As I finished up my previous blog about Comcast, I started playing some Beatles here on my computer. Why do I feel the need to play the Beatles on a Sunday. I think it goes back to my youth and when I would spend a Saturday night at my cousin's house. My cousin Ron was a pastor, and he would prepare his final notes on a Saturday if he was preaching the following Sunday. But, those Sunday mornings were always the best. He would play a selected Beatles LP (the real vinyl) as he got ready for church. When I was younger, I wouldn't care too much for it. By the time I was 15 or so, I came to appreciate The Beatles more and more. I can pinpoint it to Let it Be and the song "Two of Us" (which always reminded me of Mike and I). Mike is his son, and from the time I was 13 to about 17 or so, we were always together. We were close before then, but for those four years or so we did everything together.
This included frequent sleepovers at his house and the warmly remembered times of listening to the Beatles. I'm reminded of the Monopoly games with my cousin Ruthie when Mike was busy with his (at the time) girlfriend Kate. Ruthie and I became closer for a time because Mike was driving, going on dates, and the like. I'd still come over...kind of pathetically, and hang out with the rest of the family. Ron and I became closer due to a love of Millville football and the TV show "Picket Fences" which became a Friday Night tradition at Ron's house until I started hanging out in diners with books of bad poetry and tepid coffee.
Ron taught me how to properly steep tea, and how to work a comedic moment or two. If anything can be said about Ron, it's that he has a great comedic timing, and he always found a way to make me laugh. I've never said to him that I love him, but I do. He gave me a love for The Beatles, for tea, and for the importance of laughing. He was also my Youth Pastor for a while, and some of the retreats we went on were some of my fondest moments of my youth. I always wished I was a better athlete because he was always so good. I was terrible in sports, making the Freshman Baseball team on heart alone.
Though the years have passed, whenever I see Ron, I remember those times of my youth. When my Mom passed away, I could think of no one that I would rather have be a part of the service. When I wanted a grand marriage ceremony (before all this mess that Marion's been going through), there was no one besides Ron that I even considered to marry us.
So, I love Ron. He's going through a rough patch right now with his cancer, and I hope for the best. I hope he gets through this because I know how much he means to people. I know some wounds need to be healed, and I'm not going into that here, but I hope everything works out. They say time heals all wounds, and I know personally with my brother Dan, that seems to be the case with my Dad. Time has a way of doing that.
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