RRN Online Volume 397

January 10 '04

Volume 397

Holidays Maxed Hustle And Bustle

The holidays were fast and furious at our house, and the season itself was stretched to the maximum. On Monday before Christmas, Barbara and I began distributing Christmas gifts to a small group of friends whom we enjoy treating to a few slices of country ham, one of our favorite holiday foods. It's a lot of work involved in slicing a ham at home, but I enjoy doing it, and the folks who receive the ham seem appreciative. The days I spent slicing ham, Barbara spent either at work or shopping. As opposed to the early days in my career with SUPERVALU, I am now able to take off a few days during the holidays rather than having to work at retail. It makes for a far less stressful season, and it allows me to visit folks and enjoy the holidays.

We continue to maintain the long-standing tradition of having friends over on Christmas Eve. Now that First Baptist Church, Pontotoc has added a Candlelight Service on Christmas Eve to it's event calendar, we don't expect many folks to attend both the church service and our Open House, but of those present in our home on Christmas Eve, most had stopped by after attending church.

It's traditional in my family to wait until Christmas Day to open presents, but we make an exception for any gifts exchanged on Christmas Eve that involve non-family members and for gifts exchanged with friends prior to Christmas Eve. Due to commitments in Nashville with the Bock Family and the constraints of work, Brett and Kathy Brown didn't get to Pontotoc until Saturday (01/03) to complete the gift exchange process. Thus, our gift-giving season began prior to Christmas and lasted beyond New Years Day.

Christmas decorations have not all been boxed and stored for the next Christmas Season, at the time of this article. It's been our practice to have the Christmas Tree down by New Years Day, but we left it up this year, partly because there were still gifts under it on New Years Day and partly because no one found time to take it down earlier. Barbara took down all the decorations from the tree (or those she could reach) on the second of January, but it was not until Sunday, 01/04, that the tree was boxed and set into the garage to await transfer to the attic.

With Jason's help, I managed to get the wreaths and spotlights removed from the front of the house shortly after New Years. However, the multi-colored garland lights on the railings of the deck around back are still hanging and are likely to remain there until the next pretty Saturday rolls around.

Over the past two weeks, I may have watched more college football than I did during the entire regular season, a fact that may account for my being behind on the dismantlement of decorations. It seems there were a number of bowl games that I was interested in, and while I didn't keep any records I'm certain more than half of the teams I favored were winners. As far as professional football is concerned, I am interested in both Indianapolis and Green Bay and am likely to watch the Super Bowl even if neither team survives the playoffs, but unlike my son, I've already seen enough football to last me until next fall.

Jason gave us a DVD player for Christmas, which, we are told, is the device ringing the death knoll for the VCR and videotape. Jason owns a small collection of movies on DVD and shared them with us. As odd as it may seem, the DVD only contributed to the madness of the season, as time spent watching a movie on television simply reduced the time we might have used more constructively to return our home to it's pre-Christmas look.

Brigitte's A Mom Our Newest Niece

Ridge Rider News is pleased to announce the birth of its newest family member. Kylie Love arrived at North Mississippi's Women's Hospital on December 4, 2003. At birth, Kylie weighed 7 pounds 4 ounces and was all of 19 and 3/4 inches tall.

Kylie is the daughter of Brigitte Rankin and Walker Caver

Daughter and Mother Rhea And Caryl Meet

Readers of this newsletter may remember reading how we discovered a new niece last summer, or more accurately, how she found us via this newsletter on the Internet. Her married name is Rhea Palmer, but at birth she was simply Baby Girl O'Kelley. She was born to her unwed mother, Carol (later spelled Caryl) Jo O'Kelley, the younger daughter of Barbara's sister, Virginia O'Kelley, and was soon afterward adopted by a couple living in Tennessee. Rhea is married to Tommy Palmer, and they have one child, a son, affectionately called, "Little Tommy."

Volumes 361 and 362 of Ridge Rider News, published last May, detail how Rhea used the Internet to contact her Uncle Wayne and Aunt Barbara and later met us along with her half sister, Brigitte Rankin. Since then, we've had occasions to visit with Rhea, Tommy, and Little Tommy, meeting them in Olive Branch, MS, for lunch and later as guests at the RRN fish fry in July.

