Well I left my happy home to see what I could find out
I left my folk and friends with the aim to clear my mind out
Well I hit the rowdy road and many kinds I met there
Many stories told me of the way to get there
So on and on I go, the seconds tick the time out
There's so much left to know and I'm on the road to find out
I am confident that many of you share my penchant for "finding out" about things, but I am addicted to learning. Rather than achieving "the aim to clear my mind out" I have cluttered my mind with a lot of information, some of it of genuine value, lots of it simple trivia. Is this burning desire to "find out" rooted in nature or nurture? I have talked to myself about this subject at length discovering nothing in the process. I am prone to attribute my need to know to the nurturing impact of several outstanding teachers who influenced my habit as well as to my parents who guided me in the direction of a "good education." However, I can't ignore the fact that my father and my grandfather were newspaper junkies and absorbent readers of the written word just as I am. I can't start a day without retrieving the daily newspaper from the driveway and soaking up its contents. So being genetically hardwired to seek out information could be a factor here.
Of course in today's world of twenty four hour a day television news channels and on-line media, who really needs to hold a newspaper in their hands to read about the day's happenings? I do!!! I feel a certain anxiety until I have grasped that paper and scanned every page. I am equally charged up to check the daily mail, both the old fashioned kind delivered each day to a box on the street curb and that sent my way electronically. Yeah, yeah, so much of it is junk, but those pieces bringing me news of family and friends warm me up like a shot of fine scotch. And I have found out that reliving old stories and sharing joyful news of the day can bring laughter to the hearts of those who may be in the midst of stressful life situations. I have found this out from you, my friends from childhood and "the many kinds I met there" on the road I've traveled since "I left my folk and friends" upon graduating from Newport High School in 1970. Whether it is nature or nurture that has molded me and heightened my need to "find out," I have found out I need you to keep feeding me stories of life.
Well in the end I'll know, but on the way I wonder
Through descending snow and through the frost and thunder
Well, I listen to the wind come howl telling me I have to hurry
I listen to the robin's song saying not to worry
So on and on I go, the seconds tick the time out
There's so much left to know and I'm on the road to find out
As each of us wanders through life at our own pace, the seconds continue to tick off in unrestrained fashion. I have found out that time flies whether or not you are having fun. The last two weeks of November 2007 was an interesting slice of life clipped from my map of "the road to find out." During those two weeks I attended a birthday party, a wedding, and two funerals, a personal experience not unlike that of the many other travelers on life's road. But I must tell of these celebrations to share what I have found out.
First, the birthday party was that in recognition of wonderful friend Margaret Van Dyke's 102nd anniversary of a good life lived. Margaret is one of those rare characters who has the willingness to enlighten a younger traveler on "the road to find out." I have had the good fortune of knowing Margaret all of my life with many memorable days spent in her company. In years past Margaret has often celebrated her birthday in an intimate setting alongside my mother, Lawana, and Mildred Holden whose birthdays are near Margaret's in late November. This year family and friends gathered in grand fashion dressed in American Indian regalia or in Pilgrim's garb in keeping with a Thanksgiving theme and in keeping with Margaret's wishes. After all, it was her party! Dr. Jabez Jackson, Jr. who shares a birthday with Margaret (albeit in a different year) served as emcee in the persona of Hiawatha. Highlights of the evening from my perspective included Margaret, Nonnie Jackson and Lucy Freeman singing "Three Old Sqauws, They Ain't What They Used To Be" and my long time friend Carmen Holden McHaney (NHS Class of '69) and her friend Ida Darragh performing a delightful tap dance routine that rendered memories of Miss Bobbie's School of Dance recitals in which I was once a participant many long years ago. I loved seeing Margaret's many friends and getting to personally visit with Charles Holden, Carmen Holden McHaney, Sally and Jim McLarty, Tommie Adams, Sissy Hurley, Kathryn Torian, Katherine Gatlin, Sam Freeman, Pat and Jabez Jackson, Pat and Judy Sanders, and others who have made Newport a joyful place. I have found out through Margaret's example that it is possible to remain forever young.
I was witness to a wedding the Friday after Thanksgiving. Nothing unique about it on the surface. Two people in love exchanging vows pledging loyalty to one another through thick and thin. Yet this union of Dr. Ed Coulter and Lucretia Norris featured their thirteen grandchildren as their attendants for the ceremony. Ed is the Chancellor of Arkansas State University-Mountain Home. We came to know one another in Arkadelphia in the early '90s and developed a steadfast friendship. Ed lost his first wife to cancer a few years back and Lucretia's presence is closing that wound, but those thirteen grandchildren now shared by this couple stamped smiles on the faces of all in attendance at this wedding held in the beautiful Anthony Chapel at Garvan Woodlands Gardens in Hot Springs. There is no direct link to Newport in the telling of this experience, but I bet if we put the theory of "six degrees of separation" to a test every reader can make a connection to Ed and Lucretia. I have found out that grandchildren leave precious etchings upon the heart.
