Today was Presidents’ Day.

Here in the U.S., we have had some good ones and some bad ones.
I guess it sort of depend on which side of the aisle you are standing.

At any rate, they have come in all shapes and sizes, and from all walks of life.

How about our littlest fella? That would be James Madison. . (1751-1836). He was the shortest president of the United States, standing at only 5’4”. He never weighed more than 100 pounds.
And our skyscraper. None other than Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865). He measured in at 6′ 4” and weighing 180 pounds.

And… if you wanted a drink…. old Abe was your man. He is the only U.S. president who was also a licensed bartender. He was co-owner of Berry and Lincoln, a saloon in Springfield, Illinois.

Who was our Chatty Cathy? James Abram Garfield (1831-1881) is the first president to ever talk on the phone. When he spoke to Alexander Graham Bell, who was at the other end 13 miles away, he said: “Please speak a little more slowly.

And in case you didn’t know it. We probably had a gay president. Oh yes. James Buchanan is the only bachelor president. He was virtually inseparable from William R. King (1786-1853), a senator from Alabama. Because of their “like” for one another…. the pair was saddled with the nickname “Miss Nancy and Aunt Fancy” and also…..“Mr. Buchanan and his wife.”

At least they were faithful to one another.
A WHOLE bunch of the presidents cheated on their wives. Of course the most notorious were Jack Kennedy and Bill Clinton. But how about the others?

Lyndon Baines Johnson “LBJ”(1908-1973) affectionately called the many women he slept with his “harem.” He even had a buzzer system installed that rang inside the Oval Office so that Secret Service could warn him when his wife was coming.

Twenty-ninth president Warren Gamaliel Harding (1865-1923) repeatedly made love to a young girl, Nan Britton, in a White House closet. On one occasion, Secret Service agents had to stop his wife from beating down the closet door.

But who was the worst president? Well, Harding, Nixon, and Grant always seem to show up at the very bottom of the various lists.

And finally….Calvin Coolidge liked to have his head rubbed with petroleum jelly while eating his breakfast in bed.

I mean really. Who doesn’t.

At any rate… these are just a few little snippets from the lives of the U.S. Presidents. Happy Day Guys.

Hail to the Chief.

 If I’m honest I have to tell you I still read fairy-tales and I like them best of all.  — Audrey Hepburn

There are certain phrases in our language, which say one thing, very clearly. Yet….. more often than not….. they mean something entirely different.

Oh you know. Like. “Well, the cat’s out of the bag!” Or… “Easy as pie.”

Most of the time, when people say those things…. there is no cat around, and certainly not one in a bag. Same thing with the dang pie.

But…. in the majority of cases… when someone uses a phrase like that.. it means that YOU are in big trouble. Yep.  You are crap out of luck. Jerked. In dire straights. Duped. Up the proverbial creek without the handy paddle.

One that comes to mind, is a pet peeve of mine. “It is what it is.” People throw that one around a lot.

For instance… someone says… “NASA has confirmed global climate changes. Driven by increasing man-made emissions, the level of carbon dioxide in Earth’s atmosphere presently is higher than at any time in the last 800,000 years.”

And the next person says…. “Well. It is what it is.”

Arrrrrrgggghhhhh….. which translates… well there is nothing to be done about it. Just throw your hands in the air and accept our jelly spines.

Okay. Forget that example. Everyone uses it. It makes me crazy.  But it is what it is.

Here is another. “That’s the way the ball bounces.”

Now that one means you are plain out of luck. You’re done.  You are jerked. Bluto. Kaput.  The “way the ball  bounces” is just another one of those…. throw your hands in the air and give up. Bounce. Bounce. Bounce.

One more… and I will stop.

“On down the line.”

Now when you hear this one… it means that the person saying it has absolutely no intention of doing something.

“Yep. Maybe we will get to that… on down the line.” OR….. “Oh yes. We’ll have to get together for lunch….. sometime on down the line.”

Go ahead. Ask them. “What line?” I want to know how far away that line is.

So. When someone gives you bad news, or is not telling you the whole truth, they will mostly use a catchy phrase to distract you. Shift the focus. Hide the message.

And if it happens to you…. Keep a stiff upper lip. Don’t put your head in the sand. Buckle down. And stay as cool as a cucumber.

But not all at once. You will get sand in you lip, and squish your cucumber.

Then again… if it happens…. it is what it is.

