Seeds and the cycle of life

[Gordon Maney]

We have a new operator plowing our driveway this winter. He noticed my M37 under tarps and has seen the Jeep in the garage. He's been talking about his cousin, a garage owner, probably not 5 km from my place. The gentleman owns two experimental 6 X 6 amphibian Dodge trucks. I'm told only five have been made. A meeting will be arranged as soon as the snow melts. I intend to bring my camera and write something about it. Oh! By the way, the owner races at Bonneville in a 1960's Studebaker he fitted with a HEMI engine. To say I'm looking forward to this meeting is an understatement.

Yesterday, I pulled my July 2010 copy of the PWA and I read again Jim Anderson's story of a HEMI conversion in a 1951 B3PW...

Great!

[76WAGON200]

I feel as though I know you.....though we have never met.

The world needs more people like you Gordon. No matter what happens, it will have been made a better place for having known you. You were put on this earth to do something special and to show others what courage, virtue and hard work can accomplish. I would like to add my prayers to those here that have offered them. For you, for your family and for all of us who have sheltered in the shade of your tree. May those prayers bring healing and bring you peace for whatever may come. You are a rare creation, like the trucks that you drive. Speaking of which, I have long pondered that question which you have posed in your every post, for as long as I can remember...."What is it that smells so good in the cab of an old truck?".....Memories....that's what smells so good and you have made yourself a part of our memories Gordon. Be well, as well as you can be, as long as you can be and remember that our hopes and prayers are with you.

[Clint Dixon]

Gordon, you have heard me talk many times about my Grandpa. You know how important he was in my life. When I was young, he used to say something to me, something which I didn’t fully understand the implications of at the time. He repeated it quite often and I never knew when it might come up again. It was usually at the most surprising time, like when we were right in the middle of repairing something together. He would stop, look directly into my eyes, and say, “It’s **** to get old.”

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Now by sharing this with you, I am in no way implying that you are old, or that any of us are “old” for that matter. But, none of us are as young as we were yesterday. And I think that one advantage for me of not being as young as I was yesterday is that I have finally come to understand what my Grandpa was trying to tell me.

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I can’t say that I fully realized this until just the other day. I just happened to find myself talking to a mutual acquaintance of ours. I affectionately refer to him as “Shy Dave.” You probably know him better as Cheyenne Dave. You may have noticed the play on words, and in case you didn’t, I felt it would be an appropriate gesture to point it out here. I don’t imagine anyone else calls him Shy Dave, but I believe the name rolls off of the tongue nicely, and it just…fits so well. Oh, and your name may have come up in the conversation once or twice, but don't worry. Shy Dave won't repeat anything I said.

But in any case, during our conversation, I told Shy Dave what my Grandpa used to tell me, and in doing so, I came to the realization: My Grandpa was trying to tell me that I would never have to go through anything alone. He had had already blazed the trail and no matter how hard life may become, he would be there with me, through it all. He repeated the phrase just enough times to assure that I would remember. Sometimes the light bulb comes on and I actually feel a little better being a day older than I was yesterday.

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A famous man’s famous son once said, “You can get anything you want at Alice’s Restaurant.” I don’t know if he meant anything philosophical by that statement, but he did go on to repeat it a few times. I believe to get through this life each must find their own Alice’s Restaurant and the famous son of the famous man did give a hint where to look, “Walk right in, it’s around the back, just a half a mile from the railroad track.”

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Gordon, it has always been a pleasure when you pull up a stool next to me at the counter. Your presence is always welcomed and looked forward to.<o:p></o:p>

[Jerry Henry]

Gordon. You are a gem among men. As you well know, I have been dealing with some very serious health issues; 3 major surgeries, with chemo treatments in between, over the past 6 months. During this time you have sent me several emails, offering encouragement to help me through this time, while never mentioning or implying your own health was at risk. I hope you know how much these letters have meant to me, especially when offered without any suggestion of seeking sympathy for yourself. I am sorry I haven't been able to reciprocate until now, but I know that the type of man you are has dictated these circumstances.

Please, be aware that you have many friends and many supporters, and that we all care for you and wish you the best. I am not going to launch into some theocratic venture, as I know you are already a man of faith, and you can use your faith to help you through whatever circumstances may come.

Sincerely, Jerry Henry

[Gordon Maney]

Jerry, I was trying to give earnest attention to your situation.

[53Crusher]

Cowboy

Gordon - I needed a few days to absorb your comments. I want you to know that you will be in my family's thoughts and prayers as you take this new journey. I would also like to tell you that I am grateful to have become a member of the Dodge family you created and consider you a friend. Somehow, you have managed to bring together the most diverse group of people throughout the world and have become our patriarch. I look forward to my monthly dose of "sitting on the tailgate" not so much for the various articles, but because I get an opportunity to see the world through your eyes. Your thoughts in the magazine, on this forum and on Facebook cause me to reflect at length. There are only a handful of people I have met in my life who have helped to mold my opinions and actions. I consider you to be one of those people. You are a gentle soul and a gifted teacher. I still look forward to continued lessons from you....

