PSA-170217-Angels and Kids

Posted on 17/02/2017 by Grumpa Joe

5306b496328002cee82a3756e5f9312b.jpgAngels…….AS EXPLAINED BY CHILDREN.

I only know the names of two angels, Hark and Harold.
Gregory, age 5

Everybody’s got it all wrong.
Angels don’t wear halos anymore. I forget why, but scientists are working on it

-Olive, age 9

It’s not easy to become an angel! First, you die.
Then you go to Heaven, and then there’s still the flight training to go through.
And then you got to agree to wear those angel clothes.

-Matthew, age 9

Angels work for God and watch over kids when God
Has to go do something else.

-Mitchell, age 7

My guardian angel helps me with math, but he’s not much good for science.

-Henry, age 8

Angels don’t eat, but they drink milk from Holy
Cows!!!
-Jack, age 6

Angels talk all the way while they’re flying you up
To heaven. The main subject is where you went wrong before you got dead.
Daniel, age 9
When an angel gets mad, he takes a deep breath and counts to ten.
And when he lets out his breath again, somewhere there’s a tornado.

-Reagan, age 10

 

Angels have a lot to do and they keep very busy.
If you lose a tooth, an angel comes in through your window and leaves money under your pillow.
Then when it gets cold, angels go south for the winter.

-Sara, age 6
Angels live in cloud houses made by God and his
Son, who’s a very good carpenter.

-Jared, age 8

All angels are girls because they gotta wear
Dresses and boys didn’t go for it.

-Antonio, age 9

My angel is my grandma who died last year. She got
A big head start on helping me while she was still down here on earth.

-Ashley ~ age 9

Some of the angels are in charge of helping heal
Sick animals and pets. And if
They don’t make the animals get better, they help the child get over it.

– Vicki , age 8
What I don’t get about angels is why, when someone
Is in love, they shoot arrows at them.

– Sarah , age 7

Filed under: family, Humor | Tagged: , , , | Leave a comment »

Another Life Begins At Michael Reese

Posted on 03/05/2011 by Grumpa Joe
2929 S. Ellis Ave. Chicago, IL 60616 (312) 791...

Image via Wikipedia

The name Michael Reese was totally strange to me as were the names of any hospital.  At the time Michael Reese Hospital, a prestigious teaching hospital, pioneered in polio rehabilitation techniques.  Our family physician, Dr. Imre Horner, was on staff there. He arranged to get me in.

Michael Reese (MR), on 29th and Ellis Avenue, is four and a half miles straight east from Contagious Disease Hospital (CDH).  The two hospitals were relatively close to each other, but the difference between them was enormous.  CDH was a government operated public facility designed to control or prevent the spread of communicable disease.  Michael Reese was a private hospital in business for curing disease.

I didn’t need curing when I entered MR.  I needed rehabilitation, and Reese had a strong polio rehab center.  The polio virus damaged many of my muscles. My body needed a program of training and exercise to teach the remaining muscles to substitute for the damaged ones that didn’t work; weak muscles needed strengthening.

The aides slid me off the ambulance cart to a hospital cart and wheeled me through miles of corridors and into an elevator.  Up it went, then, a ride through more corridors to a room on the sixth floor. Immediately, I noticed the rooms at MR were different from at CDH. The walls were solid except for one which had a window looking outside.  It was dark when we arrived and I couldn’t see out of the window, but I saw stars and city lights. At CDH, with all of its glass walls, there was never a ray of sunshine or outside light to see.

“One, two, three…..move” and I was on the bed in a new home.  There was a second bed in the room, another difference between the two hospitals.  A young man just lay there smiling at me.

He welcomed me with a big “hello.”  He had dark curly hair with bushy black eyebrows and a contagious smile.  His arms and head were the only parts of him exposed. He was very thin, nearly skin and bone.

” I’m  Myron,” he said.

He also survived polio, except his paralysis affected him from the neck down to his toes.  His chest muscles functioned just enough to let him expand and contract his lungs without the help of the iron lung.  He had limited use of his right arm, which allowed him to scratch his nose.

Myron was three years older than me, and a senior at Steinmetz High School.  We became good friends during our time together.  I often wonder what happened to him and what quality of life he had.  I’m sure he had a much harder time than me because he never regained the use of his muscles like I did.

Life at Michael Reese improved over that of the Contagious Disease Hospital. There were no restrictions on getting up to walk around the room.  Visitors actually came in to sit and talk without a chalk board.  I saw more of my friends.  Mom even brought some of the girls to see me.  I recall Mary Ann Pavel from Woodlawn as one.

The window looked out on the back-end of the hospital.  The view provided a look at the roof with lots of steaming vents and pigeons.  Way in the distance, the buildings of the loop were in view.  Chicago didn’t have many sky scrapers yet, so I didn’t see the spectacular skyline of today, but I did see a 1953 skyline. Soldier’s Field blocked any view of Lake Michigan just four blocks away to the east. I didn’t care, I loved the new home.

