There is a gentleman I knew in our business that passed away several weeks ago. He had a large family and was well thought of and will be missed. I was reading through the online comments to his obituary and saw something several times that made me cringe. People had written the term “RIP” as if they were giving a blessing for him. I may be the only person that finds that offensive, but I do. I understand it means, rest in peace, but the idea of paraphrasing it to read RIP just seems sacrilegious to me. It is like referring to Christmas as X-mas. I believe if you are going to speak words over the deceased, at least have the decency to spell it out and not use abbreviations.

I feel certain the people meant well but a part of me wonders what that wife and those children felt when they read that abbreviation. When I think about these type things I always ask myself, what I would like people to say about me when I am gone. I would like for someone to say rest in peace friend while taking the few extra seconds to write out the whole phrase. KT

This morning it was cold in Georgia as I pulled out of my driveway heading to the office. My truck was already warmed up and I was dressed in office attire going to work as I always do.

As I was pulling out of our neighborhood I saw man doing manual labor in the cold. He was close to my age and working in a job that many would consider, menial. If you read my blogs you know that I believe except for the grace of God, I would be similarly employed. I have no formal education and I stutter and neither of those qualifications make me worthy of the type of work I have been blessed to do. Seeing that man this morning almost brought tears to my eyes because I knew that by all accounts, it should have been me. I wanted so badly to help that man but didn’t know what I could have said or done that would have improved his life.

I turned the radio off and had a little prayer time where I thanked God for all he has done for me and my family and gave him all the gratitude for my life. Without the hand of God, I really don’t know where I would be. Sometimes, it helps us all to see a glimpse of where we almost ended up. KT

We live in a world where many things are changing. The older I get the more I like things just like they are. I was in Starbucks the other day and this lady was in line and I had to stifle a grin. She had her iPhone out, while looking at her Apple watch and listening through her Apple Studio pod headphones. I guess the headphones would audibly read her texts and emails out loud. While standing there she got a text and it apparently when off on all three devices at the same time. I sort of (not really) felt sorry for her because It looked like she was going hurt her neck she jerked around so quick. Ha

Well,,, I do have a phone in my pocket, but my watch only has one function, it tells time, and I never wear headphones. Imagine that. Thinking about this lady in the line reminds me of something else I do that will really make me sound old. I use an actual physical date calendar you hold in your hands to tell me where I need to be. I ordered my first “Planner Pad” back around 1992 and have never changed. There is a calendar book in my office at home for every year since I started. The funny thing is I have never had to reset it, power it off or download an update. The one I use today looks just like the one I bought in 1992. If someone ask me what I was doing on August the 12^th 1998, I could probably tell you where I was and what I was doing. I’m sorry, but you just can’t get that on a phone app.

In summary, many things are changing in the world in which we live but not everything needs to. I say, if it still works, keep doing it. KT