It’s Christmas Time Again,                                                                                       December 2017

This makes Christmas #47 for Cindy and me. I just don’t know where all the time is gone. For me today is pretty much, just like yesterday, and tomorrow isn’t looking any different. We all have varying schedules that fit the different times in our lives. When we were school kids, we lived by the bell. We graduated, and moved on to live by the time clock, and raising kids by the bus stop times. Now in retirement, time is a whole new thing. My Dad first introduced to me one retirement “time” while he was living in Florida. He said, “Time for early birds!” I’m like, “What?” I was soon to learn that seasoned citizens got a special price, discount, at the restaurant if they came in early, after 4pm but before five. Well…this was new! Living at home we NEVER ate supper before 5; Dad didn’t get off until five. Fast forward, guess who’s doing early birds now? Our usual haunt has a deal if you eat after 4 they punch your card. After 10 punches, you get a free meal. Well, that is just one way we track time around here. Another is days of the week.  Since everyday is pretty much the same around here, I lose track of which day it actually is, that is until I get out my “Pill Minder.”   Well what do you know, it is Wednesday. Next thing you know I’m out of pills, which mean another week has gone by. Seems like I just filled it up yesterday, time sure flies when you’re doing nothing. If Cindy is watching the NFL is play, it is Sunday, Monday, or Thursday. If it is on all day, it Sunday for sure. If it is NCAA football, it’s Saturday. NBA, those guys have no sense of time, I swear they play every day, can’t go by them guys. We have taco Tuesday, Whopper Wednesday, AYCE fish on Friday. You get my drift.  Of course prime time, it isn't what you think. Primetime is 8:30 am at the coffee shop. If you want the very latest news on a whole list of rumors, gossip, political views the college of knowledge is our Java Bean Café. Best 2 bucks I spend every day. No internet, just fellas talking (the occasional Smartphone may appear when specifics are in question). Details may be important, but not too often. The Java Bean is a unique blend of think tank, consultant group, focus group, opinion poll, liars club, politics usually not allowed unless we praise the Democratic Party. Trump has a ways to go before winning over some of these guys, but there is hope. To be fair, I don’t hear anybody singing how great Obama was either. Religion is not discussed unless we're talking about Notre Dame, Bishop Dwenger HS, or Bishop Luers HS. All hail Notre Dame! Everybody also puts a lot of faith in Prayer. We’re praying for it to either rain, or stop, or a Notre Dame win. All Hail Notre Dame! When Coach Kelly had two quarterbacks, prayers went to Coach Kelly…All Hail Brian Kelly! Whenever I have to travel to South Bend, I pray also, that it isn't on Saturday. What a madhouse. I almost forgot… Wednesdays. Wednesday is ladies night at the Venice, a restaurant/bar on Goshen road. Cindy, and a bunch of other older ladies, go there to hear a group of old guys playing old music, blah. Give me a young gal dancing around a pole any day and Rock-n-Roll, just kidding.

As I said, this last year has been just like the last few. I’m still working, nothing else much to do around here so might as well, beats staying home and watching TV all day. Cindy is still making towels (and doing the Wednesday night thing).  We are up to four dogs now. They’re entertaining, just like having kids around the house. When dogs do something that you don’t like, do they really know you don’t like it? They get into Cindy’s yarn and really foul it up sometimes. She scolds them, but two days later, they’re at it again. They know you’re mad at them, but they look up with their sad eyes and wag their tails and you forgive them, again. We took our annual trek up to Michigan; just have to go to the beach at least once a year. It was only three days, and a little chilly, but Brian and I got in the water anyway. I mean that’s what we went for, right?  We left the dogs at home with Tracy. When we got back, you’d swear they thought we’d been gone forever. We didn't know the hotel was pet-friendly, or we would have taken them along. They need a vacation too, running along the beach with the wind in their hair, digging holes, sniffing strange things.    In addition, I got to go on an Honor Flight to D.C. along with 87 other Vietnam Vets. We toured all the war memorials, met Vice President Mike Pence, and had a police escort everywhere. It truly was the "welcome home" we didn’t get 50 years ago. I’m not bitter though, in fact, I think I can appreciate more now than I would have then. War stories were in abundance, although I think a lot were just tall tales, it was a fun trip, and I’m glad I went. Speaking of trips, this nice lady (I think her name is Elizabeth) keeps calling from the Resort Rewards Center offering me all these free vacations. I must be one lucky guy. Add to that all the money I’ve been saving in interest from the Credit Card Services people, I can probably afford to go on some of these vacations. In addition, I’m just one pill away from curing my irritable bowel syndrome, so I don’t have to worry about “going,” if I would go, and I could enjoy the boardwalk. All those people suffering, they take a pill and voila, they instantly have so much fun. Sitting in bathtubs on the beach, not worrying about having to pause if the moment strikes. Better living through chemistry. I like the guy who dances at work, then he goes home and dances while mowing his yard (like that would ever happen here), then he goes out to drag his basset hound down the sidewalk, dancing all the way. Who said drugs were bad?  I'm about to the end of the page here.  Winners and losers in politics. The winners didn't really win, and the losers didn't lose and Mueller is going to fix all of, it. Whatever happened we can always blame the Russians (and have since 1945). Why can’t we find a pill to fix Post Election Stress Disorder?     I’ll close by saying, we love all of you, we have no enemies, and you are all, our friends. We hope you have a nice Christmas and a good new year. May your days be many and your trouble be few, your loved ones safe and your friends be true.                                   Merry Christmas,   Alan, Cindy, and Brian Geiger