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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsA Long, Strange Walk
We should go forth on the shortest walk, perchance, in the spirit of undying adventure, never to return; prepared to send back our embalmed hearts only, as relics to our desolate kingdoms. If you are ready to leave father and mother, and brother and sister, and wife and child and friends, and never see them again; if you have paid your debts, and made your will, and settled all your affairs, and are a free man; then you are ready for a walk.
Henry David Thoreau; Walking
There was snow in the air and on the ground this morning. As I prepared for my daily walk, I thought of a line from one of Rubin Carter's letters 45 years ago, when he stated, Everything under the sun is exactly as it should be, or it wouldn't be. Had he anticipated this weather?
Since my dogs were intent upon sleeping late inside our warm house, I decided that I would drive to an area near where I grew up, and walk along the river on a path I had enjoyed as a youth. As an old man, I find myself thinking, This isn't the country I grew up in frequently. I thought of a quote from Sitting Bull as I drove: If a man loses anything and goes back and carefully looks for it, he will find it.
I parked near the house that my childhood best friend grew up, and walked through a field where we used to box and play football and baseball. When I got to the river, I could look across to see my parents' house, now empty. When my father started building the house, several neighbors put up For Sale signs, as the were upset that an Irish-Catholic family was moving in.
Nearby was the spot where my friend and I, around the ages of 4 and 5, would sneak to in order to watch our older brothers; they had formed a club that they called the Swamp Kings. In more recent years, I found some scattered Indian artifacts on the site.
From where I stood, I could see the road that my siblings and I used to walk upon. One day, when I was ten, a guy driving a station wagon swerved across the double lines, towards my oldest brother, then 17. He stopped to confront my brother about his hair, as he found it highly offensive. Itching for a fight, this large hostile man grabbed my brother by the shirt collar, and asked, What are you going to do about it? My brother, who was about 125 pounds, likely looked too small to do much. There was a pause, and then my brother said, This, as he staggered the fellow with a left hook. A vicious fight took place, and my brother a top amateur boxer at the time beat the fellow unconscious. Then he tossed the limp body into the ditch. Guess his kids won't be afraid of him any more, my other brother said as we walked away.
About a quarter of a mile further, and I came to a spot where, along with a few flint chips, some long-broken items from the contact/colonial era. During the Revolutionary War, Colonel Jacob Klock had written to Governor Clinton about the camp of Mohawk leader Joseph Brant in this area. Brant had an estimated total of 1,700 men there that summer.As Klock noted, this included a number of runaway slaves.
Growing up, I learned that the black people who had joined Brant's ranks had camped on the bank where I was now standing. Looking across the river, I could see my sister and brother-in-law's house. When my father and I started building it, the same neighbors again put up For Sale signs, upset that a black man and his family were moving in.
No houses sold, and within a few years, those people had come to like and respect their black neighbors. When, two decades ago, a racist hate group attacked my nephew because they resented media coverage of a black high school scholar-athlete, leaving him unconscious and seriously injured in a dark field, those neighbors were among the most vocal opponents of the racist gang.
A half-mile further, and I began to come across a few flint chips and shattered red sandstone fragments. Soon, I came across the hearth, with several of the stones that had been heated in a fire long ago. Among them was the fire-pocked base of a projectile point known as a Brewerton, dating approximately 2,000 bc. It was not an artifact most collectors would treasure, by any means, much less of museum quality. But I was happy to encounter it. I was happy for the rest of my walk, and then for the drive home.
Shortly after arriving home, I learned of the hate crime at the synagogue. I felt sick. A bit later came a report about some white nationalists disrupting a presentation at a bookstore. I felt anger. But then I got an e-mail from Stosh Cotler, the CEO of Bend the Arc.
