As we talked about those early years, he was so expressive and excited to share with me where his work was located. With wide eyes and a huge smile, he told me that he would daily take the bus from where he lived in NJ, and ride it over the George Washington Bridge that went over the Hudson River. This bus would take him to the Subway that would deposit him there at his building.......a 1 hour and 15 minute commute! Now that is dedication for a young man of 17! So, what building was this that brought such joy to his face, you may ask? Well, it was the RCA Building in Rockefeller Center! We sat and talked about this building and I am not sure how many years later it is now, but you can tell that this building has always left him in awe! The first picture below is a picture of The RCA and Associated Press Buildings in Rockefeller Center. July 1940. Photo: Andreas Feininger. The second picture is of Rockefeller Center at night! You can see why he was in AWE! He sat and told me about the Ice Skating Rink that sat outside the building.......and Radio City Music Hall that was just across the street. These seemed to be really good times for Mr. May.
When I last wrote about Mr. May, we discovered that he was a mighty good Soda Jerk! After he graduated High School at the age of 17, he decided it was time to get a job that would hopefully lead him into a career. His mom worked at Shell Oil Company, however they had a, "No Nepotism" policy. This means that no family members could work together in the company. Due to the fact that Mr. May was 17 at the time, they decided to overlook this rule and bring him on. As we talked about those early years, he was so expressive and excited to share with me where his work was located. With wide eyes and a huge smile, he told me that he would daily take the bus from where he lived in NJ, and ride it over the George Washington Bridge that went over the Hudson River. This bus would take him to the Subway that would deposit him there at his building.......a 1 hour and 15 minute commute! Now that is dedication for a young man of 17! So, what building was this that brought such joy to his face, you may ask? Well, it was the RCA Building in Rockefeller Center! We sat and talked about this building and I am not sure how many years later it is now, but you can tell that this building has always left him in awe! The first picture below is a picture of The RCA and Associated Press Buildings in Rockefeller Center. July 1940. Photo: Andreas Feininger. The second picture is of Rockefeller Center at night! You can see why he was in AWE! He sat and told me about the Ice Skating Rink that sat outside the building.......and Radio City Music Hall that was just across the street. These seemed to be really good times for Mr. May. I have to stop here.......but will finish this segment when I get back home today!
0 Comments
I am getting more and more excited as the days go by! Three more days and I will be on the journey that was ordained by God! I have so much to do before I go, as a matter of fact I am going to go and paint our spare room after I get through here. I have my suitcase picked out and I am compiling everything going inside to take to Church tomorrow night. I am flying alone with a lay over, so my bag is going with the group that is flying non-stop......kinda goes without explanation! Tonight I will write my next installment about Mr. May, and tomorrow I will be going to visit my patients one last time before I leave......I am so excited! Thursday I will be running major errands......and Friday, well, I am still not sure, but I am sure it will be full! I want to thank each and everyone of you who have helped me, prayed for me, and who love me without question. I ma so extremely blessed and I am even more thankful! It is my desire to post daily when there, but I am not sure that during the first week we will have internet. Our first week will be in Nicaragua helping build a Pastorium. We will be staying in the home of someone in the Village so it is likely that during those three days we will all be a bit silent on the web! Pictures will abound, but editing may hold me back, but I will daily try to tell a story with pictures and words.........and I am sooooooo excited! I have one particular prayer request before I go. Memorial Day Weekend, my zoom lens was involved in an accident in the boat. A wave came over the front and soaked my lens which was thought to be in a safe place. We put it in rice, but to no avail. My prayer is that no matter what lens I have or don't have, that God will put each picture that He wants to be seen, perfectly on the card that the picture is taken on. This is a reminder for me that I am not the artist.....He is....I am the vessel......He has given me an eye and the heart to see what others may not see........but He is the one who puts the scenes before my eyes.......He is the Artist!
