Living My Best Life

   I went to my Cardiac Rehab class this morning and on my way in, I saw a sign on the wall and then looked down the hall                       
 I couldn't help but wonder. "Everybody sooner or later will take the trip down this hallway. There is no getting out of it." Then I thought to myself, "I have to live my best life while I am still here and enjoy the people, places and things that surround me."

 After I took the picture, I headed to my Cardiac Rehab down the next hallway to the right. I hadn't thought about how close my Cardiac Rehab class was to the Morgue until I started writing all about today.

 I was on my Exercycle working out when Tom Skilling came on the TV with the weather on Channel 9. I watched him as he described the storm that was approaching from the west. I just had to see what the storm looked like. I knew I had my camera with me and maybe I could get a few good pictures of it. I got off my bike with my blood pressure cuff still attached to my arm and hurried outside too see. I looked up and saw some really awesome clouds. I was glad that I had my camera with me. With-in a few moments everybody outside the hospital entrance stopped and looked up. We were all enjoying watching the ominous clouds rolling towards us.



 I kept taking pictures until the clouds past over us. As I headed back to my rehab class, I thought about how cool that was and the fact I was able to get to see the beauty Mother Nature had just put on. I also thought about that sign hanging in that long hallway. I was glad that I was alive. 

It Was So Embarrassing

                It Was So Embarrassing

  It was 1985. I was going through a divorce at the time so I had to live in this cock roach motel. I got a job across the street working at this sporting goods store. I don’t even like sports but I needed the job to pay for my motel. Cripes, I could write a whole book just on that experience alone.

 Anyway, I worked in the exercise department selling exercise bikes, weights and that sort of thing. It was the time of year when the school kids were starting to buy the equipment they needed to play football.  I was new to this sports stuff because my Dad never was into sports himself so he never taught me anything. I worked on cars and hung around the park with the guys shooting the shit and smoking most of the time. 

 Well it was on the first or second day working there when this woman came up to me and said her son needed a girdle for football. HUH??? I wanted to say, “Why don’t you let him wear one of yours?” I didn’t know what she was talking about. So I ran to the manager of the store and he told me the football girdles were in the back of the store. I went in the back but I didn’t know where they were. I didn’t even know what they looked like. I came out and the lady asked me. “What’s taking so long?” I was getting really stressed out on my second day on the job. I saw the manger and yelled, “I need a girdle and I don’t know where they are.” 

 I was ready to quit right then and there. I don’t know what happened to the Mother that wanted to buy a girdle for her son.  I never did find one and the manger was too busy to help me. So I just stayed in the back room and pretended to look for one until she left. 

 After a couple of weeks I was getting accustomed to working there, although, I hated it. I was told to keep the Jock Strap Display stocked up because they were selling fast because of the football season. Then one day another one of the Mothers came into the store and asked me, “I need a supporter for my son.” In the Display Rack they have small, medium and large. I needed to know what size her boy needed because once you buy them you cannot return them. “What size does he need?” I asked the Mother. She looked at me for a couple of seconds and said, “I don’t know.” I was really trying to be helpful. So I asked her, “Well how big is he?” The Mother starred at me and started to get red in the face. “I don’t know I never saw him. I think I better let him come in and get it,” she told me and then ran away from me. “Huh? What was that all about,” I thought to myself. I didn’t know what I had done to get her all flustered like that. Then it dawn on me when I had asked her “Well how big is he?” The mother must have thought I was asking her how big his genitals where. Now I knew why she ran away. What I was trying to ask the Mother was “How tall is he, you know, how old is he,” so I could get an idea of what size to give her. I guess I should have phrased it a little different at the time. I was so embarrassed when I realized the mistake I had made.

Letters From Dad

 Fathers day is coming up this Sunday so I thought I would put together a tribute to my Dad that starts off with the very first letter I ever got from my Dad. He was still in the Philippines in World War 11 when I was born on Aug 5th 1945, so I didn't get to see him until I was about one year old.

Phillippines
Aug 29th, 1945

Hello Billy

Welcome to our happy little family and to this great big world, I haven’t met you outside of a few kicks you gave me before you entered this world but I got a picture of you today and you’re quite a little guy. I’m proud of you. As your mother had probably told you, I’m in the army now but it won’t be long until I get home and concentrate on being a good father to you. You will never remember it but you will have served a few months in the army yourself and I hope that is all you will ever serve. That is what all these men fought and died for, was to make your life and other little guys like you, have a better place to live in.

