Author: harv1941

We have a signed offer on our Newport News Home. Our mortgage is approved for our Condo in Alexandria, VA. So like that old tv show’s theme song, we are “Moving on Up” but not to the east side, our new neighborhood will be in West Alexandria!

Our purchaser for this home in Newport News’ neighborhood of Kiln Creek has asked for a closing date of March 20 and we are in agreement. Our closing for the Condo is March 10 and that will be our moving in date as well.

We will be heading up to Alexandria on Saturday to do a walkthrough of the new home, and to get a better idea of how our furniture will fit into the new space. Moving from a 1544sqft home into one that is 1054sqft requires some serious evaluation of items retained (that will fit into the new living space), and items to be eliminated. The moving truck will be out front of our Newport News house March 9, and we want to ensure that only those items to be used in Alexandria are loaded and transported.

I was very impressed with the posting of our home for market, the first viewing appointment and the subsequent appointments on the subsequent days, until we and our real estate agent decided to accept one of the offers and shut down any following appointment requests. Our house went on the market at 8am on Sunday, the first viewing was that day, shortly after noon. On Monday we had three viewings, Tuesday we had four! Tuesday evening, we accepted one specific offer, and the Real Estate Agent prepared the acceptance contract. By 8 pm that evening we had a contract in place, signed by all parties.

And now we have a ratified contract in place for the Newport News house. A Home Inspection and a Termite Inspection will take place on this Friday March 3, and then on to a closing date of March 20. We have no doubt that the house will pass with flying colors but agreed to a 1% cover if something is found during these inspections.

We actually had another offer on the house from the very first prospect. But their requirements were extremely onerous from our perspective and since we were the sellers, we said no to the offer. We have not been expecting a sale process this rapidly and completed in such a short time frame. BUT we are happy that it happened, now the way is clear, and we are truly Moving On Up, that being back UP to Northern Virginia and the Alexandria City locale.

This post is going to be a major difference from the usual things. Frankly, it is an introduction to a new and different blog that I will be creating in the coming weeks. In my case, the idea of a single payer universal health care plan was almost always in my mind. I was a military dependent and then enlisted myself when I was age appropriate. So, I have been exposed to essentially single payer health care for a good portion of my growing years and into young adulthood. We always felt secure in knowing that our health situation was always going to be cared for because of our being in the military (US Air Force for both me and my dad).

When I left the Air Force and entered the commercial job market, I was fortunate enough to gain employment in a small California desert community where there was still the old company town environment. The insurance was provided by the company, the hospital and medical clinic were owned by the two companies in the valley. So, our medical care was still pretty much a worry-free deal. But then I left that area, moving back across the country and encountered the present world of corporate health care industry operations.

Many years ensued for my family and I (wife, one daughter and two sons), in our health care situations where we spent many hours discussing the rightness of care that the insurance clerk was denying their responsibility to cover. Both sons played football all though middle school and high school, with the older son continuing his football play into the first two years of a college athletic scholarship. Luckily for us, those schools had insurance to cover most injuries that the players might encounter, but kids are kids and adults get sick. And I kept thinking that there had to be a better way for the health of American citizens. But alas, could find nothing out there that even remotely resembled the health care of my military days. For example, birth of daughter (Chennault AFB, Lake Charles, LA.) total cost out of pocket $1.98 for meals my wife had just prior to the delivery and post-delivery. Birth of eldest son, China Naval Weapons Station, Ridgecrest, CA) $2.75, the Navy charged a bit more for meals for the delivering mother. Finally, birth of third child, youngest son, (American Potash & Chemical Corp Medical Center, Trona, CA), $1200.00 my cost and the insurance deductible. Oh yeah, that was for more than the meals. But even then, it was far less than what medical care in hospitals and outpatient care costs for the same thing.