Words cannot express how excited I am to go back to Honduras again! If anyone would like to share this experience with me, please send me your name and email address so that I can share it with you. I will be posting on my blog as often as I can and sharing pics of the precious people that I love so much! God has provided ALL of my funds for the trip and for that I am in complete AWE! We are still collecting funds for Food Bags, and for one of the National Pastors as we try to help him to get a motorcycle as he goes from village to village doing the work of God. Pastor Eddie is probably one of the hardest working, most loving, and completely driven and sold out to spreading the gospel of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! He goes into remote villages that are often hard to reach and he does this by foot......He has already raised 500.00 for the motorbike and he still needs 1000.00 to be able to obtain this motorcycle. Please let me know if you might be interested in donating to either! All donations are tax deductible.......and very much appreciated!!!!! I also want to ask all that would like to pray, please contact me and I will fill you in on our prayer needs not only now, but as we are in Honduras. Thank you......and may God bless you greatly!!! Today I am honored to include the beautiful bride of Mr. May! I did not get the chance to talk with her very long, but I can tell you what I learned about Mrs. May in my visit with her. Mrs. May is quite a beautiful woman.......she is so well put together and she carries herself with a very graceful confidence! I also believe she is quite a hoot herself! I am looking forward to spending time with Mrs. May and learning about her life! She seems to be quite an incredible woman who is married to quite an incredible man.........a former Soda Jerk! With my next post, I will be doing stories from both Mr. and Mrs. May, but I think I will write about each of them separately with bits of interwoven pieces of their lives. The Soda Jerk One day I was on my way to visit Mr. May and I was talking to his daughter about visiting her mom. As we talked, she told me that I might want to ask her dad about his days as a Soda Jerk, hmmmmmmmm, PERFECT!!!!!! When I walked in to see Mr. May, I immediately got my sweet smile shining across the room........oh how this makes my day! "Mr. May", I said, "I hear you used to be a Soda Jerk, tell me your story!" Then the journey began............. In Bergenfield, NJ where Mr. May lived growing up, there were 4 different Ice Cream Parlors in his town during the years he was in High School. After leaving the NYC Boys Choir at the age of 12, he came back home to NJ and landed his first job in one of these Ice Cream Parlors as a Soda Jerk! Incredibly, Mr. May worked at all 4 of these Ice Cream Parlors at one time or another. The first one he worked at he was there for a few years. In this time, he honed his skills and made a name for himself! This was a job that you can tell he THOROUGHLY enjoyed. There was a new Parlor opening up in town and they really needed someone with experience. They needed someone who knew what they were doing and knew how to close up at night. Well, Mr. May fit that bill! It was not much longer after it opened that the owner decided to close that store and open up a new one in a better location with higher visibility and foot traffic, and of course Mr. May came along. The last Parlor he worked for was for an Independently owned operation that had opened up, and he really wanted Mr. May to work for him. I asked Mr. May which was his favorite.......and he told me the first one was his favorite by far. NOW.....we have gotten the work history out of the way, let's get on to the fun stuff! When Mr. May first started working, the one thing he loved was coming in first thing in the morning. As a now 13 year old, he loved walking up to the store and seeing the news papers waiting for him lined up on the sidewalk. It was his job to bring them in and set them up for the day. This just thrilled his heart to no end! As I thought about it, this is something almost foreign to kids today. One, kids today don't really get the chance to work like this.......which to me is kind of sad. Second, the world of printed newspapers has dwindled because of computers and the internet. Most kids don't even read news stories anymore because they live in the world of YouTube......and the written word is quickly fleeting. As I talked to Mr. May, you could just see the joy and excitement that he had during this time in his life. Over time as Mr. May honed his skills, he became a bit famous in his neck of the woods for a drink that he had created. This drink was called a, "Gizmo"! Part of being a Soda Jerk included mixing the Seltzer water and