Then he looked at me and said, “Son, would you like to try it?” It was an emotional moment. My parents were so excited, almost like Lawrence Welk himself was in their home and their son was being blessed by the master. Before I knew it, I was holding this 250-pound black shiny monster and sitting on a chair. He placed my shaking fingers on the shiny buttons and keys and said, “Just hold the keys down and squeeze. I held those keys so tight and some others as well and squeezed that thing with all my 12-year-old might. The horrific sound it made must have resembled a cat in a blender. Don’t ask how I know that sound.

The salesman looked at my parents in astonishment and exclaimed, almost shouting, “Your son has the talent!!” My parents were so proud. I later realized that may have been the first time. I was told when my dad first looked at me when I was born he said to my mother, “he looks like a plucked chicken.” That may be why my mother never told anyone about my birth, not ever her favorite sister. That sister called my mom to talk one day and heard this ten-month-old baby crying and said, “What’s that baby sound?” My mom said to her, “Oh, that is little Eddie.” And that was my official birth announcement. But now with that accordion strapped to my body like a straight jacket, they were proud of little Eddie. That was the day of my first musical talent evaluation. I did have one more music evaluation years later when my wife and I with our five children went to Canada to a Bible school. New students need to be evaluated for their musical potential since the choir is a mandatory course in the program. I was told to sing what the teacher told me. Apparently, that cat survived that blender and was trying again. I explained to the teacher that I could not play the radio. He sadly told me that in 20 years of being on staff at the Bible institute he had only exempted one person from the choir and now I was number 2. I am not making this up. It also turned out that this teacher played the accordion.

The day my parents bought that accordion and signed me up for music lessons was the day I began to understand what Dante wrote in “The Inferno,” He passed through the gate of Hell, which bore an inscription “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.” From there it was just anguished screams, sort of like that cat in the blender. My friends were all playing neighborhood football and I was strapped to a beast in the seventh level of hell.

To this day I don’t listen to salesmen. So, I did learn something important. I do like accordion jokes and I relate to them. Here are three favorites.

A group of accordion players chartered a 747 from LA to go to an Octoberfest celebration in Germany. Unfortunately, the plane was Hijacked and forced to land in New York. The hijacker demanded 10 million dollars for the plane and gave a terrifying warning to the FBI negotiators. He warned that for every half hour his demands were not met, he would release an accordion player.

One of my favorite Far Side comics has two frames. The upper frame shows a line of people entering Heaven. Saint Peter handing out Harps and the frame below shows a line of people entering Hell and Satan handing out accordions.

A man was talking to his friend and mentioned he was trying to sell his old accordion but nobody wanted it. His friend suggested he just throw it away. Even better, his friend said,”There was an old abandoned car down the street that would be towed away. Just toss it in the back seat, no one will know or care.” So they did that. The next morning the man felt guilty about doing that and decided to retrieve his old accordion, but when he got to the car, there were five more accordions in the back seat.

My journey to the dark side came to an end after two years when I did my first recital. I played She’ll Be Coming Round the Mountain, and they stopped me after the first verse. My parents realized their big mistake and I never went back for more lessons. I went out to play neighborhood football with my friends and I broke my wrist. But even that was a great day. And I didn’t own a cat. Life was looking up.

The post Travels With My Accordion appeared first on Traveling Archive.

That Old Book

Advanced Happy Thanksgiving! Hard to believe it’s already next Thursday.

My life flashed before me (in a good way) last night. I picked up my old dusty Bible that my wife gifted to me back in 1995 as a Father’s Day present. I had put it aside for several years because the book binding had given up on the pages and the wrinkled sheets kept on falling off. I’m one of those who abuse books — I underline, write notes and even draw pictures (lots of them because I’m a visual learner) on the margins and in between columns. Reading my desecrated notes, I was impressed at the insights from my “quiet time” and the many teachers that passed on their scriptural wisdom to me. What a joy! What a treasure! Many of my notes were written when my kids were still under 10 years old. I carried that Bible as well as the many milk bottles and toys we had to drag along whenever we went out. No wonder it got beat up.

MEMORIES

I remember the many games our son played as Captain Ball of the school team; the choirs that my eldest sang at the soprano section; the crazy costumes my youngest wore for her Color Days; our poop-eating shih tzu, Zoe, the “dog who wouldn’t die.” And of course my lovely wife who stood beside me through thick and thin. I still can’t believe she married me. She’s still beautiful and I often wonder why I deserve her.

Tears begin to flow as I remember the adventure of a lifetime. So many friends, so many career moves … it’s true what they say: that God doesn’t promise us a problem-free life but He promised that He would be there to help us through the storms. If not for my faith I’m sure my life would have been messed up big time!

No doubt you have your own list of adventures. Where do we even start, right? Whatever stage you’re going through, give thanks. Whether struggles or victories, let’s give thanks. And when we bump into each other in heaven I’d love to hear your story. And we can take our time because we will have eternity to do it. But for now, let’s give thanks to our Lord … our God!

TGIF people!

Raoul

“Enter into His gates with thanksgiving, and into His courts with praise: be thankful unto Him, and bless His name.” – Psalm 100:4

JOKE OF THE WEEK

Thanks to Clinton of Arizona

Parting Shots

Thanks to Bob of Placentia, CA

Thanks to Richard of New Manila, Philippines

Thanks to Mike of Whittier, CA
Not a joke … just an easy visual reminder.

Thanks to Art of Sierra Madre. CA

Not a joke but a good reminder.

I found these

The Traveling Boy

My good friend (and jokester) Terry and I came up with these.

