That time of the month again. How has your month been? Here in Dallas, we have finally turned the curve from the season of cold weather and it is beginning to warm up. What a season --- cold, snow, icy rain, sleet, hail and a few days of warmth. Happy a lot of people did not get sick with the constant change in weather. Now I can finally start work on my garden. Excited to be growing tulips for the first time and I bought a blackberry slip which is going to be transplanted by the time you read this article. The final piece of the puzzle will be attempting to grow lime and lemon trees again. I did not realize that it is illegal to bring citrus fruit trees of any kind, into the state of Texas. I have to do some research on this, so I will just buy what is locally available.
It is one of the injustices of life, that young men must fight wars that are started by the politicians. My heart goes out to not just the people in Ukraine, but all the others all over the world, whose lives have been impacted by wars and other civil disturbances that has made them unable to live a normal life, like you and I do. Why fight when at the end of the day, talks or diplomacy will be used to come to some form of a deal? I will ask those who pray to please remember them in prayer.
Superbowl has come and gone and I had an interesting experience. This is a ride share story. Most times, you have your radio on, you can switch channels to listen to what you want or in a worst-case scenario, you switch off the radio. Night of the Superbowl, I decided to hit the road and do some ride share driving. I picked up a rider at the Four Seasons in Irving, Dallas and embarked on a 40-mile trip south of Dallas. This turned out to be a very challenging experience. If you want to test your patience, try driving with a heavily intoxicated person who keeps asking you the same question, “Where are you from?” and then decides to tell you about his self, and keeps repeating this for the duration of his ride. Then he gets on the phone, calls somebody and the cycle continues. When I eventually dropped him off, I had never been happier for silence.
Then there was a rider who I took 30 miles at 2 am, to go and propose to his girlfriend. Young male, who decided he was going to get driven over to his Middle School crush’s home and propose to her. I was so excited to take him there, and like a scene from a movie, she came down and met us in the parking lot, they hugged and I actually took a picture for them both. He took my information and says he wants me to be the one to drive him on his wedding day. I have told him to give me enough notice, so I can make sure I free up that date on my calendar.
So now the Cicadas have gone, I can explore a road trip to Beltsville, this summer, to look around. I am very nostalgic. Want to see old friends and faces, eat at some of my favorite places. Sadly, I hear my favorite grocery store, Shoprite is no more. Thankfully Sardis is still there near Rhode Island Avenue and my Wawa gas station --- soup and a hoagie. Will say hello to my friends at the Post Office and the Beltsville SDA Church. Of course, I will pop into West Baltimore, where I delivered for FedEx Express for almost 13 years, to see familiar faces.
I hope to have an interview with someone interesting in the next Jive or two. Working on it. That’s the Jive!