Taxes

 Another day, another dollar..... minus taxes! That's the way I've  always heard it. It didn't mean much as a child. When your most expensive purchase is a few pieces of penny bubble gum, not only do you not THINK of taxes, you didn't pay any either! I can still feel the cool concrete floor of Mr. Ralph McDade's store on my bare feet, bringing instant relief from the hot pavement of Magnolia Avenue and Pennington Road. Ah, the good old days.
 Fast forward....I hardly ever go barefooted, and certainly never in a store of any kind, but I digress. Now not only do I pay taxes on bubble gum (no such thing as "penny" gum anymore), I get to watch those taxes get higher and higher...AND I get to watch them go to causes I don't support. That's not much different from stealing, in my book. I see perfectly healthy young men and women living on "the government cheese" every day. "I can't find no job," is what I hear them say. Really?? I'm almost 49 years old, I've ALWAYS had a job, and I currently have two! Take your sorry butt to work and pitch in, damn it! This little outburst sponsored by the IRS and State of GA because I just sent them both a large check....again, Damn it!
 But, welfare and food stamps and Medicare/Medicaid are not bad ideas in themselves.... they are just now simply overrun and very poorly governed. What's the answer?? I don't know. However, we pay a lot of people with our tax money to come up with answers to questions like these.... they work in D.C. and Atlanta. Are we getting our money's worth from these people as a group.... I think not. So we're being taxed to pay these lawmakers, who in turn are not fixing the problems we need fixed. Taxation without representation???/  Isn't there a law against that??  I know that's a stretch.... just venting a lttle bit.
 You know what, though? I bet a cool concrete floor, some penny bubble gum, and a hot Magnolia Avenue in the 70's would make me feel better...

Yesterday....Yesteryear

I saw a kid's picture on Facebook earlier and it took me back to when the Miller boys used to go fishing with their Daddy. Of course, we've all fished with Wiley many times since we've grown up, but it all seems different now. Back when we were kids, Dad would pile us up in the Jeep and off we would go. A quick stop at the Market Basket for bait, corks, Vienna sausages, soda crackers, RC colas and MoonPies and, of course, a healthy dose of fish tales, and we were back on the road.
 There were several places we would go... Jones' Pond, Mr. Jesse's Pond (where you could fish from his back porch), Mr. McDade's Pond, Black Lake, and of course, the Oconee River. My dad has a special relationship with the Oconee River... there is no place on earth he would rather be. He knows every curve, every snag, and every fishing hole between here and Dublin. He loves the river... he even built his home on the banks of the Oconee, not a stone's throw away from the very sandbar we played on as kids in the 70's.
 As boys, we learned how to fish and hunt from watching and listening to Dad. We never realized all the other stuff we were learning with every trip. Patience, perseverence, a love for the outdoors, and even how to get along with one another, were just some of the extra lessons we received while hangin' out with Wiley. I can never repay Dad for those lessons, nor for the many other things the Miller boys gleaned from their outstanding parents. I can only be eternally grateful and try to raise my kids to the best of my ability.
 I don't know how Bobbie Sue and Wiley did it.... there are days when I just place my head in my hands as a parent and wonder how I'm gonna get my two grown. I just hope I can be half the parent that either of my parents are. Thanks guys... for all you do even today... but especially for a great childhood.