We will not accept an America where massacres in synagogues become normal, the first sentence of this powerful message read. It gave me confidence. Here is a link to the web site:
https://www.bendthearc.us/
I laid down to take a rest, as old men often do. As I closed my eyes, I remembered a couple of people I remember from where I lived, before my father completed our house. We lived in an apartment in a neighborhood known as the Project. Our neighbors included a king old man named Erik Sonnefeld. He had lost all of his family in the Nazi death camps. He gave my siblings and I gifts, ranging from a coin collection to a stuffed animal.
One morning, I overheard a neighbor telling my mother, Erik was really climbing the walls last night. In my small child's mind, I tried to picture that literally. I recently asked another neighborhood resident if she knew what ever became of him? She did not know either, but noted that he was a talented artist, who gave her a painting that she still has.
And I thought of one of my brothers' friends, who visted us often. His being black did not seem strange to me. But finding out, years later, how a school teacher beat him in her classroom seemed unacceptable. She beat him until he was bloody once, yet remained employed as a 3rd grade teacher.
His brother and him, along with a friend, were murdered at a local bar in the late 1970s. The guy with the shotgun was frustrated that he lost a card game. He had been friends with the three for years. I often saw them at his house when I was out on walks.
Last year, my friend's son contacted me. I hadn't seen him since he was a little boy, 40 years ago. His mother moved far away then. I look forward to getting to know him. I have some good stories to tell him about his father.
I think of my reaction, 45 years ago, to Rubin's message. There was so much wrong in America then, including a criminal in the White House. I was young and confident perhaps overconfident that my generation was going to right the wrongs in our country. It's been a long, strange walk since then. And we still have a long ways to go.

spicysista
(1,731 posts)Beautiful read. Thanks for sharing, H2O Man.
H2O Man
(76,156 posts)panader0
(25,816 posts)Excellent....
H2O Man
(76,156 posts)voteearlyvoteoften
(1,716 posts)Peace to you brother.
H2O Man
(76,156 posts)And peace to you and yours.
spanone
(138,148 posts)malaise
(280,723 posts)We need to remember to prevent repeating the wrongs.
Thanks brother
H2O Man
(76,156 posts)I am glad that you liked it. After I finished writing it, I wasn't sure if I should post it or not. It's a long, strange essay, I suppose.
malaise
(280,723 posts)I love Rubin's presence on the way you explain some of your experiences
He was an amazing human being. I was fortunate to be friends with him for 40+ years.
malaise
(280,723 posts)for real
gademocrat7
(11,295 posts)Thank you, H2O Man.
H2O Man
(76,156 posts)I appreciate that!
Bluepinky
(2,347 posts)Your descriptive writing allows me to see and feel what youre saying. I also like the quote by Thoreau.
H2O Man
(76,156 posts)We all get a turn here, on this living organism that we call Earth. Some of us get longer turns, some shorter. I enjoyed reviewing parts of my turn while on walks, and thinking about others who had walked along that same path next to the river hundreds and thousands of years ago. And the experiences they had.
Being both a hermit and a local historian, I've tried over the years to document where interesting events took place in this area. One of my main sources was the neighborhoos Elder that my father bought our property from. Hence, I knew about where the escaped slaves camped since I was a little boy in the first grade. Many years later, I was able to document it further, by readin the journals of the men who fought in the Revolutionary War.
Another thing that the Elder told us about took place in the field I crossed on my walk. It ha been a garden and fruit orchard for local Indian people leading up to that war. It was destroyed during the Clinton-Sullivan campaign. The old man told me that the soldiers had killed women and children there. No regional historians had documented this in recent times. But a little over a decade ago, I found that there was a soldier's journal in a small historical society in PA, where he described making a game of running a bayonet through Indian infants, to see how long they would "wiggle." But I don't imagine that this was what Trump was yapping about over the weekend.
Bluepinky
(2,347 posts)We live in such a crazy, hectic world, I try to find peace and tranquility where I can. I generally find it in long walks with my dog in the woods or along a quiet path, where she can run and not be leashed. I love to see her joy in life, sniffing the different scents and chasing something only she can see or hear.
