Disclaimer, I remember all my life..Rainin down as cold as ice.. Sorry ,I had a Barry Manilow
moment, I digress... It was back in grade school, sixth grade I believe when I saw my first
globe. That peaked my interest in world geography along with watching back in the day
A.B.C T.V s Wide World of sports. And how can I forget Mutural of Omaha s Wild Kingdom.
As time went on it would be trips to the library and seeing Life magazine, and National
Geographic..I would learn about some of the coldest places on earth so I thought.

Last year around March,I started to feel some discomfort in my right leg. It was always
when I woke up to get ready for work when I worked nights..Us men tend to blame things
on advancing age with excuses like I m not as young as I use to be..Working outdoors
you make another excuse especially during the winter is I can feel the cold down in
my bones.. I ve seen snow falling out in the desert while training back in my military
career along with cold in the state of Texas..Even when I was in the countries of
Turkey and Germany there were cold temperatures. The second coldest place
I ever been was upstate N.Y where the temperature was way below zero.

As the pain got worse, I would go visit my wife in N.J. who was caring from her elderly
aunt and uncle it was nohing but asprin and heating pads all that time. This was over
one weekend and I had to go back home to go to work. The pain would get worse.
After being a tough guy the next morning, I would drive myself down to the local
V.A. hospital emergency room.. The T.V. set in the waiting room was on with the
news about Bin Laden s Death..When my name was called,I was in so much
pain that I was placed in a wheelchair to be transported to another part of the hospital.

I was wheeled to a lobby waiting area by a side enterance. Then a coldness would
come and almost made me wish I was back over in Iraq. But that heat I experienced
over there couldnt take this coldness away.. It would may me get out of the wheelchair
and sit in a regular chair and grin and bear the pain .In my head I would hear that old
Johnny Mathis song playing Look at me.., I m as helpless as a kitten up a tree.lol

The coldness would come from the stares of the people coming in the door who
worked there and the feeling of unfriendlyness which I never experienced since
I was over in Iraq and stationed with some people who didnt try to hide it if you
were different from them.Fast forword after a year of new friendships and meeting
different people in various places me and my wife traveled and renewing family
friendships with people who knew me when I was a child warms my heart
better than any cup of hot tea or cocoa and the only icing I like is on a cake..

Thank God for showing and growing me into the man I am now. May everyone who
reads this be greatly encouraged and blessed.

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