The Iceman Back in 1943 while the big war (WWII) raged around our world, me and my big brother Gerald were in the ice business. Gerald is pictured here standing in front of one of our icehouses on a beautiful Sunday morning when we were all on our way to the First Baptist Church which was just across State Highway 3.

The holiday fun and games were over, and we were ready to fly home. But a middle of the night message informed us our flight was cancelled and we had to rebook. And we suddenly became birds without wings. I now have a pretty good idea how a Christmas turkey feels, in those left-over days after Christmas. The juicy meat is already picked off, and all that is left is a carcass of dried-up bones. Except I felt more useless than turkey bones, which a cook will simmer into broth. Oh, yeah, I did simmer… being stranded when I just want to be back in my house tends to bring out the fed up and frustrated side of me.

Recently I was reading in the Old Testament about a patriarch named Jacob whose name, not surprisingly, meant “deceiver”; Jacob was an “if-then” kind of guy. In Genesis 28:20 Jacob makes a conditional vow saying “IF God does certain things for me THEN the Lord will be my God” I was a little surprised to see God didn’t smack him in the back of the head.

If you ever feel a little bit stupid, just read the following actual quotes and you’ll begin to think you’re a genius. *(On September 17, 1994, Alabama’s Heather Whitestone was selected as Miss America 1995.) Question: If you could live forever, would you and why? Answer: “I would not live forever, because we should not live forever, because if we were supposed to live forever, then we would live forever, but we cannot live forever, which is why I would not live forever.” --Miss Alabama in the 1994 Miss USA contest.

My birthday was last week and while it will not be cause for the celebration that Preston Dunlap will have in a couple of weeks when he turns 17, it is still significant, to me, anyway. Some little known, and possibly not very interesting facts: I was born at home (3½ miles west and half mile south of Holdenville) in a oneroom house on January 12, 1936.

What if . .