We need more thinkers and historians, less boasters and blowhards. I did enjoy hearing Ron Chernow at the WHCD, it was a thoughtful and measured speech, one that Trump and his fans wouldnt bother to listen to or even try to understand. A Trump rally is not a peaceful place to be. I cant even stand the sound of his voice.
H2O Man
(76,156 posts)I'm lucky to live in a rural area. My driveway was part of an old turnpike made at the end of the Revolutionary War. I can walk it still, through the woods. And there is a swamp on my property, and a small pond. My younger son put a small cabin near the pond for my use, and with his brother, built a large fire pit. I hang out there with my dogs.
Bluepinky
(2,347 posts)Theres something mesmerizing about watching a fire.
The best thing about cold NH nights is our wood stove; we get it cranking when its really cold, we love the radiant heat, and seeing the dog and kitty stretched out in front of it.
lastlib
(25,279 posts)Wow. what a powerful statement that is! Thanks, H2OMan!
Bookmarking. K & R!
H2O Man
(76,156 posts)I appreciate it!
monmouth4
(10,294 posts)H2O Man
(76,156 posts)bluestarone
(18,749 posts)GREAT read here on a cool rainy morning!!
Atticus
(15,124 posts)to contemplate.
Thank you.
H2O Man
(76,156 posts)I appreciate that!
CaliforniaPeggy
(152,915 posts)I greatly enjoyed walking along with you, seeing the sights and hearing these stories.
It gives me perspective into today's happenings...
Thank you so much.
H2O Man
(76,156 posts)You tell a much needed dignity to aging. What so many people miss about it is that the only thing that is lacking for brilliant young people to get better at what they do is experience. Aging is the thing that gives the needed wisdom to those sharp young minds. Its good to remind us all. Thanks from this old hermit herself who finally feels right at home in her mind and body.
My younger son likes to tease me when I'm listening to Neil Young's song "Old Man," noting that I'm no longer the young man I was when I first heard it. I figure that in time, he'll make jokes about Neil's song "The Loner." At my age, I have patience, and will wait quietly!
democrank
(11,250 posts)Youre a real treasure. Thank you for this.
H2O Man
(76,156 posts)You are very kind! I appreciate that.
Kind of Blue
(8,709 posts)And yours is a fine, fine essay of allowing us to be in the stillness with you standing firmly in the light that doesn't obscure some awful truths.
Thank you very much.
H2O Man
(76,156 posts)kiri
(913 posts)I do enjoy good writing and an evocative story, but it grates when I read "He gave my siblings and I gifts"... Me? We do have an objective case in English, which is used after a preposition, e.g., "between her and me." Also as a direct object after a transitive verb.
I gasped at the inconsistency: "His brother and him"... He? As a subject. At least 'him' is somewhat natural, and I am not a stickler. But let us respect the objective case, eh?
H2O Man
(76,156 posts)is but my third language. As I noted, my family is from Ireland. Thus, we do not care about speaking proper English -- except when it came to my 5th grade English teacher, who was a great lady.
kiri
(913 posts)BTW, there seems no reason for disparaging the Brewerton culture of projectile points.
To any amateur, they look like the standard arrow-head points. Some artisans were better, some poorer in making things, like now. Paleolithic peoples many times re-discovered the notch, but the really vital matter was how a point was attached to the shaft. Glues, twisted vines, recover the hard-won point to re-use. Hunters were less interested in aesthetics in favor of how it penetrated/killed and could be recovered from a missed shot.
http://www.lithicsnet.com/brewetonsidenotched.html
http://www.lithicsnet.com/brewertonearednotched.htm
Even in Irelandish and Gaelic, between "him and I" is bad aspoke. Gaelic grammar mostly copies Latin grammar. Go thou and do likewise.
H2O Man
(76,156 posts)best book on Brewerton culture. Sew their.