It’s all over now, so it’s up to you to make it stay good when you grow up. You have a good start in life except for having me for an old man. But with the mother and the grandparents you should be able to overcome that handicap. I promise to do everything I can to be a good father to you. So keep this letter. If I ever go astray, it’s sort of a contract. Until we meet Billy, take care of your mother for us and give her a big kiss for me, will you?
Goodnight Billy
Your Dad

P.S. I hope you like me.





April 20th 1990

Hi Bill

Been meaning to write for a long time so finally got around to it. Been so busy around here trying to get settled around after the big kitchen remodeling. I also built some big cabinets in the garage enclosed with folding doors to hide some of the junk. As you know Coletta is a pack rat and she has a big collection of junk here. However I have learned how to accept things that used to disturb me and to be happy & enjoy the life I lead.

Went fishing last week and caught over 30 code fish. Really had a good time even though it was windy & rough. We were out over two nights. Went about 100 miles out in the ocean. I never get out there in the ocean fishing that I don’t think of you & the good times we had fishing together down in Florida. Good memories!

Coletta & I went out with Ray & Lorraine for Easter dinner and had a nice time. It’s weird that Ray & I still see each other now after being friends since we were 9 years old. The four of us get together a couple of times a week. Nice to have close friends.

I’m enclosing a little something for you. Why don’t you take it and go out for a nice dinner at a good place and really enjoy yourself for an evening.
Better close for now, have to listen to “Cheers,” my favorite.

Love Ya’ much Bill
Take care
Dad


This is a letter I sent to my Dad out in California back in 1990. I am responding to his letter. He was telling me about how he would go out fishing in the ocean and the great memories it brought back of the early times in our lives, when we were all one big family:


Hi Dad

Thank You for sending the $50, that was great of you to do that. It was really nice getting your letter too. It was fun to read it.
You were talking about fishing and good memories, that’s the reason I like fishing so much. I remember You, Mom, Jeanne & me all went out together having a great time and remembering Nana. She really loved fishing with us.

I remember the last time she ever went fishing. It was the summer I stayed with her after Mom died. I kept asking Nana to come fishing at Indian Rocks Pier with me. I don’t think she was physically up to sitting all day in the sun but one day she said she wanted to go with me. We got to the pier & she stayed close to the shore. I didn’t think we could get anything so close to shore so I asked her if I could go to the end of the pier and try my luck. “Go ahead,” she said, “but you’ll be sorry.”

Well after about 30 minutes out at the end, I didn’t get a bite so I went back to see how Nana was doing. When I got there to her she held up the biggest “Snook” I’d ever seen. “I told you so,” she said. After that I stuck to her like glue. We talked & laughed and had a great time. At the end of the day she was really glad she went. She created great memories that day for her and me that would never be forgotten. What a great fisherman she was.

I think we do a lot of things that bring back good memories. That’s what I do to get me past the bad times, I think about all the good memories people have given me.

Kris and Shawn are coming to visit me June 2nd and stay for a week. That will be nice if I can keep up with them. I’m saving the $50 you sent me so we can all go out together. I’ll get some pictures & send them to you.

Love
Bill


Dad was 76 when his life came to and end. While he was in Hospice he kept a diary of the last days of his life and what he was feeling as each day passed by. It ends abruptly 27 days before he died.

 Note: Enlarge Video to full screen and Press Pause as each page turns so that you can stop and read it.

Politicians Eliminate Illinois Cares Rx Prescription Drug Program

 I just came back from my weekly disability meeting at the Schaumburg Township in Schaumburg Illinois. I found out that Springfield has passed a budget were they will eliminate the Illinois Cares Rx program. That program helps pay for medication for the disabled, elderly, and the poor. "WHAT ARE YOU POLITICIANS THINKING? Have you gone off the deep end? How are we supposed pay for our medications next month?"

 "Governor Quinn, If you sign that bill, it will put the disabled, elderly, and the poor in need of their medicine in a lot of trouble health wise. I don't doubt that there will be people that will die because they couldn't afford their medicine. I want you to think about that before you put your pen to that piece of paper."