the Soda syrup to create what we now drink out of a plastic bottle. They also mixed ice cream in with the sodas to make floats and made yummy milkshakes behind the counter. Mr. May had people who sometimes did not want a Soda per say, but still wanted something carbonated, thus the Gizmo was born! He took chocolate syrup and added seltzer water to it, and TAAAAAADAAAAAAAA!!!!!! (you have to sing the tada in you mind!) He was sort of famous in the eyes of those who drank this! (ok, so, I am imagining that he was......I was living in the moment...hehehehe!!!!) If you wanted one of these, "Mr. May" creations, it would set you back a WHOLE DIME! When Mr. May graduated High School, his career as a Soda Jerk came to an end. I asked Mr. May if he was covered up with young women wanting him to make their Sodas and Ice Cream delights.........hehehe......and his eyes got big and he said, "Oh Yeah!!!!!" He makes me laugh!!! Not only was Mr. May the town Soda Jerk, but he was also a Baseball and Football player. (I am sure that also endeared him to to girls!!!) He said he was not a star, but he was not a bench warmer either! On the dresser in Mr. Mays room, there are two pictures that sit side by side. One is of his grandson in his football uniform.....the other is a pic of Mr. May when he was around the same age. If one were not black and white, you would almost think it was the same person! He was, and still such a handsome fella! I will try to snag a shot of these two pics so your imagination can go back in time with mine as we piece together parts of Mr. Mays life! (I am a visual person......and I have quite an imagination!!!!) The next story coming soon.....the early years of Mr. May and Mrs. May......stay tuned!!!!! May God bless you all!!!!! On my last post, I gave the history of Mr. May in his young days as a Choirboy for the NYC Boys Choir. On my visit this week he told me a story about one of the most incredible experiences of his life! One day the Boys Choir went to sing at Madison Square Gardens. At this concert, they shared the stage with none other than the great Frank Sinatra! Mr. May described him to me as the, "Greatest singer of Pop Music EVER!" As most of us know, Frank Sinatra is a legend from the 1940's on. The one memory that he holds dear to is the moment he got to not only meet Sinatra......but Frank Sinatra shook his hand! Now the funny part of this story is that at the time, he did not really recognize the magnitude of this visit until he grew up and came to love the music of the man who shook his hand many years before! I asked Mr. May what he remembered most about Sinatra and he told me that he was incredibly good at his stand up concerts. He had this way of capturing his audience and bringing them into his surroundings. As we sat talking about this experience, I asked Mr. May if he remembered one of the songs that Sinatra sang that day, and it was at this point that Mr. May sang, "I Get a Kick Out of You"! Now let me describe this to you. Mr. May because of his health, has a very soft and sometimes strained voice. As he sang to me in this precious soft voice, I felt so honored! He sat there so bright eyed and excited to sing for me and Devon, and it melted my heart into mush! One thing I am personally learning is that Memories can do one of two things. They can either become more precious over time, or if they are bad ones, and if you let them, they can destroy you and lead you into a dark and depressed state. I am so glad that Mr. May has memories that allow him to keep his incredible smile living so graciously on his face. When I talk to him, his heart is filled with joy and peace! I have never left his room and felt depressed or sad. Instead, when I leave, my heart is floating on the clouds full of peace and love! I am so blessed that God has given me the honor of writing you all about this sweet, incredible man. May God bless you all!! My Favorite Choirboy! Mr. May was 9 years old when he tried out for the NYC Boys Choir. Now what I want you to understand is that being a part of this choir meant living there! The boys who were a part of this Choir attended and lived at the Choir School of St. John Divine. The Cathedral of St. John the Divine where they sang was the largest Cathedral in the world! This is where he lived his dream for four years! "Onward Christian Soldiers", was the song he sang at his audition and he was chosen to be a boy soprano. There were 40 boys and they were divided into sharps and flats, 20 in each. Mr. May was a flat, which seems like an oxymoron to me because he is "sharp" as a tack! Hehehe! As I talked to Mr. May about his time here, I learned he was quite a little hoot.....just like he is today! I asked him what his favorite part about being in the program was, and he told