Several years passed, encounters of higher and higher costs along with more reticence by insurance companies to pay for care as they “promised”. One exception that stood out was during my tenure at a major computer manufacturer in Minnesota. A new type of medical care was presented by this company, it was new to the industry as well. HMO or Health Maintenance Organization. When originally conceived, this was a very good approach. My younger son was having hearing problems and ear infections. We took him to the HMO center for our company’s insurance HMO plan. They operated on my son’s hearing (ear drum, etc) for five plus hours. His hearing was almost totally restored and imagine our excitement when he asked that the tv sound be turned DOWN. When I went to check him out, there was no copay bill to cough up. The HMO covered the surgery, housing and meals.

Of course, that was years ago, and it was a brand-new coverage plan. To my knowledge gained from the experiences of relatives and friends who use the HMO type health coverage, that is no longer the case these days the HMO is just a different type of regular health insurance and the majority of these medical groups do not deliver quality care and patient compassion. Simply, like the rest of the health care industry companies, collect the money and deliver minimally acceptable care. After years of fighting with insurance company clerks and managers, I encountered a new plan in the making.

In 2003, in my early days of political activism, I discovered the Congressman from Michigan, John Conyers and his brand new legislative bill for health care. It was then called a National Health Insurance program, eventually morphing into the Expanded Medicare for All. Bill HR-676 had just 20 cosponsors in the first reading back in 2003.

At each congressional session, Mr. Conyers would update the bill content to reflect the current environments and resubmit it for consideration and hopefully getting it to the House Floor for debate and passage. Through year after congressional year, Mr. Conyers, Mr. Kucinich of Ohio and a growing group of likeminded Congressional Representatives signed on.

Mr. Conyers fell ill and died and the 2017 version of his HR-676 was his last submittal and in truth the memorial to his efforts to bring true universal health care to ALL American residents of this nation.

As a longtime supporter of Mr. Conyers and his HR-676 bill, I made sure to download and retain many copies of the changes and each version as it was released. Today, while it is still available, I understand, now the Congress has reassigned that bill number to another pieces of legislation from a different congress person, and the thrust of her bill has nothing whatsoever to do with focus of the original HR-676 by John Conyers. I frankly admit that I do not understand the reasoning behind the issuance of that bill identifier to that congressperson for her legislative bill but is certainly has put a huge hurdle in bringing that Conyers effort to provide universal health care to the American people.

We are way Behind!

Bear in mind that rest of the developed world has comprehensive universal health care, and those programs covered every single citizen/legal resident of those countries. Most of these countries have had UHC for DECADES, while we have been worried about “socialism” or adverse impact to our health care or health research. Point of Fact, none of those cares are valid or worthy of refusing UHC, they are all propaganda from the medical industry including (not medical professions or facilities) the insurance corporations and other shadowy external forces, including much of the Congress and we as a nation have fallen for the sales pitches from those sources, hook line and sinker.

So, while the rest of the developed world enjoyed better health outcomes, no health care anxieties, NO medical bankruptcies, better live birth rates, more effective treatments, solutions, procedures and medications, the United States fell further and further behind the rest of the developed world for health conditions of its citizens. We are well behind these countries in almost every single aspect of health, from overall longevity of adults to lower successful birth rates even the overall happiness factor of these counties as opposed to the United States.

Actually, according to the WHO (World Health Organization), at this time France has the best health care in the world and most of European countries are right there alongside them. Japan leads the Asian nations in their UHC program, and even Cuba has a better health care coverage for their people, than the United States!

These countries spend less than half of the costs for health care that we do in the USA. AND they have better outcomes, happier citizens, and the fear of leaving a job because of health insurance simply does not exist in those nations. A recent study and report from the Commonwealth Fund that analyzed the positions of the developed nations regarding the health-related lifestyles of their citizens, was not complimentary to the Unites States. I will provide a link to that report within this blog post.