Remember This? It was one of your promises to the people of Illinois.
http://www.quinnforillinois.com/issues/health-care

William Kaufman  

Thinking Back on Things

When I look at this car I used to drive around in, it reminds me of when I used to have money. I had a brand new 2 story home with a wife and 2 children. Both my home and cars were paid for. When I went shopping for clothes, I didn't even look at the price tag. Voice newspaper voted me one of the 10 best dressed men back then. I could do things and travel places. It's been a little over 30 years since those days. It's funny how much things can change.

Remembering The Disco Days

It was 1977. I was 32 years old. My wife and I had just come out of the show. We saw “Saturday Night Fever” The movie, the music and the dancing were awesome. We didn’t want to go home that night. We wanted to go dancing. My wife and I asked around and found this Disco place. As we enter the building, there in front of us was a stage packed full of young people like ourselves line dancing to the tune of “Stayin’ Alive.” The lights were flashing and the dance floor lit up in all sorts of colors. It was one of the most fantastic sites I had ever seen. We felt like we had been transported into the Disco that we had just seen in the movie. In that instant my wife and I were hooked on this whole lifestyle.

We didn’t know how to do any of the dances so we just watched the people that night and had a couple of drinks. We wanted to be able to dance just like that. So my wife and I took a Disco Dance class at our park district. We never looked back from then on. We were dancing at all the clubs around Chicago.

Every time my old body hears the music from “Saturday Night Fever” I come alive again and my mind is back on the dance floor twirling around with my wife. It was one of the best times in my life. I loved 1977.

              

The Cell Phone

A Long time ago we had these two executives from Motorola come to our disability meeting at the Schaumburg township in Illinois where I live. They wanted to know our opinion about this new thing called the cell phone. We all said "Yes it would be great to have a cell phone but we can't afford the monthly phone charges." I told them about my recent troubles about when my car broke down on the interstate on my way to the V A hospital. I told them, "The price of the phones are not the problem it's the yearly contract fees that we can't afford. Why don't they have a deal where the phone company would give us so many minutes each month for free so that we could use the phone in case of emergencies? Being disabled it would have been great to have a cell phone to be able to call for help." The two executives turned and looked at each other if like a light bulb went on in their heads. I don't think they ever thought of that idea. Well sometime later after that meeting they came out with the free 911 phone calls that you can now make on your cell phone.  That was a god send for the people who couldn't afford the cell phone charges.

 I still didn't have the money to buy a cell phone so I went without one for some time. After my heart attack my son gave me his old cell phone so I could use it to call 911 in case I got in trouble. Then came along the cell phone I have now. It's a cheap pay-as-you-go phone. I don't call very many people and I only have to put $20 on it every 3 months. I have gotten so use to carrying it now that I wouldn't be without it. It gives me that sense of security when I go out in case something happens to me.

Later on in our disability meeting, I found out that if you qualify you can get a free phone and they give you so many minutes each month and it doesn't cost anything. Now everybody in our disability meeting has a cell phone. It took a while but I'm glad that everybody has one. You never know when an emergency will arise.  


The following are "topical remarks" issued by the White House upon President Clinton's signing of S.B. 800, which designated 911 as the nationwide emergency number, and provides liability protection for wireless carriers who handle 911 calls. The bill was introduced in the 106th Congress by Sen. Conrad Burns on April 14, 1999, and was signed into law by President Clinton as Public Law 106-81.

THE WHITE HOUSE
Office of the Press Secretary


For Immediate Release
October 26, 1999
STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT

Today I am pleased to sign into law the Wireless Communications and Public Safety Act of 1999. By making it easier to use wireless phones to report emergencies, this bill could save thousands of lives every year. Nearly 100,000 times each day, someone uses a wireless phone to make an emergency call. People with wireless phones can speed the delivery of public safety services by providing rapid reports of car crashes, incidents of aggressive or drunk driving, serious crimes, and natural disasters. Getting rapid care to someone who is suffering from a heart attack or is involved a car crash can mean the difference between life and death. The legislation I am signing today will improve emergency wireless communications in several ways. First, it will make 9-1-1 the universal emergency telephone number for wireless and "wireline" telephones across the United States. Currently, there are 20 different emergency wireless numbers in different states. Second, it will encourage statewide coordination of the efforts of public safety and law enforcement officials to protect our citizens and save lives. Finally, it will increase private sector investment in emergency wireless services by providing wireless companies with the same level of liability protection that "wireline" telecommunications companies have.

I want to thank members of Congress, the wireless industry, public safety officials, and medical professionals who worked together to pass this important legislation.