For those of you who follow me, you know that I don’t take each day I open my eyes for granted. I’m seventy-one years old now, soon to be seventy-two. Days like Father’s Day are like another slathering of icing on the cake. If I’m here to see and experience another one, I’ll continue to add blessings to my credit column.

This year’s Father’s Day had a heaping of exceptional value. I’ve made it through the worst of the pandemic, even though I had covid-19. All the articles, news reports and opinions from doctors indicated that folks like me, with underlying health conditions, had a heighten risk of not surviving covid-19. Well, I did, and now, well over two years since the onslaught of the pandemic, I’m here to celebrate Father’s Day 2022. It’s not just Father’s Day for me. You might say it’s Grandfather’s Day and Great Grandfather’s Day, too. Yes, I’m all three.

What did I do on Father’s Day 2022? I’m glad you asked. One added special thing to Father’s Day this year was the celebration of Juneteenth, which occurred on the same day. Juneteenth was the day in 1865 when Federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas to informed the enslaved African Americans that they were free Juneteenth – Wikipedia. I celebrated both days. The weather was hot as Hades, but Chris and I ventured out the day before Father’s Day to celebrate Juneteenth at a street festival put on by the Mosaic Templars Museum if Downtown Little Rock. After two hours of folks, and fun, we retreated to our airconditioned automobile sweat-soaked clothing and all. On Sunday, officially Father’s Day, we had our virtual Sunday school lesson, which I taught; then, we rushed off to church for services. Things are still too risky for our church to enclose people in small classrooms for Bible study; however, we do have worship service in the sanctuary, with masks and ample social distancing still being apropos.

After church, I was treated by Chris and the kids to a Chicken Alfredo dinner from The Olive Garden Restaurant. I’m not one who cares that much for eating restaurant food, but Olive Garden’s Chicken Alfredo is just too good to pass up.  I left church and went to the restaurant to pick up the food for us to eat at home. I’ve always thought families don’t make as much of a deal to celebrate Father’s Day to the same extent as Mother’s Day. The crowd at the Olive Garden proved me wrong this year. Folks were standing around in the foyer, waiting for tables, and out the door unto the deck. Getting takeout was a wise choice.

After stuffing myself with Chicken Alfredo, garlic bread and salad, I rested for a short while before retreating to my office where my trusted Shi-Tzu, Ari and I napped for good while.

Father’s Day 2022, a celebration to remember. I hope it was in your neck of the woods, too.

I’m old and blessed…hope you will be too.

Several years ago, I made Facebook posts of upcoming Sunday school lessons. I’ve been a Sunday school teacher for over thirty years. I found these synopses of the lessons, that I posted on Saturdays, were effective at recruiting people to Sunday school. The following is a summary I posted on June 12, 2016. I’m not sure these summaries will work as blogs, but here goes.

Sunday school lesson for June 12, 2016

I remember days when I was but knee-high to a grasshopper. Those were days of carelessness, fueled by overwhelming desire to just have fun. There was no other calling so compelling, except to just have fun. Oftentimes, that drive ushered me into activities that made the Devil proud. Fortunately for me, my momma would-at times-show a bit of grace. She would make it clear that my behind probably should once again be connected to a fresh switch from the Weeping Willow in the front yard. It was at those times she would say, “I ought to whip your behind;” however, instead she would say, “If you do that again…”

The lesson for tomorrow reminds me somewhat of the preceding bit of remembrances. We’ll be looking at an account from Zephaniah 3:1-8. Here the prophet is letting the people, in particular the leaders of society, know that they were doing things that made the devil proud. God was not pleased, and He would reign down punishment, even on His chosen people (the Israelites), as He had done on other nations, not in His chosen group. The message God gave the Israelites through the prophet Zephaniah is clearly appropriate for our leaders today, and the dire consequences will be the similar.

If you sit in on this class tomorrow morning, you’ll see that we are in a repeat production of what the people were performing during Zephaniah’s time.

I’m old and blessed…hope you will be too.

Is the worse of the pandemic over? It seems to be anyway, and we’re all anxious to get back out and shake it up. My church is back inside the walls of the sanctuary. We’re having Sunday morning services again; however, we’re not having the full array of ministry meetings (Sunday school, Bible studies, and missions.) we would normally have. These small group gatherings require a certain amount of intimacy that is still too risky for now. People are still getting sick with the latest variant of covid-19, even though the effects aren’t as catastrophic as back in 2020 and 2021.

My family’s first large gathering for this year was May 28, when a sizable number of us gathered for a ceremony to celebrate my baby sister and her husband’s thirty-fifth wedding anniversary. There was a rededication ceremony and a nice dinner afterwards. I must admit, it seemed a strange to gather for this. Folks were dressed to the nines, and everyone enjoyed the socializing that has been absent from our inventory of social skills for what seems far too long. After almost three weeks, I haven’t heard any reports of people who have gotten sick because of the event. Of course, my family is a bunch of law-abiding, rule following folks, who are concerned about the welfare of others. I would venture to say that we all had been vaccinated.

Chris and I have two other family gatherings on our calendar planned for this year. We’ll be traveling up to Jonesboro in the Northeastern part of the state, where my oldest child lives, along with a few of my cousins. One of my cousins has a nice spread just on the edge of town. The last gathering, he hosted was over the July Fourth holiday in 2019. It was a well-attended event with folks from five generations having the best fun anyone could have. There was more food than any of us could eat. I wrote about this in a blog titled Familial: Familial – oldblessedwordpresscom. That gray-headed lady (Aunt Mary) you see in the first picture has gone on to be with her Lord. She was the one person who represented the top of the fifth generation. This year, there’ll be four generations present. I’ll be the oldest of the fourth (in descending order). Lord, please have mercy on me; elderhood has crept up on me suddenly. That’s another sign of being old and blessed. The other gathering will be Chris’ family reunion, with folks coming from around the country to Little Rock over the Labor Day weekend in September. This group will also be absent two members, Chris’ twin sisters (Bobbie and Gloria). They made their journey to the other side since the last family reunion.

The pause in the fulness of life brought on by covid-19 wasn’t a pause at all. Now, that things are getting back to some form of normality, we’re seeing that life continued its accounting function as usual, making entries in both the credit and debit column. In a sense, there really wasn’t a pause.

May God bless your family gatherings for 2022 and beyond, hug the little ones, have good conversations with the ones in between, and take notes of the wisdom shared by the elders.

I’m old and blessed…hope you will be too.

Recently, Chris and I drove two and one-half hours from Little Rock to Fayetteville, where our state’s flagship university, the University of Arkansas is located. Our first grandchild, Kennedy Lyn Hill was scheduled to graduate with a master’s degree. Her mom had made every effort to impress to celebrate this event. Along with Chris and I, there were family members from other parts of our state making the drive to Fayetteville, some farther than two and one-half hours. The ceremony was scheduled for 8:30 am on Saturday morning, a bit early as weekend events go.

You might think I’m strange, since I’ve only sat through one graduation ceremony of my own. That was high school. My mother was excited about the prospect of her oldest child graduating from high school. She some how came up with the money to pay for the class ring, the cap and gown and all the other entrapments that accompany the pomp and circumstance associated with graduation. As far back as I can remember, I have never cared much for pomp and circumstance, especially when I’m at the center of it. However, I couldn’t tell my mother how I felt about the graduation event. There were others in the family, who were looking forward to seeing me walking across the stage to receive my diploma.

When I went off to college, I worked hard to finish all requirements for graduation within four years. That accomplishment alone was sufficient for me. I had no powerful desire to walk across the stage. I was far more interested in looking for a job with my newly minted degree, versus submitting myself to a graduation ceremony. I left my college alma matter before the scheduled pomp and circumstance, and I requested that my degree be mailed to me. Nineteen years later, I avoided the pomp and circumstance again when I completed my requirements for receiving a master’s degree. Chris and I had been married for a little over six years by then. She, of course, couldn’t understand why I turned down the chance to walk across the stage again. It’s difficult to explain to anyone who’s not an introvert why…

Enough about me. This piece is more about the passing of time. The point in one’s life when they see that generation two tiers down from them accomplishing things that make you proud. I felt proud seeing Kennedy walk across that stage with hundreds of others. That event was one of many that I view as proof of countless blessings life has and continues to send my way. Of course, I’ve had two of my children to graduate college, one to receive a master’s degree, and I was proud of those life events. However, to see a grandchild receive a master’s degree is something altogether different. This is another one of those blessings I’ve been around to see despite my living with cancer for the last twenty-two years-plus.

Kenney’s next academic journey will be to peruse a PhD. Chris is working towards getting one of those herself. I suppose pomp and circumstance is available for us at any age. God’s will, I’ll be sitting in the audience for both Chris and Kennedy when they receive their PhDs.

I’m old and blessed…hope you will be too.