Some quotes or the actual highlight listing from that Commonwealth report is as shown below:

Highlights

• Health care spending, both per person and as a share of GDP, continues to be far higher in the United States than in other high-income countries. Yet the U.S. is the only country that doesn’t have universal health coverage.
• The U.S. has the lowest life expectancy at birth, the highest death rates for avoidable or treatable conditions, the highest maternal and infant mortality, and among the highest suicide rates.
• The U.S. has the highest rate of people with multiple chronic conditions and an obesity rate nearly twice the OECD average.
• Americans see physicians less often than people in most other countries and have among the lowest rate of practicing physicians and hospital beds per 1,000 population.
• Screening rates for breast and colorectal cancer and vaccination for flu in the U.S. are among the highest, but COVID-19 vaccination trails many nations.

The link to the actual report is here:

https://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/issue-briefs/2023/jan/us-health-care-global-perspective-2022

Please read this entire report if you can, it is very enlightening. We are not the greatest, especially in the area of our citizens and their health care.

And even back to 2014, this organization rated the United States thusly:

Where we rank comparatively with the rest of the world.

The United States ranks last overall among 11 industrialized countries on measures of health system quality, efficiency, access to care, equity, and healthy lives, according to this Commonwealth Fund report, despite spending far more of its GDP on health.

FUND REPORTS / JUN 16, 2014

Mirror, Mirror on the Wall, 2014 Update: How the U.S. Health Care System Compares Internationally

Reading this report, from 8 years ago, and sadly from later editions, we have not gained, but instead lost ground in the overall health of our US citizens. More’s the pity.

In the near future, I will be bringing live a new web site that will focus on this Single Payer Universal Health Care program and why the United States and its people should stop with the rabid propaganda and implement the entirety of the HR-676 written by Representative John Conyers and supported by well over 140 members of the House of Representatives. This bill should be brought to the floor of the House and passed following debate. I will provide information and links to this website to my fellow senior citizens and others as I can find. My prayer is that we see at least, the beginning of a full SPUHC for all of the residents of the United States of America, before my time on earth is over.

The Congress, especially the Democrats in Congress should determine the best person to pick up the baton of John Conyers, Dennis Kucinich and the rest of those members who have supported this bill from it’s inception in 2003.

WELL PAST TIME!

This day, Saturday, February 4, we find ourselves with another hurdle addressed in the relocation from our Newport News home to a new home in Northern Virginia. We had a person come to measure several windows in our home here to replacement of the window blinds. The ones that are currently installed are very old and the slats are drooping from the sun’s heat and look pretty bad. We had originally planned to replace these blinds but over a period of weeks or months. Now that we are putting this house on the market, we need to replace them blinds now, before our local Tidewater area Real Estate Agent, Kristie moves forward with the listing of our home for sale.

So, now a major hurdle in the prep process has been initiated. The designer person will compute the costs for the replacement blinds and labor for the installation of the new units. If the blind styles we want to have in the house are in stock for the company, we can accomplish this task in the next couple of days (weekday) and that hurdle will be checked off as completed. Then YEA US.

Expectations are that Dave, our esteemed handyman expert will begin addressing the 20+ tasks we have identified as necessary pre-market. He has the list, or at least the list as it was. We keep finding little things that if left, might detract, but if addressed with hopefully increase the likeability of our house for prospective buyers. So on this Sunday, February 5th, we are starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel of home prep for sale. Got it, moving on.

Updates to the house for the market preparation are well underway. Dave will be here again this morning to tackle more of the items on the preparation punch list. We will need to ensure that no time is wasted and perhaps accelerate the preparation. Because……..

We traveled up to NOVA on Sunday, February 12th. Looked at four condo units and made an offer to purchase the fourth condo we viewed which is located in Alexandria, VA. The same neighborhood that we left earlier in 2022. We’re BAAAAAACK!!!!

The seller has accepted our offer, our agent is negotiating the final nits for the agreement to be totally in place. However, from all indications, the seller is very motivated so I have no fear that the nits we discovered will not be addressed. YEA US.