SUBSCRIBE

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Every day whether I want to or not, I ask myself if I still have all my marbles. I had lots of them when I was young, but I kept them in a tiny little leather bag that I carried to school every day. Weather permitting, I would try to win someone else’s cat’s eye, boulder, shooter, biggie or aggie if I could.

But the kind of marbles I’m talking about now, are the kind that roll around in your brain. Sometimes, a brain fart can occur without warning and it can really throw you for a loop!  If you are with friends your own age, they just wait for it to pass, because it happens to them all the time. Generally, you recover fast, if you’re lucky.

After I turned 40, I noticed I’d be driving somewhere and I would “temporarily forget” where the heck I was going! But somehow I always seemed to figure it out. At that time, I had a bunch of kids, and ran a business with my husband, and when I think back, I wonder how I actually did everything I needed to do each day without collapsing each night. Luckily, the night always refreshed both of us and to his day, I’m always raring to go each morning!

I have loved every day of my life. I married my best friend, adored all my children and my amazing friends. Each of us helped one another navigate our lives. I have lost many of my friends and grieved with them through the loss of a child or spouse.

Developing dementia or Alzheimer’s is one of the worst things that can happen to someone and it also affects the entire family.  If you’re lucky it starts out later in life but it can progress over many years. It’s hard for me to not try and finish a friend’s sentence because they are struggling with their memory. In the very beginning stages, people know that they’re slipping, and in the end they don’t remember family members. The movie “Notebook”, comes to mind.

Just being able to recall memories from own your life is amazing because it can really enhance the quality of your life. Reminiscing together with friends and family is a gift and being able to continue making memories is a big bonus! As for me, writing this blog plus the other activities I love doing are what keeps me moving forward. And so far, I have not been running after my own marbles!

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I was forty years old when I read this statement many years ago, and it struck me like a thunderbolt.  I got it!  Over the next couple of weeks, I had begun going through the things I had been accumulating since I was married.  I gave, sold or donated the things that were just taking up space in closets, dresser drawers and my garage.  That experience taught me the importance AND the un-importance of STUFF.  It freed me in a way that I never realized could be possible.Less is more, that’s for sure.  I have moved three times in the last eight years and because I have let things go along the way, I settled in each new place within a week or so.  Clutter can bog you down and I think it can actually take the oxygen out of the room and that can’t be a good thing if you need oxygen.

The amount of energy that people can put into their possessions is amazing.  Even the amount of stuff we women put in our purses and lug around with us is nuts unless you’re on “Let’s Make a Deal!”  But one good thing about a very heavy purse is you can always use it as a weapon if you need to!  For me, that’s the equivalent of dragging an anchor around.

I enjoy my family and friends because of all memories we shared together.  You can fill up hundreds of memory cards in your brain and access them anytime you wish and in any location.  Of course as we age accessing those memory cards can sometimes be problematic.  I think that’s why diaries were invented.

All my life, I have told people this; “If you’re not using it and don’t need it, give it to someone you love in your lifetime.  This way you get to see the joy it brings to the person you gift it to, and no one can dispute the gift after your death because you choose to give it in your lifetime.

In the end, the most precious we have, end up in a small box of things we treasure.  Mine are the notes and letters I have received over my lifetime.

PS: I have never been to a funeral where a Brinks truck backs up to a grave and dumps in a bunch of cash.  Have you?

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Life is like water under a bridge when it comes to all the memories we accumulate in a lifetime.  I re-connected with a childhood friend of my children on Facebook which also reunited me with his mother Chris too.  Our kids met when they were in fifth grade, but life has a way of spinning people away from each other.

When I told my eldest son Jamie that I had found his childhood friend Marvin, he contacted him immediately.  I arranged a dinner with my son and his wife and invited his friend Marvin to surprise him.  Marvin and I met just before Jamie and his wife Julie got to the restaurant.  I noticed them coming and Marvin got up to open the door for them.  I watched my son look at this childhood friend and slowly his memory banks flooded with the realization that he was looking at his dearest childhood friend.  It was pure serendipity!

They began flushing out all the memories that were stored in their brains and it was heavenly to watch this process happen.  They told each other how much they loved and admired each other and I knew that they were truly brothers from another mother. It was delicious to hear them talk about all the things that they had done together.  Simple things like buying a box of donuts and riding miles to Legg Lake to eat them and watch the world go by.  They rode miles on their bikes together and talked about the times we all went to Seal Beach during the summers.  It seems so idyllic to me now.  Today, it seems like the world is spinning at Mach five, but the memories they made together happened in a much simpler time.

Kids used their imagination then and knew how to entertain themselves.  Playing tag, kick the can, hide and seek, board games, using a yo-yo, playing marbles and having a bat and a ball was the order of the day.  If you could have a Coke, a bag of chips, and some penny candy, you felt like you were the happiest kid on the planet!  And, earning money to buy a Superman comic book was heaven on earth!  Remember when kids made money to buy themselves a treat?

They could put bikes together using all kinds of parts, and they built ramps to jump their bikes on, and I have the movies to prove it!  Evil Knievel was their hero and they imitated him all the time.  They could fix or build almost anything and they still have that ability today.  But the price of their toys began to increase as they grew up.  Does Harley Davidson ring a bell?

I hope that our dinner together is the first of many happy gatherings in the future.  All this proves my point, that love is the answer to everything.  And showing it, sharing it and speaking of it is how you fill yourself up.  Its soul food and good for anything that might ail you!  After all – it’s your job to make you happy!

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