about one brother, to another

Dear Tony,

I have been at the hospital with Ronnie every day sine Saturday. Wait - I was not there on Monday, as I had school most of that day. I spent Tuesday grading Final Exams at Memorial.

He had almost drunk himself to death. He has alcoholic hepatitis, though, not cirrhosis, so his liver can recover, if he gives it a chance. I don't think he will, as he has no intention of going into rehab. I'm working on him abou that, though, and will hopefully get him to change his mind.

Yesterday, he was able to walk for the first time since he went in. Very shaky, and cannot stand long enough to even have a shower, but at least he can now move from the bed to the chair.

His color is slowly returning to normal. He had been very yellow. His speech has also improved, though he tends to mutter instead of speaking out loud.

Yesterday, I walked him through the Five Wishes paperwork. That seemed to make the gravity of his situation sink in for him. Five Wishes is a living will and specifies what is to be done in emergency situations and what is to be done in case of death.

Smitty had also been there earlier yesterday and brought Ronnie some clothes. I think being able to wear clean clothing helped improve Ronnie's mood, but it also made him want to leave the hospital. I'm glad he is not yet steady enough to be allowed to do so.

Today, I am going to try to get him to write to you. I want him to make that contact, as you are not able to come see him. I'm hoping that action will also encourage him to make a change and go to rehab. Maybe.

Okay, I better get a move on. I hope all is well with you. I'm tired, but I'm hanging in there.

At least Ronnie has finally met his twin granddaughters. Michael brought them by on Sunday. The visit was brief, as Ronnie was in very rough shape and the girls are only six months old, but it was so good that Michael did that.

I love you, Tony.

still breathing in and out

That's his line.
Whenever he calls me, he says, "I'm just checking in, to let you know I'm still breathing in and out."
He means it only halfway as a good thing.
Now, he's in the hospital.
Again.
His alcoholism is catching up with him.
After more than twenty years of abuse, his 52-year-old body is about had enough. Yellowed skin, ragged complexion, and he walks like a man at least twenty years his senior.
At least I know he is in a safe place now.
My thanks to his long-time friends, Sue and Barbara, for calling me about his rapid change in condition.
It's good to know he has such good friends, still.

open letter to S. Truett Cathy

Dear Mr. Cathy,

Today was a very trying day for me.
I had traveled to the Chick-Fil-A on Mall Boulevard, here in Savannah, Georgia, for my April calendar card promotional reward. Today was the final day for me to collect my promotional item and I had scheduled the trip to Chick-Fil-A as a treat while running my errands.
Have I mentioned that I am lactose-intolerant?
Well, I am.
The promotional item for April, as you know, is the frosted lemonade. The beverage consists of a half-cup of lemonade, with no ice, with a scoop of ice cream in the cup.

How do I know?

That's how it was eventually served to me.

A half-cup of lemonade,
no ice.

A half-cup of ice cream.


When I had ordered the beverage, I had told the young woman that I was lactose-intolerant. Instead of having the frosted lemonade, could I simply have the regular lemonade?
No, that was not possible.
Well, since I could not have the beverage with the ice cream, could I simply have the ice cream on the side?
No, that was not possible.
She consulted with her manager, "Miss Cleo", who confirmed that the only way I could obtain the beverage was with the ice cream in the lemonade.
Was the ice cream already mixed into the lemonade, or placed into the lemonade, such as in a lemonade float?
The drink was served as a float.
Well, then, why couldn't the ice cream simply be omitted or served on the side?
The cash register wouldn't be able to handle that, the young woman said.

Trapped in the drive-through by traffic, I was forced to proceed, slowly, up to the window.
When I arrived at the window, the young woman there stared at me in silence. I reminded her that I was the one who could not eat ice cream. (I do wish I had gotten her name for you.) She again told me that the beverage could only be served with ice cream and that it was not possible for me to have just the lemonade portion.
At that point, I asked for the manager's business card and the 800-number for the corporate office.
I also turned off my car engine and prepared to wait, as it was clear that the manager ("Miss Cleo") was unwilling to come talk to me.
Within moments, a young man came to the window, professing to be the manager. He began, at once, to prepare me the lemonade and ice cream as separate items, telling me that he had to do the same for another customer earlier.
Clearly, he was not "Miss Cleo", but he did handle the issue.
I did not receive the manager's card, nor the 800-number.

I am very disappointed that the entire process took so much of my time.
My niece's gift to me, of the calendar with the monthly treats, has been somewhat tarnished by the entire experience.
I would suggest that dairy products be omitted as promotional items... or that management be trained in the best manner of dealing with substitutions for customers with health issues which preclude their partaking of dairy products.