Hekate
(96,084 posts)I admit I was raised by a rigorous Grammar Nazi, and her lessons stood me well enough that afaik I was the only member of my doctorate class who didn't have to hire an editor, and who pretty much sailed through the proofreader's office with only a few scrapes.
But longer ago than that I learned not to let Mom's rigidity get in the way of hearing or reading someone else's excellently-unfolded story.
yonder
(10,035 posts)
Hekate
(96,084 posts)...in my attic, though.
My mother was a spelling and grammer Nazi.
My father was one of 14 siblings, who spelled our last name eight (8) different ways.
Tess49
(1,604 posts)expect the grammar police to show up. Go away.
It's fine, though. I know who that person is, and don't take them seriously. But, just for fun ....their attempt to feign knowledge about Brewerton culture exposes them. Reference to Brewerton points as "arrow heads" is a direct result of attempting to use "google" as a shortcut to insight. As I noted elsewhere, I wrote the book on Brewerton culture. And I presented a paper to the largest conference of North American professional archaeologists on ....among other related issues ....Brewerton culture. (grin)
Tess49
(1,604 posts)
H2O Man
(76,156 posts)was introduced in this section of North America somewhere around 2400 years after the projectile point that I found the broken base of was made. I have, of course, over 100 of them that are works of art, made by true craftsmen. I've loaned some to a few of the best regional museums, including at some of the universities that I've spoken at. In my younger years, I had some frpm those universities assist me on excavationsm and used their labs -- for free -- to analyze organic remains.
There have been a few times when I was working in the field that a tiny chihuahua would bark furiously at me. I ignored it. I mean, why would anyone want to argue with a chihuahua? They pose no threat, other than possibly being annoying.
Tess49
(1,604 posts)to be outspoken, when keeping my mouth shut would be the better option.
Karadeniz
(23,710 posts)these thoughts. Well worth reading!❤❤❤
H2O Man
(76,156 posts)Thank you very much.
Pluvious
(4,865 posts)I guess it's no surprise that we become more reflective and wax philosophical as our turn at life slowly winds down.
I catch myself often doing this more and more lately
So many of the clichés I've heard repeated over the decades, like "youth is wasted on the young" etc - they all make so much sense now lol. But so does realizing the futility of trying to help them young'uns from repeating my own past mistakes.
In the end, we're left with the hope that our species will wise up fast enough to survive the future's challenges awaiting it.
We need a miracle everyday.
Not everyone gets the opportunity to grow old. I try to keep that in mind, when I get frustrated by my increasing inability to do the things that used to be easy.
I think the younger generation is better prepared to address most of the issues today, than my generation was in the 1960s and '70s. Maybe that's just based on those I know. But I hope they can build upon our foundation. It will be hard, but not doing so will be much harder.
Docreed2003
(18,046 posts)Thank you!
H2O Man
(76,156 posts)llmart
(16,332 posts)It took me back to my youth where there were acres and acres of land my six siblings and I could roam and look for arrowheads and remnants of the past. No one stopped us with their "No Trespassing" signs, mostly because everyone knew everyone else's family. I grew up in a rural area and the people that owned the land thought nothing of having kids on it. We fished in their ponds with hand lines and grasshoppers that we caught in our hands. We ice skated on the pond in the winter when it froze over. We played imaginary games and learned all about the insects in the creek, made up stories about the treasures we found. There was no such thing as a season when you didn't go outside.
We lived in a 100 years+ old structure (it wasn't really a house) that had been a one-room schoolhouse in the 1800's. There were several outbuildings. A brother and I went back to visit our old house probably 40 years later and it still stands. We stood on the property (the new owners were fine with us doing that) and reminisced about our wanderings. We walked along the creek where we spent so many hours. Every single one of us is an outdoors person and we're all in our 70's now. I no longer even live in that state, but with the beauty of the internet I have been able to do some research on that house and the surrounding land.
