Hey, Baby Boy... I hope you're having a great day in Virginia

Ethan, today I thought I'd tell you about something that took me 50+ years to learn. It's actually a pretty simple concept that will make your life more pleasant with less stress. All day long everyday you will be faced with dozens of decisions. Some are silly little mundane decisions like "grape jelly or red raspberry jam?" On occasion you'll be faced with life threatening decisions like Navy SEALS do in battle. Neither of these are the kind of decisions that I am referring to. I'm talking about decisions involving people and situations in your life and how you respond to them.
Let me give you an example that happened to a friend of mine last week. Aaron is a young man who has been helping me build my house. He's a big help because he's young and wiry and doesn't mind getting up on my roof to fix things. He's kind of like a squirrel when it comes to running up and down a ladder.Aaron had a terrible tooth ache so I drove him to a community dental clinic in a nearby town. He went inside and paid his $5 to see the county dentist. He came back out to the car in a short time fussing and fuming. The dentist - for some reason that Aaron didn't think was a good one - wouldn't pull his tooth to relieve his pain. He was mad as a hornet and continued to rant and rave about the dentist being an incompetent, lazy bureaucrat. He really worked himself into a tizzy.I knew his tooth was still hurting really bad so I wanted to be careful how and what I said to him. I told him that I was sorry that he didn't get any relief during his dental visit but now that it was over he had a decision to make: he could either continue to rant and rave about the dentist which would accomplish nothing or he could forget about the disappointing experience and concentrate on trying to come up with some other way to get relief. I told him that being upset didn't help or change anything and, in fact, would just continue to ruin his afternoon and raise his "blood pressure." I told him if he would actively make the decision to forget about his dental visit, he'd be able to think more clearly and be able to come up with a workable solution to getting his tooth taken care of.
This simple concept can also be considered in Spiritual terms. I know your Mommy and Daddy are teaching you this but it is true that "God loves you and wants the best for you." If an inopportune red light is going to make you late for an appointment - once again - you have a decision to make: am I going to get all stressed out and upset because I'm going to be late or am I going to recognize that for some reason God allowed the light to be red and His ordained delay is for my own good. It could be that waiting a few extra seconds at the light is just enough time for you to avoid a serious accident... or it may create the opportunity for you to have a God-arranged meeting with some special new friend later in the day. Try to flow in the Spirit, Ethan... even red lights are a God-thing.
I love you, beautiful boy,
Granddaddy
PS. Call me sometime: 931-598-9160

Keep up with old friends...

