8:13 AM … Nice cool morning with a promise of rain. No bad news as yet, just the now regular drumming of politicians and bored souls shouting their aggravation.

7/20/2020 was your 100th birthday,

or would have been had you lived beyond 50.

No matter.

We all celebrated you each in our own way.

You would have enjoyed it.

And had you been here, you would have likely picked your guitar

and shared a few toasts of wine,

crossed that weird one eye of yours

and had us laughing on the floor.

I guess it’s finally time to stop missing you.

From here on out, you will be simply celebrated!

Amen and fare thee well, Pop!

7/21/2020 rJo Herman for John O Herman, her Dad

I remember one night when Will was dying, Mom and I giggled out her front door, shushing each other as we moved through the muggy shadows of the grapefruit trees lining the sidewalks between her neighbors’ houses, pulling down only a few; ripe and ready; huge in our hands.

“How many can we take, Ma?” (whispered)

“As many as we like, as long as no one sees us! (whispered back)

“Shhhhh!” (ha ha ha ha ha ha ha – we could not stop laughing).

Will was up, sitting in the kitchen when we slunk back in, grapefruits curled into the bottoms of our t-shirts… heh heh heh heh

“What the hell are you going to do with those?” he asked, his voice still strong, only slightly annoyed.

“Uhh, eat ’em?”

And we howled with laughter…

rJo Herman 7/6/2020 nine years to the day that my mother died – she still gets me laughing…

I went out walking just before the sun burned a hole in the horizon (gonna be a hot day). The wind was cool coming off the hills, no traffic to speak of. I was chuckling and counting the hi-flying baby swallows chirping and whirling in the air just as a BIG hawk lifted off the fence post not five feet from my face! Breathtaking!

The swallows swarmed him as he flew low across the road, and a fat rabbit dove into the brush, saved by my clumsy footfalls, no doubt, or scared off by my loud, “WOW!” at the sight of those talons.

Great Day in the Morning!

May God bless America forever and ever, Amen.

rJo Herman 7/4/2020