Contract documents sent to us last night (02/12/2023) and we electronically signed and returned them to Alanda. Expect to see the Seller’s signatures as full acceptance of our offer and required items today. Seller has asked for a March 10 closing and our financial institution has agreed that the date for closing is reasonable and acceptable to them.

We also have our selling real estate agent, Kristie who is preparing to conduct a discussion visit for the actual placing our Newport News house on the market. Things are a ‘happening.

Contract for the Alexandria Condo has been accepted and signed by all parties. We have a firm, signed, ratified contract. Our agent will do the home inspection with the contracted Home Inspection Service rep. The contract will be uploaded to the mortgage lender officer and the process for closing will officially begin!

We got notification last night (2/14/2023) that we had a fully ratified contract in hand. Alanda, our buying real estate agent, uploaded the ratified contract to the Credit Union’s Loan Officer and we will now move forward on that track for the mortgage loan processing.

We were contacted by email this morning with the title agency for the entry of document tasks necessary for their efforts in conducting our closing process. At this point, we have performed all of their required tasks, except for the actual transmission of the Earnest Money transfer process.

Now we have to finish up the prep tasks and get our selling Real Estate Agent Kristie the access she needs to stage, photograph and put the house on the market! High hopes that we can get a solid buyer in place within a few days or a couple of weeks. That would be the perfect solution. However, perfect is not something that the Hodges Clan is known for having for themselves with their actions. But one can always hope.

I will keep this post open for a couple of days for update entries. The actual mortgage process and closing process are now in process!! We will transmit the “Earnest Fund” monies either today -2/14 or tomorrow at the latest. Got to have that money in the hands of the Title Company shortly (process deadline) so we will move quickly to get that task done.

Fingers Crossed again folks. Next steps are doozies.

The time is getting closer, our efforts are still not frantic. This move will be one of the smoothest we have, in over 42 years, encountered. Since there is no urgency to make the physical move, we can take things as they come, address them with the level of importance and not become all stressed out. Yay Us!

Where to live! Yep, that is the primary question. Our focus at this point is with the following areas, Fairfax County, primarily in Tyson/McLean, Merrifield, Vienna, etc. Or Arlington, mainly in Crystal City, Ballston, etc. Perhaps in Alexandria most areas but Western Alexandria mainly. Would love to find a place in Old Town Alexandria, but don’t like the idea of paying that much for a home and still have to park on the street, IF you can find a spot. So, not thinking of that area.

Wednesday, February 1 – Today we take a pause in our preparations for the move. About an hour ago, we had to say goodbye to our precious Duchess, our little four-legged feline family member of almost 16 years. She was in such pain and illness and to keep her with us was not the right thing. So, our girl has gone and will not be travelling back up to Northern Virginia with us. Her adopted sister Penny will also miss her just as much as we do I am sure. Penny will have to make that trip with us and not have her big adopted sister with her for aid and comfort. But, we will continue on toward a new beginning, just one that is missing a family member. Farewell, Duchess, our precious girl. We will miss you every single day.

Thursday, February 2, – Well we had a moving company come by this morning and prepare a quote for moving our household good back up to Northern Virginia. Good quote, well within my anticipated cost and our overall budget for this entire relocation. Home designer person will be scheduled shortly to come to our house, measure for the window blinds in the master bedroom and then obtain those items and do the install. This is one of our major hurdles and from all indicators, it appears like a hurdle that can be overcome. Yay US!

Friday, February 3 – Things are moving forward in our relocation activity to return to the Northern Virginia area. We will be going up to the area next Saturday and hopefully view a good collection of potential homes. It would be just fantastic to find the perfect spot, location, facilities, amenities nearby and a quality apartment condo unit. Yeah, hope springs eternal!

Regardless, we will continue our search and continue our preparations to put our current house on the market. We hope it will sell in a timely manner so we can transition to the new lifestyle without a ton of stress.

Fingers Crossed folks, the crew (Charlotte, Harvey & Penny) are on the move. Going to Git er Done!