When I was a little boy, my family moved from Nashville, Tennessee (which was a wonderful place to grow up in the 1950s) to Macon, Georgia. My Daddy, your Mommy's Granddaddy, worked for the Boy Scouts of America and had been promoted to Scout Executive of the Central Georgia Council. We rented this house on Avon Road when we first moved to Macon. Within a year my family bought a house out in the country (11 miles north of Macon) on Colaparchee Road. Living in the country was really fun. We played in the woods, camped out back behind the house (we had 11 acres), played softball in our huge front yard, hunted with our shotguns and generally had a great time just being little boys.
One of my best friends was Tommy Ward whose Daddy drove the school bus. Tommy, his little brother Roger, their Granddaddy (Mrs Ward's Daddy) and Mr & Mrs Ward lived in a little brick house up the road and around the corner from us. Mr Ward had physically built their house like I did for your Mommy in Oklahoma. My brothers and I were the first to be picked up by Mr Ward in the morning and the last to be dropped off in the afternoon. It was a long day with us getting home after 4:20 in the afternoon.
Roger was Tommy's younger brother. As far as us older boys were concerned Roger was a real pest. Even though we were mean to Roger and even hit him on the arm to the point of bruising him, he really loved playing with us older boys. One day we were playing football out in the cow pasture next to Tommy's house and we needed another "man" to even out the sides. We reluctantly let Roger play but forbid him from doing anything besides center the football ("Roger, just center the ball and stand there"). We knew he would mess up if we allowed him to do more. Several plays into the game Roger came back into the huddle and told Tommy that no one was guarding him and that Tommy should throw him the ball and he would score. Tommy didn't want to do it because he knew Roger would drop the pass and maybe even be responsible for an interception. Roger persisted and Tommy finally gave in. He told Roger to center the ball and run out into the flats over towards their house and he would throw the pass to him. Tommy reminded Roger of what would happen to him if he dropped the ball. Roger knew the consequences and the bruised arm he would receive if he dropped the pass. Nevertheless wanting to win his big brother's approval, he centered the ball and sprinted out towards their house. Tommy hit Roger in the numbers with a perfectly thrown spiral pass and Roger dropped the ball. Without breaking stride Roger kept running at full speed, jumped the fence and ran home. We didn't see him again the rest of the afternoon. I've always thought that would be a great scene in a movie about boys and their little brothers.
Today was Tommy's 63rd birthday so I called to wish him a Happy Birthday. He's one of those special friends that I have kept up with for over 50 years. We had a nice chat and agreed that we'd have to get together soon. It's great keeping up with old friends... I hope you'll make it a point to keep up with your friends, Ethan... and even remember their birthday. Oh, I forgot to mention... Roger is a Brigadier General in the Georgia National Guard.
I love you, Ethan... I understand that you have a baby brother or sister on the way. How exciting! I know you'll be a big help to your Mommy when he/she arrives,
Granddaddy
PS. Give me a call sometime: 931-598-9160

Several fun video clips for Ethan

Good morning, Ethan... thank your Mommy for sending me those pictures of you. Everyone that I've showed them to thinks that you are a beautiful boy. Just for fun I thought you'd like to see a couple of videos that I really like. If you're ever feeling kinda sad these quadrupelets will make you smile and lift your spirits:
Here is a funny dog video:
We had a little snow here in Tennessee last night... this is a picture out my back window into the woods:
I hope you have a wonderful day, baby boy... I love you,
Granddaddy
PS. Call me sometime 931-598-9160

If you think something positive... say it

Hello, beautiful boy. Today I want to share with you an attitude that I adopted about 20 years ago (I even wrote an article about this attitude that was published in the Tulsa Tribune newspaper... I'll send you a copy if I can find it). Although this is a simple concept, it does require action/effort.
Most people notice positive things in others: a good job, a pretty new hair style, a beautiful dress, etc. Unfortunately, the thought remains just a thought unless it is spoken, "Mommy, thank you for making these brownies, they are the BEST you've ever made!" "Bobby, that's a really cool t-shirt your Dad got you on vacation."
"John, I want to tell your supervisor how helpful you have been in solving my computer problem... may I have his email address so I can write him about the good job you did for me?"
As an example, last week I sent this email:

Re: John Sheppard
AppleCare Help Desk Agent

Dear Mr Shaner,

I wanted to email you about the outstanding service provided to me by your AppleCare Help Desk Agent John Sheppard. I had been dealing with a nightmare and Mr Sheppard skillfully worked with me until the problems were resolved over a period of days. He is a credit to Apple and to your department. The service I received has made me a life-long Apple customer/loyalist.

Please make a note of this email in his personnel folder.

Sincerely,
Davis Mauldin
AppleCare Agreement # 534027443501088
Yes, it took a little time, but I'd bet it made Mr Sheppard's day!

And just this morning I wrote Overstock.com because of the outstanding quality of their mattress pad (they had asked me to comment):

It's nothing short of heaven
I have a theory. Like you, Bill Gates and the Queen of England only have 24 hours in their day. Like you, they spend approximately 8 hours of that 24 in bed. 8 hours is a full one third of one's life. All you have to do to duplicate the sleeping environment of the richest man in the world - or royalty - is to buy the most comfortable mattress - and in the case of this plush mattress pad - the most luxurious mattress cover you can afford. This mattress pad on top of my 10" memory foam mattress is nothing short of heaven. I highly recommend it... especially at the Overstock.com discounted price. Now I am rested and can work on the other 16 hours of my day.