On November 17, 2007 both my Aunt Marie Miles Wilson of Searcy and Newport High School classmate and pal Kenny "Pablo" Taylor passed from this life. Aunt Marie was 91 and Kenny was 55. "So on and on I go, the seconds tick the time out."
Following Aunt Marie's funeral I went by her house on the outskirts of Searcy where I had played so often as a young boy. There in the front yard was a small pile of leaves that had been diligently raked together to tidy up the area not only for the neat appearance, but for the anticipated arrival of future guests. I knew my aunt to be a gentle yet hardworking woman and I knew she had died while raking those leaves together. Visiting with my cousins at her modest place rekindled many pleasant thoughts of days past and memories of early chores on the farm under the watchful eye of my Grandmother Mattie Miles and my Aunt Marie. I have found out that life's work is never done.
Time and distance had separated Kenny Taylor and me since our school days, but many fond memories of time spent together kept him close in my heart over the years. As a matter of fact we lived on the same floor of Holcombe Hall as freshmen at the University of Arkansas at the time I first listened to Cat Stevens' Tea for the Tillerman. Several Newport boys lived together in that dormitory making the transition from high school and the comforts of home to college existence much easier, plus our dorm parents were Carolyn Cross Jones (NHS Class of '65) and Buddy Jones (NHS Class of '64). In addition to Kenny and me, Gene Bennett (my roommate), Ricky Harris, Freeman Travis, Glenn Gay and Rick Wiggins (all NHS '70) and Gary McDonald and Gary "Wioux" Taylor (both NHS '69), all lived in Holcombe Hall in the fall of 1970. A good time was had by all! Of that group, both Kenny and Glenn are now gone from sight. Back to the present, I attended Kenny's memorial service alongside high school classmates Cherry Smith Johnson, Peggy Cox Hayes and Ruth Johnston. While those three girls looked the part of 'Charlie's Angels," on this day I thought of them as Pablo's Angels. At this service I saw for the first time in many years Kenny's brother Gary "Wioux" Taylor, his cousin Jim Taylor, and Merry Howe (all NHS '69) and enjoyed my visit with them as well as with Kenny's wife Anne and son James McNeill. Seeing Kenny's mother, Billye Ervin, and visiting former NHS classmate Jim Pawloski's mother, Donna, before the service took me back to another time. Friends of Kenny's from Alaska and his adoring wife recounted stories of his life and his contributions to his life's work in the mental health field. Kenny "Pablo" Taylor is the second member of the NHS Class of 1970 to leave this life in 2007. Littermate Becky Cathey Landreth passed away in April of this year. I have found out that loving friendships are emblazoned upon the heart forever.
A birthday, a wedding and two funerals . . . all celebrations of life with different emotional attachments to each. I have found out I have an appreciation for sentimental journeys.
Life itself is like this gigantic jigsaw puzzle where each relationship, each experience represents the puzzle pieces. Each piece is designed to fit nicely into place if we can simply figure out how the shapes of these relationships and experiences come together. I'm thinking that this puzzle is sure to be incomplete when "the seconds tick the time out" and the game of life is complete. Or maybe, just maybe, death is the final piece in the puzzle of life, a full and complete life. "Well in the end I'll know, but on the way I wonder." I need to find out how better to "listen to the robin's song saying not to worry" instead of being driven by the howling winds "telling me I have to hurry."
Then I found myself alone, hopin' someone would miss me
Thinking about my home and the last woman to kiss me, kiss me
But sometimes you have to moan when nothing seems to suit yer
But nevertheless you know you're locked toward the future
So on an on you go, the seconds tick the time out
There's so much left to know, and I'm on the road to find out
It should be no surprise to those reading this missive that thoughts of home, my hometown of Newport, keep me grounded. Newport is my trailhead with my first steps taken on the broken sidewalks of Hazel Street. And the "last woman to kiss me," well that would be my wife, Kathryn, my partner on "the road to find out." On every "road to find out" one is sure to encounter detours, roadblocks and breakdowns.
In this year 2007 I have had opportunity to travel some on work related jaunts. Visiting points of interests usually opens the door to "find out" something new or to touch something of significance. In July while in Colorado Springs, Colorado, Kathryn and I visited the U. S. Air Force Academy and the beautiful chapel on its campus. As we were walking across the parade ground a warning to seek shelter due to a lightning storm was issued over the public address system. I immediately thought of Billy Goss (NHS Class of '67) who was killed as a cadet at the Academy by a lightning strike during the summer of 1968. Tears welled up in my eyes as I remembered playing pick up ball games with Billy and his brothers and other neighborhood kids when we were all so very young. He was still a boy when we lost sight of him. Billy's smile lives on in my heart.
