To the Moon and Part Way Back

What does 120,000 laps at the Daytona Speedway, traveling coast to coast 100 times, making 75 round trips across the Atlantic Ocean, navigating 12 journeys around the world, or going to the moon and partway back have in common with my 2002 Chevy Suburban? They are all distances our automobile could have traveled up to now in its lifetime.

This month marked the 300,000th mile of my trustworthy mode of transportation. While many of the miles were put on the SUV by a previous owner, nearly a third of its life has been spent as my traveling partner. The Bureau of Transportation says that most cars today can be expected to run up to 200,000 miles. That is a far cry better than cars from years gone by, when 100,000 miles meant it may be time to look for a trade in. The Model T from the 1920’s would rarely make it to 100,000 miles and had to be overhauled every 20,000. So, this milestone of my Suburban is a significant feat!

Terry Hunt's Ice Cream Can Celebrate Anything!

While in its day, my Suburban was probably quite the gem. Today, time has definitely taken its toll. A collision with a couple of rogue deer, a little rust on the side panels, and a few dings here and there show signs of its age. A little smoke from the exhaust, a new transmission, and some cracks in the seats also bear testimony of better days. Yet, it keeps rolling along as my trustworthy transport on our old dusty roads, rarely giving me any grief.

The day will come when the life of the vehicle will come to an end, but today is not that day. Every mile that I currently drive is pretty inexpensive as long as no major repairs are needed. They say the car you drive reflects a little about your personality. I think thrifty would be the trait that would come to mind with my work vehicle. It gets me where I’m going and brings me back home in a safe, reliable, and economical way. While the new car smell is long gone, I am still grateful for each mile the car continues to traverse in getting me to my intended destination. 400,000?

~Mark

A Word or Two

Who does not love getting a letter in the mail from a friend, a Christmas card during the holidays, or just a little note from a loved one? What makes this little charge of thoughtfulness even more special is when it is written by hand. It tells you something about the person when there was time taken to write even a few words! You never know when a moment and a few sincere words can have an impact on a life.

Writing by electronic use has become more common than handwriting, but pencil, pen and paper will always have its place. Writing by hand is an incredibly important skill, whether it is for taking notes, filling out documents, journaling, or writing a letter to a friend. Good penmanship shows that you care, and it adds a certain charm to your words. I’ve seen it time and again: our cursive is so neat and straight when we have first learned, then it does not take long for our good penmanship to decline as we get familiar with the letters and sacrifice neatness for speed. Writing becomes highly automated using motor programs stored in our memory. The roundness or sharpness of letters, spacing, slope, pressure of pen to paper, average letter size, and thickness of the letters, are all qualities that make each person’s writing style unique.

Everybody’s handwriting is different and unique. Why else do they have you sign your name on every important document? As a matter of fact, when one attempts to forge a signature, the name to be copied is generally held upside down so the forger’s penmanship (due to the familiarity of the letters) does not interfere with the attempt.

Handwriting does take time, but studies show it is good for the brain. Writing develops motor control skills using motor coordination of multiple joints in the hand, wrist, elbow and shoulder to form characters on the page. The forming of letters depends on the sensory information from skin, joints, and muscles of the hand, as it adjusts movement and pressure to changes in the friction between the pen and paper. Writing strengthens our memory because it involves 100% focus and attention. It improves learning because it gives us more time to think thoroughly about the subject being recorded as opposed to fast typing on a keyboard.

It takes so very little effort to write a few words on a pre-made card, but it adds so much more depth to the recipient. The pen and written word have so much power! As Dale Carnegie put it so well, “You have it easily in your power to increase the sum total of this world’s happiness now. How? By giving a few words of sincere appreciation to someone who is lonely or discouraged. Perhaps you will forget tomorrow the kind words you say today, but the recipient may cherish them over a lifetime.” 

Why not pull out a pen and paper today… right now? Someone you know could use a little note of kindness. The bathroom mirror is a nice place to put a note. The lunchbox? The shoe? Slipped under the door? In a mailbox?

~Jayla

A Ride to Remember

While we were at Myrtle Beach, Dad and Mom took us out to go on a helicopter ride! We had never ridden in a helicopter or an airplane before, and we were all very excited and scared at the same time. We pulled into the little airport where Oceanfront Helicopters was located. We walked into the building to sign up for a ride.

We were considering taking the five-minute trip, but the employee working there told us that it was a very short ride. After some discussion, we decided to take the Broadway Tour. This took you up 90 feet above sea level for ten minutes in the air, and you got a beach tour along the coastline with views of local attractions, including the Grand Strand and the boardwalk.

The helicopter could only hold four people total and there were ten of us, so we had to split up into groups. Mom and Dad were together, so were Jayla and Samuel. Halayah, Unique, and Isaac were in a group together. My group included Mamaw and Aunt Sue.

After we were organized into our groups, we headed out to the landing pad where the helicopter was waiting. The first ones to ride were Samuel and Jayla. They climbed into the copter with the help of two employees. When they were in and the door was shut, the helicopter lifted off the ground and was soon out of sight! We stood in our spots, amazed to see them go. When we saw the copter flying back in over the trees, we knew our turn was getting closer. After they had landed, Samuel and Jayla were let out, and Mom and Dad were in for the next ride.

After they were back, it was our turn. Mamaw and Aunt Sue got into the two back seats, and I was able to sit in the front seat beside the pilot. After buckling and putting on our headphones, the door of the copter was shut, and we were off! We started lifting higher and higher into the air and heading toward the ocean. A couple of seconds later, we were hovering over the sea! It was amazing to see the water under us, and to look to my left and see the beach. The pilot told us we were 200 feet in the air and going over one hundred miles per hour! I was surprised, because it felt like we were hardly moving! We flew over the beach, and the people looked very small. We also saw Swamp Fox, one of the oldest roller coasters in the world, and the Sky Wheel in the streets of Myrtle Beach.

