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Santa Found us on the Road

 

At Christmastime, in 1961, our family was on the way from Seattle to a new assignment on the East Coast, and we checked into a motel in Watertown, South Dakota. It was not the best time to travel with young children, who were concerned about Santa finding us on the road.

We headed into town to find a store, and as our car approached an intersection, there was a Santa right in the crosswalk! He held up his hand for us to stop, and we rolled down our windows.

Santa poked his head through a window and said to our kids, “Oh, there you are! I was wondering where I’d find you tonight.”

Naturally, the kids were thrilled to pieces. They made sure we told Santa which motel we were staying at so he could find them. My wife and I had tucked away gifts for the trip, as we knew we wouldn’t have time to shop along the way.

The cartop carrier and out-of-state license plate might have been a giveaway, but whatever it was, that Santa really made Christmas 1961 a memorable one for our kids. —Dave Grinstead, Bellingham, Washington.

As told in the Readers Digest

Why I Love America

I will tell you why I love America?
Give me a moment and I’ll explain.
Have you seen a Utah sunset
or a Montana rain?
Have you been fishing on a bayou
down Louisiana way?
Have you walked on the Bridge called
Golden Gate
Over San Francisco Bay?
Have you seen an eagle soaring
high above the Virginia pines,
Or heard the New York City traffic
where Time Square shines?
Does the call of Bryce Canyon thrill you
with all the red rocks galore?
Do you look with awesome wonder
at the Massachusetts shore,
Where men were brave in a big new world
first walked on Plymouth’s rock.
Do you also think of the great men
that lead and never mock
Have you seen a drifting snowflake
in the Tetons way up high?
Have you seen the bright sun come blazing
from a blue Nevada sky?
Do you rejoice when you see the Columbia
rush to the sea,
or say a prayer at Gettysburg
knowing freedom isn’t free?
Have you honored the men at
Mount Rushmore?
Have you seen the mighty Mississippi
flow along Missouri’s shore?
Have you seen a Wyoming snow drift
on a cold winter’s day?
Or watch a storm unfold
her thunderous display?
When you say, “Aloha” it makes you warm.
When you see a surf come roaring in
along Maui’s reef
do you stare in disbelief?
From Alaska’s gold to the Everglades
From the Rio Grande to Maine,
My heart rejoices, my spirit soars,
at the greatness of her domain.
I will tell you why I love America?
there are a million reasons why:
My magnificent America,
beneath God’s big blue sky.

By Leonard Fish

Inspired by the poem by John Mitchem America why I Love Her

The Wise Man

   

People have been coming to the wise man, complaining about the same problems every time. One day he told them a joke, and everyone roared in laughter.

After a couple of minutes, he told them the same joke and only a few of them smiled. When he told the same joke for a third time no one laughed anymore.

The wise man smiled and said:
“You can’t laugh at the same joke over and over. So why are you always crying about the same problem?

Moral of the story:
Worrying won’t solve your problems, it’ll just waste your time and energy.