In October we were in Washington, DC. I am enthralled by our nation's capitol city and the history embedded in its surroundings. Kathryn and I were in the company of friends, Becky and John Womack of Ft. Smith, and the four of us visited Arlington Cemetery to observe the changing of the guard at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and then went on to view the Lincoln Memorial, National World War II Memorial, the Korean War Veterans Memorial, and the Vietnam Veteran's Memorial Wall. At the latter I made it a point to find the names of Mike Travis and Ron Scharnberg (both NHS Class of '59) etched upon the Wall. There may be names of other Newport souls inscribed on the Wall, but these are the two I know. Young men when their lives disappeared from our sight. I hold distant memories of them in my heart.
Remembering the lives of Billy, Mike and Ron makes me pause to think of those men and women serving our country today in remote places, many in harm's way in Iraq and Afghanistan. Major General James Eddie Simmons (NHS Class of '69) is among those presently in Iraq. I recognize that there is much disagreement about this conflict and the motives behind it. Regardless of personal position, the troops need and deserve a supporting nation and I ask that you hold them all in thought and prayer. Moaning aloud or brooding when faced with detours on life's highway or at such times when "nothing seems to suit yer" is what we mortals often do. Lamenting is my typical first response to the unforeseen. But in any event, we are all "locked toward the future" and life goes on. That I have found out.
At some point my early Newport experiences of strolling on Hazel Street with my mother, going to Sunday School at the First Methodist Church, making new friends at Walnut Street School, playing ball at old Memorial Field, fishing at the lake in Remmel Park, tap dancing under the watchful eye of Miss Bobbie, catching a train for St. Louis to see a Cardinals game with my dad, moving to a new neighborhood on South Main Street, sliding down the levee on cardboard boxes (the wax covered boxes from Purdy's Flower Shop were the best), camping out with fellow Boy Scouts, watching movies at the Strand Theatre, attending dances at the Legion Hut, cruising Malcolm Avenue and circling Dog 'N Suds and Jack's Dairy Cup, water skiing in the White River, graduating from Newport High School and going off to college . . . all those things have become memories. Each of those experiences and many more are now places on Memory Lane. Memory Lane is a magical venue. And I have found out Memory Lane is paved with friendships.
Then I found my head one day when I wasn't even trying
And here I have to say, 'cause there is no use in lying, lying
Yes the answer lies within, so why not take a look now?
Kick out the devil's sin, pick up, pick up a good book now
I recognize that the answer to a good life "lies within;" I have seen evidence in the lives of so many I have known. And things I have found out shed further light upon this matter. Yet knowing where the answer is and clearly seeing it are not the same. Simply mind boggling!
Earlier I mentioned that I had found out that the sharing of old stories and joyful news can bring laughter to the heart. Those of you reading this electronically through cyberspace know that I introduced "Hound Call" reports last July that are sent via email only. The "Hound Call" effort is a periodic link to news of the day about people with Newport connections (that can be almost anyone) so all can share in life's events. Those of you reading this edition of the Miles' Files in print in the Newport Independent may not be aware of "Hound Call." If you would like to receive it through email, please drop me a line at joemiles@suddenlink.net and I will add your name to the mailing list. Plus I can add your stories to the "Hound Call" when you alert me to happenings in your life or in the lives of those you love. I am certain that the true map to "the road to find out" will be discovered in your stories.
Speaking of sharing "old stories," today is Christmas Day. There is no story like the Christmas story for bringing joy to the heart. "Pick up a good book now" and read the story of the birth of Jesus Christ, God's only begotten Son. It is a story of love and it sets the stage for a journey of faith and hope. I have found out that miracles do indeed happen.
Faith, hope and love . . . and the greatest of these is love. I have found out that a parent's love for children is time tried and panic tested . . . it is strong. I have found out that a grandparent's love for grandchildren is over the top. I have found out that a dog's love for its keeper is unconditional (Our dog Sally and new pup Jackson serve as bona fide evidence. Jackson is a rescue dog who just arrived at our house in time for Christmas.)
I have found out that only love can break a heart, and that only love can heal it again!
I have heard that love is friendship caught afire. I have found out through relationship with my wife, Kathryn, that what I heard about love is true.
I have found out that friendship is a genuine gift. I thank you for sharing life with me!
I'm Miles from nowhere . . . . . on the road to find out . . . . . there's so much left to know . . . . .
Merry Christmas to all! I wish you wonder, love and lots of laughter in the new year ahead and forever more!
joe
No comments:
Post a Comment