One Pharmacist's View

Our new year is finally here. So is winter. One thing I did first this year was call my sister Sue. She is now in an assisted living home up in Edmond and I was happy to find she received a new phone for Christmas. It is easier to use, so she thinks. I hope she is right.

Last December, the Virginia Military Institute removed a big statue of Stonewall Jackson. They are now hiding him in a museum. He was just one of many “celebrities” of the old south to vanish as American tries to change its history. I guess there really isn’t much wrong with the idea of change.

Thanksgiving? Here again? It’s almost stylish these days to say: “Thankful for what?” Well, let’s just look back a bit. One in particular noteworthy year in my life was 1963. Fresh out of college and my military service behind me, things never looked any better.

My mother sometimes got onto me for daydreaming so much. I had a teacher or two over at Stonewall that agreed with her too. She always admonished me to quit my daydreaming. As though one could. Like most people I think I was meant to travel. Go places. Someplace where they speak different languages.

Sometimes this old Shakespearean quote applies to us. It sure did to people in Allen in 1938—a tough year for people here in Mustang land. I know it was for the Bullard’s. The business dad worked at in Allen was shuttered and gone. Whipped away by the dusty winds of the Great Depression.

Texas has a lot going for it. One of the things -- there is a lot of wealth and pride residing south of the Red River and the growth of North Texas continues unchecked. I remember back in the 1950s when I lived in a Dallas suburb and worked for a company called Chance Vaught, building jet airplanes.

Covid perils are still holding forth. But just not so bad now as perhaps a week or two ago. And will it reload and again assert itself as the big news story of our time and be the killer it has been. I hope not. This Covid has terrorized the world long enough. Well, long enough for me.

One of the results of this Covid was Pat and I have watched a lot more movies here at home than normal. One would think when you glance background that I would have seen all the movies that I should.

Many of us who still go to Sunday School are studying a part of the Old Testament called Ecclesiastes. Not only can we not spell it, we in the “Cemetery” Class have a hard time trying to comprehend the teachings of the old teacher (Solomon). But we try.

The crew of the USS Johnnie Hutchins, DE-360 had been enjoying various ports of call such as in Havana Cuba and Caracas where it was very nice. Exotic almost. But we eventually returned to our home port of Boston. Then one fine day at sea something happened.