I never really saw my uncles very much, but Uncle Jack was one of the great ones! He was always helping our family, especially at Christmas. Uncle Jack and Aunt Ronnie, year after year, always made sure our family had extra presents under the tree, even though they had a large family of their own. As Erin said, "We thought they were Santa Claus."
The last time I saw him was at a family reunion and I believe he was in his early nineties. His advice rings in my ear til this day. "You gotta give the other fella a chance."
There was a lot more to this conversation than that bit of positive thinking, but the important fact was that he was still positive. Age hadn't diminished his spirit one wit.
Mike told me a little bit today about his first management job at GM as a foreman on the frame line. On the first day into his new job, a man in a shirt and tie was retching in the parking lot. He told Mike that he had just quit this morning and was going to work at SeaRay boats. "What was your job here?' The terse reply, "Forman on the frame line". I guess you could call it an exit interview.
Heading to work some months later, Mike opted to bypass his new job and just keep driving. One hundred miles down the road, he was in the Blue Moon Bar, settling down for a brew, safe and secure. The phone rings, "Is Mike Quinlan here?", the bartender queries. Unbelievable! His wife Carol continues on the line, "GM has been looking for you all morning!"
Next morning the secretary hails him into the office, "The superintendent wants to see you.The superintendent spins around in his big leather chair, "Where were you yesterday?" Face to face the conversation is short "In a bar." The super taps his wooden pencil against the desk several time, "Next time, take me with you."
The deputy is checking out the vehicle in the ditch as Patrick drives up in a four wheeler. "Has this car been in an accident? "No" Patrick responds, "This is the way it normally looks." Many credentials later the deputy drives away a bit baffled.
Reminds me of a story, Mike replies. "Ms Carol and I were driving one of the trucks I bought from Brian named the "General Lee". It cost me a $100, but it started with a beer can opener. We were on Duck Lake Rd and I decided to open it up since the engine was getting ready to blow anyway. The gravel spun in the back like a rooster tail, everything going sideways.
We ended up about a mile and a half into the swamp only to walk out hip deep in the muck much later. After a couple of days, I came back with the John Deere and chains with rescue mode in mind. I towed it back to the farm. Then, I tried the beer can opener. It fired up like it never knew it had gone to rest."
The winds of change have shifted. The new pope, Francis, is the right man for the right time. As a world body, the Catholic Church needs a new focus. I'm excited because I see two important elements coming into play. First, the poor, and then some rigorous stress on education. As a Jesuit, Pope Francis has these qualities in spades. In the liturgical cycle, lent will soon be over. Time to get back to the main mission.
Reading Thomas Merton, my favorite monk, last night, I chanced upon words that just blew me away. "We live in the time of no room, which is the time of the end. The time when everyone is obsessed with lack of time, lack of space, with saving time, conquering space, projecting into time and space the anguish produced within them by the technological furies of size, volume, quantity, speed, number, price, power and acceleration."
When Hope had a message of concern, she would tear a page out of the Robert Service book of poems, and mail it to me along with some cryptic side notes. As Mike and I talked about it this morning, Hope and Bill really taught us to survive which is the best you can really ever do for your kids. The synopsis: You can drink beer, but if its premium, you will have to spend a little more.
