I missed the May issue, as I hope you all noticed.

What an intro, huh? At my age, you have to let folks know you’re still here and not headed for the Great Beyond. In my august years, I wake up every morning and say, “I’m still here so I had best get up and make coffee just to prove it.”

Somewhere I read that time is man’s invention, the day and night is God’s. When you think of it that way, then why does man run around always fussing about being on time and trying to complete the almost impossible? Of course, without organization of one’s time, life would be a worse jumble than it is.

Speaking of time, mine grows shorter ahead and the memories longer behind. Not such a bad deal at that. My family has been blessed with five living generations and when all get together, their time is spent on the “remembering whens.” Sitting back listening, I have found out things that have happened I had never known or had forgotten. The shrieks of laughter and even a few tears bring a renewed closeness to all.

I wonder what will be said of me when I travel on?  One can’t be sure, but I’m certain it will be in good humor because of my habit of finding it in the oddest of things, especially about myself. Even now I get the giggles every time I go to the Eglon Cemetery where my family is buried in our family plot, to see the stone of a neighbor who had accidentally been buried next to a Thornton some years ago. The fellow who had the record of plots was not in town at the time and his sidekick took care of it. It was a bit of a shock, I’ll admit, but after thinking it over it seemed so darn funny. We sure weren’t going to ask her to get up and move. I’m just grateful that it was a friend with a last name beginning with a T, and not a stranger.

One favorite story told again and again is about a long-past Father’s Day dinner when Don was given a double-layer box of chocolate bon bons. To be thoughtful, I was given a one-layer box of chocolates. Now, Don could take a few months with candy, eating one every now and then. Not me. One piece leads to another. About a month or so later, Don brought his box out to offer son Raymond a piece. Since the top layer was down to its last gooey chewy, he took the top paper off — and the look on his face was pure puzzle. He looked at Raymond and said, “What in the blazes (nicer word) happened to the candy? The bottom layer isn’t here?” I quietly slunk into the bedroom — the guilty party. I had been eating from the bottom one at a time when the yen struck me.

Raymond started laughing, realizing what I had done and told his dad. And they never let me forget it. I’m just a chocoholic at heart.

In speaking of time, here’s a saying some will appreciate: “Many people would rather look backward than forward because it is easier to remember where they have been than to figure out were they are going.”

n n n

I just want to remind folks that we have to get the ball rolling on getting fund donations for next year’s rent for the Kingston Food Bank.  The community needs to pull together to come up with a few yard sales or something.

Last year, the food bank was gifted with a $16,000 donation, which was a real blessing. Barb Fulton works so hard to keep it going. Also, food donations are always needed.

A friend has pledged my family $1,000 matching our donation. I mentioned it to a dear lady that we wanted to start the fund drive and she jumped right in before I had even finished my sentence. People really do care.

A thank you to all that have participated in one way or another for helping our neighbors and, as it has been said, “but for the grace of God there go I.”

— Contact Jacque Thornton at jacquejt@centurytel.net