There was a photo on the cover of a DVD that I picked up from the local library. The photo showed all the characters in the movie and it was the first one made of a comedy series with those actors. Startlingly, one of the actors face had intelligence, warmness and composure. The actor’s role was just the opposite, and in other comedy movies and series’, he was portrayed as a low IQ goofball. A comedic shortstop that set the tone in various scenes. It was Bob Denver that played Gilligan on the island and Maynard G. Krebs in the Dobbie Gillis series. A face can show a lot of personality and feelings.P

With the past public orders of wearing masks, I resented the lack of those sings seen. A lack of smiles given and even compassion and knowledge shown forth. Akin to the actor’s photo, hidden in portrayal of the real person. Some friends that had totally bought into the extreme danger of public life, not being told by authority that germs and aerosol microbes are fought with our immune systems. But even with the mask, you could see their eyes showing fear and isolation. Also judgment on me for not masking up. I smile a lot and seeks faces that smile. Our family also has good immune systems. Comorbidities played a big role in death from the vaccine and infections, as my doctor told me. Hospitals were told to write Covid on all of the death causes.

So our entire family all had ‘the disease’ and my short term memory has gotten worse. Is that one of the byproducts of the bad virus? I was getting close to 80 and the memory issue is my past duel with seizures that wiped out a portion of my minds Rolodex for a few things.

Some names, some old events. Not bad actually. I can then pull the memories up from a different approach in my mind. It is my ‘goggle search engine’ and works in the background when I surrender for a short while. Events and names what I wanted to remember. “Ahah! His name was Edwin!” This is common with aging. Memory has always been depicted as an issue in the elderly as we remember the distant past and not more recent times. “ Excuse me: what was your name again?” I know this happens with everyone. Still, it is irritating. Short term memory is irritating as well. Why did I go to the fridge just now?

I create mnemonics to remember names. A story that triggers the name for good. ‘He looks like an Englishman, Mike, a pilot in the big war and his wife, Vickie, is a derivative of Vickers, an engine in some of those fighter planes. I haven’t seen them in a decade or more.

Things akin to that. Try it sometime! It works to places, names and other memories. Some folks really like it when explained to them. Everyone has trouble with names that are given for the first time. Faces are triggers for all of us and when you can only see their eyes, the mouth and smile are gone and makes it harder to recollect them. Isolation training with the mandates of masking. What a time. There are rumors that it may happen again. Big money can be made! It is a tenable reason.

Some memories such as Quadratic equations or solid geometry are pretty faded but I still remember my phone number and city address from seventy some years ago. Jackson 9-6604 and 4208 Russell avenue North. Minneapolis 12.

My ham radio call sign and the ones of my friends that I tested for novice licensing. That too is in a different location inside my mind and a lot of aged people have that ability. I can still send and receive Morse code and use Q codes and abbreviations in my journaling. WX for weather, etc.

Perhaps if Egyptian Pharaoh Ramses could be resurrected, most likely he would remember his adopted son, Moses. Of course, the Smithsonian would really rally around that miracle. I saw Ramses when he was in Washington. His body looked a little worse for wear. “Hey son god, what do you recollect about the Red Sea?”

I wonder about what it must have been like for the family around Lazarus when at the dinner table as he remembered dying and wondered about those three days of inactivity. That detail has not been clarified. Since it was Jesus that resurrected Lazarus, there is no doubt it was complete. Saying “Lazarus, come forth” was necessary for if He had said “Come forth” there would have been a lot of formerly dead showing up.

While I was in church in Grantsburg, my Navy friend Chuck died in Maryland. He died at the same time I saw and heard him. God gave me a small glimpse of eternity for my witness and delight. “ It’s better than you said!” My best friend said that when he appeared clearly before me and then walked directly away from me towards the altar.

What did Chuck say to me when I talked to him just a month or so before then; Chuck asked me on the phone “what are the words? “(I talked to him that a month or so before about Jesus when I visited him in hospice out in Maryland.)

“There are no words, lets just talk to Jesus while we are on the phone now.”

We talked a long time and forgave one another for the trouble we gifted one another with in the military. “Is that it?” he asked. “Pretty much Chuck, how do you feel?” “Much better and calm”

What was God doing, revealing eternity to me? An impossible and stunning gift. I like telling this story. It never grows old and is a main rock I stand on. I did ask Chuck to meet me when it was my turn to cross that bar into eternity. I know he will be there and the three of us will have the greatest communion celebration with the best wine ever. The bread will be excellent and we can be there at that table forever!

It’s pretty good. Norm Peterson / Jack Gator

Photo of Joy and Kevin Egan who taught me how to really love strangers in Kansas City in 2008