Circumstances do not make the man, they reveal him.  — James Allen

While I was on the beach yesterday, some 1,417 miles from where I am sitting now…. someone said to me…. “Well. Isn’t it a small world?”

From Here. To There.

The context of this came around because we had made a “connection” between us. You know. We both knew some “common person” in some “common place.” HIs cousin Joe went to school in Charleston, SC, and I sometimes live in Charleston, SC.

This seems to be a thing that frequently happens when people travel to new places, or go on vacation. Everyone seems to meet up with another person, or several people, that they “know” somehow… or “share” a related thing.

“Geeez. It sure is a small world.”

Yep. I think that is a true statement. It is a small world on a big, big planet.

But here is the thing. We are all connected. Each and every one of us. If we sat down with any other person on this planet, and talked long enough, we would figure out what that commonality was. Our “shared” thing.

Wouldn’t it be great if we could remember this all the time? We are all connected. One big place…. that each and every individual shares. We all have a right to be here. We exist here, in this place, because it was meant to be.

All the moments before now, have come together, to bring you right where you stand at this minute. You are not the only one. We are all that way.

Your parents happened to meet, exactly when they did. All the things that happened in their lives, came together at just the right moments, that you were born just when you were.

And their parents before them. And theirs before them…. and on and on.

So, here we are. All in this same place with all these miraculous moments coming together to facilitate our being here. Whether it is a Divine Design…. or a Unintentional Pattern, is up to you to believe. But none the less, it happened…. JUST SO.  It happened precisely, and perfectly, so that you are here RIGHT EXACTLY NOW.

That is our biggest connection of all.   If we could just remember that …. about all of our co-inhabitants.  And find understanding, and compassion, for those who are just like us.  Everywhere.

It is a small world. And a really big planet.

We are all alike, on the inside.  —  Mark Twain

From the window of my plane over the Grand Cayman Island, to the windshield of my car, in Cincinnati, Ohio.  Two worlds, on the same planet…. in one day.

This has been a long day.  More tomorrow friends…..

No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow.  — Lin Yutang

It all is changing. Right this very moment. The world changes. That is what life does.

And, you see…. on this day.  I was, for the most part, in the same place, from morning to night.

But just by adjusting my perspective, or even waiting for a different time of day…. things looked quite different.  The environment around me transformed.  Not because I changed it.  Simply because I moved or shifted slightly.

And so it is with the situations, or the people we encounter in life. A change in perspective, point of view, or time of day…. changes how everything looks to us.  We can not alter the “thing” or the “person” or the “place”…. but we CAN change how we look at it.

And just when we thought it couldn’t be any more beautiful… it becomes something different…. and often times… much more amazing.

Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better.  — Albert Einstein

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All in all, today was a good day.

Okay, I got just a smidgen sun burnt. And a few other things went a wee-little-bit astray from the “way” I had planned. Sort of …. a lot…. here and there….. from the “direction I had mapped out.”

But there in lies the problem….

NEVER…. ever… EVER…. EVER…. using the phrase….

“The WAY I had planned”
or….
“My Intended Scheme of Things”
or even….
“The Road to Tipperary.”

We humans…. often get preconceived notions in our heads… out “how” things are “supposed” to go. OR predetermined ideas about “how” people will act. And so on. But when it comes down to it… truly …. we know nothing for certain about the future.

Well…. except that it will happen.
And that, in fact, isn’t a sure thing either.

Really, all we can do….. is to take whatever this moment is, and be in it. That is where we live. Our bodies, our spirits, our spinning little atoms… are right here in this exect minute.

If we could just keep our thoughts here.

And when I say all that…. I truly mean….”If I could.” Yep. How about me?

If I could just keep MY thoughts here… and not projecting to and fro…. bouncing from this future-non-existent-moment to that future-non-existent moment.

So here is a better story of the day.
This morning I took a walk on the beach. The wet sand reminded my feet of the gravity at work here. The air was warm, and the ocean water smelled clean. A breeze lifted itself…. from the surface of the lashing waves.

I saw a beautiful bird standing on the beach with me. We both looked out at the ocean and then back at one another. That moment was a miracle. Yet….. another moment. Yet, another miracle.

“Everyone has a plan ’till they get punched in the mouth.” – Mike Tyson

 “We can’t plan life. All we can do is be available for it.”  Lauryn Hill

Today I was introduced to the Mimi Fish. Now…. I am not quite sure what the fish are really called. But I have deemed them The Mimi Fish.

I am pretty sure if these fish could speak, the would be Screaming Mimi’s.

