Tennis
Played with The Kid (Jake The Snake From The Lake as he likes to be called) a couple of more times. Good workouts. He's playing a tournament in Springfield, MO this weekend (starting tonight, actually). I hope he does well. He's been playing better and better.
The only problem I've had is that we played on Tuesday at 4:00 until a little after 6:00. I didn't have Char's car, so I drove my motorcycle over to the indoor courts. They're about a 35 to 40 minute drive. It was fine going over....about 40. But when I left the building, it was 27 degrees out. That's a bit nippy on your motorcycle.
Plus, the roads off of the main highway are VERY DARK, can be curvy, and don't have center lines. So when you're unfamiliar and only have your motorcycle headlight to break the darkness, you really need to go slowly and carefully so as to not wind up in a ditch.
Plus, I wasn't paying too much attention to my gas and had to switch to reserve on the way back to Dad's. I quickly calculated how far I could go and realized getting back without stopping for gas would be dangerously close.
No problem except I realized I had left my Organizer with all of my cash and credit cards on my desk.
Fortunately, I always keep $5 or $10 in my motorcycle jacket for this very reason. Smart, huh?
Unfortunately, I wasn't wearing my normal motorcycle jacket - not nearly warm enough.
I was literally rehearsing in my head how I was going to beg for a buck or two at some remote gas station or on a street corner if I ran out of gas.
Luckily I made I back and immediately put a ten spot in my really, really cold weather down jacket.
Idiot!
Tractors
Among my variety of chores helping Dad and Char around the house - especially to "winterize" the place, Dad wanted to get his tractor started and fill the left rear back tire with air. He's giving it to his Brother-In-Law and dad hadn't started it in 2 years.
Wednesday was blazing hot....about 50. We we went out to get the tractor fixed up.
There's quite a procedure to start it that I won't bore you with. Since Dad can barely see and has little use of his left hand and arm, he had to walk me through this long step-by-step process.
Fortunately, once we were ready, it started immediately and ran perfectly.
Unfortunately, the valve stem on the tire is actually broken. So the Brother-In-Law will have to manage that.
Russians
This ties back to the Tennis Theme.
I'm playing a tennis tournament in Scottsdale, AZ the first week of December. I didn't have a doubles partner and so asked the Tournament Director if she could find me another single for doubles.
She said she didn't have a 60's single who wanted to enter doubles, but had someone in the 55's. Would I be interested?
"Sure," I said. "I just want to play. I'll play with anyone."
This is big tournament. Apparently there are 3 Russian men coming over from Russia to play it.
So my doubles partner is Yury Chernyavskiy. And, get this. He is ranked 10th in Russia.
This will be fun and interesting. I'm really looking forward to meeting Yury and his fellow Russians.
How great is tennis?
Heroes
Wenesday night Dad was watching (with him and his Macular Degeneration, I think there's actually more listening than "watching") The Military Channel on TV. They were doing a program on Pearl Harbor.
I asked Dad where he was and what he was doing when he first heard about Pearl Harbor.
He was outside in the driveway washing his car. My Grandpa came out and told him to come inside and Dad, my Uncle Chuck, Grandma, and Grandpa sat around the radio the rest of the afternoon listening to the news.
Less than a month later, on Jan. 2, 1942, Dad was going on active duty.
He was a Marine Corps fighter pilot, was shot down in the Pacific Ocean and spent a few days on a life raft so small his head and feet both hung over the ends when he laid down and stretched out, with 1 pint of water and a fishing hook and short line (no flares, radio, etc. - this was a long time ago), endured a heavy storm with toreential rain and high seas, and could do nothing except hope, pray, and keep a positive attitude before finally being rescued.
He told me that when he was floating out there in the open sea, helpless, he promised "his God" that if he lived through the ordeal he would live every day to the fullest....realizing how precious life is. I believe he has kept that promise.
He also flew in the Korean War and was engaged in close air support in the Battle of the Chosin Reservoir where it is reported that temperatures got down to minus 35 degrees. He was also shot down in Korea about 90 miles behind enemy lines and spent 4 days and 5 nights hiding during the day and travelling towards South Korea at night on a right foot that had 7 broken bones in it.
I had heard snippets of my dad's adventures in the Wars before. I'd seen all the medals.
But that night he went on for about 2 or 2 1/2 straight hours, hardly taking a breath, and revealed every detail about his life and the lives of many of his commrades in WWII. He has a remarkable memory for the names of the men he served with and the places. And the tastes and smells and sounds. I'd never heard it all put together before.
Thursday we continued.....now into the Korean War and there was another solid 2 or more hours of details revealed. Names. Dates. Places. People. Funny incidents. Horrors...horrors that are hard to imagine. He had to stop to fight back his tears frequently.
And Heroes. Heroes galore. Big ones and little ones.
Proudly, my dad among them.
I never interrupted. I waited until he was done or paused to ask a question or two. Otherwise this was his story and it seemed best to let him tell it in his way in his time.
All I had asked was where he was when he heard about Pearl Harbor.
But I think that for some reason he needed just then to relive and remember these events and share them with someone. I'm grateful it was me. If nothing else good came out of this trip, these four or five hours with my Dad while he was clearing his mind about his wars was worth it.
I hope he got some value or comfort from sharing these things with me.
I suspect we'll never talk about it again.
