Saturday, August 12, 2006

Journal of a Living Lady #279

Nancy White Kelly

We are on the brink of the apocalypse. My source of authority is the Bible. Based on the books of Daniel and Revelation, events have to escalate before they get better. But I digress.

My writing goal is to bring hope, cheer and occasional humor to readers. Yet it is hard to write something light with the evening news blaring about the devastation caused by war and terrorism. Like Scarlet O’Hara in Gone with the Wind, I “can't think about that right now. I'll think about that tomorrow.” Willfully, I flick off the television remote so I can concentrate on something less heavy.

My only sister, Sunnie Anne, and brother-in-law just left after visiting for ten days. They live near Memphis and came to give Buddy some relief during my recuperation from acute kidney failure. I am happy to report that I am off dialysis and back to fighting cancer.

While they were here, Buddy decided to entertain them with my walker. He proceeded to run backwards down our handicap ramp, Jerry Lewis style. The walker wheels hit an aluminum strip which flipped him over.

I came close to being widowed. Buddy’s head missed a concrete wall by about two inches. The worst injury was to his knee. He limps from the soreness, but didn’t lose his ability to continue entertaining guests with time-worn stories. I have heard them so many times during our 41 years of marriage than I can repeat them verbatim. My favorite is about the bird.

A Christian man received a parrot as a gift from a friend. This parrot talked all the time, but only said curse words. The man tried unsuccessfully to retrain the parrot as he had great distain for the bird’s profane vocabulary.

The good man tried to teach the bird Bible verses, but the parrot repeatedly squawked only objectionable language. One day, the profanity became unbearable. He grabbed the parrot by the neck.

"Stop that foul language or I'll have to do something drastic!" The bird didn’t believe him and let our string of new vulgarities.

The exasperated man threw the bird into the freezer thinking that a "cooling off" period would help. There was some squawking for a while and then complete silence. The man was afraid he had killed the parrot and hesitantly opened the freezer door. To his amazement, the subdued parrot flew out and quietly perched on the man's arm.

The parrot said, "My dear sir. I apologize profusely. My language was inexcusable! You will never ever again hear a foul word coming from me.”

After a brief pause, the parrot asked, “By the way, what did the chicken do?"
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nancyk@alltel.net

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