You see, I wasn’t diving… or even snorkeling… when I met them. I was eating lunch on the dock… at a place called Mimi’s. Hence the name for the fish.

And let me tell you this much about these fish. They hang out in the water right by the dock. And boy oh boy do they love to eat. Mimi-Fish will gobble down anything and everything…… just like a wild school of snapping piranha. Anything..

The people who work there encourage us-vacationers to feed the fish. They hand you your leftover plate and fork… and head you toward the Screaming Mimi’s.

From my plate……, the Mimi Fish devoured leftover hamburger, pickle, salad, bread, fruit and french fries. Without blinking.

I am pretty sure hamburgers and french fries are not in the fishes’ natural dietary needs…. and probably not the best thing for them to eat. But I guess the same is true for humans, and we consume a lot of hamburgers and french fries per year.

But those little Mimi’s seemed to love their lunch more than I did. So what the heck. Let’s all just be in this little pond together. Pass the ketchup please.

“We all have to live together, so we might as well live together happily.” – Dalai Lama

Once upon a time…. Christopher Columbus was in this water. Then… a little later… a bunch of pirates… and hooligans. But today, it was me. I took a swim in this part of the Caribbean Sea.

I have to say I like swimming in these Caribbean waters, specifically, more than any other place I’ve swam. Ever. They are so very crystal clear and warm. Salty.

But it does a body good. I mean, who wouldn’t love to dive in these waters?

As I mentioned, Old Chris Columbus spotted this here island in 1503. He was on his final trip to the new world and came across this little gem. He named it Las Tortugas… after all the big sea turtles he saw.

For the most part, the islands remained uninhabited (by people) until the late 17th century.

Then somehow….. in a rush….. the word got out. This old place became a home sweet home to pirates, refugees, sailors, slaves …. and even a few deserters from Oliver Cromwell’s army in Jamaica.

Argggghhhhhh matey. Yo-Ho-HO and a bottle of Rum.

Rum is still a popular thing here. I do not know this first hand… but I have witnessed others Yo-Ho-HO-ing.

The whole governance deal came down in 1670. The Treaty of Madrid…. was a little agreement and a handshake… between England and Spain. Part of the deal….. was for England to take formal control of Jamaica and the Cayman Islands. Jamaica would later (much later) break off from English ties. Not CI.

These days….. The Cayman Islands is an Overseas Territory of the United Kingdom with a governor appointed by the Crown. Hail to the Queen. And the Governor.
But I got off track. I swam, swam, swam.

Heck…. if I were big old ancient Sea Turtle…. I’d live in these good waters. And if I were a pirate, on the lamb, I would hide here to.
And If I were a human taking a vacation… this would probably be where I’d go.

Wait a minute. I am human, on vacation. …. … and here.

Well. …… ….. you can check THAT one off.

“By having good memories on every place you just visit, you are building paradise in your own heart and your life.”  – Toba Beta

They say that Vitamin D is good for us humans. It can be found quite readily in sunlight.

Before I go another inch… please let me clarify the “THEY”
You hear about THEY all the time on the news and in casual conversations. People throw around THEY at important meetings and such. But who… really.. are THEY.

Let me clear it up. THEY are an ambiguous panel of randomly selected individuals from around the planet. There are seven of them…. with no special talents or insight. But once THEY declare something…. I can tell you it is all the rage. THEY are Craig, Eliza, Fred, Margaret, Garry, June, and Heidi.

Now… back to the Vitamin D thing. They say it is necessary for the absorption of calcium and phosphorous in our bods. AND…. for helping our little selves with normal immune system functions. Plus… they say it makes you happier.

I have been getting some Vitamin D. I feel better already. And warmer.

Yet. I think there is a “one – up” on Vitamin D.   It is none other than… Vitamin F.
Vitamin F is necessary for normal brain functions, positive emotional states, truthfulness, humor and…. an overall good sense of well-being.

The most common source of Vitamin F is found in Friends. It is good if you are lucky enough to have one truer friend. Let alone an handful of gems.

Tonight I had dinner with friends. I don’t seem them often, but we always pick up… right where we left off. I love those two friends.

And way far away I have other friends… back in the stinking cold of Ohio. They are taking care of our home and four-leggeds. I love those friends too.

I have a handful of truly great friends and I feel incredibly fortunate for that. Yeah. I like getting more than my fair share of Vitamin F. Just like THEY said I should.

And I feel better already.