Old enough for Medicare

Well today I cross that threshold...Medicare becomes activated on the first day of the month a person turns 65 years old. I applied 3 months ago. I've already received my Medicare ID and paid the quarterly installment for Part B coverage. Social Security 'Full' retirement for me would be in one year at age 66.

I don't envision retirement anytime soon. I basically enjoy my work. My clients may have a say on this however. I have two younger siblings Mike and Claire who retired years ago--well before 'normal' retirement age. I guess that is a perk for working for big companies and government agencies.

Mike took an early retirement buy-out from Sears, bought a motor-home and, with his wife Kim, explored the back-roads of America for a year. Funny, but all I can remember seeing from that trip were pictures of their cat.

Claire retired from a state agency to dedicate her efforts to becoming the world's greatest grandparent. I hear that she is making progress toward that goal, but I'm here to tell you that she has serious competition.

But this is a milestone causing much more contemplation/reflection on my part. Previous milestones (30, 40, 50, 60) were noticed but not significant to my psyche. For the most part, I'm comfortable that I fulfilled my responsibilities supporting my family. Marya and I raised 3 great kids into responsible adults. I think we had fun doing it too.

While we struggled to guide our kids thru the minefields of youth, we made it unscathed. No DUI's. No drug problems. No tattoos. No piercings. No pregnancies. We became very active in church as a family. I'm convinced that His involvement was the primary reason we got thru it.

Even with God's help, I'm not sure that I could raise a child today. My hat is off to parents today. Our society is not conducive to healthy moral development of young people. The educational elite are convinced that parental guidance is a toxic influence to young people. Why else would instruction on condom use be more important than core curricula? Why else would we allow school administrators to supersede parents in secretly taking girls to abortion clinics? Then in contradiction, they ironically would encourage young Muslim girls to wear headscarfs to school while insisting--with vitriol--that Christian bibles must be hidden at all times.

I praise God and thank Him for my health, the health of my family, for getting me this far and for the wonderful people He put in my life to support that effort.

Don

Clayton starts soccer practice

My grandson began soccer practice yesterday evening. Clinic level soccer. He's 5 years old, big for his age and fairly well-coordinated. He also has a great attitude about competition: he can be focused, tries hard and follows instructions, but can loose with grace. He understands teamwork too.

I know...you think I'm biased because he is my (only) grandchild.

Actually, when my kids were young, I coached youth soccer for about 11 years...including Clayton's mother Jennifer at the clinic level...when she was 5 years old.

Let me predict the season. Remember...this is clinic level. Practice will require great patience from the coaches. They will discover very quickly that the attention span of these young people is less than the length of any practice drill or game. Every parent will react to the shin-guards: they look soooo big on 5-year-old legs, and they occasionally will be twisted to the side. But they will be needed.

I remember at least two games when I sensed too few players on the field. Sure enough, a count came up one player short. Upon looking around, we found the youngest player (I think he was a few months younger than his fifth birthday) on the playground swings. (Can't you just see the smirks on the parents faces?)

The games are predictable too. For the first two games, you will see a mass of kids around the ball, kicking away. It is highly unlikely that even the goalies will not be in this group. Coaches pleading may get them to go stand by the goal for a few minutes, but they will not be able to resist the urge to get back into the action. By about the 3-rd game these goalies will better understand the need to stay by the goal.

Then about the 5-th game, the coach may be able to convince a full-back or two to keep back from the ball. At this point the kids will surprise the coach, their parents and themselves by playing very respectable soccer...for 5-year-olds.

The coach will need to be firm with the parents from the beginning. When I coached (always with Steve, another parent), we deferred the coaching of our own kid to the other coach. We also told the parents that we wanted positive cheering from the sidelines, but no negative comments directed toward the kids (their own child, or any member of either team)...or the referees. We asked the parents to approach us with any concerns and comments. This approach worked very well...except with my own wife, the mother of my kids. I think that Marya even got a yellow card or two over the years.

I will fight the urge to get involved with the coaching...parents need to do this.

I praise God and thank Him for opportunities for children to grow and for the adults committed to nurturing and developing young people.

Don

Earthquake

I have always tried to be prepared for earthquakes. Twenty years after I made a big deal about preparedness, our kids still (good naturedly) chide me. Early attempts at 'earthquake kits' for all the cars, and for provisions in the home have long ago been abandoned. I do still have some special tools (like 'pull-alongs') in the garage that have never been used.

We talked about procedures to gather the whole family--like using some person out of the area as a central communication clearing-house.

But, today, I got caught unprepared. At 11:42am today, I was talking to the VP of engineering of my largest client (in a glass walled room overlooking the manufacturing floor) when the shaking began. Big time shaking. Stacked items were falling on the manufacturing floor. But no glass broke around us. We all got out of the building quickly. We were about 15 miles from the epicenter of a magnitude 5.4 earthquake. I immediately got in my car and started home. The freeways were fairly clear. But I had to go directly thru the epicenter area to get home--where my wife Marya and young grandson Clayton were. My cellphone was useless. Frantic and repeated calls failed to complete.

I was prepared to go the long way around, but relied upon the radio reports in deciding to take the direct route directly over the the epicenter. This is a helpless feeling. I am watching pavement--and bridges--very carefully for any breach or potential problem.

Then my cellphone rings! I answer quickly hoping it is Marya. Nope. My mother is calling from Sacramento--500 miles away--to find out if everybody is OK. This is only about 15 minutes after the earthquake.

I cannot place a call, but my mother got thru! I gave her as much info as I had and almost pleaded that she try to get in contact with Marya. About 7-8 minutes later, my mother reports in that she got thru to Marya--everybody is fine, and no damage.

Time to take a breath. And slow down. That little Saturn was not complaining, but I would not have noticed anyway.

I get home about 10 minutes later. With the exception of Marya's Excursion parked on the driveway rather inside the garage, everything was disgustingly normal!

Inside, we cannot get a phone dial-tone, but surprisingly, internet DSL service was normal. Our daughter and son-in-law independently called to verify their son's and Marya's safety.

Lesson 1: Arrange for an out-of-area person to initiate communication into the earthquake area.

I am so thankful that my mother took it upon herself to keep calling the phone numbers she had to contact one of us. She did not give-up after she tried to call the home, but was determined to verify that things were OK.

Prior to today, if I had been in her position, I probably would have made only a half-hearted attempt and would have given-up after 1 or 2 failed calls. I'm here to tell you that her determined effort gave me great peace of mind. Thank You Mother!

I can only shudder if things had not turned out this well.

Lesson 2: Tether tall furniture items to the wall.

I have been fairly consistent about this in the past, with one exception. Eye-bolts and cord attach nearly every tall piece of furniture to the wall. Only last week, I moved the Grandfather clock to put down a wood floor in the hallway downstairs. While I was exhausted after that several-day effort, I took the time to re-attach the clock to the wall. We did notice that it had danced around during the earthquake.

Marya also uses 'museum wax' to attach breakable items to shelves in display cabinets. This worked too.

The one area where I thought about doing it--rather than actually doing it--was in my office. The bookshelf units are attached to one-another, but not to the walls. This will be rectified very soon.


I Praise God and thank Him for His protection on my family today, and for a mother that cared enough to not give-up too soon.


Don Kolafa