Blog 2746 – 05.06.2023

Kissing The Blarney Stone

Like my father before me it may be said as the Irish say that both he and I kissed the Blarney Stone and received the gift of gab. My dad loved to hold court with his long winded tales and if he well-earned one of his several nicknames “Windy” I too could be could rightly be called “Gabby.”

I have been thinking much of late what my first grandchild due in September might call me. Much as grandmas and grandpas may have a preference this little girl will pick her own name for me. My beloved brother-in-law Luke, though younger than my wife and I, already has a small army of grandchildren and they all call him “Ya Ya.” Luke’s daddy was quite a talker too but hardly got a word in edgewise in his one meeting with my dad.

Having spent the large part of the last ten years of my working life away from home on the road, I came to believe that if I ever really became a grandpa that I would not get to be a big part of my grandchildren’s lives seeing them only seldom, but I suppose that remains to be seen. My traveling plans have been put on hold due to my wife’s memory issues. I had these big plans to see Paris with her and to spend our retirement years traveling around the country together but as the saying goes, “Man plans and God laughs.” Any future traveling that I get to do will be without her I suspect. I hope she is still aware enough to realize that she is a grandma in September and I am committed to staying by her side during these very difficult last months and days of her life. Any travel plans I have put on indefinite hold.

My friends think being a grandpa will make me change my plans about wanting to see as much of this country as I can when I can. Perhaps they are right but I don’t think so. I have over two hundred recordings of my voice reading children’s books that I plan to share and the actual books with my granddaughter. Oh, and when I can travel again I will visit Houston occasionally to see my son, his wife, baby girl and other family here. There goes that planning again. Are you laughing, God? Even if you are I am still so glad and grateful that everything that I could ever want or need is already mine and coming to me at just the right time and in just the right way from my loving and infinite source.

Your friend and fellow traveler,

David White (also known as Gabby)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oT0uLWzMQ8nUyxZmR4dZTypH8A07nuas/view?usp=drivesdk

Gabby