So, thank you for allowing me to walk down your particular memory lane because you and I both know that at a certain age, we have plenty of memory lanes to walk down. There's a reason that people talk about the wisdom of age. Not everyone has it (think Trump), but some of us do.
H2O Man
(76,156 posts)I think I've mentioned this before, but my house was a stage coach station built as among the first stops on a turnpike after the Revolutionary War. It was built circa 1795, and had a doctor's office in it, and served as the first local post office. And there is the foundation of a black smith's shop at the edge of my lawn, dating from the late 1800s.
I've loved local history since I was in the first grade, and the principal spoke to our class about an incident with Joseph Brant that played a role in the Revolutionary War. I remember being excited when I told my mother about it. She told me one of my g-g-grandfathers had been friends with Brant, and adopted two Indian children orphaned by the war. My older brothers showed me the sites where various things had taken place. I still have the book I got on Indian history in 2nd grade.
llmart
(16,332 posts)Have you done any family genealogy? Sounds like your family history would be interesting.
I've done that dor many decades. Lately, my oldest son has taken over. On both sides of my extended family, there have been one or two people who take on that responsibilty. When I was my son's age, my grandfather's cousin got a hold of me. (My grandfather was born in Ireland in 1874.) My "cousin's" mother had been the family historian on both sides of the Atlantic. He passed on her bible from Ireland, which contained information that was thought lost when the church in their little community burned. Lots of photos, too, including a large number of tin-types. With my son's computer skills (I have none), we have been able to share them with a large group of relatives.
Thanks to the work of others before me, my son and I can trace both my maternal and paternal sides way, way back. There were some characters.
mahannah
(893 posts)H2O Man
(76,156 posts)That is very nice of you to say! Much appreciated.
Shrike47
(6,913 posts)H2O Man
(76,156 posts)yonder
(10,035 posts)Hekate
(96,084 posts)The May issue of Atlantic has a long article called "Elegy for the American Century" by George Packer, who says it only lasted 50 years anyway. "Doomed" featured somewhere in it, as did "Bosnia." I started to read it last night, but was too exhausted so put it aside and went to bed.
Yesterday's Los Angeles Times has an Op-Ed by Virginia Heffernan on Joe Biden: "The white male savior we've outgrown." She really did not like his announcement video, which she called, "an elegy for an obsolete American dynamic." There's that word Elegy again.
In the case of Joe Biden, I object, and surprisingly I feel rather hurt. I don't believe much in saviors myself, and I know Joe's a Catholic and probably doesn't confuse himself with Jesus, either. Personally, I started out hoping Biden would stay out of the race because of his age -- and I could practically write Andrea Mitchell's snarky jabs about "gaffes" in my sleep, as well as DU fights about Anita Hill.
But then Joe released his video, and I practically wept. The old warrior, I thought, had got it exactly right for this moment. While the others are going to spend their time arguing over fine points of what is already in the Democratic platform and worrying about whether they should ignore Trump or engage with him by name, and how to make the deplorables vote for them, Joe went straight for the jugular of the Mad King and called him and his cultists out. My God, somebody has to do it, and I find myself grateful that it is Joe Biden. If what he is telling us in that video is obsolete, we really are doomed and damned.
Thanks for letting me ramble on a bit myself. I think I needed to.
H2O Man
(76,156 posts)I sent a link to one of DU essays to one of my associates. She said that I write exactly how I speak, and that my writing was simply a conversation that I have with myself inside my head. She was, of course, correct. And each of my children could swear to the fact that I do ramble!
I've always liked Joe Biden. As we entered the 2016 primary season, he was my first choice. And I really liked him as vice president -- at the very least, tied with Gore as the best VP in modern times. Yet I, too, had thought it might be better if three of the older people who had run in recent times step aside, and serve as elder statespersons for a new generation.