Yes, it takes a little effort to write the note or tell someone they did a good job or that they look particularly nice today but it brightens everyone's day if you do.
Just remember, if you think a positive thought, Ethan, say it!
I love you, baby boy,
Granddaddy
PS. Call me sometime 931-598-9160

The most important decision in your life

Hi, Ethan... I hope you have been having fun with this blog I'm doing for you. Up until now it's been pretty lighthearted and I hope fun for you but today I want to get a little more serious and tell you about my salvation experience.
I was in the Navy... it was early 1972 and I realized that my life was not going the direction I wanted it to go... my Mama hadn't raised me to be like I was becoming. A friend's wife introduced me to the leader of the young adult's group (Myrna Johnson) at Merritt Island Baptist Church which was near Cape Canaveral, Florida where my ship was home ported. I received a telephone call early Sunday morning which I had to take on the ship's quarter deck because we didn't have phones in our staterooms. It was Myrna Johnson (I have remained friends with Myrna until now). Myrna invited me to visit Merritt Island Baptist the following Wednesday night for their services. I was hungry for Jesus (although I didn't know it in those terms at that time) and eagerly said, "Y'all are Baptists, right!?" "Yes," Myrna replied. "Then y'all have services Sunday night too, don't you?" "Yes, we do," said Myrna. "I want to come tonight," I said.
I attended the service that night. Dr. Adrian Rogers was the Pastor and he preached. Here is a short audio/video of Dr. Rogers' preaching... he was a great Christian man, a dynamic preacher and he later became very prominent in the Southern Baptist Church:

After the service my new friends and I went to Denny's for dessert and fellowship. While there Myrna shared the "Four Spiritual Laws" with me.

I guess I was hard-headed because Dr. Rogers' sermon and the Four Spiritual Laws went right over my head that night... I just didn't understand. That was in March, 1972. I continued to go to church, seek the Lord and on July 4th 1972 it dawned on me that I had indeed accepted Jesus as my Lord and Savior. As He would have it, my ship went to sea the next month (August, 1972) for almost nine continuous months and I immersed myself in Christian books and study. I am so thankful that Jesus saved me.
I'm so glad your Mommy and Daddy are teaching you about Jesus... I love you, Ethan,
Your Granddaddy
PS. Please call me sometime 931-598-9160

I just found this picture...

Ethan, yesterday I told you that part of the time that I was in the Navy that I was the Range Safety Officer for the submarine missile test shots. I told you that I had to blow up just one out of 36 missiles because it was off course. This morning I stumbled on to a photograph of a missile being blown up and I thought you'd like to see it:Here are some funny pictures of dogs that you may enjoy too:





Have a wonderful day, little man... I love you,
Granddaddy

Ethan, I was in the Navy and lived on a ship

Ethan, your Granddaddy was on active duty in the Navy for over 9 years. During that time he was assigned to three different ships... two were destroyers:
My first ship was the USS Nicholas (DD-449) which was stationed in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii.
While I was onboard, the "Nick" made one six month deployment to Vietnam (the Nicholas was the fastest destroyer in the Pacific fleet... we could go over 36 knots which is like driving a car about 40 miles per hour... that's pretty fast for a ship that's over 375' long).
During that six months besides going to Vietnam, we got to visit Japan, Guam, the Philippines and Midway Island.