Several changes to our life and lifestyle are on the horizon. Effective on Monday, January 30th, Charlotte starts a new position with a consulting firm back up in Northern Virginia, Fairfax County to be exact. She left her previous firm on October 17 and did a bit of independent consulting for a couple of months. We were still ensconced here in our home within the Kiln Creek neighborhood of Newport News, VA.

As a result of her being offered and accepting this position with this new firm, the decision was made to relocate ourselves back to the Northern Virginia area. Sort of like coming home, considering that the area was our home for well over 30 years.

So now comes the “fun” times, oh sure! We are in the process of prepping our current house for sale and are searching the Fairfax, Arlington, Alexandria area for a new home in a condo building. Winter is not supposed to be a terrific time for selling a property, but we are hopeful that Kristie, our real estate agent down here in Hampton Roads area, the terrific and professional person who helped us last year in finding and buying this house will be very successful on our behalf again.

We also engaged Alanda, the same real estate agent in Northern Virginia who helped us sell the condo we had in Alexandria. She also was a terrific professional who worked wonders for our condo sale. She is on the job again to find us another great condo home. We do see a few listings up there that are attractive to us, are in the optimum locations for the times she will need to go into her offices and are within the price range we are looking for. But the biggest problem for me/us is that by the time we are ready to start seriously working on a new home, the ones we really like will be gone most likely.

So now it begins, we created a pair of to do lists. One for the contractor/handyman will be perform the fix up/repair and image tasks, and the other for us to enable us to address all of the myriad things that it will take to sell one house, buy a new home, engage movers, prepare for the double trips from Newport News to whatever section of Northern Virginia we actually buy a new home.

Another major concern is for our aged, senior fur baby cats. Both are in their teens and as we all understand that age range is positively ancient for kitties. Our Penny appears to be in decent shape, but we will have a vet check her out prior to the move. Our sweetheart Duchess however is in not such good condition. She has been suffering for quite some time with various ailments and of course the problems that are part of becoming a senior citizen of the feline world.

So, we will have a veterinarian coming in a few days who will give her a good physical evaluation, assess her quality of life, whether she is in intractable pain (we know she has pains, simply because of her movements and vocalizations.) and what, if anything, can be done to improve her wellbeing. You see, like a lot of people who are owned by their animal children, our two fur baby kids are family, not pets. So, we care about their life quality as other people care about their human kiddos.

But all will be addressed as we progress toward our departure from the Hampton Roads/Newport News Virginia area and return to the DMV (District Maryland Virgina area).

As we begin our journey into the year 2023, let us all hope and pray for a good outcome. Our newly installed Congress has shown a differential that speaks to a two-year span of probably nothing burgers but a lot of show time. Having lost the House to a very small, but loud Republican majority, the Democrats in the House can only make efforts to attempt the mitigation of the actions that will be forthcoming out of this interesting NEW Republican group. Luckily, the Senate remaining in the Democratic Party majority, and in fact, they gained seats, will be a seawall against the potential damaging activity from the Republicans in the House. We still have our democracy, at least some components of it still are operable. So, let us all hope for a Congressional 2-year term that does not do too much damage, and perhaps even makes a modicum of progress toward ensuring the American rights to Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness. That is what the founders were hoping for, so we can do no less, at least in this old man’s humble opinion. So, fasten your safety harnesses folks, things will be bumpy from here on out.

But hey, it is a new year, and this old man has survived longer than he anticipated, in being able to witness the advent of 2023 still upright and breathing. So, let us be off, dear friends, into the breach of this new year.

As many of you know, at least any of you who have actually read this blog, the Bride and I moved from Alexandria, VA in June of last year to a nice home in the Kiln Creek Golf Community of Newport News, VA. The Bride’s company had established a new set of employment status’, including 100% office, 50/50 office and remote, and 100 percent remote. Charlotte was selected to the status of 100 percent remote. So, since we could live anywhere and she only needed an internet connection to do her job, we decided to leave the DC Metro area for life in the Hampton Roads area of Southeastern Virginia. After selling our Alexandria condo, we searched, found and purchased a new house in this new area. I had lived here before, first as a teenager in the mid 50’s attending Hampton High School (dad was in the Air Force at Langley AFB), then again, several years early 70’s later with my own family while employed at NASA Langley and also at Dow-Badische in Williamsburg.