At the very least, I would expect management to not lie to me, as "Miss Cleo" certainly did.
I have been a customer of Chick-Fil-A ever since its arrival in Savannah at the Oglethorpe Mall when I was in high school, in the mid-1970's.
I am very disappointed in the actions taken today by the personnel at the franchise on Mall Boulevard. I do hope this was an isolated incident and encourage more training of those personnel.

Hoping for better,

Faustina Smith

birthday cards for nieces

This was for
my niece,
Zaida,
and should
actually arrive
in time
for her birthday.

This one is
winging its way
to my second cousin,
Jenna,
now 15.
She has been
that age
for over a month.

stray thoughts about baseball games past

For those who aren't versed in such things, the above photo was taken after a winning game. In this case, the game was played on our turf and we won, so the Sand Gnats players all ran back out onto the field for some congratulatory, glove-knocking, high fives. Woohoo!
Last night was the last game of our first home stand. I was teaching, as that's what I do on Monday and Wednesday evenings, as I have done for twenty years now.
I missed the game.
That led me to looking through the "drafts" folder on my phone, flipping through notes made at games past. For the sake of clearing up some space on my seven-year-old flip phone, those notes are going to be moved here for safe keeping.
Let's just hope I remember where they are!

***** ***** *****

The following were all before the death of my stepbrother, George, in September, 2013. How can I be sure they predate his death?
When I had visited him in the hospital, I shared a baseball joke with him. In return, he shared a joke with me. I still have the punchline in my "drafts" folder.

A balk, a sliding center field catch, a double play - all b4 the 3rd inning!

My boys! My boys! My boys are on fire! 2 runs in the 1st, 2 sliding catches in the 2nd! Then a 3rd run in the 2nd!

Such a pretty catch and throw by SS! Almost like he was dancing!

***** ***** *****

These other lines are from the 2014 baseball season.

Man on third brought in by a balk, third and short dancing under a pop and allowing our man to get a double.
Our guy makes it to third on a wild pitch, but catcher tried to throw him out but threw WILD and our guy picked himself up from his slide into third and ran, making it to home between the catcher's legs, his feet hitting home as the catcher got the ball.
"SAFE!", the umpire called.
Yeah!

My tongue tripped around my eyetooth and I couldn't see what I was saying.

I made Willie speechless! Lol.
We were talking about the SAL hierarchy and I was rattling it off, then turned to him and asked, "Right?"
He laughed and laughed!

stray thoughts under blue skies

So, there I was, cruising south on the Truman Parkway, under blue skies and with a sweet breeze shifting into the car to ruffle my hair.
Ah, life is good!
And into my head popped this thought: Today is my last lecture!
Mind, it wasn't "this is my last lecture of the semester".
No.
Today is my last lecture!

I don't know what it meant, but I do know the words had an effect on me.
My next thought? "If this is my last lecture, I'm going to really enjoy it!"
Instantly, a good mood and a smile settled over me.
And I did enjoy this last day of lecture.
That started with my enjoyment of my Office Hours. Only two students came by, but that was okay! I had brought my daily newspaper with me in case my time was my own. Fortunately, one student was there for most of the ninety minute session and we had a nice time discussing all manners of things.
Then, I dined with Dominic on an Earth Day feast from the Galley. What a grand mood booster!
A little break, then it was 6:00 PM. Time for class!
Tonight's lecture was on beta-oxidation and glycolysis and deamination. It was a deviation from the usual order in which I taught metabolism. Usually, I follow the book's order, but not this time. I had led last week with basic digestion, then introduced the nucleotides and dinucleotides, pointing out the B vitamins and the similarity to the nucleotides of the DNA and RNA. I had then launched into the citric acid cycle and the electron transport chain. Ordinarily, the breakdown of glucose would have gone first, but not this time.
That naturally left the secondary catabolic processes for the final lecture. The first catabolic processes, in which large carbohydrates, lipids, and protein molecules are digested into their component monosaccharides, fatty acids, and amino acids, had already been covered. The tertiary catabolic processes, in which the two-carbon portion of acetyl-coenzyme A was oxidized to carbon dioxide and resulted in the production of adenosine triphosphate, had also been done with great attention.
Now, the time had come to transform the monosaccharides, fatty acids, and unneeded amino acids into acetyl groups for passage into the energy-generating CAC and ETC. Woohoo! Let's make those final reactions count, shall we?
And we did.
I had fun, too!
What a great last lecture!

Earth Day