The beat goes on

Four years ago today I moved into an apartment at Franke at Seaside, Mt. Pleasant, SC. It was my first "PCS" (permanent change of station to those who never served in the military) in 44 years. My wife, Mary, preceded me to Franke by about seven months and lived in Assisted Living. The days went by faster than any other period I can recall. (It seems strange but the older we get the faster the days roll by.) Slowly but progressively I met my neighbors and made new friends from all parts of the country and all walks of life. The joy this brought was marred by the deterioration in Mary's health and her death in December 2010. Many in the Active Lifestyle Community have had similar down moments, but life goes on. For Mary and I the permanent physical separation came after 56 years of being together. During those years - in good times and bad - we shared a Kiplingesque expression and attitude that serves me well today: soldier on!

New friends (especially one very, very special friend) are a precious joy in my life. When I was a young boy, just entering my teens, living in Lowell, MA, I attended St. Patrick's Church. We had a change in pastor's in the mid forties. When the new priest gave his first sermon he dwelt on the theme and uttered the phrase, "my lot has been cast in friendly places." Since moving to Franke at Seaside, I often recalled that sermon and fully appreciate the heartfelt sentiment it expressed. And I am happy at this time in my life to say, "my lot has been cast in friendly places."

 

Mrs. Colbert and her son

Report: Colbert Stops Show for Mom

Oh where, oh where could Stephen be?! That was the question being hurled around by fans of comedian Stephen Colbert’s The Colbert Report after the show abruptly halted production this week “due to unforeseen circumstances.” The New York Post cited a source Friday that said the show was put on hold as Colbert tended to his ailing 91-year-old mother, who lives in Charleston, S.C. “They are a very private family,” the source told the paper of the Colberts. Stephen is the youngest of 11 children. Colbert told audiences on Monday that he had just returned from a week in South Carolina before the show was snipped later in the week. The show is said to return as early as next week, according to the source. (Source:The Daily Beast and The New York Post.)

Lost a friend - Ed Holcomb

A single red rose in a vase in the lobby of the main building at Franke at Seaside yesterday told us another resident had died. This was Ed Holcomb, who was somewhere in his 90s.

 

A couple of weeks ago over dinner in the dining room at Franke, the residential community where we both live,  Ed asked me to help him set up a wireless system in his apartment so he could use his Nook to download books he wanted to read. In a phone call a day or so later I recommended he buy a wireless router and we would hook it up. We talked again last week and he said he was ready to do the job. I went to his apartment where we chatted as he showed me the office he had created in a second bedroom. It held his books and desk and computer. It was a comfortable room and he said it gave him a lot of pleasure. We looked at the cable connection sitting on the floor and the wire running around the baseboard of two walls and speculated how it might be raised up and moved even closer to the computer. After a few minutes I asked him for the router and  he seemed surprised. Then he realized he was to have purchased one. He went to a day-planner and found the note to himself and said he had completely skipped over it.

We laughed a bit and talked a little more. He apologized for his mistake and I told him to forget it. I said it was a pleasure seeing his place and talking. We made plans to get together again in a couple of days.

Ed told me about his weekly calls via Skype with a son who is working in New Zealand. He was proud of this accomplishment using some of the latest free technology. Details of Ed's death and arrangements have not been publicized. I am sure contact is being made with the son to include his wishes.

The community has lost a good member. We will remember him fondly.