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{Straight From the Heart} *The Bed of Life* 5/2/00
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Welcome to "Straight From the Heart!"
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Kristi and I went to dinner and a movie on Saturday. This past
Christmas, Jamie and Brit, two of the players I coach, bought Kristi
and I a gift certificate to a nice restaurant, and then gave us a
certificate for a free night's worth of baby-sitting. It took us
four months to find the time when we could take them up on their
offer. We couldn't remember the last time we were able to go out
on a date, and so were really looking forward to it. They arrived
to watch our little ones, and we piled into our 11 year old Chevy S-10
truck, (Our only working vehicle right now) and headed on our way.
When we arrived at the restaurant, the sign said that it had closed
up and was being sold. Stinkin Stink! Our first night out in months,
and the restaurant couldn't even stay open for us! We were bummed...
Then the "Check Gages" light came on in the truck. "Oh no! Here we
go again!" I thought. I have been stranded on the highway four
different times in the past month and have come to dread any light
that flashes on the dashboard. In fact the fasten seat belt light
makes me break out into a cold sweat! I looked at all the gages and
noticed that the oil pressure gage was going up and down, so I pulled
into the local hardware store to buy some oil. The truck uses a lot
of oil.... Just as I stepped out of the car, I heard someone calling
out my name from across the street. I looked and saw our niece,
Jennifer Pozzani, who was working at the Subway restaurant. She had
noticed our truck go by, and came running out to catch us. I told her
we would be right over. After putting oil in the truck, we drove over
to eat subs for dinner. While the night was not turning out as we had
hoped, we are learning to make the best of every situation...
Our niece made us our sandwiches and we sat down to eat, in a
restaurant full of high school students.... About five minutes
into our meal, Kristi spilled her very large glass of ice water all
over the table and herself. When the ice water first hit her clothes,
she immediately jumped up from the table. Only to slip on the ice
that was on the floor and come crashing back down into her seat, and
on to the water that was now there... Her pants were now totally
soaked, front to back. We both started laughing so hard, as did the
high school students that were there. In fact everyone in the
restaurant was laughing. Except for poor Jen. I think she was trying
to find the back door and not be embarrassed anymore by her Aunt and
Uncle...
Now Kristi is soaked to the skin, and the thought of sitting in an air
conditioned movie theater wasn't very attractive. We decided we
should make the 25 minute drive back home, change pants, and then
try and make it to the movie on time. We finished our soggy meal
and headed home...
We continued to laugh all the way home...
Luckily Jamie and Brit had taken the kids to the park so we didn't
have to explain to them what we had done so far...
We ended up making it to the movie just in time, and were able to
enjoy our first night out of the year. For those of you who haven't
seen the movie entitled, "Return To Me," you need to make plans to do
so. When Kristi first told me which movie she wanted to see, I was
not very interested in seeing it. If a movie doesn't have an alien
trying to kill off all life on earth, I am usually not interested in
seeing it. And to deliberately set out to watch a movie about
"relationships," is not something I would normally do. But this
time I didn't complain, and bit back any smart remarks I might have
made to my bride.
When the movie first started I saw that it starred David Duchovny.
While I have never seen an entire episode of the X-Files, in which
David stars, I thought for sure that Kristi had made a mistake and
that an alien was going to appear and start reeking havoc! But it
was not to be... But let me tell you, with all kidding aside, it was
an incredible movie. One which made me cry. (Girly-man, girly-man,
Michael is a girly-man!)
Kristi and I had the time of our lives the whole night. It didn't
matter that things did not go as planned. In fact, we could have let
the situation really bother us and ruin the whole night. Instead, we
laughed it off and had a great time anyway.
So if you want to see a good movie, make sure you go see it in the
near future...
Here is a link for the movie: http://www.mgm.com/rtm/
Which brings me to today's email. (And you thought I would never get there!)
The movie deals in part with a woman who needs a heart transplant.
While watching the movie it occurred to me that I did something this
past week, which I had never done before. I signed the back of my
license to become an organ donor. Don't ask me why I waited until I
was 31 years old before doing it, as I do not have an excuse. But
the important thing is that I did. I have heard that if everyone
signed the back of their license today, we would wipe out the entire
organ donor waiting list in practically no time at all. No one would
have to endure months and months of waiting for a life-giving organ,
only to die before one was found. So I encourage all of you to do the
same...
No, don't say I will do it tonight, or tomorrow, or sometime this week.
Take that license out right now and sign the back of it...
Go ahead... I'll wait for you...
Now, wasn't that easy?
And if you still haven't done it, I hope that you will after you read
today's story entitled "The Bed of Life." While I don't make a
practice of running stories that contain no author information, I had
to make an exception for this one.
You'll see why.
Michael
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The Bed of Life
By Robert N. Test
The day will come when my body will lie upon a white sheet neatly
tucked under four corners of a mattress located in a hospital busily
occupied with the living and the dying. At a certain moment a doctor
will determine that my brain has ceased to function and that, for all
intents and purposes, my life has stopped.
When that happens, do not attempt to instill artificial life into
my body by the use of a machine. And don't call this my deathbed. Let
it be called the Bed of Life, and let my body be taken from it to help
others lead fuller lives.
Give my sight to the man who has never seen a sunrise, a baby's
face or love in the eyes of a woman. Give my heart to a person whose
own heart has caused nothing but endless days of pain. Give my blood
to the teenager who was pulled from the wreckage of his car, so that
he might live to see his grandchildren play. Give my kidneys to one
who depends on a machine to exist from week to week. Take my bones,
every muscle, every fiber and nerve in my body and find a way to make
a crippled child walk.
Explore every corner of my brain. Take my cells, if necessary, and
let them grow so that someday, a speechless boy will shout at the
crack of a bat and a deaf girl will hear the sound of rain against
her window.
Burn what is left of me and scatter the ashes to the winds to help
the flowers grow.
If you must bury something, let it be my faults, my weaknesses and
all prejudice against my fellow man.
If, by chance, you wish to remember me, do it with a kind deed or
word to someone who needs you.
If you do all I have asked, my body will go on forever...
(Author Unknown)
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Thought For The Day:
"No plan is worth the paper it is printed on unless it starts you
doing something."
Verse for the Day:
"But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your
own selves."
James 1:22
Kid's Thought for the day:
"Open your eyes up underwater."
Parent's Thought For The Day
"Our children give us the opportunity to become the parents we always
wish we had."
(Nancy Samalin)
Coach's Thought For The Day
"We must have longe range goals to keep us from being frustrated with
short-range failures."
Deep Thought For The Day:
"Why do they put pictures of criminals up in the Post Office? What
are we supposed to do . . . write to these men? Why don't they just
put their pictures on the postage stamps so the mailmen could look for
them while they delivered the mail?"
(Steven Wright)
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/_/\/\ MICHAEL T. POWERS
\_\ / THUNDER27@aol.com http://members.aol.com/Thunder27/index.html
/_/ \ "For I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but
\_\/\ \ Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body I live for the Son
\_\/ of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me." Galatians 2:20
Video Imagery (Michael's Video Production Business)
"I thought of you first after my family sat down to watch the video
we gave them. They loved it, to say the least! Within thirty
seconds my mom was crying and my dad did too. They said it was
the best Christmas gift we could have given them!! You did such
a beautiful job! They were so suprised and so touched---they
really, really, really loved it. Thanks for helping to make it so
special to us all. My mom mentioned how the songs were perfect for
the video too! Thanks again!"
Kelli (RKaGe@aol.com) College Station, TX
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