What kind of kids are we raising/

I was raised to respect my elders.  Did not matter how elder they were, what they were doing, or why. By the very virtue of my thinking they were older, they were to be respected.  If they were crossing the street, I was to offer my elbow.  If they did not take it, that was their business, but by God and all that is holy, I was to make it available.  And if I saw some one carrying something, I better off to take part of the load.  It did not matter if I knew them or not.  I was to offer and be respectful, and Lord knows I try.

I guess this is why I was so upset tonight when a lady friend of mine who lives in Colorado Springs called me to share a story that happened to her today.  Over the weekend, she and her daughter had cleaned the yard and had many bags of debris in big trash bags.  This woman is 84 or 85 years old.  A retired minister who has spent her life helping people.  She lives on San Miguel Street which is a quiet residential area.  She knew the trash man was coming tomorrow so she had to get the bags and the trash cart out to the street this evening.  She has a bad knee so she has trouble walking any way and moving bags of debris is not a light job.  She got the cart out alright and began dragging the bags.  They were heavy and cumbersome, but she persevered.  Halfway through her endeavor, several young men came out of the house across the street.  They stood on the curb visiting and looking her way occasionally.  Never once did any one of them offer to help.  One of them got in his truck and drove away.  The two remaining continued to talk and glance her way.  Then they parted company and the one who lived there went into the house and closed the door.

She called me to tell me about this.  I was amazed that anyone could watch an old woman struggle and not offer assistance.  The one man is a neighbor of hers!  Have we become so complacent that other peoples burdens mean nothing to us?  What has our world come to that this is happening?  I assured her that had I been there, I would have helped her.  I have raised 6 kids and not a one of them would ever not come to the aid of someone in need.

God teaches us to love our neighbor and it that context it means love everybody, but when you see an older person struggling and that person lives across the street from you, it really is your neighbor.  I think God wants us to help every body.  I just wonder who raised those men?  I wonder if their mother needed help if anyone would help her?

As you have done this to the least of these my brethren, you have done it to me.

Or not.

The morning after.

Before bed last night I soaked in a tub of hot water with some Epsom salts added.  I just wanted my poor body to stop hurting.  It took me maybe 6 minutes to fall asleep and then I must have woke up 4 or 5 times to the vision of the last 400 feet that I could not make.  Ever see a log jam?  Ever see a log jam that consisted of railroad ties?  That was what the last leg had been.  As I visited with Karen today I told her that when I looked up the incline to the top it looked like everyone was crawling over the ties.  She told me it looked like that because that is what they were doing.  Praise God I had sense enough to quit when I did!

I am still sore.  I have chunks of skin missing with no explanation of where it went.  My left hip is still not completely back in the socket and my right knee will probably never bend again.  Most of my hearing has returned and my vision is almost back to normal.  I am beginning to think rationally about whether or not to try this again.  And would I recommend it to my friends?  Let me be very clear. No.  Not only no, but hell no!  And not just hell no, but HELL NO!!! I would rather be put on a Chinese water torture table and have my fingernails pulled out slowly by a drunk Chimpanzee.

Now that I have cleared that up for you, I am going to my garden and see if I can remember where I planted those damn beets.  Then I will come in and rip the rest of the carpet off the stairs.  Just nice clean therapeutic work to clear my mind and prepare my body for bed where I will sleep with no dreams of stairs that climb straight up to a log jam  4 feet from Heaven.

Nothing I do is ever simple, or ever done only once!

When I went to Sam's Club the other day, I bought tuna.  Canned tuna.  10 cans of canned tuna with The Bumble Bee Lable.  I rarely buy 10 cans of tuna, but since this was in water, I thought it ought to be good for me.  150 calories in the whole can!  How could I go wrong?  Today I flipped to the news online and guess what!  My tuna is recalled!  Recalled!  So I get my tuna cans out and search for the recall lot #.  After due time I find it and I am saved only by the sell by date.  But, this process took 15 minutes out of my day.  See?

Just now I went down to the kitchen to get a cup of coffee and then had to come back upstairs because I forgot my cup.  I searched for that cup and started a load of clothes and went back down to get a cup of coffee and remembered I left my cup upstairs so I came up and looked for it up here and finally remembered that I took it to the kitchen when I went to get the tuna.  See?

When I leave this morning to dash into town, I will forget my phone.  If I may hap remember the phone, I will forget what I am going to town for in the first place.  So I make a list and forget the list.  The first curve after 25th Lane on the way to town is known as the "oh, shit!" curve because that is where I always turn around and come back to the house to get whatever it is that I forgot.

Every day I promise I will do better, but those are empty words.  Today I do need to call and see when my doctor appointment is, because it is not in my calendar.  I put the card some where and wrote it some where, but God only knows where that might be. 