Rhea made it clear from the beginning that it was not her desire to disrupt anyone's current situation or to resurrect a skeleton in anyone's closet. Yet, it had been her desire for a number of years to locate her natural mother. Though exceptions to the rule exist, most adopted children have a strong desire to discover their roots. Barbara and I were happy to have a role in reuniting Rhea with her mother, but theirs was not an immediate reunion. Instead it came after Christmas.

Neither Barbara nor I have had much contact with Caryl in recent years, and we felt it best if Caryl's sister, Cheryl, or daughter, Brigitte, contacted her. I can't vouch for the emotional turmoil in a mother's life produced by such a situation, but I imagine there's a part encouraging the mother to reach out and another part insisting things be left as is.

However, I can insist that our society has made a dreadful mistake in making abortion a legal option. Had Caryl chosen to have her pregnancy aborted, we obviously wouldn't have Rhea in our lives. Neither would she have brought joy to the lives of her adoptive parents, countless friends, and, had she never been born, there's no telling whom Tommy Palmer would have married and certainly Little Tommy would have never been.

It was around Thanksgiving that we heard Caryl was interested in meeting her daughter. Plans were made to do so during the Christmas Season. It was decided the appointed time would be noon at our house on the Saturday after Christmas Day.

Barbara kept in contact with Rhea and Brigitte right up through Saturday morning, making sure there were no last minute change of plans. Brigitte and Caryl planned to drive in from Tupelo, bringing Brigitte's newborn baby, Kylie. Rhea, Tommy, and Little Tommy would be flying into the Pontotoc airport. Rayanne, Merilese, and Katherine Adams all drove in from Belmont.

Tommy is a pilot and has an elderly friend who owns a couple of airplanes. His friend is too old to fly, but on weekends, Tommy enjoys flying his friend wherever he asks. When his friend learned he would be driving to Pontotoc, he insisted Tommy take his airplane, which seats four (or more) comfortably. When I asked what type of aircraft it was, Rhea told me it was a Mooney.

Over the years, family and friends have utilized various means of transportation to visit us. Most folks get here by automobile, but Brother Joe Steen is apt to walk. Gene Crouch has twice driven an eighteen-wheeler to Pontotoc and parked the rig on a roomy parking lot where we picked him up. This time our guests flew in a private aircraft, and I picked them up at the airport.

Caryl, Brigitte, and Kylie arrived in Pontotoc shortly before noon. It was noon when I picked up Rhea and her family at the airport. Caryl met Rhea at the entrance to our kitchen from the garage. The two women greeted each other warmly and locked themselves in an extended embrace, as I felt a lump in my throat. They sat in the kitchen and talked and looked at childhood pictures while Barbara and I busied ourselves with last-minute lunch preparations.

After lunch, we assembled in the living room and exchanged Christmas gifts. The model train was still under the Christmas Tree and was greatly enjoyed by Little Tommy. The adults visited and reminisced until around three o'clock, at which time, we loaded into two vehicles and drove to the airport to watch the Palmers start their flight back to Tennessee.

On the trip back to our house, I asked Caryl if she had been nervous about the meeting. She stated she had not been nervous, but Barbara had told me earlier that in the months after being told of Rhea by Brigitte, Caryl was conflicted over meeting Rhea. Caryl did tell me that since giving birth to Rhea, there had not been a day in her life that she had not thought of her.

Afterwards, I felt a sense of satisfaction in helping reunite a daughter with her mother. Will the two of them, continue to build on their present relationship? I don't know, but the doors have been opened and chances of growth look good.

RRN 2003 Ready To Print

Copies of Ridge Rider News 2003 are now available. Fifty-two issues comprising more than two hundred pages can be yours for the unbelievable price of only $9.95. (Shipping and handling, where applicable, add $5.00)

Printed using 20-lb. bond paper and inserted in a quality, loose-leaf binder, this collection of original material will make a fine addition to your library. Think of the opportunity to own a first edition of this unique publication. Its value can only appreciate.

