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It seems like wherever I go, like a store, ball game or out to dinner, someone will come up and introduce themselves and then tell me that they read my column. They say I bring memories back to them about how it was in our time and how it was for those before them. It is refreshing for me to hear this and to be able to make others happy by reading my words each week. To be able to sort of bring back the thoughts of others by giving mine is precious. What a wonderful thing to happen to me as it brings me up to a level of happiness that helps me regroup myself after all the medical problems I have had. To me, that is medicine for the heart and soul of my being. To be down, yet risen up, just by someone telling me they like going back to the old days through my columns.
The other night at a ball game, a very nice young gentleman named Mark came up to me, and we started talking. When we were through, I felt a lot better than did earlier. Yes, my stories of my family in the days of old are very true ones, and the things that make me a writer are stories told to me by Mom and Dad and my elders. The experiences that this young fellow received through a loving family headed by two wonderful people known to me and the family as Mom and Dad helped get me through from then to now. The things I learned gave me courage and the desire to kick away the illnesses that try to take over my body, and getting well is the goal of this old man so that come spring, garden work will be tops on my to-do list.
Oh, I know that getting well takes a while, and getting back to where I was will take some time, but it will be done.
The other day, a person I knew from a few years back said that time catches up with us, but we don’t have to let it go by. All we have to do is to stay up with it. Life is what you make of it. If you go along feeling bad all the time, life will seem to be long and hard. If you look at just about everything in a positive way, life will seem to go by fast, and you will enjoy it.
That is my view of my life here on this earth. I am here for a while, and then I won’t be, but I will not let myself dwell on it in a way that it will take me down.
I have known many good people who received their call home at a very early age, and I also have known many who are still here in their eighties and nineties. They look at life as a gift, which it really is, and thus life is enjoyable to have. So my thought is that while I am here, I will enjoy the ride, and if I fall off, then I will just get back up and continue to ride.
There are ways to enjoy life, and they are free to use. Get enough rest and sleep. Eat healthy food. Don’t use street drugs, and don’t drink yourself under the table. Everybody is different, yet they are also the same in ways of thought and actions. It takes you to do the choosing, not the man on the street or the man behind the bar. You do what you want and take the action that comes because of it.
I am not perfect, as there have been things that I did that I am sorry for doing. But life for me has changed since 1998, and the path I walk is one that will help and not hinder me. There are times when you have a temptation, but knowing how to block it out is something I can do just by forming another pure thought. Life goes on.
Ray “Uncle Ray” Day can be reached at uncleray@earthlink.net.
Columns
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Ray Day Tribune guest columnist
Discussion
DAY: Uncle Ray: Life as it should be
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Day: Sports as I see it
Most of us have times when we want to vent our anger about things that happen for no good reason whatsoever and there are some who just don’t give a darn about what changes we have each day. Take me for example. There are things going on every year in sports where we are the ones who buy the tickets, yet we have no say about what’s happening
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This week across Indiana bright, talented and well-educated young people pack up their meager campus belongings and head out to new jobs. Their employment prospects, for the minority who don’t yet have jobs, are fantastic
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