So, now we have been residents of Newport News, and the Kiln Creek neighborhood since June of last year. Our neighborhood is truly wonderful, friendly folks, nice environment, close to any desired shopping and medical facilities. What more could one want in a lifestyle? Well, employment for one.

In October, Charlotte’s tenure with her company ended after 12 years. She was offered and accepted a short-term contract to do payroll consulting, while we decided the next steps. Thinking we might like to let her be self-employed in her own consulting firm, we took steps to make that happen. Things were okay, but certainly not what was expected at the outset. But the fates were smiling, and in December she was approached by an executive recruiter about a company with an executive management opening. Her credentials were submitted to this firm and shortly after she was asked to participate in an interview with one of the company’s executives. This was followed by a second interview with a group of the company executives/managers. And the end result was that she was offered the position with a very nice salary, annual bonus, and very good benefits. Her start date will commence on January 30. The position was remote with some office presence for meetings and such. We had considered employment potential for her in this area, but the salary structures down here were very minimal comparatively.

So, what to do, we could remain in this house, in this city and she would need to drive up to the DC area as needed. But, that is a 200 mile one way trip, and would require that she spend at least one night in a hotel. So, what to do, what to do. Simply put, the decision was relatively easy, sell our house here, buy a condo there and relocate BACK to the DC Metro area.

Advantage, DC Metro Area, close to the kids and grandkids! SCORE!

So, we have contacted real estate agents, both here and in Northern Virginia. We have worked with both of these ladies, during our previous move from there to here and they were simply fantastic people. Our plan is to start the marketing of our home here in February, seek and purchase a condo home there in that same timeframe and move ourselves and the two senior cats back to the area where we had lived for more than 30 years previously.

Major concern with transporting the older of our two senior feline ladies. Our Duchess is not in the best of health, and we hope against hope that she will continue to be with us for quite a while longer. Yet we also realize that she is getting very old and kitties do not live usually much longer than she is already. Still, hope springs eternal! We will take it one day at a time and hope that she is physically able to make the transition again to a new home.

In some ways, I really look forward to returning to the northern Virginia area. It is really home to us having lived there for such a long time (well over 30 years) and having my family members in that area as well makes it even more like home. So, NOW, we have to figure out the process of closing out the little consulting company we started, making the necessary payment/tax/settlements as required and then letting the State and Federal folks know that it will be no longer a chartered company entity. We have an appointment with an accounting firm on Monday the 23rd and they will assist us in closing out this company and paying Charlotte as well as any state/federal obligations.

Now, what about the old man and his stuff? Well, just had a malignant tumor removed from my bladder, so can you say, “Bladder Cancer”? The follow-on stuff, after the actual surgery was a real pain but necessary and now is hopefully completed.

At least the surgeon/urologist appears to be confident that the entire malignancy was effectively removed during the surgery so, perhaps this old guy dodged a bullet? One can certainly hope so. However, not going to get overly confident, because from all I can read, it would appear that this type of malignancy has a 70% change or reoccurrence. So, the plan is to be very cognizant of the potential and to continue to closely monitor. I am to meet with the surgeon on January 30th to discuss the entire situation and figure out a plan for going forward.

See, the gotcha is, that I will not be around this surgeon or this medical center in a few weeks. But the upside is that I am very familiar with the medical facilities and personnel in the Northern Virginia area so I am pretty confident that we can safely implement that monitoring plan with the medical folks up in the new home area.

Now comes the fun part, preparing this house for market. Lucky for us, our real estate agent here has indicated that she will provide a service to stage our home for best viewing by prospective buyers. I will try to make the ensuring days and activities worth your time.

