Things I Miss

My parents

My brother

My youth

My own babies and the good old times

Simpler times

Black and white saddle shoes

My mother’s cooking

Some of my trips to Utica, New York, by train

My years at Kent State University

People who tell the truth

Goodbye Mad Men

Every Sunday night for the past 7 years, I faithfully watched the television series, Mad Men. The main character, Don Draper, played by Jon Hamm was a complicated person. He started out life as Dick Whitman, joined the service, and while his lieutenant and the rest of the platoon was killed, he exchanged his dog tags and became Don Draper.

Along the way, his handsome looks, smooth delivery, and hungry drive made him a successful top advertising executive. And along the way we watched him lose his first company and build a successful second advertising agency, only to lose it in the end.

He loses his first wife, Betty, and his three children to divorce because he was unfaithful, many more times than one could count. His second marriage to Megan also ends in divorce.

Up until I watched the series finale, I speculated that Don Draper would end killing himself by jumping out of his office window. What I liked was the few episodes before the finale started to tie up all the story lines: Betty has six months to live, and will die because of lung cancer; Peggy the head copy writer,  falls in love with Stan; Roger Sterling, one of Don’s partners is actually going to marry Don’s ex mother-in-law; Pete Campbell, another partner, takes a job in Kansas and gets his ex-wife back to start a new life, and Joan who started out as a top secretary and then a business partner, passes on marriage and chooses to start her own agency. Don Draper ends up doing meditation in a hippy commune. At the end, while meditating in an open field with others…a smile crosses his face with the inspiration for the most famous Coca Cola commercial and the song playing…I like to teach the world to sing…

Before the ending of the series, I decided that whatever I thought about Don, no matter all his foibles, poor choices, ups and downs, he wasn’t going to jump out of the building and come tumbling down to his death.. He definitely wasn’t going to kill himself. Don Draper was too much of a survivor who could and would re-invent himself.

I’ll miss you, Don Draper. Sunday nights will never be the same without you.

Twenty - First Grandchild

Welcome to the newest member of the Gauntner Family – Daniel Jude, who made his presence heard on Tuesday, May 12, 2015. Daniel weighed in at 8 pounds and 12 ounces, and measured 21-1/2 inches in length.

It’s hard to believe another grandchild is here. Daniel is my 21^st grandchild and just as special as all the other 20 grandchildren. I look forward to holding him.

Congratulations to my son, Brian and my daughter-in-law, Jen!!!

The Life of a Cop

These days, I fear a lot of people think that Cops are evil people. Some believe that they holster their guns and go out looking for trouble. But, that police man or woman is the one who much like you, gets up in the morning and helps to get his/her children off to school. Then they get ready for their shift, don on their blue uniforms with their badge in place, adjust their belts, which are laden with a holster, gun, Taser, handcuffs, night baton, and a small compartment which has latex gloves inside. Half the time the police officer doesn’t have time to eat lunch or is interrupted when he/she is trying to eat.

A Cop’s typical day is working an 8 hour shift. A lot of Cops work extra details for more income. Cops are trained and follow procedures, regardless of what the public thinks. Not all cops are perfect. There are some good and bad police much like, doctors, nurses, lawyers, teachers, or the average human being.

I know a lot about Cops because my oldest son is one. He is a wonderful husband and a great dad. He spends his days with his kids, helping his wife and working an extra detail. He also manages to come over and help me out when I need it. He is always willing to help his siblings whenever they need him. I know underneath his gruff exterior, he is a real softy.

Cops do not start their day thinking whose life can I make miserable and arrest. Before their shift ends, they don’t want to get into any unnecessary altercation, where they will have to spend hours answering questions, doing paper work, and seeing themselves tried on the evening news, along with giving out their name and all the rest of their private information. They just want to go home and see their family. They want to be just like everyone else. But they are not like everyone else – they are the first line of defense. They are the ones who stop a traffic violator and might get shot and killed for doing their business. Or they make those routine domestic calls where they are the ones on the defense. Or they find when they do the right thing…the news media or some of the so called witnesses lie or distort the facts. Protecting citizens is what a police offer does. They are here to help and answer all those dangerous calls. That is a job that I would never want, no matter how much money it pays. Is it worth it…I can’t answer that. Just go and ask one of those men and women who wear that blue uniform.

Maybe it is time to show the police some support instead of throwing them under the bus and making them the sacrificial lambs for inept policies and loud mouths. For whatever the reason, the cops are not the cause for looting or robbery or for rising catch phrases that are not even truthful, or for agitators, politicians, or the news media who use dead bodies and the police as stepping stones for their own lime light.

All I know is that I worry about my son and all the other police; men and woman out there. My prayers are with you. I do support you.

Erasers

These days, I seem to be in a writing slump. I decided I needed a change and that was when I pulled out a few pencils, sharpened them, and then decided to work on my stories. I was hoping this change would jump start my writing and get my creative juices flowing. When I write, I either use a yellow pencil or the computer. Since I am using pencils…I wanted more than just the natural ones or the yellow colored pencils. I grabbed my box and pulled out ones with designs on them, like flowers, geometric designs, glittery ones (my favorite), ones with footballs, baseballs or soccer balls, or Christmas and Halloween designs. The yellow or natural looking pencils have started to bore me and maybe that is why I haven’t been writing much, lately.

But, whatever pencil I use, I definitely choose pencils with a gray or white eraser on top. I like how they remove my mistakes and they don’t leave a smudge mark on the paper. No one would ever be aware that I have made a mistake because that gray/white eraser removes all the evidence.

The red eraser or the pink ones, seems to leave an unsightly mess like a big black smudge. Now, everyone knows I made a mistake and can even see what the mistake was because it’s still lightly there on the paper.

Anyway, who would have ever though those erasers would make a difference? I didn’t but I do now.