Thanks to the generosity of my friend Gary Wilber who runs Troy Christian Schools, one of the finest Christian educational institution I have seen, I just finished a week of R and R at Norris Lake in Eastern Tennessee. This place was a taste of heaven.
For seven days I watched five grandchildren in life jackets bob like screaming corks just off the end of the dock. I rode jet skis that go faster than my car. I fed worms to tiny thieves with fins and caught a catfish that looked a
larmingly like a kid I knew in college. We made s’mores around a campfire, laughed and talked and played cards until the wee hours. On the last day I water skied until my arms fell off. They are somewhere at the bottom of the lake.
At midnight the first night, as I sat on the deck, a hairy rodent (squirrel) flew past my head and landed on a post not three feet from my head. He ate a couple of grains of corn and flew to a tree 30 yards down toward the lake. I ran into the house yelling I have just seen a flying hairy rodent. That’s where it got interesting. No one in my family had ever heard of or seen a flying squirrel. Therefore they determined that no such thing existed and that I had imagined the whole thing. My protests were met with deriding comments like, “Did it have feathers?” “Did it carry away any of the children?” “Do you think we should be afraid of Asian squirrel flu? ”
In the midst of all the laughter and snide comments about my mental stability, a hairy rodent appeared out of nowhere, missing my daughters head by just inches and landed on the afore mentioned post. Three of the women and two of the men? scattered like… like…. well, like frightened hairy rodents.
I was vindicated. I would almost swear the squirrel winked before flying to another perch. Then from under one of the tables, I heard a voice proclaim. “That wasn’t a flying squirrel!”
My takeaway from the fantastic week
- It is human nature that people tend to believe what they want to believe no matter what the evidence! Recent best sellers prove the point.
- The oldest person at a family gathering is the least believed!
- If you want your arms, don’t water ski past age 60!
If you know the truth don’t be afraid to proclaim it!