Blog 2425 – 06.15.2022

The Gift

Being glad and grateful for whatever comes while at the same time trying to minimize and manage expectations are four very important ways to find happiness in every situation. I add a fifth, recognizing that each day is truly a great gift, a present.

The ole often repeated joke in these parts is that the Apostle Paul said he had learned to be content in whatsoever state he was in, but that he never lived in Texas, where at least in Houston complaining about the heat, the humidity, the mosquitoes, and the local franchise sports teams’ proclivity to choke in play off games seem to always be conversation starters.

Texas is a wonderful place to live and raise a family, Houston in particular. I especially like two of the popular Texas sayings: “You might want to thank your lucky stars that you were born in Texas.” And “I was not born in Texas, but I got here as soon as I could.” One of the famous sons of my home state Tennessee, Davy Crockett, after he failed to be elected to a second term as a U.S. Congressman representing a district there is said to have remarked, “Ya’ll can go to hell. I’m going to Texas.”

Except for two years in my late twenties and much of the last ten years traveling around the country working as a contract inspector I have lived in Houston for the last forty nine and a half years. I expect whatever time I have left, this go round, will be spent here. My beloved and lovely wife Linda and our handsome son Jonathan and his lovely wife Lauren live in this city too and if we have any grandchildren in the future they will most likely be Texans and Houstonians as well. The hope of that alone is reason to stick around.

When I came to Texas in January of 1973 to attend Bible College I voted Republican and was in the minority as most down ballot races had Democrats running unopposed. In my mid-forties after a mid-life crisis I switched parties and started voting Democrat. By this time the majority of voters in Texas were voting Republican. I see trends that indicate that that may be about to change again. It might be nice to vote the same way the majority of Texans do. It will be a new experience for me, but I am looking forward to it. If we elect a Democrat governor which I think we need too perhaps he could one day be President. A young Texas President that could actually make coherent sentences what a novel idea. It could catch on, but whether it does or not I intend to enjoy this fine hot, humid, mosquito filled South Texas day.

Your friend and fellow traveler,

David White

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1k8dxQmBk6mABg73L1lf_LdpiUXU4W8yy/view?usp=drivesdk

The Gift

It rarely, if ever, snows here in Houston even for Christmas, but a day with temperatures in the seventies is a special gift anytime, one in most cases that we have to rise before the sun to enjoy.