A tornado tore through Longview, TX on May 8, 2019, doing an incredible amount of damage. I’m guessing the number of downed trees was in the thousands, many homes and autos were damaged, and some residents were without power for two weeks. We lost no trees–we don’t have any large ones in our yard–but we were without power for six days. However, damage was severe all around us. Six weeks later, the tree trimming and removal crews, and city crews, and the residents, have almost completed the cleanup, and now it seems some homeowners are taking steps to see that they don’t suffer damage should another storm come through. I’ve seen several within a few blocks of us having large trees removed from their yards—most of them are tall pines. Only thing is, some of there nearby neighbors aren’t doing the same.
And, by the way, when we were shopping for a house in Longview, tall pine trees were on the “absolutely not” list. And that included the houses around the ones we were interested in buying. We don’t needs no tall trees!
I don’t think anyone will argue when I say, Charlie ain’t no angel. I don’t have time to list all the bad things I’ve done, said, or thought. Take the “said” thing for instance. I’m not proud of some of the language I’ve used and let me assure you that though I use the past tense, it’s more recent than I want to admit. Like, oh, an hour ago. Yep. My daddy wasn’t no sailor, but when it comes to cussin’, I couldn’t have had a better instructor. Or worse, depending on how you look at it.
I came across “Desiderata”, an early 1920s prose poem by the American writer Max Ehrmann, sometime in the 70s. I was astounded then by its beautifully written, simple, yet profound message, and remain so today.
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Marbles In My Pocket ~ The Official Blog of Charles L. Mashburn ~ Poems, Short Stories, and random thoughts from the author of "Be Still... and know that I am God" 