Just Blithering On

When my brother was diagnosed with leukemia a few weeks ago and decided to blog about his battle with the cancer, I saw what a great way it was to record thoughts and induce a little discussion. I do like to write and I do have one or two opinions about things, so it seems like the thing to do.

I have titled this blog "Blithering On."

One definition of the word "blithering" suggests that it might be a combination of two words, blather and dither. To blather is to talk nonsensically. To dither is to be in a state of indecisive agitation or fussiness. So, I guess to blither would be to talk nonsensically in a state of indecisive agitation.

Well, to be honest, I don't intend to waste either my time or anyone who decides to follow this blog's time with nonsense (if I can help it) and I'm not sure that I have an indecisive bone in my body. However, it is very likely that I'll post a thing or two after having been moved to a state of agitation. So, when it gets right down to it, the name "Blithering On" is a combination half-hearted disclaimer and a touch of false modesty. I hope that what I write proves the blog title to, in fact, be false modesty and not a confession.

With that, let me close this first post with the acknowledgment that you might find me "blithering on" one topic one day and "blithering on" another topic another day, but you certainly will be able to find me "blithering on" and on and on.

Way to Go, GEICO!

I'm sure you've seen the GEICO Insurance commercial where the squirrel runs out into the middle of the road, causing a car to swerve and run off the road. After the car crashes, the critter's little squirrel buddy runs out and they high-five and dap each other. They're pretty proud of themselves as GEICO goes on to preach about how easy it is to get GEICO. So, I was driving down a narrow road early yesterday morning when a squirrel ran out in front of my car just like that one did in the GEICO commercial. The road was fairly narrow so I didn't even hesitate in my decision to bear down on that squirrel rather than steer out of my lane to miss it. Before you judge me as insensitive and cruel, let me say that there was no way that I was going to veer off the road into a ditch or a tree and leave a couple of tree-climbing rodents to high-five each other in the middle of the street at my expense. Instead, I lined up on that squirrel. He got all bug-eyed when he realiz

Serving with Uncle Mel

One of the rewards of a career in the military is the opportunity to serve with truly great people up and down the chain of command. That was certainly the case for me. This is a story—part of the story—of one of those genuinely great people, Melvin W. DeMars, Jr. On October 18, 1983, Marine Medium Helicopter Squadron 261 (HMM-261) and the 22nd Marine Amphibious Unit (MAU) was underway on the helicopter carrier USS Guam (LPH-9) for a deployment to Lebanon as part of its Mediterranean deployment with the U.S. 6th Fleet. The squadron had already been to Lebanon after the Israelis invaded in June of 1982, so they had every expectation that the plans to return there were pretty firm. They were at sea for about a day, headed east toward the Mediterranean when, at around midnight on October 20, 1982, the Guam turned south. There wasn’t a lot of information circulating around the ship that indicated that anything had changed, but the Marines in the squadron knew that when you’re headed for

Yellow Footprints: An Anniversary Reflection

Hurry Up and Wait... I grew up in a small community in southern Illinois–Newton, Illinois–where people generally knew each other or at least knew of each other. It was–and still is–a nice town. It’s the kind of town that still holds a fall parade where tractors and marching bands own the streets. People sit along the curb in their chairs while the kids play along the street. The people there cherish the tempo and lifestyle, quietly aware that if everyone lived that way, it would be a much better world. I wasn’t exactly setting any academic records in high school, so I needed a change of pace and some way to transition to a successful track somewhere, somehow. I had thought about the military, but I hesitated to follow through. I wasn’t sure I would be cut out for the military life, and I didn’t know which branch of the service to enter. I was very certain that if I did join the military service, it wouldn’t be the Marines because I was pretty sure I couldn’t make it there. However,

Blithering On

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