There are dozens of entertaining and interesting articles in this publication, plus you will have the year's complete collection of humor from Bodock Beau. Beau claims his columns alone are worth the price of the publication. Don't miss this opportunity.

Chances are, readers have forgotten or misplaced the articles most enjoyed during 2003. Some readers have given away their copy for others to read. Whatever the reason, now is the time to pick up the phone and call, send an email, or write to the address of this newsletter and request your copy. Operators and staff are standing by.

This is not a moneymaking scheme; rather it is largely a break-even proposition for the publisher. Buy one for yourself, and give one to a friend. Sorry, at these prices, volume discounts do not apply. Offers like this don't come along every day. Don't delay¾ call today.

Books will be published upon demand and not in advance. Please allow three to five weeks for delivery.

Offer void where prohibited, taxed, or restricted by law. Offer valid only in the US. Offer valid January 2004 - February 28, 2004 and may be extended, modified, or revoked at any time during or after the introductory period.

Bodock Beau How To Stay Young In 2004

Though entitled, How to Stay Young in 2004, the following ten items might well serve as resolutions for the new year.

1. Throw out nonessential numbers. This includes age, weight and height. Let the doctor worry about them. That is why you pay him/her.

2. Keep only cheerful friends. The grouches pull you down.

3. Keep learning. Learn more about the computer, crafts, gardening, whatever. Never let the brain idle. " An idle mind is the devil's workshop." And, the devil's name is Alzheimer's.

4. Enjoy the simple things.

5. Laugh often, long and loud. Laugh until you gasp for breath.

6. The tears happen. Endure, grieve, and move on. The only person who is with us our entire life, is ourselves. Be ALIVE while you are alive.

7. Surround yourself with what you love, whether it's family, pets, keepsakes, music, plants, hobbies, whatever. Your home is your refuge.

8. Cherish your health: If it is good, preserve it. If it is unstable, improve it. If it is beyond what you can improve, get help.

9. Don't take guilt trips. Take a trip to the mall, to the next county, to a foreign country, but NOT to where the guilt is.

10. Tell the people you love that you love them, at every opportunity.

Submitted by Dena Kimbrell

The following were contributed by Jason Carter who found them on comic Steven Wright's website.

A bus station is where a bus stops. A train station is where a train stops. On my desk, I have a work station......

If quitters never win, and winners never quit, what fool came up with "Quit while you're ahead"?

Do Lipton employees take coffee breaks?

What hair color do they put on the driver's licenses of bald men?

I was thinking that women should put pictures of missing husbands on beer cans.

I was thinking about how people seem to read the Bible a whole lot more as they get older, then it dawned on me... they were cramming for their finals.

I thought about how mothers feed their babies with little tiny spoons and forks, so I wonder what Chinese mothers use. Toothpicks?

Why do they put pictures of criminals up in the Post Office? What are we supposed to do . . . write to these men? Why don't they just put their pictures on the postage stamps so the mailmen could look for them while they delivered the mail?

How much deeper would oceans be if sponges didn't live there?

If it's true that we are here to help others, then what exactly are the OTHERS here for?

Go ahead and take risks....just be sure that everything will turn out okay.

If you can't be kind, at least have the decency to be vague.

Ever wonder what the speed of lightning would be if it didn't zig-zag?

If a cow laughed, would milk come out its nose?

I went for a walk last night and my kids asked me how long I'd be gone. I said, "The whole time."

So what's the speed of dark?

How come you don't ever hear about "gruntled" employees? And who has been dissing them anyhow?

After eating, do amphibians need to wait an hour before getting OUT of the water?

If you're sending someone some Styrofoam, what do you pack it in?

I just got skylights put in my place. The people who live above me are furious.

Why do they sterilize needles for lethal injections?

Is it true that cannibals don't eat clowns because they taste funny?

Isn't Disney World a people trap operated by a mouse?

Since light travels faster than sound, isn't that why some people appear bright until you hear them speak?

If it's zero degrees outside today and it's supposed to be twice as cold tomorrow, how cold is it going to be?

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