Finding Meaning

I find meaning in life one day at a time. It comes through simple things like a cup of coffee, a wagging tail, a friend laughing at a dumb joke, and so much more. It comes from an attitude of appreciating what you have instead of longing for what you do not have and complaining about what you did not want. Life is too short to devote time to anger, resentment, and hate. Be thankful for health, friends, and natural beauty. Study history to give yourself a sense of perspective. Learn of the sacrifices those before us made to make our life better. Then try to make the world a better place for those to follow. Thank God for your unique life and live it with careful attention, enthusiasm, and gratitude.

Until the next time,
John Strain

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Testing

Testing . . . testing . . . Is this thing on? Testing 1 . . 2 . . 3. Hi everyone. I have not stopped blogging. This post proves it. Me, Bear, and the family are doing well. I will soon catch things up. I promise.

Until the next time
John Strain

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George Wesley Strain, Sr.
January 31, 1925 - March 19, 2009

My father died today. I received a phone call from my brother George about 6:00 PM. Dad has been failing. He has been losing weight and becoming very frail. His wife Nola said she went to bed last night and Dad said he wanted to sit up and watch some more television. When she woke up in the morning, Dad had not come to bed. He was still in his chair and appeared to be sleeping. Eventually she went to wake him up and realized he had died. He passed peacefully in his recliner. I am assuming a remote control was nearby.

Unfortunately, I have not been very involved with my father since I left home to go to college. The reasons are not important, but there was no friction, animosity, or any ill will between us; we just went in different directions. I saw him occasionally. He attended my wedding and my son's high school graduation. We saw him in Kansas City when we would visit, but it was minimal.

Dad had a new family and was involved with them. I had my family and time had a sneaky fast way of moving.

I last spoke to him on his birthday January 31st. We had a good conversation as we always did.

When he visited us in Louisiana for John's high school graduation in 2003, I interviewed him on video. I have him talking about his life and telling the stories in his own voice. This is very valuable now.

I loved my father and admired him. He was always around. I remember coming home from school to find him in his chair reading the paper, or sitting at the kitchen table drinking coffee, or in the summer, walking around the yard sipping a cold can of beer. Dad was handy around the house. If he did not know how to do something, he found out how and tackled the job, not always with professional results as to appearance, but usually close enough, as it relates to function.

Some of my early memories of him were when I was in kindergarten. Dad's day off was on Wednesday. On that day, he and my mother would pick me up at school. I can still see him in my mind's eye wearing his light colored overcoat and standing in the hall waiting for my class to end. I remember the day he took me to the store to purchase my first baseball glove. I remember the pinewood derby car we built together for cub scouts that won second place. Now that I am a father, I know he must have been pretty proud of himself for that feat.

Dad was pretty easy going. He had a temper, but I could bring that out in people. I was not afraid of my father and I cannot remember any problems between us. He was not the best at expressing his feelings. I may get some of that from him. He was there though and he gave me the gift of time, from being a scout leader to helping me fix a go cart.

From a small town in Missouri, high school basketball player, Army Air Corps, working on mail trains, letter carrier - before "going postal" was a term, father of 3, scout master, dry humor, happy most of the time, loved by many, known by more. Going to the grocery store with my dad to get a loaf of bread could take two hours, because he knew everyone in town. He could have a conversation with a statue.

I do not really know how I feel right now. It is a shock. I feel sad. I feel guilt that I did not go see him more or call him more. But, I mostly feel grateful that I had him for a dad. I like my life and my son has turned out pretty well; I have to give my father some credit, because he was my father model to learn from.

Another member of the "Greatest Generation" has moved on, this one was my father and it is going to leave a hole in my heart.

Here's to you Dad. I'll miss you, but I'll see you again before you know it.

Until the next time,
John Strain

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Post op

Hi Gang,
The knee surgery went just fine. The doc said he trimmed off a bit of the torn meniscus. He thinks it is fixed and I will have a full recovery. I have been keeping it propped up and on ice - per doctor orders. I have not used any of the Hydrocodone yet. The pain is not bad at all. I have been taking Tylenol instead.

The photo shows my setup: TV, dog, leg propped up - I think I can weather this storm.

