If you take something apart and put it back together enough times, eventually you will have two of them.
All posts by Jim
Murphy’s Fourth Law of Construction:
An easier way to perform a job becomes obvious as soon as the job is completed.
Enchantress
the old mariner stepped cautiously,
a cane steadying his step,
toward the dilapidated wood pier
and
small dinghy at the head of the pier,
but
he wouldn’t board the dinghy today,
not today,
for the sea had chosen to be
belligerent and gray
with the wind whipping up
the spume of white caps:
too rough for old men
to row a shabby dinghy
out for a mile and then back,
which was his custom.
the old mariner sighed,
settling for listening to the sea
speak to him
as she had done
for what seemed like centuries
after she, the enchantress,
called him on a calm night,
using the full moon’s path
to him while he stood
at the rail port amidships,
the moon calling him like Circe’s sirens,
and
she, the enchantress, touched him,
gripping him deep inside
and
he fell in love.
little did the old mariner realize
until now
she would possess him
until the end of time
and
others he held close
would recognize
she possessed him,
assume he didn’t care,
and
leave him alone,
as alone as he was,
on this blustery sea day
looking out
at his angry, jealous enchantress.
the old mariner turned from her,
walking away,
carefully placing his cane for the next step
to his shanty on the nearby beach
where he would place the logs
in the hearth,
light the fire
to sit by
until
the next day
when he would row out
on the dinghy
and
speak to his enchantress
again.
Murphy’s Laws
Murphy’s 3rd Law of Construction – The more planning you do for a project, the more confusion there is when something goes wrong.
Four Bases: Home Run Replay: The Journey East
i began this journey in October. It lasted ten days. i’ve been trying to capture my feelings about the journey since then, beginning a narrative at least five times. Now, it is time to move forward.
October 11, 2022, i went on a tortuous airline trip back home. And i mean “home.” I had pushed for a marketing trip to produce sales for my book, Steels Decks and Glass Ceilings. Through the gracious help of several good folks, it happened…in spades. The trip turned into more than a marketing trip. It became an ego booster and reconnection journey, beginning with a stop at “home.”
That first stop was Lebanon, Tennessee. i grew up there, leaving when i was 24 for the Navy’s Officer Candidate School. i stayed in the home that was my other home, about two blocks from the house where i grew up. From our births, Henry, as in George Henry Harding, IV, and i have been close. We were Christened at the First Methodist Church in Lebanon, Tennessee, before it had added on the extra wing; before the church moved to West Main when Jim Horn Hankins, H.M. Byars, and my father bought the property and tore down the sanctuary and the old wing, and turned the new wing into offices; and before it was torn down by the First Baptist Church, which eventually bought the property.
That Christening took place on Sunday, May 6, 1945, two days before Victory in Europe (VE) day. The service program saluted the coming VE celebration.
From the beginning of school in 1950’s, Henry and i ran together, even when Henry went to Lebanon High School and i went to Castle Heights Military Academy.
On this trip, my stay was in the house where he and i spent countless hours with his maternal grandparents and his mother and father, and his brother Jim, or as we called him, “Beetle.” Henry’s wife Brenda was not only a positive addition to the Harding family, but she is one remarkable woman, and one of the best hostesses for a houseguest ever.
i was planning extensive time seeing other folks and traveling around. Didn’t happen. i went out to dinner with my other good friends forever, Eddie and Brenda Callis, and the Hardings. i saw James Cason at Sammy B’s in what had been Castle Heights superintendent’s home. James and i consider ourselves the Lebanon experts on the Goat Man, and i have spent several martinis discussing the subject with him for many years. i signed books for three people at Sammy B’s on Saturday, including a classmate, Laverne Patterson Griffin and Beetle, who dropped by.
That was it. Oh yes, Henry and his Brenda and i went to the local Cracker Barrel, which is headquartered in Lebanon where it started by Danny Evans, a Castle Heights alumnus.
But i chose to remain in that wonderful old home with my compadres. Brenda’s food was terrific, which included Henry’s remarkable barbecue. And we spent many hours on the open and enclosed back porches just talking except for watching Tennessee beat Alabama, and in the den with Henry putting up with me watching Padre playoff baseball.
It was one of the most peaceful, restful stays at home that i can remember. A return to history.
Thank you, Henry and Brenda, and everyone else in Lebanon. Next time, i will visit with more of you.