I don’t know where dreams come from, but they can be traumatic, boring and sometimes humorous.

A few weeks ago when the President gave a speech to the Joint Session of Congress (JSC), he honored a young 13 year old boy who had a desire to become a police officer. During the JSC, the President recognized him and made him an honorary member of the Secret Service, the elite group that protects the President. The little boy named DJ, dressed in a police outfit given to him by his local police force, dealt with brain cancer at the age of 5 and appears to be a bit handicapped. If you hear him during an interview, you realize he has the voice of a gangster. (lucky kid).

A few days later, I had a dream of a crime scene where DJ was wanting to be a part of it. Luckily, the crime scene was behind a bush so I couldn’t see the gory stuff; but in my dream, two officers were having to drag DJ away from the scene who was wanting to be a part of it. Dragging him down the sidewalk, with his feet in front pushing against the sidewalk, he was yelling in his little gangster voice, “No . . . no!”

May be a bad thing to do, but I woke up laughing.

Then yesterday, I had a dream of a scene in a industrial area. (where many of my dreams are situated) There were three people who were trying to sneak out of the building. One woman and two men. They were dressed as nuns and had hoods, and were walking in single file. The woman was dressed as the mother superior and she was a big woman. The two men behind her were little thin men.

As they snuck away, they passed by two detectives who were looking for them. As they past, the two men in nun garb, raised their heads to quickly look at the detectives, then continued on. But when they looked up, I saw they were wearing paper masks with a big smiley face drawn in black marker.

As they snuck past the detectives who saw them look up, one remarked to the other, “Damn! Those are some ugly women!”

Dreams are strange, but I hope they keep making me laugh.

A couple of days ago, March 11^th is a day that is remembered in our family, as the day we lost a brother. I brought up the calculator on my computer to check to see how many years it has been, and the answer was 47. I left the calculator up with that number for the next few days; to remind me how long we survived in our own lives.

We were originally nine siblings and that day we became eight. For the next 47 years, it has been touch and go for a few of us, but we have all survived, for we all have tasks we are meant to complete before leaving.

Today, Dani has been told our good friend Khris passed away. Since he was a vodka man, I pulled out my only bottle of Russian Standard I purchased right after the Russian-Ukraine war began, before it was purged from store shelves. I poured a glass and went outside and toasted the good man. All good people have regrets after someone passes away, and I wished I would have rolled his wheelchair out on the patio and just sat with him, while trying to decipher his wonderful Indian accent.

But as with all regrets in life, the only thing we can do is learn from them and continue. Because it is a well-known fact, Life will always go on, and we have to accept it, and learn from it.

Rest in Peace, my good Friend.

I give a little to various charities, especially those that help children. One such Charity is Mercy Ships. I recently ran across this interesting article in the news that I would like to share with you – The story of Mamadou.

https://nypost.com/2024/10/13/world-news/boy-7-facing-blindness-gets-life-changing-eye-surgery-such-a-blessing/

Henry is a good man. One of those people you just want to be nice to.

He is a short Hispanic man with a simple accent. He is also my pest control guy. So he comes by every three months and sprays the inside and outside of the house. If I see an increase of little critters, he will drop by and spray again for us the next day.

I am not a conversating fool, but I love being around people like Henry who are genuine. I find the same qualities in the elderly.

The first thing we talk about after his arrival is a quick word or two about the weather; then we discuss his kids, their sports and him coaching them. We also discuss his youngest one who has heart issues. I never ask him about that, but let him bring that up if he wants.

It’s not as if he is just being polite with his customers, but he actually enjoys everyone he meets.

Then he heads off through the house spraying something that I cannot smell, but I know he is spraying something because I see it coming out of the nozzle. Then outside around the house.

Then he knocks on the front door again as if he is someone new. I answer it, he comes in and I sign a piece of paper. It’s not a cheap signature, but it keeps the wife happy and I get to visit Henry again.

I love these two people.

You would think after a hundred years of marriage, (or something like that), the two love birds would be living a life of bliss. Not so. In the time I’ve known this amazing couple, countless times I heard Khris yell from his bed, “UMA!” when he needed something. Usually it was another vodka, and Uma would have a sour look on her face.

It was last year when one of their granddaughters had a birthday party, so they got Khris out of bed and dressed for the happy event. This provided an opportunity to get a picture of the family. They asked Dani to take the picture, but the issue was, Khris was mad.

I will not say this outright, but from an outside point of view, I would say Khris doesn’t like Uma. Here is one of the pictures Dani took of the loving couple.

Now add the rest of the family, minus a son who lives in Houston, you get this picture:

If you look close, Khris is smiling. But to get that picture, Dani had to threaten him. “Kreeees, I’m not leaving until you smile.”

Now that was back in November. Khris’ health has deteriorated and he has been in and out of the hospital. At one point, he was in a heart hospital in Houston and they were trying to determine whether to do heart surgery on the good man. The problem I understand is, once the surgery was completed he would have to go through physical therapy, which he flatly remarked he had no intention of doing. It was only after Uma came back to Victoria out of disgust, that Khris agreed. Like he was waiting for her to leave.

But the surgery never happened and he has deteriorated to the point, it is now “just make him comfortable”. They give him medication for pain, but that is about all they can do. He was sent home where it is the best place to be when you leave this life.

Last week, Dani went to Khris like she always does before leaving to say goodbye. Usually, it’s “Kreees, do you need anything? Okaaay. Bye bye, Kreees,” and he would smile. But this time, he looked at her and said, “Dani, I don’t feel well.”

Khris has his wife, his sister and her husband, his daughter and her two girls in the house, yet he feels closest to Dani. I don’t know if it is a reflection on her or him, but when she told me what he said, it broke my heart, that she was the one who he trusted. She placed several chairs around his bed for his family to sit with him, in hopes it would raise his spirits. Then adjusted his oxygen and made him comfortable, and told Uma he was not feeling well. When Dani showed up the following Monday, she learned he was back at the hospital in Victoria and the doctors were instructed to make him comfortable as possible.

I truly love this old man, and I would have loved to spend time just sitting with him, but I have such a hard time understanding his Indian accent. But it will be just a short time when he will pass on to a better life, and he will no longer have to tell Dani he does not feel well.