Good Morning:
It's Friday May 4, 2001!
BIRTHDAYS: Horace Mann, 1796;
Howard Da Silva, 1909; Audrey Hepburn, 1929; Roberta Peters, 1930; George
F. Will, 1941; Tammy Wynette, 1942; Randy Travis, 1959.
THIS DAY IN HISTORY:
On this date in 1836 the Ancient
Order of Hibernians was founded.
On this date in 1927 the Academy
of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences was founded.
On this date in 1932 Al Capone
entered a federal penitentiary.
On this date in 1961 Commander
Alan B. Shephard, Jr. sat atop a Redstone booster at Cape Canaveral and
became the first American in space with his brief suborbital flight.
On this date in 1970 4 students
were killed at Kent State University.
MEANINGLESS FACTS: It is
impossible to sneeze and keep your eyes open at the same time... The jawbone
is the hardest bone in the body... The face has the dirtiest skin of the
body.
TRIVIA: Who was brought in
to dub Lauren Bacall's singing in "To Have and Have Not"?
Here is
a "truism", or at least I think it is: "The temperature in any room
is room temperature" (Steven Wright). On to the real stuff!
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Thanks to M/M Riverrats:
You Might Be From A Small Town If.........
1. You can name everyone you graduated
with.
2. You know what 4-H is.
3. You went to parties at a pasture,
barn, or in the middle of a dirt road.
4. You used to drag "main." (Or
Broadway!!!!)
5. You said the 'f' word and your
parents knew within the hour.
7. You ever went cow-tipping or
snipe hunting.
8. School gets canceled for state
events.
9. You could never buy cigarettes
because all the store clerks knew how old you were (and if you were old
enough they'd tell your parents anyhow).
10. When you did find someone old
enough and brave enough to buy cigarettes, you still had to go out to the
country and drive on back roads to smoke them.
11. You were ever in the Homecoming
parade.
12. You have ever gone home for
Homecoming.
13. It was cool to date someone
from the neighboring town.
14. You had senior skip day.
15. The whole school went to the
same party after graduation
16. You don't give directions by
street names or directions, but by references (turn by Nelson's house -go
two blocks east of Anderson's, and it's four houses left of the track field).
17. The country club golf course
had only 9 holes.
18. You can't help but date a friend's
ex-girlfriend or boyfriend.
19. Your car stays filthy because
of the dirt roads, and you will never own a dark vehicle for this reason.
20. You think kids that ride skateboards
are weird.
21. The town next to you is considered
"trashy "or "snooty", but is actually just like your town.
22. Getting paid minimum wage is
considered a raise.
23. You refer to anyone with a
house newer than 1980 as the "rich people."
24. The people in the city dress
funny, then you pick up on the trend two years later.
25. You bragged to your friends
because you got pipes on your truck for your birthday.
26. Anyone you want can be found
at either the Dairy Queen or the feed store.
27. You see at least one friend
a week driving a tractor through town.
28. Football coaches suggest that
you haul hay for the summer to get stronger.
29. Directions are given using
"the" stop light as a reference.
30. The city council meets at the
coffee shop.
31. Your letter jacket was worn
after your 19th birthday.
32. You have ever taken a trailer
or dog to school on a daily basis.
33. Weekend excitement involves
a trip to a Wal-Mart.
34. Even the ugly people enter
beauty pageants.
35. You decide to walk somewhere
for exercise and 5 people pull over and ask if you need a ride.
36. Your teachers call you by your
older siblings names.
37. Your teachers remember when
they taught your parents.
38. You can charge at all the local
stores.
39. The closest McDonald's is 45
miles away.
40. So is the closest mall.
41. It is normal to see an old
man riding through town on a riding lawn mower.
42. You dial a wrong number and
still talk for 45 minutes!
43. Majority of the women/girls
in your town drive trucks!
44. You laugh your tail off reading
this because you know they're all true and forward it to everyone who lives
in your town! (because you know them all!)
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Thanks to LBS: A Special
Story
Like any good mother, when Karen
found out that another baby was on the way, she did what she could to help
her 3-year-old son, Michael, prepare for a new sibling. They found out
that the new baby was going be a girl, and day after day, night after night,
Michael sang to his sister in Mommy's tummy. He was building a bond of
love with his little sister before he even met her.
The pregnancy progressed
normally for Karen. In time, the labor pains came. Soon it was every
five minutes, every three, every minute. But serious complications arose
during delivery and Karen found herself in hours of labor. Would a C-section
be required?
Finally, after a long
struggle, Michael's little sister was born. But she was in very serious
condition. With a siren howling in the night, the ambulance rushed the
infant to the neonatal intensive care unit at St.Mary's Hospital, Knoxville,
Tennessee.
The days inched by.
The little girl got worse. The pediatrician had to tell the parents there
is very little hope. Be prepared for the worst. Karen and her husband contacted
a local cemetery about a burial plot. They had fixed up a special room
in their house for their new baby but now they found themselves having
to plan for a funeral.
Michael, however,
kept begging his parents to let him see his sister. I want to sing to her,
he kept saying. Week two in intensive care looked as if a funeral
would come before the week was over. Michael kept nagging about singing
to his sister, but kids are never allowed in Intensive Care.
Karen decided to take
Michael whether they liked it or not. If he didn't see his sister right
then, he may never see her alive. She dressed him in an oversized
scrub suit and marched him into ICU. He looked like a walking laundry
basket. The head nurse recognized him as a child and bellowed, "Get that
kid out of here now. No children are allowed."
The mother rose up
strong in Karen, and the usually mild-mannered lady glared steel-eyed right
into the head nurse's face, her lips a firm line. "He is not leaving until
he sings to his sister" she stated.
Then Karen towed Michael to his
sister's bedside.
He gazed at the tiny
infant losing the battle to live. After a moment, he began to sing.
In the pure-hearted voice of a 3-year-old, Michael sang:
"You are my sunshine,my only sunshine,
you make me happy when skies are gray."
Instantly the baby
girl seemed to respond. The pulse rate began to calm down and become steady.
"Keep on singing, Michael," encouraged Karen with tears in her eyes. "You
never know, dear, how much I love you, please don't take my sunshine away."
As Michael sang to his sister, the baby's ragged, strained breathing became
as smooth as a kitten's purr.
"Keep on singing,
sweetheart." "The other night, dear, as I lay sleeping, I dreamed
I held you in my arms". Michael's little sister began to relax as rest,
healing rest, seemed to sweep over her.
"Keep on singing,
Michael." Tears had now conquered the face of the bossy head nurse.
Karen glowed. "You are my sunshine, my only sunshine. Please don't
take my sunshine away..."
The next, day...the
very next day...the little girl was well enough to go home. Woman's
Day Magazine called it The Miracle of a Brother's Song. The medical staff
just called it a miracle. Karen called it a miracle of God's love.
NEVER GIVE UP ON THE PEOPLE YOU
LOVE. LOVE IS SO INCREDIBLY POWERFUL.
*******************************************************
ANSWER: A very young Andy
Williams provided her with those velvety tones.
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