The Dawns Early Light…!

“O say, does that star-spangled banner yet wave?”

First, thank you for showing such a strong interest in Mariana and her quest to be the National Spelling Bee Champion in Costa Rica this week. A special Post edition will go out to all “Friends” as soon as we get the results on Thursday or Friday this week.

I failed to mention in Monday’s Post several other items I think newsworthy.

Last Friday, we celebrated Veterans Day and I never want to overlook this very important recognition. In my Posts in 2014 and 2015 I shared some of my thoughts about Veterans Day and called attention to many of my friends whom I proudly salute for their military service.  Thank you Lou, Gene, Jim, Charles, Carlos, Dwight, Stevie, Fred, Adam and all other veterans for your service to our country.

Then, during the Viet Nam Conflict,

Danny Watkins, Michael Charles, Kenneth Delaney, and Frank Campbell died while serving their country and are remembered for their friendship and service. All were high school friends and classmates who served while I was safe at college. Following college, I entered the service and as a fellow veteran, I stand proudly and salute them all.

The greatest veteran I know, Curtis “Duck” Montgomery, whom I have shared stories about several times, gets my biggest salute. “Duck” has passed the 100-year-old mark and continues to do well.

As we are now about 45 days from the end of this 2017 calendar year, we have hit another milestone for this Blog.

Drum roll please! Our three-year total visits to the Blog is now 9,148 marching on towards 10,000. We are currently on track to match our 2015 total of 3,207 and now sit at 2,740. Please continue to visit the Blog and read the Posts each week and by all means, share this with a friend or family member. Why keep this project and your involvement a secret?

Finally, I am excited to have a bound copy of all of my Posts dating back to 2013. My friend Bev has worked hard to extract every Post I have written, totaling almost 160 to date from the “Friends of Copey” Blog and placed each in a binder.

NOW, I have a complete binder for 2013-2014, 2015, and soon to be completed 2016. This is a significant body of work and it is far from over. During my presentations, I can easily share the binders with the group to see all that has been going on. I do not always have the convenience of a computer set up to show my Blog.

Also, I  confess it feels good to know I have a back up version in hard copy in the event there is a computer failure or some other technical problem resulting in the ultimate loss of some or all of this documentation representing the “Friends of Copey” history and record. And yes. I sleep a little easier at night now.