Having seen his new video, I've changed my mind. I'm not sure if he will win our party's nomination, and I really do not have a favorite at this time. I will work hard for whoever is the Democratic Party's nominee in 2020. But whatever the outcome of the primaries, I thank Joe Biden for saying what needs to be said, over and over. And I am especially pleased that it got under Trump's skin.
nolabear
(43,446 posts)Everyone doesnt have the talent to share that view. It would be a fine endeavor to put together an anthology of cultural memories from talented elders who can so vividly render what it was like to grow up in ordinary America over the last sixty or so years.
H2O Man
(76,156 posts)Years ago, I did an interview with Mark Rudd for DU. (For younger readers who might not recognize his name, Mark was a leader in the Students for a Democratic Society, before transitioning to the Weather Underground.) And I did a series of interviews with Onondaga Chief Paul Waterman, which first appeared in a Native American newspaper, and later were included in a book. Similarly, in coordination with three local historical societies, I've done interviews with older residents about the eras they grew up in.
All of these types of interviews have great value. You have a great idea there. You should go with it!
kentuck
(113,195 posts)And memories of another time.
H2O Man
(76,156 posts)recognizing that you are old, and remembering times long past. Frequently, in my mind, I mistake myself for being young -- though the fact that I am old is just one of a growing list of things I forget these days. When I encounter an old friend in the grocery store, we find ourselves talking about aches and pains, until we recognize we are doing what old folks seemed to always do when we were young. ("Oh, my fucking shoulder! It's miserable!" "Yeah, my knee is killing me. My doctor wants to do ...."
It went slow at the time, but now it seems to have gone by too fast.
kentuck
(113,195 posts)There was a line in Game of Thrones a couple of weeks ago...something about why the young keep their distance from the old, because they see a reality that is diificult for them to accept. Liberally paraphrasing...
H2O Man
(76,156 posts)generally true. It may be from a combination of related factors that make it more so in our life times. I like looking a house structures, and note that many of the houses around here from the 1800s and early 1900s have additions, where grandma and grandpa lived their golden years. An adult child of theirs had taken over the farm, and had his or her family in the main structure.
With the industrial revolution, kids sought to move to the big towns and cities for a variety of employment options. They lived in single family homes, where their kids saw the grandparents on holidays. And now, with high-tech society, more kids grow up in single family homes, often in apartments, and see their grandparents less often.
I was a strange kid myself. I spent quite a bit of time talking to the old folks in my neighborhood. I remember one elderly lady often commenting that I was mighty young to be so interested in history. Of course, I never thought at the time that one day I'd be old. Never gave that any thought! I wish that someone had warned me -- I might have taken better care of myself. Probably not, but maybe.
kentuck
(113,195 posts)I had to go thru a surgery a couple of weeks ago and I was very anxious about it. I actually thought I might not make it. I wrote down a living will. Suddenly, I did not feel young anymore. My thoughts have changed as my mortality has become more apparent. Youth is rapidly becomng an illusion.
H2O Man
(76,156 posts)you are okay ....hope you are doing well, actually. Having to have surgery is no fun. It is in ways actually worse than many types of surgeries themselves, because it weighs on your mind.
It's interesting: would one prefer an older, experienced surgeon? Or a younger one who is more up to date on medical advances. At this point, almost all the doctors I routinely see seem very, very young to me.
It was a year ago this month I had the serious ead injury. One of the two neurologists said that I had to have surgery. The other, who was younger, said that I might be okay without surgery. I opted to avoid it, in part because I'd have had to cut my hair ....or have a reverse mullet.
I hope that you are taking it easy, and are (or have) recovering well.
kentuck
(113,195 posts)I am improving. I had a few complications after surgery which has made my recovery a little more lengthy than normal, I think? It was not major surgery but the after effects that have been the most difficult.
I think I would probably prefer a younger doctor.
It was a little difficult for me to write while I was awaiting surgery. My mind was not very sharp. I remember the ordeal with your head injury.