me that just being in, and singing in the Cathedral was almost overwhelming! The acoustics were beyond incredible and just listening to, and being a part of something so beautiful was an honor that he was so proud to be a part of! Not only was Mr. May in the program, but a few years before he got into the program...his older brother participated for two years! I guess singing was a talent that ran deep in their family. I asked Mr. May what his life was like living away from home at such a young age. He told me that it was o.k. and that it was a really neat place to live. The building they lived it was a Gothic style building and they each had their own alcove that they lived in! The first section was where the sharps lived and then there were the flats. What I am about to tell you next is what will show you how creative Mr. May was.........On Sunday nights, the boys were allowed to go to a movie with their parents in town. While at the movies, he would always go to the candy counter and buy "Good and Plenty"s. Now at the school it was forbidden to have candy, but when he would come back from the movies, the proverbial store was open! He had become quite the entrepreneur in the candy business by selling the candy by the piece! He also found out how quickly his business could be shut down when busted by the Priest! Alas.......this was the end of Mr. Mays great candy enterprise! Mr. May also decided to share with me one of his memorable moments.....the day he was allowed to sit at the Head of the table! He had written something that awarded him the honor of sitting at the head of the most beautiful table! While sitting there, the Head Master was watching him as he took his cup of tomato juice and mixed it in his milk to make tomato soup. From that moment on the Head Master made sure that tomato juice and milk were served at EVERY meal while he was in this position of honor! At the age of 12 his soprano voice started to change......and that is when he moved back home and his grand adventure came to an end. Mr. May has such fond memories of his time there, and he truly saw it as an honor to be a part of something that special! I wish I could have seen him up there singing as a child. My guess is that his smile back then was every bit as special as the one that lives so happily on his face now! I have known many people, but very few with a joy that comes from so deeply within. Getting to know Mr. May is such an honor, and such a joy for me. I look forward to our next visit and seeing his smile that forever lives in my mind......and in my heart! Please come back again for our next adventure! May God bless you all! Hello my friends! This is such an exciting day for me in that I get to introduce you to a most incredible gentleman! Today is my introduction, but tomorrow I am going to share a story with you all about Mr. May when he was younger! For today, I want you all to know that this smile that you see in the picture......is the smile I see everytime I walk through the doors of his room! His eyes are so bright and beautifully blue! I have to tell you though, the most beautiful feature that Mr. May has.........is his heart! Mr. May always loves to share things with Devon! He has candy that he gives him coming and going.....and this makes Mr. May.......Devons Hero! Mr. May tells wonderful stories from his childhood and he is going to be sharing many different aspects of his life......with us all! What a pleasure!!! I thank God greatly for giving me the wonderful opportunity to spend time with Mr. May and all of the others that I am honored to spend time with! Please stay tuned tomorrow for my first story about his life! May God bless you Greatly Mr. May......you deserve great blessings in your life..! As I sat here and listened to this song.....once again God proved to me how powerful our testimony is! Our testimony IS a part of our scars! We don't have to hide them! When we try to hide our scars, there is still shame involved.....we worry about what others may think about us. I am here to tell you, there is such great freedom.....and beauty in revealing those scars! There is such a great witness in revealing those scars when we have allowed God to take the sin, take the shame, and heal our broken hearts and spirits! When we reveal those scars and speak of the greatness of our God.....that my friends is using the great gift of your testimony! When I hear the testimonies of others, there is such great peace that flows from our Fathers heart to ours! Testimonies may not be pretty....most often they are ugly and filled with great pain! BUT GOD!!!!!! I have so many different avenues to my testimony and just looking at what they are about is not pretty....it is filled with regret.......BUT GOD!!!! Now I am free!!!! Now I have a