"Baseball..."

Was My Salvation...

Maybe...

If you've ever been in one of my classes... and remained awake... you  have probably heard this story.  I enjoy telling it.

It's about my one ill-fated attempt to play baseball... I was a kid and decided one year... I wanna play baseball... and I got assigned to a team.  It was fun!  I went to practice... chased fly balls... and ground balls... and foul ball... and every now and then, maybe I got some batting practice in.

Our uniforms were cool as well.  All cotton with button front jerseys... like the real major league players wore...  Not t-shirts and stuff like what the kids today wear.

I didn't get to play a great deal. I can count the number of times I got to play on one hand. If I got to play in the field in the top of the fourth inning, that was one time... If I got to bat in the bottom of the fourth inning, that was another time.

So it wasn't a great deal of playing time.  I soon came to realize that even though I was going to every practice, those who didn't come to practice got all of the playing time.

Anyway... I played my two or three years... went on to bigger and better things (I suppose). I eventually got married and then bought a house.

Guess who my insurance agent was?  

Yep... you got it... 

Coach.

Buying a house and pretending to be an adult is pretty time consuming... I just thought to myself that when the policy came up for renewal, I would move it to another company.

Eventually, the notice did come and I did change it to another agent that I knew.  In about the time it takes for the paperwork to make its way to the agent, I get a phone call...

Ring Ring Ring

Me:  Hello...

Coach:  Hey Hey Big Jim... (Coaches at that time seemed to call every player 'hey hey big whateveryournamewas.)

Me:  Hi...

Coach:  Big Jim... I see that you canceled your homeowners insurance with me...

Me:  Yessir, I did...

Coach:  Why??

Now... at this point, I tell my students about a great learning moment... 'Don't ever ask a question if you aren't willing to hear the answer.'

Me:   Because I went to baseball practice everyday... and chased fly balls, and ground balls and foul balls and stuff... and only got to play five ( 5 ) times... I never got to play.

Coach:  Oh, Big Jim... you were the best baseball player I had!!!

Me:  Koff Koff Bullshit

Coach:  Don't be that way, Big Jim...

Me:  I can't help it... I wanted to play baseball...

We hang up and that's the end of the conversation.

I would love to say that is the end of the story... but it isn't.

... a few weeks later, Coach died. He died. He died.

... and I would love to say that is the end of the story... but it isn't.

...because a short time later, I have a dream... and it's Coach... and he's crying... begging for forgiveness...'Please forgive me... Please forgive me, Big Jim...'

Of course, i wanted to play baseball so I told him "no"...

And  that was that.

I've thought about that dream over time... trying to figure it out.  I wondered if, on the 'Scale of Life,' that one event was a fly in the ointment.  Was I causing Coach to remain in some Purgatory-Like Realm... or in Limbo??

I dunno...

Anyway...

At this point, I tell my students about an equally important lesson wrapped up in this story.  'If you ever coach kids, they ALL get to play!!! All of them!! Alot!!!!

That kid might just be what keeps you from moving on to a Better Place when ones time is finished here.  

Just in case this might be the case, I am thinking about performing a small ritual in class one day... just let Coach go...

Fast Forward 50 years later...

So, I fall off this stupid fukken ladder...

It's been a nightmare... 

Headaches from Hell...  

I've been told by several doctors that I am fortunate I didn't kill myself.

I go to see a new doctor last week...

He comes in... he's looking at his papers... 

He says...

"I know you!!!"

''You Were My Baseball Coach!!!!!"

Oh Shit... I thought.

I did notice a big big smile across his face...

I asked...

"Did you have fun playing Baseball???"

His reply was a big

YES!!!!!!

I do think I've dodged a bullet.

"Roberts Coles..."

Roberts Coles

Green Mountain Grays

46th Virginia Infantry

Roberts Coles

November 14, 1838

February 8, 1862

When I was a boy, Dad would tell me stories about our 'family.'   Being young, I figured that he was talking about the 'Browns'... I never thought about all of the different people that had to cross paths for the past hundreds and hundreds of years for me to appear on this planet.

One of the stories that Dad would tell was about a family member who owned slaves... that he freed them... and they all wanted to remain with him.  The telling of the story is that he was so nice to them that they didn't want to leave.

I've been working for a few years in my genealogy... and I have learned so much.  It appears that the prominent lineage in this family was the 'Coles.' They are a storied family and are listed among 'The First Families of Virginia.'

In tracing my family, I came across a fellow by the name of Edward Coles who was a notable abolitionist from Virginia.  Edward was a cousin of Thomas Jefferson and in 1814, he encouraged Jefferson to work for an end to slavery in Virginia. When the aging Jefferson chose to leave the emancipation fight to the younger generation, Edward took his slaves to Pennsylvania (March, 1819) where they boarded two flatboats for a river ride towards Illinois.