Sadly, it was nearing time to return. The pilot banked to the left, as we turned around to head back to the airport. As we got closer, I could see Halayah, Isaac, and Unique waiting in line for their turn to take a flight. They got bigger and bigger was we approached. After a nice smooth landing, we got out and the next riders got in.

It was thrilling to ride in a helicopter! It was fun to fly over the ocean. It was also neat to fly over the tops of the trees and see all the beautiful colored leaves. I hope someday to be able to ride in a helicopter again. It was a ride to remember.

~Jonah

Watch Pockets, Locker Loops and the Long-ness of Life

Have you ever wondered? Or maybe you know. There are remnants of the past hiding in our everyday life today. If you look closely, without even cracking open a history book, you will notice that they are practically everywhere! One vestigial reminder that things were once very different is the small watch pocket that remains on a good pair of blue jeans.

First used with Levi's jeans in 1890, the small receptacle you find above the front right pocket is a reminder that necessities change yet some things endure. It once held the ever-nostalgic pocket watch in readiness for use. In fact, jeans themselves started as simply practical work wear described as “waist overalls.” We still find them one of the most comfortable, versatile articles of clothing today.

  

Tacked into place between the shoulder blades of many button up shirts, we find a little loop of material. This handy contrivance is a locker loop. Said to have originated with the US Navy, they were added to shirts to prevent wrinkles and save space while shirts were being hung in lockers in small, confined spaces. Around the early 1900’s, they became a preppy status symbol in Ivy league schools.

Collars were added to shirts because men needed something to cover and hold their neckties. The trend continued, and we still wear collars today, while they have no purpose, except style. Progress has a funny way of making various things irrelevant, while others endure.

The modern business suit, a nod to military regalia of the past, has survived the pendulum of societal styles. If your suit jacket has a petite pocket above its flap pocket, it was originally designed as a dedicated ticket pocket. This convenience allowed men to refrain from fumbling around for their train ticket. That little buttonhole on the jacket lapel is not technically for a flower, though that is what we use it for today. There used to be a button on the opposite side to button up your jacket lapel and pull it a little closer to ward off the cold. Like wind through the trees, time indeed moves onward, but any manner of things remain the same.

During WW1, wrist watches were invented to help soldiers synchronize time. Today, they are practically obsolete with the use of smart phones. Bustles, rain bonnets, hoops, rubber pants for babies, celluloid collars, and tricorn hats have all had their day. As the ever-flowing stream travels from the mountaintop to the ocean and back again, time has a way of staying the same, yet always changing. Although most don’t like it, change is inevitable.

“It is not that we have a short time to live, but that we waste a lot of it. Life is long enough, and a sufficiently generous amount has been given to us for the highest achievements if it were all well invested. But when it is wasted in heedless luxury and spent on no good activity, we are forced at last by death’s final constraint to realize that it has passed away before we knew it was passing. So it is: we are not given a short life but we make it short, and we are not ill-supplied but wasteful of it…. Life is long if you know how to use it.” -Seneca 4bc - 65ad

When we pause to reflect on our lives, we often find the past fixed, the present tangible, and the future undecided. We fear that our life is slipping away from us as time marches forward. Like watch pockets and locker loops, portions of what you do today will affect tomorrow’s future. We can make the most of today. God gives us opportunity every day of our lives. Today, shake off your old chains, look toward tomorrow, forgive and be forgiven, for the old is gone and today has enough trouble of its own.

~Rhonda

Army-Man Shoot-Down

Blocks are falling, rubber bands are flying through the air, and laughter is heard. Lots of times when family comes to visit us, we like to play Army-Man Shoot-Down. We have lots of fun together.

Army-Man Shoot-Down is a game that takes bunches of army-men and heaps of building blocks. It is a game sort of like the one Dad played when he was a kid. 

The manufacturing of blocks began in the late 18th century, although children played with homemade blocks and built with natural materials for many centuries before this. We use ones from our block tub that is in the game closet.

In our game each person picks out the same number of army men, and then we build castles with the blocks to hide the men behind. Each person also gets several rubber bands to shoot the castles and men down. The first rubber band was invented by Englishman Stephen Perry in 1845. That was a long time ago.

After the fun of building castles and setting up the men, the game is ready to start. Rubber bands fly everywhere, and the castles and the men start to fall. There is no turn taking, but it is a free for all. This can last for up to ten minutes or longer. The game ends when all of someone’s men are shot down. Then we rebuild and shoot down and rebuild and shoot down again and again until we get tired of playing.

Plastic green army men became especially popular in the 1950s because that’s when parents began to worry about their children playing with toys made from lead. The two- to four-inch-tall figures mostly represent infantry soldiers of the mid-20th century U.S. Army, with matching weapons and equipment.

For as long as I can remember, we have played Army-Man Shoot-Down. We are still making up different rules. One of my favorite rules is to pick an army-man from your supply to be you and when you get shot down then you can’t shoot any more rubber bands at the other team’s castles and men. The other team does not know who you are so they can’t just shoot you down, but when it happens then you’re out.

Sometimes I will build a big castle and shoot it down by myself, but it is different than when other people play with me. It is quiet when I am the only one playing. With others, it can become quite loud! One way or the other, I find that playing Army-Man Shoot-Down is enjoyable.

~Isaac