Virginia Is For Families

Longtime readers know that your faithful reporter resides in Richmond, Virginia and nearby our home the James River snakes its way through the city. We can practically see it from here and we can definitely hear the trains that run up and down its banks.

The University of Richmond is also nearby and we take walks over there. There are lots of photos from it in this blog. And this past week there was a strange person over there in a costume who shut the place down for several hours.

I was sitting here typing away when Beth came up with the news. “Guess what!”.

It’s hard to tell what is about to invade my consciousness when I hear that phrase. But I could hear the helicopters up there and so I had a feeling it was going to be pretty good.

“There’s a guy with a gun running around U of R”.

This is not what we want to hear here in Virginia. We have had more than our share of this sort of tragedy.

Fortunately in this case it was not a lethal situation. A 19 year old dishwasher is out on $10,000 bond after confessing to the crime.

Here is what reportedly happened. A library employee “told police that (a male in a fake beard and sheriff’s jacket) stated to her that he was a police officer and that he had heard that people were fornicating in the library and that he needed to spend the night.”

Police locked down the university after confirming that witnesses had seen the intruder with a gun which later proved to be a pellet gun.

This is so ridiculous. Can you imagine?

I wonder if there really is stuff happening in the library? Do you think they will let me take some photos in there?

I can remember when I was a small boy have a toy train. It was the coolest thing. It even smelled special. The transformer was a tiny box and it used to overheat from constant use thus creating all kinds of odd and interesting odors. And the train could go around the track forever as far as I was concerned. I was willing to stay there next to it at least until high school was over.

If I had seen this place with its huge layouts and large number of trains I would have been overjoyed. Even the transformer was big! But it didn’t give off any interesting smells. Darn!

Isn’t it easier writing for everyone than writing to someone? It is for me but maybe not for you. It’s a lot easier for me to share lots of things with the world. I immediately become cautious when I am dealing with most other people. It constrains me and takes away from what I would like to say. I’m listening and trying to figure out what is going on with the other person. And so many sensations are coming in it usually confuses me. I’m not very good at it. I would make a very lousy salesman. But it doesn’t mean I don’t care.

That’s just the way things have shaken out over the past 54 years. I spent a lot of time over those years trying to deal with depression. And I’m not going to dwell on that now because life is so much better. This blog is a celebration of life and an attempt to share good things with others. Some might disagree. But that’s probably because they know me personally. And they have experienced the other me who has difficulty with one on one relationships.

Maybe that’s why there are few comments here. I don’t blame people for not commenting. It used to bother me but it doesn’t anymore. I enjoy being creative and that may just be what keeps me motivated around here to continue blogging. People have been writing books for centuries and they didn’t expect someone to pop up in the window every day and comment about what they had written the day before.

I have a few readers who have somehow managed to stick around for awhile. Bernie is busy with basketball. Ron is in South America (again). Truddle is absorbed in events surrounding her children. And Helena is pursuing her busy and interesting life over in jolly old England. I love them all. I really do. I am very fond of them. But they probably don’t know that. Because I’m very different one on one as I said. And I don’t want to dwell on it. But if any or all of them decided they have had enough of me tomorrow I wouldn’t blame them a bit.

What I have to give it pretty much in this blog. Maybe someday I will go down memory lane and talk about a few things that have resulted in the person who is writing this. But not during the holidays!! I see my two older children who live here in Virginia maybe four or five times per year. That isn’t a lot is it? But that will give you an idea of what I’m talking about. Not a happy situation. And I’m sure some are saying “What’s your problem? Why don’t you just try?”

And my answer is “Sorry but I do try”. I’m just not very good at it.

And finally I think it is unfair of me to have a blog about celebrating life without being clear that everything is far from perfect down the end of this road. I don’t need to dwell on it. But life is a messy affair and I would get very tired of reading a blog everyday that made it sound like things are just perfect! I am just nearly perfect! NOT.

So there! Now can we get back to the celebration?