Holding the cup in my hand I took a sip, a long sip, thinking of how to answer.”
–D.C. Adkisson (The Shepherd)
Ain’t that the truth. Holding a cup of strong coffee, while ponderin’ the deep answers to questions is a help. It sorta makes the mind say “ahhh” and the thoughts begin to form. Now, I ain’t sayin’ that the thoughts come because of the coffee, but it just helps them to flow through the ol’ brain better. So, Pard, did yuh have a good week? Yuh were probably jist a waitin’ to come over for some of my delicious brew. An’ talkin’ ’bout thinkin’ I was sent some coffee roasted in Maryland, but the blend is called: Mayan, Aztec, and Incan. My mind is all confabgulated tryin’ to understand how coffee roasted up in Maryland would have names like that. Guess, it’s another one of the world’s mysteries.
I was out drivin’ the other night, don’t do that much anymore, and let me tell you for a fact that the bugs were out. No, no, Pard I’m not talkin’ ’bout the politicians and media mouths, but real bugs. I thought the ol’ steel mount was bein’ attacked by creatures from the skies. One bit un hit the windshield and I heard it say right after impact, “If I had guts enough I’d do that again.”
Pard, I’m gettin’ closer and closin’ in on ol’ Methusaleh. Yep, this ol fencepost is still holdin’ up, but another one of them birthdays showed up. Three years now past my allotted seventy and eight years since my heart attack. Listen, in less than 900 years, I’ll make it to be his age. Ha, yur right Pard, that’s a joke. It was hard enough to make it to seventy, and I’ve gone three over that now.
I remember an ol’ friend, now gone on over the Great Divide to be with the Lord once said in lean times, “The Lord has been with me; I’ve never had to eat feathers yet.” Yuh might remember Fred Deavers, he was quite a fella. But to say that, I don’t think I’d relish eatin’ feathers, nor the buzzard they came from. The Lord, as Fred implied, has always and will always take care of me and mine. There may be lean times an’ there may be times of plenty, but the Lord is with us in both. We jist need to honor Him in the good and the bad.
There’ ‘nough coffee left in the pot for each of us to have another cup. What say we down it, and they get on to the chores and errands of the day. I have a couple more stories to tell, but they’ll jist have to wait until another time as I’m out of space, and the coffee pot is now dry. Yuh be ridin’ straight and tall, and for the Lord’s brand. Be checkin’ yur cinch before yuh mount, and keep on the narrow way.
Vaya con Dios.