My second ship was the USS Strong (DD-758). While I was onboard "her" (ships are referred to as if they were ladies) we made two deployments to the Mediterranean Sea (Spain, France, Italy, Turkey, Greece, Malta, Monaco and Palma) and several trips to the Carribean Sea (Puerto Rico, St. Thomas and the Bahamas). The Strong was homeported in Charleston, South Carolina. As an "Officer of the Deck," I got to "drive" both the Nicholas and the Strong. My third ship was the USNS Range Sentinel. We operated with the Navy's submarine fleet out of Cape Canaveral, Florida and participated in the submarine missile test shots. I was the Range Safety Officer (my boss was an Air Force General) and was responsible for the missiles flying a safe path. I only had to blow up one out of about 36 missiles that were tested. Those four round things on the bow (front) of the ship were the antennas that tracked the flight of each missile.
I actually lived onboard these ships for five years... at sea and in port. Our rooms were very small and we had to share a bathroom (head) with the other officers. We all ate together in a dining room called "the ward room."
Here is a video link to what destroyers did in World War II (the Nicholas was a Fletcher Class destroyer and was actually older than the USS Fletcher).
I love you, Ethan,
Granddaddy
PS. Give me a call sometime 931-598-9160.

It's Howdy Doody time!

Ethan, I found this video today about toys that children played with when I was a little boy. I recognized almost every one of them:

Everything was different when I was a little boy. It was a simple and sweet time to grow up. We had TV but it wasn't in color... only black and white. At that time in Nashville we only had one station instead of the hundreds of channels available on cable TV today. When I was a little bitty boy (age 3 - 10), my family lived in Nashville, Tennessee. Click here and see the house we lived in.
Early in the fifties there was only one TV station in Nashville - NBC Channel 4. On Saturdays they had a program where local children were on the air playing games and having fun. I was on the "Channel 4 Club" one time and can remember how exciting it was to be on TV. That day I was in a pie eating contest on live TV.
When I was very little - just a little older than you - the TV show that all my friends and I liked was called the "Howdy Doody" Show. It was in black and white and stared a puppet named Howdy Doody. Buffalo Bob was a grownup on the show as well as Clarabell the clown (he couldn't talk so he honked his horn and squirted people with water). Other characters were Princess SummerFallWinterSpring, an Indian Princess and other puppets named Flub-a-dub, Mr. Bluster and Dilly Dally. Here's a clip from one of the shows... it was pretty corny compared to TV shows for kids today but it was a was a wonderful time to grow up. I thank the Lord for letting me grow up then and there:

I hope you are having a wonderful day, little boy... KNOW that your Granddaddy loves you!
I'd love to hear from you, Ethan... my phone number is 931-598-9160.

Ethan, go see Tyson...

the skateboarding bulldog. <<< click here
Bulldogs are really cool dogs... they look grumpy and mean but they are very sweet. Obviously, Tyson is very smart too... he taught himself how to skateboard.

Two of my favorite songs

Good morning, Ethan. Today I thought I'd share with you two of my favorite songs. The first is sung by a very famous man named Louis Armstrong... his nickname was "Satchmo" and his trademark was that he always had a handkerchief in his hand to wipe the perspiration from his forehead while he played the trumpet and sang (you can see his handkerchief in this picture). He lived from 1901 - 1971... he had a very unique voice and ALWAYS had a BIG smile on his face.
I really love this song because it makes me think about you. It's called "What a Wonderful World."

The second song I'd like you to hear is very famous in Australia and has been popular with children for 40 years "down under" (Australia is said to be "down under" the equator... it's also called "Oz" but I don't know why?). This song is performed by a group that was popular in the mid-1960s when I was in college. The group is called The Seekers and features a female singer named Judith Durham. I think Judith has the most beautiful voice that I have ever heard. The song is called "Morningtown Ride." I hope you have enjoyed hearing these songs... I love both of them and I love you, Ethan.

