A Jalopy Blog

One of these days I’m going to figure out how to set up categories on this jalopy blog. I’ve given up trying to set up links to Social Media. I’m doing it by hand. It’s like I’m driving a Dodge Dart.

You Boomers will remember those. I owned two of them. No, one was Plymouth Valiant.

It mattered little if you were driving a dodge dart or a plymouth valiant. Same car. same engine. The fabled slant six. Friggin thing ran forever. Very quiet too. Actually, the Valiant had a little more style to it with the swept fenders and rear spare tire hump. But basically the same car. I owned two Dodge Darts. No I owned four Darts. One was a station wagon with curved rear windows. Jesus! See what happens when I remember things? The crap starts flooding in!

Oops! Here comes a memory! I had a dodge dart I bought for a hundred and fifty. It was a three speed with a hersh speed shifter on the floor! Kind of like handing a fourteen year old Viagra. I drove that car around and could not break it. It just kept running. I ended up selling it to Ken Lyford for a hundred. He just wanted it for the speed shifter…

Later on, the dudes who design cars, they started thinking. They decided to turn the slant six models into muscle cars. Remember the Barracuda?

What’s a Dodge Dart got to do with Gratitude?

If you happen to be one of the observant Boomers out there you’ll have noticed the title of my post. Gratitude. I started this post feeling like shit. I’m almost seventy. I usually feel like shit when I first wake up in the morning. Thinking of the pointlessness of even getting up. Simultaneously thinking of the repercussions of NOT getting up.

In this moment, lying there, grimming out, I’ll force myself to consider GRATITUDE. I’ll look at myself and say, “listen, asshole. Show a little gratitude. And faith. Look on the bright side. You oughta be ashamed of yourself. All you’re doing is feeling sorry for yourself. Count your blessings, such as they are. You could be sleeping in a tent, like my good buddy Rex. You could be sleeping in your car, like my friend Brenda. (She asked me not to Ghost her!) You could be holed up in your ratty boat like poor Millie, an eighty year old woman barely able to move down the dock…Instead you got old scruffy here. He leaks like a siv but at least he’s a roof over your head.

You got your health. Maybe not great health but at least you’re still walking. You got enough money still to buy a cup of coffee at Starbucks. ($2.65 for a small suck-ass coffee!) The Barrista’s like you. Shit. Everybody seems to like you. You’re not in a Twilight Zone episode. Are you?

Christ! Shape up a little!

Things could be worse for you and maybe they’ll get worse. But it certainly doesn’t help matters to grim out over it.

GET OUT OF YOUR HEAD.

So having adjusted my head for a fresh day of grimness, I get up and start blogging. Thinking maybe this will help me get out of my head. So that’s what happened here. I started with a complaint. I didn’t want to dive right into my major problems, quasi homelessness, unemployment, bad teeth, etc….NO. I started with the first complaint that came to mind, which is naturally this jalopy of a blog and the pointlessness of it.

And that’s what got me onto the subject of Dodge Darts, folks.

You see how my mind works?

Gratitude Will Open Your Mind

It occurs to me this is Veteran’s Day. All I know, my gym is closed today, which is another reason for me to grim out because I can’t go in there and take a nice hot shower. I’m stuck with Scruffy’s cold coffin like shower. Then–my robot brain is starting to whirrrr–it occurs to me why the gym is closed today.

Today is Veteran’s Day.

I’m a Veteran. I’m not a very good Veteran. I’m no hero. I didn’t earn any medals. I never deserted but I did go AWOL. Then, seeing the futility of spending my life as a genuine deserter, I went back and faced the music. The Chief Petty officers were not happy I went awol. They got angry. But no too angry. They LIKED me. I was like a dog they liked. They used to call me LAD. They’d say, “Lad, pour me a cup of coffee.” And I’d do it. I’d do it because they were CHIEFS.

A Chief is a big deal in the Navy.

Anyway, I’m not a hero. But I did get out of the navy Honorably. I did my gig and I took my knocks. It’s one of the few things in my life that I got 100% right at the end…

That was then. Fifty years ago.

Veteran’s Day is 100% about Gratitude

So my robot brain has come full circle. This Blog Post is about Gratitude.

And today is Veteran’s day.

Back when I was in the Navy, 1972, we were fighting in Viet Nam.

The National Mood was not showing any gratitude towards Veterans. It was not considered cool to show any respect to those returning from the war. In fact, Veterans got pissed on.

It was the one thing the good old U.S.A. got 100% wrong.

You see, the thing is, no matter how much you feel war is wrong (and I’m one of those people) it’s just as wrong to piss on the poor guys that sign up and go off to a war. Even a wrong war. A wrong war is not started by us grunts and squids. Prominent People start wars.

Big Shots.

We’re just little people. We’re just trying to get by. We don’t make the rules. More often than not we get duped. Why beat up on the guy that got duped? We’re just trying to better ourselves. Trying to do something for this country.

I’m the last person to say I love this country. I’ve been a rebel all my life. But I do love this country. Down deep I do. I was born here. I grew up here. All my family and friends are here. And when I meet somebody my age and we get to talking and the conversation turns to the military and I learn where he went in and how long he served it’s almost like we’re long lost buddies.

It’s all about comradeship.

That’s what Veteran’s day comes down to.

Feeling that comradeship and Showing Gratitude.