Happy Sunday, February 17!  There are only 46 days left until Easter, so get your Peeps out and open them so they have a chance to harden by then.  Happy Birthday greetings go out to William Cadbury (yes, the chocolate guy), Hal Holbrook and Sung-Hee Park.  Today, in 1621, Miles Standish was appointed the first commander of the Plymouth colony; in 1867 the first ship passed through the Suez Canal and in 1933 Blondie Boopadoop married Dagwood Bumstead and Dagwood’s father promptly disinherited him.  It is Maha Shivratri in Sri Lanka and tomorrow is President’s Day here in the good old USA.

Before I go into anything else I would like to clarify the Blondie/Dagwood item mentioned earlier.  Dagwood was originally heir to the lucrative Bumstead Locomotive fortune.  He was disinherited for marrying Blondie Boopadoop, a flapper, because the family considered her below his class.  I know, I am appalled, too.  She seems like such a nice person, but they may know things that we do not.  Without knowing all the facts, I will not judge.  But I digress …

Tomorrow is President’s Day.  This is a combined holiday.  You know, one of those made-up ones put together so that we can have a 3-day weekend.  You may have noticed that over the past few years, many companies have done away with taking that day off.  I think this was done more for the government, by the government since they seem to be the only ones to actually take the day off, anymore.  

It is interesting to note that the day is a combination of Lincoln’s birthday, February 12, and Washington’s birthday, February 22.  Even more interesting is the fact that the town I live in is closing their offices tomorrow, but were also closed for Lincoln’s birthday.  Hmmm …

What I think is even more interesting is the fact that many people, now-a-days, would not be able to tell you why we would celebrate these two men.  I would be willing to bet that some might not even realize that they are on our money or on Mt. Rushmore.  Which brings me to another point.  Could we stop having commercials where the faces on Mt. Rushmore tell us to buy cars, insurance, jewelry, etc., etc?  

Every year around this time, we have talking Mt. Rushmore heads, very bad costumed representations of these two men and all sorts of foolishness with them helping companies sell their wares.  I do not know about you, but I would appreciate some creativity.  I do not need a George Washington look-alike telling me that I should buy the hemorrhoid treatment he is selling because “it works.  I would not lie.”   Be creative!  Do something that can be used for more than just a week or so.  Come up with commercials that are informative or amusing.  Sell the product to me.  Do not try to get me to buy it because George Washington said to.  Here is a man who had wooden teeth, a bad hairdo and a less than attractive wife.  Why should I believe him?  

Here is an interesting little tidbit.  Did you know that when Mt. Rushmore was being carved, many people thought that Thomas Jefferson was Martha Washington?  That does not say much for either one of them.

On a sadder, more serious note, we lost our dear friend Ted this past week.  I first met Ted as a result of his wife, Pat, and my wife being friends from work.  I was reluctant, but it turned out well.  Ted liked to cook, liked Lebanon Baloney, drinking margaritas and playing Yahtzee.  What’s not to like!  

He had a number of medical problems, but was always able to overcome them.  I was always impressed with how he could come back from the serious things that he suffered through and then go on with his life.  He just moved on to the next phase in his life and never looked back.  

We had lost contact with Pat and Ted for some years, but when we got back together it was like we had just seen them last week.  Ted had a great sense of humor and loved life.  He loved his wife, his kids, his grandchildren and, yes, even his sainted mother-in-law (although he would never admit it publicly).  I am sorry more of you did not get to meet him.  You would have liked him.

I loved Ted.  I learned a number of things from him.  I learned that no matter what happened, you kept on going and living life.  I learned that you did not let anything get you down.  Regardless of the problems that hit you, you continued to enjoy the life you had.  And, I learned how to play My Cows.  He was the epitome of positive thinking.  No matter what happened to him, he was able to fight it and come back.  Unfortunately, he lost this last battle.  He will be missed.

When I was in college, I took a course in public speaking.  One of our assignments was to give a reading.  One of the women in the class read a poem.  I do not remember her name, the name of the poem or the poet, but four lines have always stayed with me:

He is not dead.

He is not dead!

He is just sleeping.

Sleeping in the arms of Jesus.

Sleep well, Ted.  Sleep well.