There is much more to this story, but I am writing about Roberts Coles.

Roberts Coles was the son of Edward Coles and Sally Logan Roberts Coles, a descendant of William Penn's private secretary, Irish Quaker James Logan.  He was born after the family had moved from Illinois to Philadelphia.

The Battle of Roanoke Island

Despite his northern birth, Roberts always considered himself to be a true Virginian.  He would spend the summers visiting the Coles family in Albermarle County... and inherited a piece of property near Enniscorthy.  Roberts returned to Virginia in 1860 to run his land operation and become engaged to Jennie Fairfax, of Richmond.  In 1861, the war began.

Some family records say that Edward pleaded with Roberts to not support the Southern Cause... other records say that Edward didn't know that Roberts was fighting on behalf of the Confederacy until later.  Roberts, however, believed it was his duty to remain loyal to his adopted state. He and some friends pooled resources, and formed a group of Confederate volunteers.  This company was called the Green Mountain Grays... which later became Company I of the 46th Virginia Infantry.

On January 4, 1862, the 46th left Richmond for Norfolk and, on January 17, began the voyage to Nags Head, a narrow strip of beach lying one-half mile east of Roanoke Island... across the Roanoke Channel.  When the Federal fleet finally appeared on February 6th, Companies A and I of the 46th... under Captains Wise and Roberts Coles, were loaded onto schooners to be taken to Roanoke Island.

At the start of the ensuing battle, Roberts wrote this letter to his fiancee...

On board transport, February 7, 1862

The battle has commenced. In five minutes we will be on Roanoke Island.  The sight is beautiful - our gun boats and batteries are engaging the enemy in full view and the shot and shells are whistling around us.  If I fall, God grant you a happy life, as happy a one as I would have tried to have a role in.  Be assured that my last thoughts on earth will be of you, my dearest Jennie.  Your picture will be the last sight I shall see if time is given me to look once more upon it.  I have volunteered for this service.  What honor I crave is only craved that you may share it.  May God Almighty bless you and may we meet in the world to come if denied that blessing here again.  And now I strike for Virginia. Again good bye.

Yours forever,

Roberts Coles

Captain Roberts Coles was killed the next day in action during the battle that followed... and in which the Union forces were victorious.  According to his military records, Captain Coles "fell bravely in the Battle of Roanoke Island." He is buried in the Coles family cemetery in Philadelphia, but a marker in his honor was placed at Enniscorthy in Albermarle County, Virginia.

I had mentioned earlier about his father, Edward,  possibly

not knowing about his son's having joined 

the Confederacy until he was notified of his death...

Roberts Coles

I will write about his father soon...

Rest In Peace, Roberts...

http://scottsvillemuseum.com/war/coles/home.html

http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=10523709

"I Don't Need No..."

Steenkin' New Year's Resolutions...

Happy New Year to all of you...

I can't believe that 

2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 

2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 

2014

is gone.

Time keeps on slippin', slippin', slippin'...

Into the future...

What is it about the past that we each remember so?

Are the memories of good and wonderful things?

... or do we remain haunted by what went amiss?

... things that just didn't turn out the way we wanted?

Is there some form of 'Pre-destination' 

that we follow through Life???

Or, are our Lives and our ultimate ends/destinations 

more determined by Karma??

Are the events that we experience directly related

to how we have lived our lives and treated others?

Is there really a difference between the two?

I wonder why I selected 'Calvin and Hobbes'cartoons for a post that asks rather serious questions?

What makes a good cartoon be a 'good cartoon?'

I always have enjoyed the messages from comic strips like 'Calvin and Hobbes,' or 'The Far Side'...  Some of the creators of such strips have such a wonderful insight into the  psyches of our souls, it seems. They seem to capture those fleeting moments and thoughts that we have all experienced...

A counselor that I was seeing after the death of my Dad and during my divorce suggested that I hide a great deal of hurt and pain behind humor... I do suppose that there is a great deal of truth to such a statement.

I fear that my direction has been determined

by the method indicated in the cartoon above...

... that I have just let things happen and I've drifted along with the flow.

Like clouds in the sky...

Like a limb in the river...

Like a fart in a whirl wind...

In 2014, I would like to be more direct in what I desire for the rest of my Life.

I will be more pro-active.

I need to get out and see my friends...

I will take some of my own  advice that I talked about at the 

commencement address I gave in December, 2012...

__________

2014 was a great deal like the beginning of the 'Tale of Two Cities'...

"It was the best of times... it was the worst of times..."

