9/20/26

9/20/26

What’s in a date?  Well, lots of thing, Birthday, Death Day, Memorable events weddings, child births numerous things and some sad some happy.  Well 9/20/26 was always a happy day for me until this year.  You see one of my best friends died so unexpectedly that no one let me know.  Because they were all so a taken back.  It was sudden and it was handled by people that really didn’t know we were close.  I tried to contact them every month.  We talked on occasion we texted a lot.  We kept up wit each other.  Closed during our younger years than later in life as we both kind of went separate way, but we always stayed in touch. She contacts me, I contacted her.  She even came down with her husband an spent a week with us.  It was amazing. 

I never knew how much those brief moments of contact meant to me until they were gone.

I was trying to contact her for almost two months.  And it wasn’t like her to be out of touch for that long and couldn’t get through to her.  I tried everything I knew.  The I thought about her best friend whom I knew as well and thank goodness had a contact number for.  I reached out to her, and she immediately called me and broke the news to me.  She had fell in her home hit her head and her neighbour found her on her bathroom floor.  I was at loss for words.  Her friend told me she was so sorry about not letting me know wee she had fallen over six months ago! 

I missed her a lot yesterday.  It hit me I’d never talk to her again.  I felt awful I hadn’t been in touch sooner.  But we had that kind of friendship.  Time never seemed to matter.  The second one of us reached out to the other it was like we had talked just last week.  A special bond for sure.

I guess I say all this to encourage you to talk to your people.  More often than put it off until it’s convenient.  Make the effort to hear their voice listen to their troubles laugh at the stories of the old days.  Just be buddies.  I know I am going to make a specific effort to not be caught off guard again.  I want you too as well.

Think I go call a friend and catch up

 

Peace,

The Blessed Man

Bob Riker

 

This one is going to be hard.

 

Bob Riker is one cool dude.  He very suddenly passed away. I am still trying to get my hands around it.

Bob was a collector of things.  Baseball memorabilia was one of his big things.  He has 2 Babe Ruth signed baseballs.  He has everything Derrick Geter, Thurmond Munson.  Are you seeing the pattern.  He was a huge Yankee fan.  For many years.  The first time I saw his collection I was blown away by one piece.  He has a shadow box with every no hitter pitched signed by the pitcher!!  Even the Don Larson no hitter in the 1958 World Series where he faced the minimum batters at 27.

However, Bob was a great guy.  Generous to a fault.  Kind to all.  Loving to his wonderful Jo Ann. And a great friend. He loved to cook.  He made the best Manhattans you will ever drink.  He loved smooth Jazz and a good time.  He loved to watch Jo Ann gamble, slots, he loved games of chance as well.  We went to a casino with them once.  All the staff doted over him and Jo Ann from the minute we arrived until we left.  It was so cool to watch.  We when to dinner and Jo Ann was flirting with our young waiter and I watched Bob just reveled in that.  Jo Ann and I would often kid Bob and my wife about not including us in their conversations.  It was our special time to harass them. Which sometimes they didn’t!  I am going to miss that as well.

My wife and I would go to their house for dinner often.  We so enjoyed Bob and Jo Ann. I have tried to leave their home many times when I had to look for my car in their driveway.

Fun Times….

I sure am going to miss my friend. I got a text from him 2 days before he passed with a crazy picture of him making fun of himself.  I am keeping that picture forever.  It will remind me of how much fun he was and how comfortable I was around him.

You know the Blessed Man is not liking writing about the loss of such great people.  I can remember my Granny telling me one time that the worst curse in the world is to out live all of your friends and family which in a way she did.  She buried all her children but one.  Her husband all her siblings and family.  I remembered that conversation when I got the news about Bob.  He doesn’t have to worry about that now.  And it is our job to make sure we all remember him in the light that he lived.  Kind, Loving, Caring, and Genuine.  Things we should all be striving to be every day. 

Bob Riker, God’s Speed my friend. You will be missed and always remembered.

 

Peace,

 

The Blessed Man

Karen Levy

 

You know I have been told that people come into your life for a reason, a season, or a lifetime.  I have been so blessed to have had some very cool people in my life for a long time.  However, Karen is one that was for a season and a reason, sadly not a lifetime. We recently lost her to a very quickly spreading cancer.

Karen was one of the people we all want in your life.  She was always smiling and laughing, and it was contagious you just could not help but become involved in her good time. I will miss her very much.

She was the partner of someone I call one of my best friends, Dan.  Dan is a story as well.  He is from New York.  Enough said, right?  However, Dan isn’t that New Yorker you dread to be around.  He is the one you always try to sit next to at dinner because you know you are about to be entertained.  Let’s just say I love the guy.

