A MESSAGE FOR THE OLD FOLKS, JUST LIKE ME;

     The Golden years are interesting, aren't they? At first we had no need for doctors much, being so new to the world and all. The suckling, then the bottle, then the baby food, already processed for swallowing, and then the real McCoy, table food.
     Through all of this happening, came the wonder of what everything was all about. The appetite for learning, along with the frustration of knowing what you want, but the difficulty of conveying it to those looking at you, still a baby.
      You can only cry at the discomfort you're having. Even the family dog knows what it is, but it can't talk, either. It can only lick your face as though you were it's pup.
      After some doing, you can finally crawl, then climb, then at last, walk! The rush of excitement comes with the realization you can reach a lot of things you could only wish to reach before.
     There's so much to explore, as you go here, touch this, touch that, knock something down. All the while with the family guardian, the dog, following you around in frustration. Then the afternoon naps in order to get you ready for the next round of play.
     All the while, the circle of life is getting larger, retaining it's level of mystery as you learn. Yes! Forever learning.
     Then, the Kindergarten and first year grades come along, with you suddenly being thrust into the group, most of whom you've never seen before, and a new someone to guide you through the ever wonderful world of learning. The ever important teacher.
     Along with the excitement of learning new things, meeting new friends and participating in play together, there are always the normal difficulties that come with it.
     What a busy world it is! With the dawning of every day, there's a new page in the book of life to turn.
     For me, I couldn't grow fast enough! As I look back, the yearning to grow was almost overwhelming, having nine brothers and sisters ahead of me, and seeing the many grown-up things they were doing that I could not yet do, placed an anxiety in me that just never seemed to get satisfied.
    The 2nd World War had begun, and my older siblings were at their own various stages of growth, with two of my older brothers being involved, one in the U.S. Army Air Force as a Squadron Leader in the B29's in the Pacific, and the other in the Canadian Red Devil Paratrooper's Brigade in Belgium.
    Another older Brother who tried to join but was rejected because of his slightly deformed feet, stayed home and had already gotten married and resumed his career in the logging business.
    My Father, having already served in the 1st World War as a machine- gunner in Europe, and although already having been severely wounded, rejoined the Canadian Home Guard to do his bit as well at home.
    At 76 years old now, but five years old then, I remember the songs that were popular, such as You Are My Sunshine, Down In The Valley, Red River Valley, Shenadoah, Buttermilk Sky, Don't Fence Me In, Five Minutes More, Roll Out The Barrel, The Missouri Waltz and lots more, such as the patriotic songs of the era, including those from World War 1.
    Food staples were scarce, to the point of rationing butter, sugar and such. I remember quite well, My older brothers and sisters having to walk up to the grocery stores, taking the ration books along with them. As the war surged on, my turn came as well.
    If you think times were tough then, imagine, you women of those days, what it was like for our dear mother, with no husband at home to support the family, scraping up what she could for meals each day, with a shortage of money and a large family of 9 children left at home.
    Having been born of Bavarian immigrant stock in Jackson, Minesota on April 29th, 1900, Her parents and her at her age of 4, travelled by train to Kalispel, Mont. and then by wagon 85 miles to settle in the small logging town of Eureka, Montana. That alone was a 3 day trip!
    She grew up there, and after graduating from grade 12 at the age of 18, met and married my father, John Duncan McNaughton. After bearing 6 children in that town, they moved 40 miles across the border into Fernie, B.C., where the last five of us arrived.
    Bless her heart, she never, ever, got a break.
    In 1946, the 2nd world War came to an end and the Canadian and American soldiers, sailors and Combat fliers returned home. A joyous event, to be sure for everyone.
    Then the Korean War started in 1950, and 3 McNaughton brothers were called to duty in the States to serve there, until that war ended. Our mother, Ella Jean, quietly toiled behind the scenes and never complained. There often were times though, when things manifested themselves and the hopeless feeling would get her down, to the point she would go to a quiet part of the house, and just plain sob until there were no more tears left to cry. Then, back to work.
     My turn eventually came to get out of school and leave the nest, joining the B.C. Dept. of Highways Engineering branch, where I was to get married at the age of  3 days 19 years old, thinking I had become a grown man. I was wrong and it was not to be. It ended in 1963 and in 1969, I took charge of my 4 children and returned to Fernie, B.C. to work as an Engineer for Kaiser Reources, a subsidiary of Kaiser Steel in the U. S. until my moving to the Seattle area in 1976.
    As for our mother, in 1957, the last child married and left home, and with none of us living there anymore, Mom, with no reason to stay in Fernie any longer, sold our blessed home and journeyed back to Boulder, Mont. to work in a retarded children's home there until 1961. She then returned to her home town of  Eureka, Mont., where she lived comfortably, quietly and peacefully until 1970. Then, longing to be near her children to live out the rest of her days, she moved to Seattle, Wa., to be near the rest of us who had eventually "Circled the Wagons" there, so to speak, in nearby Bothell, Wa.
    Without really thinking about it all much, we had all managed to keep growing, first in body to maturity and then, although each time we thought we were grown up in mind and soul, we found out in one way or another, we weren't.
    Our mother had only one wish, and that was to die in her sleep, which God allowed her to do, at the age of 99. She had often mentioned to me that if it wasn't for her faith in God, she would never made it to her older years.
    For me, although 76, and with the many body failures, corrections and then more failures, and more corrections, I still think in my mind, I'm still learning! But this time, I'm learning how to grow into my twilight years and with it, continuing to learn.
    I'm sure that most of you in your older years who read this are understanding what I mean. We've all had our worldly experiences, pleasant or not, and each of us at various points in time, think we've seen it all, just to find out that, around the corner lurks another experience, be it good or bad.
    But having watched some of my older siblings pass away, I can't help but feel it isn't fair to give up on them as they have their physical failures, just because they appear they're at the end, and we think,  "What's the point?" and withdraw our God given help.
    As long as we're alive, our mind and spirit continues to learn.
    To me, there's a peaceful place waiting somewhere at the end of it all. A place where God exists,  with Angels reporting to him on our progress through time. Angels who exist here on earth. We who have earned that passage by at least trying to be good, and a chance to correct ourselves to the very end, who firmly believe he's there, along with the loved ones who have preceded us and are waiting to help us through.
    If you wonder why I condemn Atheism the way I do, it's because of the misbehavioral path they would force us to take whether we like it or not.  Such as our current Administration.
    I only care about what they're doing in an attempt to control us who do believe in a Supreme being.  As for them, it's okay with me if they follow the "Line of Least Resistance" and feel no remorse for what they do.
    I just don't want them stealing away the rights of the God loving people who are still in the majority in this country.
    When they go, they will not be content in their minds, thinking there's no place to go to at the end of it all.
    That's their choosing and it's okay with me. Just sayin'.