"Life is like a Box of Choklits"

To quote Forrest Gump's Mom: "Life is like a box of choklits - You never know what you're gonna get." The human body is like that,it's an amazing thing. I'm talking about the resiliency it possesses in regards to punishment., Last Wednesday I had a "Carpel Tunnel operation on my right wrist. Add that to the fact that I've have had or have had done to me the following: 1935 - Got hit be a car. It broke my left leg, left arm, left collar bone and pushed my upper jaw bone out of place. I also received a skull fracture and a brain concussion. The car that hit me was a 1934 Cadillac. (Woman drive) The bumper took my leg and arm, the headlight took my collar bone and my head. That was in July, I think and I was in the hospital until Christmas Eve. I had a body cast on for 14 weeks. In 1936 I had another brain concussion from a fall. That one about took me but my Dad administrated to me and I'm sure it saved my life. I had all of the childhood diseases - Clicked Pox, Measles, Whooping Cough, and Scarlet Fever. Never got the Mumps. Other than there normal cuts, bruises and blisters, a couple of bouts with the Flu and Pneumonia, nothing happened throughout my teens and young adulthood. However in 1972 I broke both bones in my right wrist from falling out of a ski chair lift while teaching my two youngest sons how to ski. But that's another story. In 1962 I became a Type 1 Diabetic. I have been Insulin dependant since the beginning, taking one to five Insulin injections per day. Due to the Diabetes and my stubbornness in not observing a healthy diet, I have no teeth, bad eyesight and have had eight of my ten toes amputated. From my Mom's side of the family, I have Arthritis, miner though it may be, it has caused me some pain. I've had three neck operations to remove pressure on my Spinal Column that was making my arms go numb and lower back surgery to relieve pain in my legs. My last five vertebrae - L1 through L5, are tied together with Titanium rods and screws. Last but not least, in 1993 I had a Quad Bypass Heart operation. I'd never had a heart attack; the heart condition was discovered by a Stress Test. The good news is that my heart is strong, my kidneys and liver continue to function 100% and I am still mobile and able to do anything I want. So, bring on th "choklits" I still have a lot of living to do.

A Temple Excursion

I was discussing LDS beliefs with a non LDS friend of mine and the subject of Baptism for the Dead came up. It reminded me of a time in my life when I was sixteen years old. My friends and I were in a Sunday School class taught by my Mother. The course of study that year included the topic of "Baptism for the Dead." During the discussion, my Mom asked if the class would like to do baptism for the dead. The response was 100% in favor of the idea. We decided on the day to go and my Mom made the arrangements. We decided to go to he Manti Temple to perform the ordinances. One of my friends (I'll call him Dave) who was active in all aspects of the Church wanted to go with us but he was not a member. He went to our Bishop and told him of his desires. The Bishop told him he would, first of all, need to become a member of the LDS church. Dave knew this and ask the Bishop to talk to his parents for permission to be baptized. This was accomplished and so with all of us, Dave got a recommend not only for his own baptism but a recommend to perform baptism for the dead. On the prescribed day, we all got on a bus and went to Manti, Utah and the temple there. My maternal grandparents lived in Manti and were ordinance workers in the Temple. As such, my grandfather supervised the baptism session. First off, Dave was baptized and confirmed a member of the church. We then proceeded to do the baptisms. There were about 18 members in the class about equally divided by sex. All of the boys, except Dave, were Priests and, therefore, could perform baptisms. So, we took turns baptizing each other both boys and girls. The confirmations were performed by the Ordinande workers. As I recall, we did about 300 baptisms that day. It is an experience that I will never forget and a tribute to my Mother that I'll always cherish.

It Happened in Vegas

Over the thirty years that I drove proffessioonally I only had one accident and that one was not chargeable to me. It hapened in 1964. I was driving for a company that transported fresh and frozen foods for a wholesale company in Salt Lake City. On this particular trip, my driving partner and I had come from Los Angeles with a load of Clorox headed for Salt Lke. I had started driving in Colton, CA and arrived at Las Vegas about 1:30 AM The freeway ended before arriving at Vegas and all traffic was channeled onto old US Highway 91. The highway went into Vegas via the "Strip." At this time of the morning traffic was light. Most of the shows had let out at One o'clock. I woke my partner as we started up the strip and he was sitting up smoking a cigarette. As I approached the Sands Hotel, a car pulled out in front of me. I was only going about 30 mph, hit my brakes and turned hard to the right but still hit the rear drivers side of the car. My rig went under the entry canopy of the casino, through a small retaining wall that seperated the main entrance from the cars coming to and leaving the casino. I stopped just short of the revolving doors to the casino. I ran back to the car that I had hit and found that the man driving had a bad cut on his head. Shortly, the police and an ambulance arrived. They took the guy and his wife to the hospital. There were plenty of witnesses in my favor and I was not cited. The star at the Sands that time was Paul Anka who had heard the noise from his dressing room and came out to see what had happened. (Later, my 9 year old son asked if I had gotten his autograph.) When we went to back the truck out of the Sands entrance, we had to pry the bumper away from the left front tire and that was all the damage that the truck suffered. As it turned out, the guy that I hit was from Arizona who was supposed to be in LA to a convention. The woman with him was not his wife, and disappeared when they got to the hospital. The car was registered in his wife's name who was still in Arizona. I called my wife and told her what had happened and about 7:00 AM we continued our trup to Salt Lake City.