Stay Tuned! Interesting times ahead!

This morning we awoke to a changing weather environ. Yesterday was very cold, temps in the low 30s and high 20s. Windy and damp! Today’s weather forecast was indicative of a fairly heavy rain, with some thunderheads booming in the afternoon. Not sure we will get that weather, but not a problem for me.

On this 22nd day of December in the year 2022, we are finalizing our plans for travel up to Northern Virginia, the township of Ashburn and a Christmas eve day spent with our children and grandchildren. Perhaps even a friend or two might drop by my daughter’s home which is where we will have our holiday gathering as we have for several years, the pandemic exception noted.

Our major concern at this point is the forecasted drop in temps for Saturday, our day of travel to and from my daughter’s home in Northern Virginia. If the rains continue and the ground is wet, the drop in temps to the mid 20’s and 30’s might cause problems. The drive to visit with family and enjoy the Christmas spirit with great times is almost 200 miles each way. If the roads are icy, we may have to stay home, but indicators are that we will have a decent environment for the trip up and back, so fingers crossed.

Well we got some rain, and tomorrow is calling for high winds. If things go well for us, the wind will dry out all the wetness on the streets and highways so our Christmas trip to our kids and grand kids will go well.

Keep good thoughts for our voyage.

Wishing you all a very happy season, love and family.

Well, forgot to send this to the blogosphere. So, a bit of an update.

Today is December 23, the temps have dropped considerably and as that old standard Christmas/Winter song said, Baby it’s cold outside. Things brightened up though. We had a fast moving rainstorm come through about noon or slightly earlier. Didn’t last long and the skies brightened up to a beautiful clear blue skies. Oh but there’s more, the temps dropped from the 40s down into the 20s.

Charlotte drove the car over to the local Target to pick up a grinder and some espresso coffee beans to make espresso powder for her cake baking. The crowds and traffic were horrendous, but she persevered and brought home the products. Now comes a great Chocolate Cake for the old man’s Christmas feast.

We will spend the day tomorrow on the road to the Christmas gathering of our family and then returning to our home in Newport News. About 5 hours of driving, plus several hours of family, good food and warm familial love. So looking forward to that!

Okay, time to stop, get this blog entry published and then have a bite to eat before bedtime. Hope for a great holiday season for all of you, regardless of your faith or celebratory activity. Take care and have a great new year.

Old Harv

Today brings us ever closer to the Christmas holiday and my thoughts turn to family, friends, and life in general. My fervent wish for this season would be a return to the Christmas seasons of my youth, back in the olden days. It was truly a magical season back then, and all those days seem to be but a very precious memory.

The Christmas holiday for some time now has seemed more commercial than a holiday of faith, religious observance, and love of family & friends. The stores start their Christmas sales and advertisements the day after Thanksgiving and in some years this marketing begins just after the Halloween holiday.

Why?

How did things turn so commercial for a season that was identified for so many years as a reflective and faithful celebration? At my advanced age, I can still remember when the gift giving aspects of the Christmas season was focused on the kiddos receiving presents from Santa and mom and dad, and the big deal for us kids was the appearance of the Christmas TREE! Lots of decorations to place on that tree, faith items to display around the house and then the first lighting of the tree’s decoration lights. And also, the big deal for the season was that we all went to Christmas service at whatever church of whatever faith we all subscribed to. Of course, for my siblings and myself, getting all “gussied up” in dressy clothes was not a thrill because we had to be extra careful not to get them dirty, so we had to be quiet and still.

But, between the gifts, the great meal, and lots of family members around, this was a time of joy and comfort for all of us. I can still remember my mom, dad and other family members gathering at our house, my grandparents’ house or some other family member’s house for renewal, lots of great food, and happy times. Almost all of those folks are gone now, and out of five brothers and three sisters, there are only two sisters and me remaining. And since those two siblings live all the way on the other side of our great country, there is no chance to “gather together” with them anymore.

