Three times seven, take 1

I liked being a teacher; I taught DJ Techniques, Radio Production and Current Events and, as most people do when they teach, I found that I learned a lot from my students, as I hoped they learned from me as well.

Because of this Facebook thingamajig, I find that I still learn from them.  One of them, a fellow from one of our favorite towns, Havre de Grace, MD, is named John Gross, and he recently challenged me to dump ten gallons of ice water over myself  list daily three things for which I am grateful, for seven days.

Easy as pie. In fact, easier than pie, since I won't have to make a crust for this daily list.  Three times seven is 21, and if I can't list 21 things I appreciate, then grits ain't groceries, and they're on my plate for sure.

THIS Phil Harris, voice of Baloo

We'll start with Peggy, my teenaged wife of almost 41 years.  I won't go into a dissertation about how I fell in love in the first three seconds of a blind date that's still going on, but let's just say that I'm a lucky man in that my wife and my best friend are the same person, so when I want to tell my best friend how much in love I am, she's always right there!  How convenient!  And, I will hasten to point out that I realize that life with me is not easy.  Just the music that pours out of my den (Phil Harris!  Perry Como with the Fontane Sisters! Kris Kross!  The Fralinger String Band from Philadelphia!) and the jokes that pour out of my den ("Conjunctivitis.Com is a site for sore eyes!") and the books that are stacked in my den, and my projects down in the basement workshop ("I need two parts Hydrogen, one part Oxygen, and I'll be swimming in free water!)  None of that bothers her, as long as she has our lovely home to share with the man she has loved since that blind date many Junes ago.  I love Peggy above all.  But I need to list more things for which I am grateful.

Young Frank Zappa

I'm grateful for my new iPod, with the capacity to hold a lot, an awful lot, of music and podcasts, which means if you drive through our neighborhood, you might see a man walking along with earbuds in his ears and a happy smile on his face.  It's I, strutting to the oldies! And the "random" setting means hopping from Slatz Randall and His Orchestra ("Let's Not 'n' Say We Did") to The Beau Brummels ("Laugh Laugh") to Frank Zappa ("Holiday In Berlin, Full Blown").  I love my music!

And for the third thing today, let's say I love the world and almost all the people in it.  We spent Saturday dinner and Sunday brunch with my cousin, second cousins and third cousins and it was wonderful fun to chatter about this and that.  I've been blessed with lots of good friends in this happy life, and the chances are that if you're reading this, you're one of them, so thank you for that, too!

More tomorrow!