deep peace that truly surpasses ALL understanding!!!! Now.....I love my scars....God has made beauty from the ashes of my life and left those beautiful scars as a lasting reminder of HIS LOVE FOR ME!!!!! The most beautiful scars in the history of the whole world are the scars that are on the hands and feet of our INCREDIBLE SAVIOR JESUS CHRIST! His scars should be the ultimate reminder of Gods Love and Grace! Oh my friends....let yourself be freed from the shame and share your beautiful scars! God has the most interesting way of talking to me......and many, many times it is through music. If you know me, you know how important music is in my life. So many times I would beg Him to speak to me audibly so that I would know it was Him. Although I never have heard Him just speak out loud to me with His actual voice.......He would bring a song that contained a message that spoke directly to my heart.....as if I was the one it was written for! This song is no different! Just a few days ago Russ, the drummer in the band I manage, were talking about the music we play. Worship music is wonderful, especially for Christians who know what worship is and who worship is for. However, what we play is music with a message. This is music that speaks specifically about God, who He is, what He does, what He expects, how He works and so on. It can speak to the lost and the found......it can break through hardened hearts and help mend crushed spirits! The songs we sing were written from blood, sweat and tears......from experience......from the heart of God that comes out through instruments! The song below is a song like this! I stayed up a bit later and had JCTV on, and this video started to play and instantly I was taken from what I was working on......to being totally immersed in the heart of God! HIS LOVE........HIS LOVE........HIS LOVE! How many times have we spoken with empty words......left people with a bitter taste because of our words? Our love......that comes from God....is the proof of HIS love! Can you heart this? Please, play this song.....close your eyes and listen! Listen with your heart........then listen again! I can't quit listening......my heart yearns to love with HIS love! I am Bankrupt without love.......Let my life be the PROOF of YOUR LOVE!!!!!!!! Testimonies come in many different forms. I posted this here because it is a beautifully written piece of fiction with some incredible life lessons. Sometimes we may never know how our life may touch someone else, but in one way or another......for good or for bad.......we will affect the lives of others. As a Christian, it is truly our job to affect the lives of others by showing the love of Jesus not only through our words, but through our actions and deeds. Better yet, the actions and deeds MUST match up to our words, or we WILL do harm. As you take the time to read this special work of fiction, think about the small things you could do to make a huge eternal difference! May God bless you greatly as you look deeply into your heart and soul!
As she stood in front of her 5th grade class on the very first day of school, she told the children an untruth. Like most teachers, she looked at her students and said that she loved them all the same. However, that was impossible, because there in the front row, slumped in his seat, was a little boy named Teddy Stoddard. Mrs. Thompson had watched Teddy the year before and noticed that he did not play well with the other children, that his clothes were messy and that he constantly needed a bath. In addition, Teddy could be unpleasant. It got to the point where Mrs. Thompson would actually take delight in marking his papers with a broad red pen, making bold X's and then putting a big "F" at the top of his papers. At the school where Mrs. Thompson taught, she was required to review each child's past records and she put Teddy's off until last. However, when she reviewed his file, she was in for a surprise. Teddy's first grade teacher wrote, "Teddy is a bright child with a ready laugh. He does his work neatly and has good manners... he is a joy to be around.." His second grade teacher wrote, "Teddy is an excellent student, well liked by his classmates, but he is troubled because his mother has a terminal illness and life at home must be a struggle." His third grade teacher wrote, "His mother's death has been hard on him. He tries to do his best, but his father doesn't show much interest and his home life will soon affect him if some steps aren't taken." Teddy's fourth grade teacher wrote, "Teddy is withdrawn and doesn't show much interest in school. He doesn't have many friends and he sometimes sleeps in class." By now, Mrs. Thompson realized the problem and she was ashamed of herself. She felt even worse when her students brought her