Until the next time and thanks for the prayers - I know you did.
John Strain

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Olympia Parade 2009

Hi Everyone, it's me Bear!

Boy, did I have fun on Valentines Day. Not only that, but a parade came by our house too. I never saw a parade before. I always had to stay at the house because they don't allow dogs. I think some dog bit someone once and now no dogs get to go to parades. It is always one joker that spoils it for the rest of us. He was probably a pit bull.

Here are some pictures of the fun. Usually, the parade passes by two blocks away, but this year they changed the route. That meant we had to have a party; and a party we had.













I sure had fun at the parade, but I really liked after the parade because there were hot dogs, chili, jambalaya, hamburgers, chips, king cake, and lots of other good things.

Everyone had a good time, especially me. The Mardi Gras day parade is coming by our house too, so we will do all of this all over again a week from Tuesday. I bet daddy will take pictures then too.

Well, that's my report on the Olympia Parade. I hope you enjoyed it.

Bye for now,
Bear

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Under the knife

On December 30, 2006 I completed a 20-mile run in preparation for an upcoming marathon. I had a busy race schedule planned into the spring and had prepaid several events. My groin thought otherwise. Insert your favorite joke here about pulling a groin. My favorite is the ESPN commentators quick quip whenever mentioning the always laughed at body part. "Today, in a game against the whoevers, so and so pulled a groin - pause for dramatic affect - I hope it was his." It is very important to say, "So and so pulled A groin and not HIS groin." Otherwise the joke would not work.

Anyway, that kept me from running. I was healing up slowly and by Memorial Day, I was beginning to build up my running again. I thought I was back on the road. Since I was not running a lot, I had time for other things, like fixing a big bare spot in the yard resulting from heavy foot traffic and dragging dead tree parts from Katrina the August before.

I took a day off of work so I would have a four-day weekend to lay the sod. Incidentally, were I to say "lay the sod" in England, any self-respecting lady and most gentlemen would feel compelled to slap me.

I worked like a hard working dog. Man, that is hard work. The hard part was the prep. I tilled and pushed and pulled dirt around in a vain attempt to level the landscape. I will level with you, I got pretty close. Once the sod arrives, one needs to move quickly to get it down and watered in. I had no help, because my usual buds had legitimate excuses. John was probably in the south of France, the Virgin Islands, or just hiding out.

As I look back, there was an instance where I was carrying a load of the grass and as I stepped with my right foot, I hit some uneven ground giving my knee a bit of a twist. My foot remained stationary and the knee was wrenched sideways a bit. I heard a pop and felt pain, but it went away and I did not give it any more thought.

When I went back to running, both of my knees were sore, so I thought it was related to the sod laying, sorry mate. Anyway, my left knee healed, but the right knee did not.

I went to the doctor in August. That is almost 3 months of RICE, Rest, Ice, Compression, and Elevation. I read things on the Internet, I took glucosamine, used weights for strengthening, you name it, I did it to get fixed. The doctor said it was probably nothing. X-Rays were negative so I should just take it easy and it would heal.

It did not heal.

I kept running like the doctor said to do, but never any improvement. I could run a couple of miles without pain, but the knee would hurt the rest of the day, especially if I had been sitting down a long time.

I went back to the doctor a year later, July 2008. This time, I stopped running a couple of weeks before seeing him. I felt great at the appointment. Fresh X-Rays were still negative and he told me to come back when I had a problem. I began running and the pain returned.

So in January I returned to the orthopedist, but this time he ordered an MRI. It revealed a slight tear in the medial meniscus. The remedy is arthroscopic surgery to either fix the tear or remove the affected tissue.

Surgery is set for February 18th and in a few weeks; I should be back on the road. I should be as good as new, because the tear is minor and the rest of the knee is fine.

Forgive me Father for I have sinned. It has been two years since my last marathon. . .

Until the next time
John Strain

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Time and Memories

I made a "year end" video that is 55 minutes long. That process of making it gave me an idea for another video that appears below. I went through all of the video tapes I had eclipsing 22 years. I then took short clips from them and added an aged film filter to the video to give it that "vintage" look.

Here it is: Time and Memories.



It is hard to believe the first month is almost over.

Until the next time
John Strain

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