months.  There is NEVER enough once they are gone.

These thoughts divert us to the thought that we are near the end.  We can do two things.  "Worry about the mule going blind" or take him for a walk in the pasture.  We choose the walk.  I ask God to give us the KNOWLEDGE we need to understand when it is time to stop...sit...and pray until the end.  We are not to that point yet and may never arrive there since we "know not the moment or the hour"....but are as ready as we can get. 

OUR RULES:

1.  Every hour of every day, let the other know that they are loved.
2.  Always start and end each day with a kiss and an "I love you".
3.  Live like you are dying and be proud of it.
4.  Speak (not text) the children just to say I love you....ok, sometimes text it.
5.  Pray for others daily and even those of whom you are aware are in need of prayer.
6.  Believe in the Power of God!

The rest is "fluff".....don't fret over the fluff.

The next cruise is booked for this winter....Taking the casino boat "Jacks or Better" out for a spin from Galveston soon.  Life is grand!