Baja Bernie - 8-25-2007 at 08:37 AM
Yesterday
A couple of things, neither of any great consequence, happened yesterday and in combination they caused me to look deeply into myself and understand a
few things that had eluded me since I had landed in Alvarado Hospital way back in February of 1997 with something more than a common heart attack. I
laid around that place for just six days shy of the total days allotted for a normal February and came out a somewhat changed man.
They tell me that I left a couple of times and that I was just a bit hard to deal with as I continued to fill my days and nights by hallucinating
about Baja and my family. Apparently these trips out of mind and body really bothered the family because one of my daughters talked about some of the
things I had said for a long time—never to me, but quietly to her mother—she had never heard me use such language.
What brought these silly memory’s on and why am I sitting here writing about them in the dead of the night has provided me with an understanding of
what motivates me to tell stories at the drop of a hat and more importantly why I will and do share my life and other stories with anybody who I
thinks might want to hear them.
These changes in me, from a rather quiet guy who had a lot of thoughts and feelings, to a big clown who thinks he have something important to share
with others around him has been embarrassing to my family and somewhat confusing to me—that is until yesterday when the day started as I open an email
from a very important friend. It told a rather sappy story of two guys in a hospital where one of them could not see anything and the other had a
window view to the world outside. To shorten the story a tad the guy who could not see the world going by was kept alive and well by the other guy
relating to him almost everything that occurred within his wonderful view of the world outside.
One morning the commentator was no more and the other old guy asked the nurse if he could be moved to the window bed and as this was accomplished he
was surprised to find that the window opened onto a blank wall. Yep! You got it, a blank wall.
Later in the day I was waiting for the wife and happened to turn down my sun visor. I ‘re-found’ one of those cards we have all received while laying
around one hospital or another. This one merely said—Love, Hurry home to me!—at least that is what it said when my wife stuck it in some flowers way
back then. The writing has faded to the point that only I can still read what she had written. Funny, because I even had it laminated so that it
would not fade. I read what is written there a lot because, in a way, it has acted as a life preserver for me as I lay in that hospital room and many
times since when I began to wonder why in the world I was still ‘hanging around.’
Anyway, these two relative minor events caused me to stop and think and I now believe that I understand why I have written three silly books on Baja,
have written far too many sappy Baja poems, and have had more than a few of my thoughts published in different forms. And, sure, I guess it’s I why I
am sitting here pounding, ever so quietly, on my computer keys at two o’clock in the morning.
It is why I continue to reach out and attempt to share with all of you what is going on outside ‘my’ little window to the world.
Bernie
8-25-2007
DianaT - 8-25-2007 at 09:10 AM
Thanks Bernie for sharing your thoughts.
Diane
David K - 8-25-2007 at 11:18 AM
Never stop sharing Bernie!
Thanks amigo!!!
Eli - 8-25-2007 at 02:33 PM
Bernie, glad your heart keeps ticking and sharing, I enjoyed reading this piece. Still, I hope you get a good nights sleep tonight, hasta entonces
Sara
Cypress - 8-25-2007 at 02:48 PM
Baja Bernie
Lamination keep things dry and makes 'em last.
Your stories speak for themselves, they're waterproof.
Russ - 8-25-2007 at 06:07 PM
Very clever as usual, Bernie. Stress down 10 points. Thanks
Baja Bernie - 8-27-2007 at 12:44 PM
I never realized that lamination would work as a stress reducer! Gurgle, gurgle..............t'aint so Cyress.
Thanks David, Sara, and JD...........all of your comments are very important to me.
Barry A. - 8-27-2007 at 01:13 PM
Bernie-----Great honest stories told in a style that I admire mucho----------few can do what you do with these stories, and I love it!!
Besides, the wisdom here is not "silly", but rather profound, and I appreciate that emensely. Like Mike H., your honesty and willingness to share
shines thru, at least to me, and often "makes my day".
Keep it up, Bernie------your audience awaits 
FARASHA - 9-1-2007 at 09:33 AM
BERNIE - KEEP that Lil Window OPEN - am sitting outside and listen to ya!! *~f~*