I think there might be more road hazards for older folks.
justhanginon
(3,344 posts)H2O Man
(76,156 posts)Stuart G
(38,726 posts)H2O Man
(76,156 posts)bluecollar2
(3,622 posts)So well written..
H2O Man
(76,156 posts)chia
(2,461 posts)Allowing us to walk with you in your memories today... what a gift you gave us. Thank you.
I'm pleased that you enjoyed it!
keithbvadu2
(40,915 posts)H2O Man
(76,156 posts)I'm lucky in that all of my children like to hear me talk about these things. But I know they will have a somewhat different appreciation in decades to come.
Kurt V.
(5,624 posts)brush stroke. Abolitionists, naturalists and all around good dude. Excellent essay as usual.
wendyb-NC
(4,006 posts)It stopped me in my tracks. It brought many of my experiences 40-50+ years ago to the forefront. A wonderful recollection, beautifully written.
H2O Man
(76,156 posts)I think that most people of my generation here on DU have similar memories. I'm thinking of the old saying about "the best of times, the worst of times."
I saw an interview with the little girl injured in this weekend's synagogue shooting today. She is eight years old. Her life has been changed. The hatred behind it was no different than the hatred that caused the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham on September 15, 1963. Good people fought against that hate then, and we will again today.
coeur_de_lion
(3,838 posts)and hope to do so in person some day.
Youre a visual storyteller - the finest kind.
Your essay reminds me that racial injustice has been around forever to one degree or another.
My own family were Irish Catholic like yours and were certainly held in low regard in my grandfathers day. Dad got past that by going into the military where race is mostly irrelevant.
I was horrified when I realized there was a man taking over the White House who was himself a white supremacist. And I remember reading with horror the ugly things that were said to, and about, Barack and Michelle Obama. Up until then I thought we had grown out of racism, as a country.
But no, racism has always been there, and a creature like the orange psycho brings it out of hiding. All the ugliness thats been hiding is coming to the surface and will be acted out until we flush this human excrement from our White House.
Thank you again for including us on your journey through the past. Lovely nice long read. I hope you continue to take us along.
H2O Man
(76,156 posts)Trump has given license to the white nationalists to act out. Even his comment on General Lee has to be viewed in that context, rather than a stupid attempt at distraction.
grantcart
(53,061 posts)H2O Man
(76,156 posts)Thank you for that.
AllaN01Bear
(23,882 posts)it seems that a lot of my friends and neighbors have drifted away into the sands of time , have passed on,( i just learned my primary care dr has passed on. dr. leoprati , silent key.) friends with medical problems who cant come out and play any more , or passed away, or moved and moved on with their new lives . i havent recognized this country since 2000, with a bright spot with the clintons and the obamas . now , i dont know anymore . ,but i have hope .
H2O Man
(76,156 posts)bdamomma
(67,289 posts)sharing your life stories with us. It is indeed strange where we were and where we are now. We are embarking on a different path right now and need to recapture our bearings to find the right path.
H2O Man
(76,156 posts)Thank you!
c-rational
(2,904 posts)had in a while. This will stay with me for a while and help me with my walks. I do what I do because of my love of water - and most appreciate your chosen name.
H2O Man
(76,156 posts)I served as the top aide to Onondaga Chief Paul Waterman for decades. He was an amazing man. When I would arrive for meetings at Onondaga, some of the woman would call me Paul's son. My children were all convinced that he was their third grandfather when they were little. So I borrowed his last name here on DU!
Besides burial protection and repatriation, we worked on a lot of environmental issues in the northeast. And they all involved, at some level, protecting water.
Demovictory9
(34,314 posts)
H2O Man
(76,156 posts)Do you think that Paul Reubens will play Rod Rosenstein when they make the movie about the Trump-Russian scandal?
Demovictory9
(34,314 posts)MBS
(9,688 posts)Thanks for helping me keep faith and hope alive.
H2O Man
(76,156 posts)femmedem
(8,482 posts)H2O Man
(76,156 posts)I surely do appreciate that!