Funny thing is when Dan and Karen met, they were different people, kind of.  Her devoted family matriarch.  Loving Mother, Grandmother, whoops MIMI.  And that was her focus.  Dan came into her life and was the rain the flower needed to bloom.  She remained the family focused however she began to really let go and have fun.  I was never with her in a social situation where she wasn’t making sure we were all having a blast. Her and Dan were the consummate hosts, or the best addition to your event you could ever have.

This is Dan’s second partner loss.  His first wife, Jo. Passed and we all loved JO.  Dan was there for her everyday.  He also was there for Karen everyday.  I find myself thinking about him and I marvel at how he keeps his head high and powers through the pain, that I know must be mind-blowing at times.  I also find myself asking if I am doing enough for my friend and brother.  All I know is I’m trying too.  I hope he knows that.  He has a support network that is second to none.  He has Softball, Golf, Neighbors.  The list goes on and on which says a lot about my buddy.

I laid awake a couple of nights ago and tried to place myself in his shoes to try to feel what that must be like.  I really couldn’t do it.  Which I must confess I was a little glad about.  I know if I ever lost Darlene, it would be very hard on me.  She is my rock; she is my Karen.

Now to close the loose ends.  Karen came into my life for the season that was such a joy.  I loved her and all her ways.  I loved the way she simply made you love her; there was no other choice.  The reason.  Was to show me that the only way to live is full blast.  Never ever accept second best.  Love like your life depends on it.  Because, in the end it really does.  Share with another.  Her and Dan in a quick 6-year lived life like we all should.  At the celebration of life, for her, he shared a few of their stories and they were amazing.  And it was so fitting we ran out of Margarita’s!!! Karen would have been proud.

I’m going to miss my friend.  I am going to never forget the season or the reason that the beautiful Karen Levy passed through my life.

 

Peace,

 

The Blessed Man

Retirement

 

I can still remember my mother taking me to work at a gas station on Lamar Avenue. for $.065 an hour.  I was the guy that pumped your gas.  I wash your windshield checked your oil, tires an anything else that needed checking.  I was 14!  I have had a job ever since that day.  Well in 2 weeks I am laying it down at 71 years old. 

What a ride!  I have pumped gas. I have dug ditches.  I have run gas pipes.  I have fueled air planes.  I have rode airplanes all over the world to teach people how to work around those airplanes safely. I have been a line cook, a sous chef, a head chef, and an executive chef.  I have fed over 2,000 people in a day with the support of 17 of the greatest people in the world.  I have been all over the world to buy wine. I have had multiple states where I sold wines.  I have been a starter at a golf course.  And I am sure I have left something out.

Not many people can say they have had the run I have had!!  I have met the most wonderful people. Ate the most wonderful food, drank some of the finest wine on earth.  I have learned the most important things from the greatest mentors.  Thank you all.

Well, I am putting it down in two weeks 6/21/25!!!  I will keep my wine jobs they are a pleasure and keep me connected and with a purpose.  But the have to be there portion of this ride is over 6/21!  I have enjoyed most of my jobs.  There have been people and situations that made some of them more difficult than others but mainly it has been a genuinely nice experience.

On to travel, adventure, more golf with Darlene.  Only things that are fun hope 

 

So, look for more posts of the things that come up along the way. 

 

Thanks for always listening

 

Peace,

 

The Blessed Man

Ricky Roy Blankenship

 

If you recognize the name then you just know.  If you don’t then I would dare to say your life is a smile and a laugh or two short.

I met Ricky one day riding my bike home from Havenview School.  He was working on his bike in the driveway and I said hello and for the next 65 years we were best friends.  You have heard about that friend that knows where the bodies are buried.  Well Ricky helped me bury a bunch of those bodies.

He went to St. Paul elementary.  I went to Havenview.  Then we both went to Whitehaven High School and that my friend is where all the trouble started!!!  Ricky’s father, Googie, drove the bus we rode to school.  He was a riot.  About as tall as he was big around he was just simply a hilarious man.  I got to know Googie and Bobbie Fay his Mom over the years an unusual pair for sure.

Ricky was the best man at my first wedding.  He was a major part of a night that will remain in one of the craziest of my life my Bachelor party.  Which it took about a month to recovery from.  Another story for another time.  Let’s just say my new bride didn’t speak t him for many, many months!!

He was always there for me. Good times and Bad always right there. I could pass on many examples but that’s not the reason for this writing.