Christmas presents, wrapped in beautiful ribbons and bright paper, except for Teddy's. His present was clumsily wrapped in the heavy, brown paper That he got from a grocery bag Mrs. Thompson took pains to open it in the middle of the other presents. Some of the children started to laugh when she found a rhinestone bracelet with some of the stones missing, and a bottle that was one-quarter full of perfume.. But she stifled the children's laughter when she exclaimed how pretty the bracelet was, putting it on, and dabbing some of the perfume on her wrist. Teddy Stoddard stayed after school that day just long enough to say, "Mrs. Thompson, today you smelled just like my Mom used to." After the children left, she cried for at least an hour. On that very day, she quit teaching reading, writing and arithmetic. Instead, she began to teach children. Mrs. Thompson paid particular attention to Teddy. As she worked with him, his mind seemed to come alive. The more she encouraged him, the faster he responded. By the end of the year, Teddy had become one of the smartest children in the class and, despite her lie that she would love all the children the same, Teddy became one of her "teacher's pets.." A year later, she found a note under her door, from Teddy, telling* her that she was still the best teacher he ever had in his whole life. Six years went by before she got another note from Teddy. He then wrote that he had finished high school, third in his class, and she was still the best teacher he ever had in life. Four years after that, she got another letter, saying that while things had been tough at times, he'd stayed in school, had stuck with it, and would soon graduate from college with the highest of honors. He assured Mrs. Thompson that she was still the best and favorite teacher he had ever had in his whole life. Then four more years passed and yet another letter came. This time he explained that after he got his bachelor's degree, he decided to go a little further. The letter explained that she was still the best and favorite teacher he ever had. But now his name was a little longer.... The letter was signed, Theodore F. Stoddard, MD. The story does not end there. You see, there was yet another letter that spring. Teddy said he had met this girl and was going to be married. He explained that his father had died a couple of years ago and he was wondering if Mrs. Thompson might agree to sit at the wedding in the place that was usually reserved for the mother of the groom. Of course, Mrs. Thompson did. And guess what? She wore that bracelet, the one with several rhinestones missing. Moreover, she made sure she was wearing the perfume that Teddy remembered his mother wearing on their last Christmas together. They hugged each other, and Dr. Stoddard whispered in Mrs. Thompson's ear, "Thank you Mrs. Thompson for* believing in me. Thank you so much for making me feel important and showing me that I could make a difference." Mrs. Thompson, with tears in her eyes, whispered back. She said, "Teddy, you have it all wrong. You were the one who taught me that I could make a difference. I didn't know how to teach until I met you." (For you that don't know, Teddy Stoddard is the Dr. at Iowa Methodist Hospital in Des Moines that has the Stoddard Cancer Wing.) Warm someone's heart today. . . pass this along. I love this story so very much, I cry every time I read it. Just try to make a difference in someone's life today? tomorrow? Just "do it". Random acts of kindness, I think they call it? Heartwarming though it is, the tale of little Teddy Stoddard and his inspirational teacher, Mrs. Thompson, is a work of fiction. The original story, which first appeared in significantly different form in the magazine Home Life in 1976, was written by Elizabeth Silance Ballard (now Elizabeth Ungar) and called “Three Letters from Teddy.” The main character’s name was Teddy Stallard, not Teddy Stoddard. In 2001, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette columnist Dennis Roddy interviewed the author, who expressed amazement at how often and how freely her short story has been adapted, rarely with proper credit. “I’ve had people use it in their books, except they made it as if it happened to them,” she told Ruddy. Paul Harvey used it in a radio broadcast. Dr. Robert Schuller repeated it in a televised sermon. It has been passed from person to person as a “true story” on the Internet since 1998. Though it is loosely based on her personal experiences, Ungar insists the story is pure fiction. For the record, the only Stoddard connected with Iowa Methodist Hospital in Des Moines was John D. Stoddard, an engineer and cancer victim, after whom the John Stoddard Cancer Center was named. He died in 1998. * Taken from About.com Urban Legends |
Author
|