BUT we now have our own family unit with my son, Cliff, his wife Becky. our four granddaughters, Abby, Becca, Hattie and Cammie, along with my daughter, Kurby and their mother Phyllis, to have a gathering of family with myself and my wonderful wife, Charlotte.

So, come the 24th day of this month of December, (my son, my daughter in law and their kids spend Christmas Day with the Becky’s family), my wife and I will arise at a very early hour, while still very dark outside and feed our two senior kitties, we will then load some simple gifts, a batch of freshly baked cookies and ourselves into our car and make the drive up to Kurby’s home in Ashburn, Northern Virginia from our home in the Hampton Roads area of Southeastern Virginia to spend this special time with our family. Believe me, I am really looking forward to this holiday visit.

Come on folks, we are quickly approaching the season of faith, from the observance of Christmas, of Hannukah, of Now Ruz, and of Kwanza. Let us all remember what these holiday observances truly mean, renewal of our faith, and a rededication to a love of mankind. If we cannot recapture the “good will toward man” to some viable degree, then we may truly be lost as a species. I frankly refuse to believe that is our situation.

Time for us all to remember those halcyon days of yore. When we all gathered around the house, shared gifts, some of monetary worth, but most of love and compassion.

It is the season of faith renewal, whether one is a religious person, a person of faith, a person of agnostic belief, or a person who is atheistic. Time to set aside our hate, our disdain, and our division; let’s remember that this time of year is all about hope, love and renewal.

Sadly, one observance by this old man regarding the religions in our nation and most likely in many nations around the world, is that people are moving away from religion as currently practiced in many of our organized churches. Sadly, the once large church congregations are shrinking year by year. In many, many cases one only needs to look at two aspects of modern religious practices, at least in this nation, to understand the apparent departure of so many people from organized religion.

First, of course, is the obscene display of exceptional wealth by some religion practitioners. The huge houses, the expensive cars and in many cases the private airplanes while their membership rely on much less in possessions and money are a real turn off by people of modest means who are exhorted by these wealthy preachers to give more and more of their hard-earned incomes.

The second apparent cause for the departure of people from the organized religious church facilities is the growing influences of these so-called preachers of some religions injecting themselves and their congregational membership into the political aspects of our nation. There is a good reason why religion and politics/governance should remain clearly separate and the actions over the past few years are perfect examples of this reason.

There are other countries in our world, that are ruled by a religion dominated government and all of them, without exception are bound by religious strictures imposed by the religious leaders, against the individual rights of their citizens. One simply has to look to the countries in the Middle East, such as Iran, Saudi Arabia, among others in this part of the world. Simply consider the recent instance in Iran where a young girl was beaten to death by the Iranian Government’s Religious/Morality Police! Her horrible crime? She allowed some of her hair to be seen outside of her chador or head and body scarf in a violation of that theocratic society moral stricture about the cover of a female’s hair. As one who has lived in these middle eastern countries as an expatriate consultant, I observed this situation firsthand and hope mightily to NEVER see this aspect in our United States of America society.

Frankly, I believe very strongly that religion and religious practices should remain within the church community and far, far away from any involvement with government and politics, and the same thing with government from religion! However, one can take heart in the fact that there are still many religious faith groups that do not presume to be the end all for societal mores, political influence, and individual rights. This is my thankful attitude, we still have some religious groups that believe their charge is to help guide in faith, to guide not demand.

So in this coming holiday season, try to renew your faith, renew your love of all mankind, and renew your gratefulness for family, friends, and home.

As one who is still a faithful person, I wish you all a very happy holiday season, for my Christian friends and family, a Merry Christmas, for my diverse friends a happy Hannukah, Now Ruz, Kwanza, and Good Tidings to those of no religious faith. May your holiday be pleasing, and your new year be better than before.

And from Harvey, Charlotte, Duchess the elderly cat and Penny the senior cat;

Have a Holly Jolly Christmas, and oh by golly have a Hap Hap Happy New Year!