A story about me and my first dogs

Hi, Ethan... I was born in Memphis, Tennessee on December 28th, 1946. I just had my 62nd birthday. Memphis is on the Mississippi River... here is a picture of Memphis and the Mississippi River taken from an airplane:
My Mama, Daddy and I lived in Memphis for about a year after I was born. When I was about your age (14 months), my family moved 60 miles west to Forrest City, Arkansas where my Daddy (your Great-Granddaddy; 1916 - 1999) owned a small factory that made work socks for men. He also owned a Dairy Queen that sold soft serve ice cream.Somewhere in a box I have a video of my family made in about 1948 that you may like to see sometime. When you see it, you may think that you and I look a lot alike at that age?
One thing you need to know about me is that I dearly LOVE dogs (especially puppies). My family hadn't lived in Arkansas very long before our Cocker Spaniel named Jett (they named her that because she was "jet black") had a litter of puppies. Here is what Cocker puppies look like:Here is a grown Cocker Spaniel:
You'll be able to see Jett and her puppies in that video I mentioned above.
My Mama (1920 - 2006), your Great-Grandmama (your Mommy called her Marty) loved to tell a story about me and my first experience with "Dobie," the Doberman Pinscher across the street. When I was just a little older than you, I was playing in the front yard of our house and Mama was keeping an eye on me out the kitchen window. She turned her head for just a moment and when she looked back I was standing there having stuck my entire arm down Dobie's throat up to my shoulder. She ran outside afraid that he would bite my arm off but quickly realized that Dobie was like most Dobermans and was very gentle and not aggressive unless his/her family was in danger. I was fine except that my arm was wet from being in Dobie's mouth. That was our family's first experience with Dobermans and over the years we had a number of them as pets (Tinka, Skipper, Machen, Luke, Zack). They are wonderful family dogs... very gentle, loving and protective of their family if they are in danger. Here is a picture of a grown Doberman and a litter of black and red puppies:
Look at how big the puppies' feet are. This picture was taken before these puppies have had their ears trimmed to stand up like the adult (above).
Here is a wonderful picture of a mother Doberman kissing/thanking a fireman who saved her babies from a fire:Right now I have three dogs: Baxter, Boone and Mosby. They are all rescued mutts (not pure bred). Here is a picture of them:
Baxter with a friend of mine... he is very big... about 120 pounds:Boone in my truck (he's a VERY happy dog):This is Mosby:I'll tell you some more about my other dogs later. I hope you get to have a dog of your own... it's something every boy needs.

Hello, Ethan... I'd like to get to know you

Ethan, we haven't met yet but I'd like to get to know you and I'd like for you to get to know me. I'm your Granddaddy on your Mommy's side... that means that I am your Mommy's Daddy.

If you would like to call me something other than Granddaddy, please feel free to do so. I picked the name Granddaddy because that's what your Mommy called my Daddy. Please let me know what you'd like to call me.

I live in Tennessee (near the little red dot).

Ask your Mommy to click on this link (it's a map of the USA) and then click on Virginia (to make it red) where you live; then click on Oklahoma where she grew up and went to college (Oral Roberts University) and then click on Tennessee where I live. I'm only 20 miles from Alabama and 30 miles from Georgia. I'm about 85 miles south of Nashville (the city famous for country music and where I grew up as a little bitty boy) and about 55 miles west of Chattanooga, Tennessee which is famous for the "Chattanooga Choo-Choo" (an old fashioned train). Have your Mommy click here and listen to an old song called "Chattanooga Choo-Choo." You can also watch a little video of Thomas the Tank Engine.

I live on a mountain (here are some pictures of the house I built ... there's a picture of you on one of the recent postings... I'm really proud of you and tell everyone about you) but I go to church down in the valley in a little town that has a train that comes through several times an hour. The town has refurbished the old train station and also has redone an old locomotive like Thomas the Tank Engine... here's a picture of it.

I'll try to take a video of the old train and the new train coming through town and send it to you because I think your Mommy told me that you really like trains. I like trains too so we have our second thing in common. The first thing we have in common is that we both love your Mommy.

Well, I'll end here for today. Over the next weeks and months I'm going to tell you things about me so when we finally get a chance to meet, you'll know a little about me.

I love you, Ethan,

Granddaddy