My mother always said that as long as I remember the daily things, like hygiene, eating, people I deal with daily, and things I do on a regular basis that I am alright, but I am not so sure.  I have stopped in the middle of a sentence and forgotten where I was going with that thread and launched off on something that popped in to replace the first thought.

My world is full of "Sorry, I forgot," and "Damn when did I say that?"  and, "Refresh my memory on that again."  So far I have not forgotten anything that was earth shattering, although I did get on 1 25 the other day and had to get off suddenly when I remembered that I was going to Canon City and not Colorado Springs!  Guess I just had the Springs on my mind.  I have not stepped out in front of a Mack Truck, but that is because I am rarely around Mack Trucks. 

So I have this to say...

If I see you some where and do not recognize you, refresh my memory.
If you are one of my kids and I do not recognize you, don't take it personally.
If we had an appointment and I stood you up, call me.
If I have something that belongs to you and I have not returned it, come and get it.
If you have something that belongs to me,  go ahead and keep it because I probably bought 3 more to replace what ever it was.
As it is I have forgotten why I even started this little spiel, so I guess I will just go down and get a cup of coffee!

Have a great day, because you deserve it!

Just a heads up for you biker fans or Sherman fans.

This is the "Sherminator" and it is ready to run.  Pretty sure this is going to Bonneville this fall!  The BMAC is having the annual Sherman Schroeder run and Dana called yesterday to tell me the plan.  We are not sure exactly where but it will be before noon. 

 

As soon as I know I will let you in on the specifics.  For now, just know it is in the works!

 

When Sherman passed last year he left the garage to his beloved British Motorcycle Association of Colorado, which he had helped found back in 1983.  Only one of the founders is left and hopefully he will be there that day. 

Any way, the club dug this out of the rubble in the garage and have spent the past year restoring it to museum quality.  This is going to be very exciting, at least for me

SCAP is represented here at World AIDS Day.

Here is the Southern Colorado AIDS Project table, although in all honesty it is now known as Southern Colorado Health Network operating as SCAP or vice versa.  I forget.  When I started my volunteer work there more years ago than I like to admit it was SCAP and so that is how I will remember it and that is the name I will use because it is hard to teach an old dog new tricks.  Arf! Arf!

Starting with the back row we have John Mark Hild, minister at the Metropolitan Community Church here in our fair city.  Next is me and then my com padre, Aaron. Aaron is my buddy and makes me laugh like a loon!  Not often I find someone with a mind that works like mine!  See the back row all has on the Focus shirt.  We do that so we remember who we are.

On the front row on the left is the lovely Linda Lorraine, SCAP case manager and other things.  She is our stabilizing force and we love her.  She is always there when we need her, and she is there when we do not need her, and when we need her, but don't know we need her.  The woman is what you call "devoted".  That happens in this business.  Show up a few times and pretty soon you feel like you are needed!

And last but certainly not least is Bill Sharpton.  He works in the Colorado Springs office which is our boss.  I do not know exactly what his title is, but  do know he is single!  His sister was a very good friend of mine and I miss her so much.  Somewhere I have pictures of Marty and the big red turkey that liked to come visit at my house, especially when Marty was there.  That turkey loved that girl and tried to set on her lap and I have pictures of that little endeavour. 

OK, there you have us in all our glory.  Motley looking crew that we are!  Hey, we try!  If we could clone these four people here we could set this world on fire because these are some of the best Colorado has to offer and I am damn glad to be standing in the middle of the finest Colorado has to offer! 

It seems as I wind this down that I have been given a most rare opportunity to work side by side with some of the greatest people on this earth.  In all my years of bopping around with the SCAP crowd, the Pueblo Community Health Center, Pueblo Health Department, the Gay Community..........I am sorry!  The whole of Southern Colorado is tied together and I can not name names without missing some one or some place.  Just know if you are reading this, Lou Mercer loves everyone of you and I thank God every day that he put everyone of you in my path!

Together we are going to fight the good fight and since we are all winners, you know what that means!

Johnson and Johnson isn't just baby products anymore!

You always thought Johnson and Johnson made baby products, didn't you?  Well just guess again!  These are two of the most prestigious people to walk through my life and I want to tell you about them.  Now you see there are three people there, so I will introduce you to them, starting on the left, because that is how it is always done and you know me, a stickler for protocol!

On the left is Merilou Johnson, MSW, MPA who I barely know. Her official title is Program Director Colorado AIDS Education Training Center.   I just met her Wednesday, so like a good little girl I thought I better figure this out quick!  I knew by the very virtue of her being here she was important, and right I was.  Those letter behind her name mean she is very educated in public service both on the social level and public administration.  See when you see an M like that it means Master and that is top of the line. Since I only met her briefly, I do not know her well, but I would dearly love to set and visit with her after researching her with my able Google toolbar.  This woman can tell us some tales I am sure and is a vital part of this continuing fight against this disease that I seem to have landed in the middle of for some reason.  To Merilou I say, "I would love to visit with you , but I was stuck at the tables.  Please forgive me for not being there."