Related Articles

Filed under: Biography, Characters I knew, family, health care, Jun-e-or, Memories | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment »

Fire Fly Air Force-Chapter 18

Posted on 18/08/2010 by Grumpa Joe

Chapter 18.

Morty raced home, and found Gracie on guard on the pillow above Ben’s head.

“I need your help.”

“What can I do?”

“I need a bed sheet, two clear glass bottles, and some twine.”

The two of them scurried about the house looking for materials.

“If we do this right, my idea will work,” he said, “If we do it wrong, well, we can’t do it wrong, we have to succeed.”

“Michael called while you were gone, and the night of no moon is tomorrow.”

“Oh great,” said Morty, “nothing like a little pressure. I have to finish this gadget before then.”

The two guardian angels worked through the night.

“This looks like it might work,” said Gracie.

“Thank-you,  I got the inspiration while I watched you and Max fly.”

“Really?”

“Yep,” he replied without any more explanation.

Gracie decided not to pursue him with any more questions, but her curiosity was growing. When Morty is ready, he will tell me, she thought. They finished the invention just before dawn.

“Let’s test it,” said Morty, and off they went.

Gracie sat on the back of Skye Scooter right behind Morty. Her back was to his. She held the invention in her lap.

Morty sped up and then gave Gracie the signal.

“Now,” he shouted.

Gracie tossed the invention into the air behind the scooter. She watched a large parachute open. It had a bottle tied to the center of it. A hole in the chute opened into the bottle.

“It opened smoothly,” she hollered to Morty.

“Great.” He landed Skye just as the sun began to make the morning sky glow red.

“Let’s get some rest before Ben wakes up.”

To Be Continued . . .

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>><<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form or by any means, including those yet to be invented or discovered, without permission in writing from the publisher and author.

Filed under: Cartoons, Characters I knew, children's writers, Fire Fly Air Force, Garden, Warm and Fuzzy, Writer | Tagged: , , , , , , | 1 Comment »

Moved to Tears

Posted on 06/01/2010 by Grumpa Joe

     Maybe it is because of global warming, but Peggy and I are suffering from cabin fever. The outside temperature when we wake up is usually under ten degrees. The last few mornings it has been under five degrees. We got comfortable with the last fifteen winters which were so warm. I even considered abandoning my vision of moving  South to a more  temperate climate. Old bones and joints do not accomodate very well to low temperatures. Daytime temps rise to the twenties, but the bottom line is that we spend a lot of our time indoors. Even though, our home is large enough for us to retreat to our favorite place to avoid each other, we still grate each other’s nerves at times. Cabin fever, that is what it is.

     This week, we ventured out into the cold to see a movie. We had heard several reviews on a film called “Blind Side” with Sandra Bullock, and a bunch of lesser known actors. The story didn’t have to be very good for me to trek through a raging blizzard to see a “hottie” actress in a movie. She is beautiful. I digress.

     The story behind this film is almost hard to believe. Yet, the film is based on a true story. I won’t try to review the film for you here, I’ll leave that to those who review movies. What I want to tell you, is that this movie evoked an emotion within that brought me to tears several times.  For the life of me, I cannot decide what did it, but it did. The characters were compelling, real people. The simple plot could not have been imagined by any author. The story is based on real facts.  

     I believe in angels, and this story is about angels that descend on a life that is the innocent result of the Nanny State.  The main character the angels descend upon is a black boy whose mother is a slave of the system. She wants the best for her kid, but doesn’t know how to make it happen. She is totally unable to make anything good happen for herself much less her many children. She asks a friend to help her oldest boy “Big Mike,” get into a church school.  The friend uses his talent to sell the coach of a highly respected private christian school to take the kid on. The coach does, and the story begins.  

     The angels are many. First, the mom’s friend,  the coach, then a teacher who recognizes the boy’s talents, and finally, a family with a strong mother who comes to his rescue. Sandra Bullock plays the mother. She is a hard charging designer with two kids of her own, and a husband that goes along with almost anything she wants.  The family becomes the angel-team that rescues “Big Mike” from the Nanny State, and nurtures him out of  ghetto slavery.

     This film is an honest to gosh real story based on real characters. Blind Side is Academy Award material. Sandra Bullock deserves Best Actress award. Actor Quinton Aaron, who plays Big Mike, should get Best Actor. Why? Because they made the characters believable, and real.

Blind Side deserves five stars. . . * * * * *

Pay the money, and go see it. You’ll be moved to tears just as I was. I also recommend  your kids see the  film too.

Filed under: family, Government, Motivation, Movie Review, religion, Society, Sports, Uncategorized, Warm and Fuzzy | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »