I spent the afternoon at the Falcon Field Air Museum in Mesa Arizona, experiencing memories of veterans of WW2, Korea and Viet Nam. It is fascinating and sobering and fills my heart with empathy and gratitude for these people, not only from these and more recent conflicts, but also in times of peace, when they stand their watch so the rest of us can sleep in peace. I include here the third children’s book I wrote for our son Danny to read to his son at bed time sometime. A few months ago, I drove Danny to the airport in Albany in the evening after work. He wasn’t feeling very good and I had a heavy sadness over me as I drove him. He slept while I drove. As I drove, I glanced at his large hands resting in his lap. They were large and pink and soft, looking very much like a large version of the hands I held so many years ago, when we proceeded on our many adventures. He is very dear to my heart, as all my children are, but he especially had a difficult time adjusting when we moved to Norwich while he was just ten or twelve years old. For a long time, he was the victim of bullying at school and it changed him a little for a time, from a carefree skipping young boy to a youngster who walked with the weight of the world on his shoulders, and I felt at a loss as to how to help him, except to assure him that I loved him. Here is the story: Danny The life of a veterinarian who takes care of farm animals is spent traveling all day and often into the night, on the road. Our son Danny, since he was just a very little boy, loved to ride with me in my truck going from farm to farm taking care of sick animals. We had many songs we would sing together as we traveled between farms. Sometimes when I was working on a sick cow and needed medicine from my truck he would run outside to get it for me. He knew where each medicine and all of my tools and bandages were. At the end of the day when we returned to our clinic I would put the things we would need for the next day into a large pail and he would put everything into the special places in my truck where they belonged. Danny loved animals as much as I did. When I put a halter on a cow and tied her head to one side so I could give her medicine he would hold the rope so her head would be still while I treated her. When I tied a bulls foot up so he wouldnt kick me while I fixed his sore foot, Danny would hold the rope that kept his foot still. One day Danny came home from school. He was very sad. The other children at his new school were picking on him. I asked him if he would like to go to the movies with me. Just after it started the sound went dead but the movie kept playing in silence. So I started to make sounds for the movie. Two cars were chasing each other so I made loud engine sounds and screeching tire noises. The first car screeched to a stop and a man got out. I made a sound of a car door slamming shut and as the man ran into a building to get away from the guy that was chasing him I yelled honey, Im home. Everyone in the theatre laughed. Danny laughed very hard but he was a little embarrassed. Soon the sound was fixed and I kept quiet as we watched the rest of the scary movie but when it was over and we were leaving everyone was laughing and patting our backs. We went for hamburgers and milkshakes and had a wonderful time. When we got back home I asked Danny if he would like to sleep outside on the lawn with me. We got into our sleeping bags and lay side by side on the front lawn and looked at the beautiful stars and moon. I was sad that the children that were picking on Danny didnt know the wonderful boy I knew who knew how to help me fix cows and horses and calves and pigs and dogs and cats. After a while when they got to know Danny he made many friends. They all came to love him. But for a time, his mom and I and brothers and sister were his only friends. And now when he is all grown up and has a little boy of his own, we are still best friends.
Posted on: Sun, 04 Jan 2015 01:09:39 +0000
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