The next lovely little creature in this little threesome is Annalee Beck, EIS Program Director at Pueblo Community Health Center.  EIS means Early Intervention Services.  Many years ago and I mean like maybe eight (?) this service was set up specifically for the HIV/AIDS community.  As I recall I was there for the first few initial meetings but that was just to whine about not having something for the clients. This town will do anything to shut me up when I start that.  I am so happy that bigger and brighter minds then mine prevailed and a program with Annalee at the helm and PCHC at her back and Dr. Johnson and Dr. Swartz beside her has brought first class health care to my friends.  There is also a most able staff there and I would be remiss to start naming names without a full list in front of me.  I only know JoAnne and Diane personally.  I will get that full slate and thank them properly in this tiny blog. Hats off to PCHC and all the little people!

And now we come to the love of my life, Dr. Steve Johnson, MD.  Isn't he the most handsome thing you ever laid eyes on in your whole life?  That little MD on the end of is name is so inadequate to describe this larger than life icon in the field of HIV/AIDS.  His official title is Professor & Director of Infectious Disease, University of Colorado.  This man is world reknowned for his work in this field and he was most instrumental in setting up and staffing our EIS Program. I know he comes down from Denver on a regular basis to meet with clients and he and Dr. Swartz confer on every aspect of client care. While I could go on all day about this man's accomplishments I know I would miss some and I do not want to do that!  What I want to do is tell you that this is one of the kindest, most caring men that God ever put on this earth and I thank him every day for sending Dr. Steve Johnson into my life, Mark's life and everyone in Pueblo, Colorado that is touched by this man's hand.  If there is ever a cure for this scourge on human life this man will be the first to know and it will be delivered to his people that same day.  Kinda like Moses bringing down the tablets!  I love you, man!

There you have it.  I know Pueblo is a backward little town, and we operate under the auspices of Colorado Springs offices and we get our funding through them.  Colorado Springs is big and we are little, but let me tell you this......We have had or EIS program eight years; Colorado Springs got theirs one and a half years ago.  Maybe they just didn't need one as bad as we did. 

These three angels are standing in front of the Pueblo AIDS Memorial Quilt.  I don't know if Colorado Springs has anything like this, but if Bill or Richard would get in touch with me I would be most happy to help them start one.  We have had ours since 1996 and it is a wonderful way for people to connect and express feelings.

Alrighty then!  Better get out of here before I fill up cyber space!  See you tomorrow for another little lesson in World AIDS Day 2010!

Garden of the Gods, Colorado Springs, Colorado!

 This is the beautiful Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs, Colorado.  These pictures were taken October 9, 2010 which was the date of the annual Southern Colorado  AIDS Walk in the Garden.  Bear in mind that as I was taking these pictures, I was also walking the 3 miles that were required to fulfil my committment.  So if the pictures are a little blurry, and not centered, please forgive me.

The first picture is the shot of where we are going.  There were a total of 200 walkers so this is going to take a little while to do.  If you look closely at this picture just off center is a tiny white dot.  That, my friend, is a human!  That dot is about 2 city blocks away on a twisty, turny trail.  My goal is to catch and pass that dot and all the other dots ahead of me!

 This is one of the many formations in this Garden of the Gods.  There is just no name that could have been given to this place that would fit any better.  I have driven through the Garden, but there is nothing to compare with walking these trails.  I wanted to do this for a long time and when I got the opportunity to be a fundraiser and get to walk, it was just more than I could have ever  asked for!

 As we got further into our walk we came a lot closer to some of the formations.  This particular shot is where we crossed a parking lot and we are now about half way back to where we started.  I did not think I would ever be able to walk 3 miles in this thin Colorado air, but I think I could have gone a lot further!  May do it some day for no reason!  

I want you to pay particular attention to the sky in all of these pictures.  Have you ever seen anything more beautiful?  It is like God picked the most spectacular day of the year for this walk, but that is not true.  Everyday in Colorado is a true miracle to behold.  When I came to this part of the country 34 years ago, it was just some where to go.  Just a place to be, but now it has truly become my home.  People say "Where are you from?" and I tell them proudly, "Colorado, via Kansas!"

And here we are on the final leg of the walk.  Well, not us, those are the people in front of us.  We are back here with the camera.  We started out behind 200 people and we ended up with 15 ahead of us.  Pretty good for an old lady, but this old lady is just now hitting her stride, so watch out world, Here I come!!