Opinion

singing robins snow swirls softly in the snow globe __________ lone catfish falling leaves blanket the river .

I’ve always been a Christmas junkie. My family was traditional with turkey dinner during Thanksgiving and Christmas. I’ve changed that now to prime rib or venison roast for my family and I on the big day. Well, for myself and my daughter when she comes in from her university for the holidays.

I’m at that lonely, awkward, in-between stage of life when my children have left me behind, and they haven’t yet replaced themselves with grandchildren. This is especially hard this time of year, because stores are jampacked with fun toys and adorable, tiny holiday clothing, and I have no one to buy for. It’s also hard when I go to the park and see families strolling along the pathways or sharing picnic lunches. If anyone wants to share their (well-behaved) small humans with me, I’m happy to babysit.

If you read the story on the first page about the rain, you already know how much I enjoy this time of year. So, I won’t dive into that again.

I have to offer a few words about a friend of mine who died last week. I will miss Don Edwards. I met cowboy singer, Don Edwards, about twenty- plus years ago. I was having breakfast with several friends who had similar interests in Texana and Western history.

Halloween is almost upon us once again. I often wonder if people in Runnels County realize just how fortunate we are during this time of year.

Dear Reader As you will see, we don’t have much in the way of sports this week. I will explain why.

A couple of weeks ago I wrote an article about the decline of membership in civic groups. The decline is across the board, from Freemasons to Rotary to Lions, Optimist, Jaycees, etc. I am a member of the Ballinger Rotary Club and I am a director on the United Way of the Concho Valley Board of Directors. As part of United Way, each year I see these civic groups doing more and more, with less and less. At United Way, we fund a little over $1.2 million in programs throughout the year. The demand grows every year. I wish that we could help every program that comes to us for funding. With Rotary, Lions, etc., I don’t think that you could accurately quantify the good that our civic groups do in our communities. I’m going to put the ministerial alliances in the category of civic groups. They, too, do a great deal to help people throughout our community. The Ballinger Ministerial Alliance, and Ballinger Cares, help people in need on a daily basis.

I thought I watched too much television. That idea changed after watching a recap of the recent Emmy Awards show. I did not know any of the award winners or the shows that received an Emmy Award. I guess we don’t travel in the same social circles. Do you remember having just two or three channels on the tube? And you had to actually get up and turn the channel knob to change channels. One professor told me there is often more choices when there is less choices. That point is not lost in this conversation.