Just Saying
May 2016
Sayings are a kind of shorthand we carry around with us. They are part of our culture, and are kind of unique to times and places.
I connect them with people who say them often, like my friend Chuck who’d say “well a guy could do worse” or “the heck” or “a guy should think about that,” and “thats kind of a mess isn’t it?” or my dad who would be a bit more colorful “that guy could screw up a one man parade” or “a blind man would be glad to see it.” I’d hear that one a lot when we were building together; it was his way of saying the work was good, suitable for the project. I still hear those words from time to time as I undertake my clumsy carpentry, it helps me remember.
Today I’m remembering, “O ye of little faith,” that’s something VG would say often, sometimes after he successfully exited the car or got up from the chair when you were moving to help him. And, “He’s not hurtin’ anybody,” if you tried to chase a mouse out of his “compound.” One of his best ones was, “Love many, trust few, and learn to paddle your own canoe.” That one underscores the importance he placed on an independent spirit, something he taught to the one who holds my heart.
I’m remembering VG today; I didn’t get to know him all that well, but believe he was a pretty special man, but I’m missing him and my mom and dad and Chuck and Dennis. I’m thinking I don’t have many sayings to impart wisdom the way they did; I’ll have to work on that.
Remember your loved ones passed on, hold your living loved ones close, look after each other, be good to each other.
enough