My friend, Scooter died...

I made a trip out West to scatter his ashes as per his request.

I didn't have a choice... he was my friend.

In April of 2014, I received the 

College of Business 'Bell South' Award for being the 

Outstanding Professor in the College of Business.

In November of 2014, I was told by the same people that 

congratulated me for receiving the teaching award... 

that I was no longer needed.

In the next few months, I will decide what

changes I am going to allow to happen in my life career-wise.

I did NOT like...

I did NOT appreciate...

the manner in which this was handled by the administration.

Having said that, I am going to be pro-active on when I leave.

It is possible that I could be teaching at

a different university in the Fall...

I would be open to that.

I have had health issues.

It's not like I haven't seen them coming,

I hadn't felt well for some time.

I've had conflicting diagnoses... 

I have finally crossed paths with a doctor with whom 

I have great confidence.  We will see what progresses.

There are going to be some great changes in my Life over the next 12 months.

In so many ways...

In so many areas...

So...

What are your goals, desires, aims for

the upcoming

2015?

I love these guys...

Happy New Year!!!

~Jim~

"Christmas, 2014..."

We, Three Kings Of Orient Are...

I think my favorite Christmas Story is that of the Christmas Star and the Three Wise Men...  at least that's what we called them back then... today we know them as the Magi...

According to the Gospel of Matthew, The Three Wise Men found the Baby Jesus by following A Star...  whch later became known as the Star of Bethlehem...

History makes allowances for many names for the Magi, but Western Christianity recognizes them as being Balthazar, from Arabia, Melchior, from Persia, and Gaspar, from India.

Each of the Magi brought a gift for the Baby Jesus... Gold, frankincense, and myrrh...
Myrrh was the most ominous of the gifts... Myrrh was an embalming lotion and was symbolic of Death.

Luke 2:10-14

10 And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.
11 For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour, which is Christ the Lord.
12 And this shall be a sign unto you; Ye shall find the babe wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger.
13 And suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host praising God, and saying,
14 Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace, good will toward men.

By no stretch of the imagination do I profess to be a very religious person, but this Bible passage, for some reason, gives me great hope...

Merry Christmas to All...

And to All a Good Night!!!

~shoes~

"Get Back, Loretta..."

If you know me, you are aware that I have always been a huge fan of this band...

They have been the sound track of my Life... and I have made my kids listen exposed my kids to their music...

Back in February, the 50th anniversary of their initial appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show was celebrated...  The fact that their music is still relevant and sounds good today is amazing.

They had gone separate ways by the time I got to where I could possibly have seen them in concert... but my memory is that they had stopped touring in 1966.... their very last concert on tour was August 29, 1966... just a bit over two years after making it big.

The Beatles

Candlestick Park

San Francisco

August 29, 1966

Anyway...  50 years and eight months after they initially came to the United States, I got to see and hear Paul McCartney perform this past weekend (10/11/14) in New Orleans...  The performance was amazing...

... but as the evening progressed... there was something that became noticeable...

Paul talked a great deal about George Harrison...

George

... and he played...

THIS...

(Click on 'THIS'...)

He spoke so dearly of George... several times... whatever rifts had developed, they must have healed...  prior to the beginning of the concert, there were many different photos shown... quite a few of them were of George.

He also spoke of John Lennon...

John

Paul played a song that he claimed to have written after John's death... and I can't remember the name of it... but he also played this song of John's...

click

HERE...

I think that he and John were in the process of healing their split as well... but I didn't sense/feel the same kind of warmth that Paul expressed towards George...

What was missing... and didn't happen...

was any mention of this guy...

Ringo

Zilch...

Nada...

Nothing...

I found an interesting quote that Ringo made a few years ago about the relationship between he and Paul... 

He said...

"We are as close as we want to be. 

We're the only two remaining Beatles, 

although he likes to think he's the only one."

Ringo seems to be fine with it all...

But... 

it seems he could have acknowledged him somehow...

Anyway... 

My favorite song of the night was this one...

CLICK

For a few hours...

I was a kid again...

"What? Me Worry???"

Alfred E. Neuman

"Jim...

... you worry too much... most of the things you worry about will never ever happen... Those that do, you will handle just fine..."  

~Mom~

Mom

Yesterday, October 8, was Mom's birthday... If she were alive today, she would be 102...  As odd as it may sound to you, I talk to Mom daily... She never says anything that I immediately get, but I sense that she offers directions to me... 

This had started out to be a somewhat humorous post...

... but evidently, I hijacked my own writing.

Imagine that.

Oddly enough...

These all sound like things my Mom would have said to me...

I love you, and miss you...

Each and Every day...