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Many people believe in "luck" but don't really believe they are "lucky." I've survived fires, floods, and car accidents and almost drowned twice. When I was a teenager, I walked into a store and saw a man using a knife to rob the owner. I turned and ran and was stabbed in the back. The police arrived, arrested the thief and drove me to the hospital, where I was "stitched up." I'm a survivor, even though I could have died a dozen times. Moku was a rabbit. He would have been an...
Christmas is the best time and the worst time. If you have a family, children, loved ones, friends, Christmas is the best, happiest time of the year. If you are alone, it is a sad, painful, depressing time. Making new friends and finding new companions is very difficult. Apparently the best places for seniors to find new mates is Botswana and Iceland. I don't think anyone wants to travel to Botswana or Iceland to find a mate. Two million seniors in Canada will spend Christmas...
My mother tried to abort me twice and failed. The day she went into labor, she was found digging a grave for me in the hog shed. My grandfather dragged her to the hospital where I was born. She refused to feed me, and my grandmother made formula for me with maple syrup, coffee and canned evaporated milk. We lived in a tar-paper shack that had been a chicken coop. It didn't have electricity or water. We lived with a mattress on a dirt floor and had bed bugs. Our only light was...
Rabbit was hopping around in the newly fallen snow. Life was good; life was perfect. As he hopped around the trunk of a big tree, he came nose to nose with a coyote. They were both so surprised neither of them moved. Rabbit knew that coyote could eat him in two or three bites. He knew he couldn't outrun the coyote. He was doomed. Coyote had been out hunting for food in the deep snow but hadn't expected to come nose to nose with a rabbit. "Hello Friend," the rabbit said,...
God created the Earth and everything in it, and He put Adam in charge. Apparently, the millions of animals had mates, but Adam did not have a mate. In Genesis 2:18, God said, "It is not good that man should be alone, I will make him a help mate for him." And God created Eve, and we all know what happened next. God didn't mean for us to be alone, and yet, because people are living longer than ever, they end up outliving their mates by eight to ten years and spend their old age...
The very word "Christmas" either brings a smile to our faces or stabs our hearts with a sword. It is both the best time and the worst time of the year. If we are fortunate enough to spend Christmas with family, friends, loved ones, then it is the happiest time of the year. If we are alone, it is the worst time of the year. My children live thousands of miles away. Sadly, most of my close friends have died. I was facing another Christmas alone. I spent last Christmas alone and...
My daughter, Storm, has an incredible memory. She can remember everything I ever did that was wrong. Recently she reminded me of an incident that happened when she was a teenager. It was late at night and I remembered I needed some cash for something I had to do the next morning. I didn't want to drive to the bank alone to use the ATM machine so asked my daughter to go with me. She was ready for bed, wearing pajamas with cows jumping over the moon printed on them and house...
OK, Scrooge didn't save the world but it is hard to think of Christmas without thinking about Scrooge. In 1843, Charles Dickens didn't realize when he wrote "A Christmas Carol" that 175 years later people would still love the story. We can sympathize with Scrooge, he had a horrible childhood, he was orphaned, his sister died, he lost the woman he loved . . . we can understand why he turned into a bitter, miser who only loved money. Then comes redemption. He changes, he has a...
When I was five years old, my twelve-year-old cousin, who was a bully and who teased and tormented me without mercy, pushed me into the river. I couldn't swim and would have drowned but a man who was fishing nearby saw what happened, jumped into the river and saved me. This left me with a life long fear of water. When I was eight-years-old, I was in a car with three uncles and two aunts. We were on a country road, and as we crossed an old wooden bridge, the bridge collapsed...
I make a lot of lists to remind myself of things I need to do. I make grocery lists and more often than not I leave them on my kitchen table. I go to the store without them and forget to pick up a few things. Then I have to make a second trip later in the week to get salt or butter or onions that I forgot. When I get a new calendar I go through it month by month and circle the dates of the birthdays of my family and friends. They are important to me. My friends would survive...
By Crying Wind Gah was born in the spring, and being a rabbit, he had dozens of brothers and sisters. He spent the warm days hopping around, eating tender green clover that grew next to the lake and racing home to his safe home under the blackberry bushes. Life was perfect, and Gah never expected it to change. By the time Summer arrived, Gah saw his brothers and sisters leave the grassy meadow and find new homes deeper in the forest. He missed them but decided to stay where...
Flowers are one of the special gifts God gave us. Flowers adorn our births, weddings, anniversaries, and our deaths. Flowers speak for us when we can't find the words to say, "I love you," "I'm Sorry," "Goodbye." Every Indian tribe has legends about flowers. Besides being beautiful, many flowers were used for ceremonies, healing, medicine and food. I've always loved the flower called Indian Paint Brush. Its red petals are one of the first to bloom in the spring and last until...
I was in a junk store a few years ago, it's one of my favorite places to shop. I like used books, and sometimes I find an odd cup or old plate that catches my fancy. Everything in the store has been donated or thrown away by someone who no longer wanted it. I saw a small antique doll that had a rough life. The doll's dress was faded and torn and it was missing a leg. It was only a quarter and I felt sorry for it and decided to buy it, when I got to the checkout stand the clerk...
"Life isn't fair!" Tayanita, Young Beaver complained. "I work all day gnawing down trees and building dams while the other animals in the forest do nothing but eat and sleep. How I wish I had nothing to do but nibble on tender twigs and sleep in the warm sun." Young Beaver was convinced no one in the forest worked as hard as he did. From sun up to sun down and sometimes after dark, he gnawed down small trees and dragged them into the stream. He weaved them together, using his...
Lately I've realized all the people I knew when I was young have long since passed away. As a child, I had no idea these "old" people around me had lived rich, exciting, even dangerous and heroic lives. When I was with them they talked about their health or their gardens or what they had for lunch, and as a child, I didn't know that if I would ask the right question I could unlock a treasure chest of stories that only they could tell. When they died, their stories died with...
I saw the moving van parked in front of the house across the street and knew it wasn’t a good sign. Molly had lived in that house 50 years until she became ill and her family placed her in a nursing home. The moving van meant she wasn’t coming home. I walked across the street to talk to her son, Fred. We’d only met a couple of times, but he’d seemed like a nice person. I asked him how Molly was doing, and I already dreaded the answer. “Mom doesn’t have much time left,” he said...
Legends about Big Foot or Sasquatch have been around for hundreds of years. If you mention Big Foot, everyone immediately knows who or what you are talking about. Most people don't believe in leprechauns or fairies, but if you mention Big Foot, they don't seem as sure. If you ask people if they believe in mermaids they'll say no, if you ask them if they believe in Big Foot they'll say "Well, not exactly but if we had more proof, I suppose it is possible." I think we like the...
Every year I celebrate the Kickapoo New Year. It comes randomly on a different date every year so my family and friends never know when they'll get a call from me saying, "Happy New Year!" The Kickapoo New Year begins when you hear the first thunder in the Spring (usually in February), but only if the ground has thawed enough that you can stick your finger into it up to the first knuckle. If the ground hasn't thawed, you have to wait for the next thunder. In the old days, the...
