A Moonshooters Diary

Back in the '50's, things were a leetle different than they are now. I was a kid in Cleveland, living with mom and dad in a three room apartment above a corner bar. My 'world' was a Murphy bed in the living room that was reached by moving the coffee table and opening two 'magic doors'...and poof, all my treasures were exposed. Since we lived where we did, laundry day was an adventure. Mom had an old Maytag wringer washer (to her it was new) and in the winter time the only thing to do with freshly washed clothes was to hang them...in the basement. Since, by the time I was ten or eleven, I was taller than Mom, she taught me how to do it 'cause she worked and didn't have time to fool around with a kid who said 'it ain't my job.' Besides, I was 'helpful'...at times and there was no one else around that I could pass it off to. Not to mention...we didn't own a clothes dryer. Now, 60 years later, we still don''t own a clothe...

Today I went to a wake for my brother-in-law, Ben. Tomorrow I'll be attending his funeral. Ben was one of those easy going people that took life as it came and never seemed to get 'stressed out' the way most people I know do. At 91 he had remarkably few wrinkles. His life wasn't all about 'carefree' but he seemed to put things in perspective. He touched a lot of peoples' lives...mine included and was responsible for putting many of the people that I love today into my life. I was thinking that it's a shame that we have to wait until 'the soul has left someone's body' to get together to meet and talk about 'what they meant to us'. Today I feel closer to him than I did when he was 'in the flesh'. And I can say is 'Thanks, Ben. I chose to celebrate the life you led and the great 'family' you added to my life by being on this planet.' Now every time your name is mentioned, you come 'alive' again. Ma...