You see I lost my best friend yesterday and I needed to let folks know the world lost a good guy.  Yes, he was strange.  He loved burnt bacon and steaks.  I never understood that until I had a taste of his Moms cooking if you could call it that.  WOW!!  He also was hard headed. He loved his wife and family more than anything else in the world.  He told me that many times as we talked about this and that.  He loved the Memphis Tigers. He loved to talk to his buddy Goose during all of the games.  I was always out being” social” as he called it.   He also loved to play golf back in the day and we would all go on these crazy golf trips down to the gulf coast. Lot’s of memories there as well.

Well if you knew him there is a good chance you either loved him or did not care for him.  That never bothered him at all.  You see Ricky was Ricky and that is what made me love him.

Rest in peace my friend.  You will be missed, but never forgotten.

 

Peace,

The Blessed Man

Forgiveness

 

My grandmother told me one time that forgiveness wasn’t for the person being forgiven; it was for the person forgiving so the one who hurt you doesn’t live rent free in your head.  I have lived by that for many years.  However, this time I am asking forgiveness from a dear friend.  I will explain

We were at a birthday event for my wife.  Wine was involved and as conversations do they got a little racy.  At these events the guys sit at one table and the ladies at their own table.  It always seems to work because guys talk guy things and lord only knows what they talk about.

As the night waned I slid over to the ladies and somehow the conversations turn to breasts!  Anyone who knows me knows I’m a boob man!  Well I said something about wanting to see every set on earth and everyone laughed.  Well here is the forgiveness part.  I was sitting next to one of the sweetest people on the planet that has just recently beat breast cancer!  What an inconsiderate comment. 

Now allow me to tell you a bit about the lady I’m talking about.  She is one of the best people I know. Beautiful, kind, loving, selfless, and a true friend, a fighter of the highest regard. She has a zest for life that is rarely seen.  She is a wonderful wife, mother, grandmother.  She is a great cook and she is my friend.

The comment has haunted me since I got home that night.  I have to apologize to her. The very thought that I might have hurt her feelings makes me sick to my stomach. I will email her this post once it finished so she will know how badly I feel.  I can already hear her reply.  I didn’t even hear it or I have no memory of that. That is just how special she is. 

I promise to do better.

So yes sometimes Grandmother the forgiveness is needed for the infractor as well as the person forgiving. 

 

Peace,

The Blessed Man

Makenna Noelle Morse aka. Cricket

 

Well I am thinking the old Blessed man is getting even older!!  As you make know I have written about many additions to our families, today is very very special you see last week my Great Granddaughter was born.  Can you believe that?  Great Granddaughter!!!

I was there when both of our Grand Children were born and have wonderful memories of those births.  But to think now one of those children has had a child is very eye opening. 

I am calling here Cricket.  I feel like ever Great Granddaughter needs a special name from her Great Granddad.  She is beautiful so cute and small. 

He mother has always held my heart.  She is very special, her Dad is a great guy, and wonderful provider for his new family.  I believe they will make wonderful parents.  The only trouble is you can’t explain to them what lies ahead.  You can try but they always look at you and say that will never happen to our little treasure. However, it is going to.  Nothing can hurt you more than a child.  Nothing can make you happier or more proud than a child.  I know because if you have read any of the first couple of years posts in this lowly blog you walked that road with me. 

Parenting is the most difficult job on the planet.  It is also the most rewarding job on the planet.   I am so blessed that my son met and married a young lady that absolutely turned his life and our relationship totally around.

Cricket, I wish you enough. Enough love to keep you on the right track. Enough joy to recognize how special life can be.  Enough strength to carry her through the hard times.  Enough fortitude and courage to endure and make her mark on this crazy world. Enough passion to sing like no one is listening and dance like no one is watching. Enough kindness to give grace and offer help and guidance to those less fortunate.  Enough sense to know when to hold‘em and when to fold’em.  I stole this and made it mine.  So I will attach the original so you know what I was shooting at.

"I wish you enough sun to keep your attitude bright. I wish you enough rain to appreciate the sun more. I wish you enough happiness to keep your spirit alive. I wish you enough pain so that the smallest joys in life appear much bigger. I wish you enough gain to satisfy your wanting. I wish you enough loss to appreciate all that you possess. I wish enough "Hello's" to get you through the final "Good-bye."

Well I guess that about it.  Know that I’ll always have your back my precious one.  We will disagree but that doesn’t mean I don’t love you.  In fact it means I love you a lot!  And always remember I’m your favorite!!!

 

Peace,

The Blessed Man