For those of you unfamiliar with AIG, it is the largest insurer in the world and was bailed out by our government (you and me) with taxpayer dollars in October. AIG just paid executives bonus money per their employment contracts amounting to $165 million. It does seem inappropriate with the economy so bad. But our esteemed Senator Charles Gressley from Iowa suggested that the leaders of AIG do like the Japanese by either resigning or killing themselves. Now there is compassion. When you screw up at work, "fall on your sword".
As you know Johnny Andrews passed away on March 5. Because of a nasty snowstorm your Mom and I were unable to attend the funeral services. I saw brother Jack today and he said he was over-whelmed by the turnout. There are still people sending cards interested in contributing to Johnny's memorial. It is a fitting tribute to a very gentle soul! In the aftermath of Jack losing both Mary Ann and Johnny in less than a year, he seems to be doing very well.
As Jack and I reminisced about growing up, Grandpa Jigg's (Alice's Dad) name came up. When I was 11-12 (Jack was 3 years younger), my Mother "unloaded" the two of us on Grandpa Jiggs and Grandma Helen for several weeks in the summer. During that visit to the north woods on lake Nemacogen, Jigg's had planned to shovel all the sh-- from the two hole outhouse. Human droppings fell through the holes (Gad that's gross). The toilets were located on top of a hill so that the droppings could fall through and down the hill for easy cleaning. Jigg's decided that Jack and I could shovel all the sh-- into a trailor and then we would haul it to a dump. We were given shovels and Jiggs left to do something else.. After he left I remember looking at Jack and saying "I ain't shoveling this pile of sh--". He agreed. So we ran off down along the lake shore and skipped flat stones. When we came back to the outhouse, Jigg's was shoveling. When he saw us, we turned to run away. He chased us with a pitchfork and yelled something like "come back you little sh--s". Imagine calling your grandchildren little sh--s. Grandma Helen protected us little darlings and we never did have to shovel the sh--. There must be a lesson here! Maybe it is "never shovel sh-- if you don't have to".
Today was ideal. 65-70 degrees. Bright sunshine. St. Patrick's day. Enjoy the day. Pretend to be Irish.
The lesson Grasshoppers is that as life unfolds, sh-- happens. Hopefully you don't have to shovel it!
Love,
Dad