Thursday Thoughts ~ she said, playfully

I like this page from I Am Yoga by Susan Verde (2015).  It's making me feel playful today.  Anybody want to join my playfulness?  How can we do this?  First, I imagine viewing the world upside down.  And THAT thought made a memory come back to me of hanging by my knees on my swinging bar.  I can even "feel" the blood rushing to my head as I swing back and forth.

It's making my long hair swish in the air, like the upside-down girl in this photo, though I'm thinking of a day when I was playing alone and letting my hands swing free.  Can you tell I'm smiling?  That memory of the swing set in my back yard in the old family home in East Lake is from many, many decades ago.  It was nowhere near as fancy as the swing set in this photo I found online.

I get on Facebook occasionally, in spite of having posted that I'm done with Facebook. just long enough to see if anyone in my family has posted photos of my (adult) grandchildren or my great-grandchildren.  Today, I just happened to see this story from 1942, during World War II, when I was a toddler.  The woman's wire-rimmed glasses make her look a lot like my grandmother (Gladys Duke Setliffe).  I love coincidences, so I'm sharing this with you blog readers.

 

On August 9, 1942, Navy Signalman 3rd Class Elgin Staples was aboard USS Astoria (off the coast of Guadalcanal) when the ship was attacked by Japanese cruisers.  The attack provoked devastating explosions.  Wounded, and surrounded by water coming from every direction, Elgin quickly grabbed his inflatable rubber lifebelt and strapped it on.  More than 200 crewmen died in the attack and sinking of USS Astoria, but thanks to his lifebelt, Elgin survived.  He was later rescued by the destroyer USS Bagley.

Shortly afterwards, he looked closely at the lifebelt that had saved him and was surprised to see that it had been manufactured in his hometown of Akron, Ohio, by the Firestone Tire and Rubber Company.  He also noticed an inspector number on the label.  When Elgin returned to Akron, he told his mom about that terrible night, and she informed him that while he was overseas, she had taken a wartime job at the Firestone plant.  Stunned, Elgin quickly took out the lifebelt from his duffel bag and said:

"Take a look at that, Mom.  It was made right here in Akron, at your plant."

After reading the label, she looked at Elgin with tears in her eyes, and said:

"Son, I'm an inspector at Firestone.  This is my inspector number."

Without saying another word, mother and son fell into each other's arms.

Okay, that's awesome, but heavy.  Let's end this post with a pun, for laughs:  "They say with age comes wisdom, so therefore I don't have wrinkles — I have wise cracks."