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HOUSTON HOME JOURNAL
There cometh wise men
Not long ago, I found
myself in the midst
of one of life’s great
treasures.
It all came about because
mama had
her annu
al physi
cal that
required
her to fast.
Mama
doesn’t
do well
when she
doesn’t
eat - she
mm' -ijk
Ronda Rich
Dixie Divas
gets “swimmy headed.”
So, she had her blood work
done and with enough
time remaining before her
‘ appointment, we headed out
for breakfast.
It was there at the res
taurant that I found those
jewels in the form of several
men who were gray with age
and deeply wrinkled with
time. They sat at a long table
Semi-ole-time lioos' today's Halloween
You’ve heard the sto
ries from the ole
timers about how
hard they had it.
“Yeah, we had to walk
through
three feet
of snow,
up a
mountain,
with no
shoes on,
just to get
to school...
yes, those
were the
good ole
days.”
. 'V
Len Robbins
Columnist
airpub@planttel.net
Usually, I let them recount
the “good ole days” without
reminding them that they
grew up in South Georgia,
where there are no moun
tains and it’s snowed twice
in the last 50 years.
Now that I’m a semi-ole
timer, I find myself reliving
my past as a child. And like
the ole timers I scoffed at,
I find that my recollections
are tinted by rose-colored
nostalgia.
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with half-eaten biscuits and
steaming cups of coffee in
their midst. And they talked.
Goodness gracious, how they
talked.
Many of their words drifted
over to our table so I smiled
as I heard what all they had
to say. They talked long of
the political world. “Politics
will ruin the best man,” one
opined while the other nod
ded and grunted in agree
ment. Then they talked of
wives, strong-willed women
who rule their husbands
apparently with an iron
fist, of religion - what the
Methodists do as opposed to
what the Baptists do - and
how the country is in need of
a new, better fertilizer.
“Gotta do something,”
one grumbled. “Erosion and
developers are ruinin’ the
land.”
“If you ain’t got good land,
you ain’t got nothin’ worth
havin’,” another offered. For
For instance, the
Halloweens of my youth
seem to shine in comparison
to what they have today.
First of all, we celebrated
Halloween on Halloween
- October 31.
It didn’t matter what
day of the week the 31st
fell on, that’s when we had
Halloween.
We also actually went to
people’s houses and knocked
on their doors - even people
we didn’t know. That was
part of the fun. You didn’t
know what you were going
to get, or who you were
going to see.
Some people you would
catch totally unprepared for
Halloween.
“Trick or Treat!”
Some guy with a “Welcome
Back Kotter” t-shirt and no
pants on would answer the
door with a Pabst in his
hand, oblivious that this
was a holiday to little kids
throughout the free world.
He’d then scurry about,
stumble a few times, and
every problem that we as
a nation have, they had a
solution.
Now there’s a brain trust,
I thought to myself, judging
there to be several hundred
years of experience sitting at
the laminate table. I looked
over at them and smiled
in appreciation, noting the
deep brown age spots that
covered their faces.
I shook my head in won
derment, thinking, “If we
could only bottle that wis
dom and the common sense
that spouts from that table,
what a better world we’d
have.”
Across the South every
morning, without fail, men
just like those escape the
monotony of retirement life
and march off to have break
fast together. They validate
each other and appreciate
their own insights. Some
are veterans of wars that
See RICH, page 6AI
come back with an assort
ment of odd items to place in
our waiting bags. My friends
got cans of tuna, my sister
a bottle of Brut after-shave,
and I got a used CB radio.
Then there were always
the geeks who would hand
out fruit - apples and pears
or perhaps a kiwi. The older
kids would roll their house
later that night for their
clueless transgressions.
This past Halloween was
the first where our young
est child, our three-year-old
son, could somewhat under
stand what was going on
- essentially, he was getting
free candy.
I was excited for him, but
also for me - another oppor
tunity to relive Halloween
vicariously through the kids.
But what we’ve found in
recent years, and this differs
from my youthful remem
brances, was that nobody
was home.
We went to place after
place and everyone was gone
with their lights out.
Perry
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Warner Robins
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OPINION
Adoption can have varying
effects on child’s personality
QUESTION: Are adopted children
more likely to be rebellious than chil
dren born to biological parents? If so,
are there any steps I can take to pre
vent or ease the conflict? My husband
and I are thinking about adopting a
toddler and the question has me wor
ried.
DR. DOBSON: Every child is different
and adopted kids are no exception. They
come in all sorts of packages.
Some boys and girls who were abused or
unloved prior to the adoption will react to
those painful experiences in some way ....
usually negatively. Others, even those who
were not mistreated, will struggle with
identity problems and wonder why their
“real” mothers and fathers didn’t want
them. They may be driven to find their bio
logical parents during or after adolescence
to learn more about their heritage and
families of origin.
I must emphasize, however, that many
adopted kids do not go through any of these
When I was a kid, every
body was home. And if they
weren’t, we banged on their
door until somebody came,
or we just took whatever
was in their carport.
We went to every house we
could. Back then, it wasn’t
strangers giving out candy
once a year you had to worry
about, it was the guy who
gave out candy year-round.
Obviously, times have
changed. But times always
change.
The Halloween I knew is
different from the ones my
parents knew, and that my
children know now.
Thirty years from now,
they’ll probably be talking
wistfully about how their
childhood was more inno
cent, more fun, even better,
than the present.
The days they’ll recount
will still be the “good ole
days.” They’ll just be differ
ent from mine.
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LETTERI
From page 4A
Social Security by coming
out in favor of the misnamed
“Fair Tax”? This race could
be determined by senior
citizens worried about our
financial security and well
being. Most of us vote, Rick!
Frank W. Gadbois,
Warner Robins
it 111 I
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WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7, 2007 ♦
Dr. James
Dobson
Focus on the Family
I hope you won’t be reluctant to adopt
that child because some special problems
might - but probably won’t - develop.
Every child has his or her own particular
challenges. Every child can be difficult to
raise. Every child requires all the creative
energy and talent a parent can muster. But
every child is also worth the effort, and
there is no higher calling than to do that
job excellently.
Let me add one more thought. I knew
See DOBSON, page 6A
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personal crises. They
take root where they are
replanted and never give
a thought to the ques
tions that trouble some
of their peers. As with
so many other behavioral
issues, the critical fac
tors are the particular
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and how he or she is
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