Soap Box

It was a warm, but not blistering hot day July day, later that evening, there was a spectacular sunset at Mom and Dad’s Twin Pines Ranch.

It was July 4^th, Independence Day, and for a change, Dad wasn’t working, in fact, nobody was because everything had come to a screeching halt.

It was 2020 after all.

We had hot dogs, we sat outside and did our best to maintain “social distancing” because that’s what “they” told us we were supposed to do. 

We were trying to be extremely cautious because Dad was in that high-risk category - being in his early 80s - and a lot of people depended on him, and they depended on me, so I did my best to keep away from them for the 4 months that we were “sheltering in place.”

My trips to the grocery store were something like a TV shopping cart race with a KN95 mask, goggles and nitrile gloves to add an extra degree of difficulty to the challenge. I usually tried to get in and out in no more than 15 minutes – presumably, the maximum time that one could dodge the virus in a grocery store - depending on what Mom and Dad needed me to pick up for them.

If I forgot something, I said, “I’ll get it next time, I’ve got to move!”

We were even using Clorox or Lysol wipes or spraying down the groceries to make sure that none of the dreaded COVID-19 coronavirus could get into Twin Pines.

That Independence Day, we gathered on the back porch and Mom and Dad’s bus driver, Dean Tubb also joined us for a socially distanced hot dog feast.

Later that night, I swam laps in their swimming pool, which became a nightly ritual during the Black Plague of 2020. Mom and Dad would often sit on the back porch and talk to me periodically, so I would often stop and break my pace so I could visit with them for a few minutes.

I don’t remember anything, in particular, we talked about, but just general things, the state of the world, music, politics, what the 2020 football seasons might look like in the wake of the pandemic, the lockdowns, the riots taking place across the country, you know, just average everyday stuff.

I know he prayed during dinner, and we thanked the Almighty for allowing us to be born in the greatest and most free nation in the world, even though it felt less free due to the restrictions set by unelected “experts” whose suggestions on how best to navigate the pandemic, which went from wearing a mask to prevent spreading the virus, to wearing two masks to something as ridiculous as wearing masks while having sex.

But 2020 was a time when everyone was looking for answers because our world had been turned upside down, and for the CDB and the Daniels family, it was about to get even more topsy-turvy.

July 4th would be the next to the last time I spoke to Dad, not counting trying to help get him to the hospital on the 6th. I repeated my nightly swim the following night on the 5^th not knowing it was the last time I would see him healthy.

If I had known that would be the last time I would get to see him under “normal” circumstances, I would have foregone all the swimming and talked to him all the way up to that morning.

Dad loved the 4^th of July, he played many 4^th of July celebrations over his many decades of performing, and he loved this country, and he was grateful to the men and women who fought to protect it from those who would try to do this great nation harm, saying that “we owe them an unpayable debt of gratitude,” which we most certainly do.

This 4^th of July I’m planning on going to the pool at Mom and Dad’s once again, this time with my new wife and her family, and we will have a big ole time, but for me, it will be a bit melancholy, the 6^th of July is right around the corner.

I hope everyone out there has a safe and happy Independence Day. Celebrate it to the hilt but also remember those who helped bring that independence to our nation, and to those who are currently serving who allow us to keep it.

Also…

Remember that tomorrow is NEVER promised, so today, TODAY, hold your loved ones tight, TELL them you love them, ask them the questions you’ve always wondered about, never take them for granted, let go of petty grudges and try to heal old family rifts because July 4^th can quickly give way to July 6^th like it did for us, and then it’s too late.

I still have questions for Dad that I won’t know until the day the Lord calls me home as well, but at that point, it won’t matter, but seeing him, my grandparents, my great grandparents, along with friends and other lost loved ones again will be a glorious day.

From all of us with the CDB, Daniels and Twin Pines Family, a very Happy 4^th of July, and Happy 248^th Birthday to the United States of America!

What do you think?

Let’s all make the day count!

Pray for our troops, our police, the Peace of Jerusalem and our nation.

God Bless America!

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