I have ordered the book you cite, but pose this thought to you. On my desk I keep a copy of the book "Cowboy Ethics" by James P. Owen. You are the kind of person he describes, who lives his life by the "Code of the West".
I would ride for your brand.

[Gordon Maney]

I am very thankful for all the wonderful posts.

[JimmieD]

It's surely a long journey into the light as we labor to not stumble in the darkness along the way. Like adventurers of old who settled the American West, we're all faced with a unique personal journey ahead of us. They often accomplished this by going together as a family. We and they make preparations and then do our best as well as we're able along the way. Yet we never really know how long the journey will take to get where we're going, whether a few months or so many years? We're often surprised at where we've ended up compared to where we planned to go. So well known to us is that proverb first heard from the poet Robert Burns, then paraphrased, how it is that 'The best laid plans of mice and men are often torn asunder...'.

Funny how it is in a family, that word travels far and fast. These strange sorts of men here who've grown to love these equally unusual and eccentric old trucks and such things of motors and gears and wheels have become a family, partly thanks to this world of computers. Though we're scattered all across this spinning globe we're only a few mouse clicks away from sharing innermost thoughts and dreams and various issues of the heart and mind and life, with these our brothers.

Something of a family pumps in our blood, something near inexplicable. We're all somehow cut from a common bolt of cloth, but it's so much deeper than an outward covering, it's much deeper within. More like the reference here to a seed once planted, it goes on with life to produce something new that will also produce new seeds as years go by, and new sprouts again come up and grow and it repeats, ever onward. The family, a loosely knit bunch of fellows, and sometimes loosely wrapped to boot, we share a unique love and feeling for these old trucks and machines. Within that we have a more than passing acquaintance with our like-minded fellows here and a caring and respect for one another as we share our lives.

A close friend from this forum contacted me tonight, thinking I should know about this thing at hand. In like manner he'd been in contact with another member from here who gave him the news just today. Word traveled fast, because there's a mutual deep concern for our brother in this family who has been stricken.

Only a few here know me personally to be aware of things I live with and issues I deal with. Not stuff to share offhand with just anyone, but rather with those who are close, family and friends. One day some time ago a doctor told me I had a terminal illness. Some time later another doctor informed me I had a second terminal illness. In both cases I asked the obvious, "How long do I have, doc?" Both doctors gave about the same answer, "It's hard to say, maybe a few months, possibly a year or more..."

I decided I would rather LIVE MY REMAINING LIFE! That is, LIVING IN THE LIGHT instead of brooding and worrying and burning up that little precious time in the shadows of darkness. I stayed intensely active and continued to LIVE as being FULLY ALIVE FOR EVERY TICKING INSTANT, not willing to give up anything to despair and dark miseries. I even took on a very large project being the mad man that I am. That was to single-handedly replace the entire drivetrain and all running gear on my old Dodge Town Wagon which had been a companion to me for so many years. Surely an impossible task. It even ended up much larger than planned, rebuilding virtually the entire truck but for some body panels and even they got some beating and pounding and paint. Along the way came new threats, suffering strokes, a minor heart attack and a few other things, BUT I REFUSED TO GIVE UP OR QUIT!

Yes, I still remember the day sitting in the doctor's office when I was first given the 'bad news' of only having a year or two at most to live. If that wasn't bad enough, hearing another doctor say the same! That was about 14 or 15 years ago, but who's counting? All I know is that this day is far spent and tomorrow anxiously awaits and I have much to do!

What a mystery that hidden thing of the beauty of the cycle of Life. Fact of the matter is, everybody reading this happens to have a terminal illness, ain't none of us getting out of this alive! There ain't no room for letting ourselves get beaten down or upset with worry or despair. We're all given this precious Gift of Life and we are all called upon to LIVE IT WITH EVERY FIBER OF OUR BEING!

LIVE IT GORDON, LIVE IT TO YOUR UTTERMOST ABILITIES!

Please feel free to email or PM me Gordon, I've got lots of time for a chat, and may have some useful information for you. In the meantime, LIVE and ENJOY LIFE! Wasn't it Sir Winston Churchill, a man well acquainted with the good along with the bad, who said, "NEVER, NEVER, NEVER GIVE UP!!"

JimmieD

[Chewie]

Gordon...

I was looking for the right place to post the news of my first grandchild's birth -a boy- this week.
And I saw this.

I am sad to hear it. I am glad you are at some measure of peace with it. And I am happy you chose to share this with us.
I don't post much. And I talk less than that. But I observe everything I can, and you have brought us all together under the canopy of this old truck forest. Oaks, elms, maples; we are from all walks of life from all over this world and we know each other because of you. I have learned much from everyone here.

"It's the old oaks in the forest who make it possible for the young oaks to grow straight and tall.."

[Gordon Maney]

I decided I would rather LIVE MY REMAINING LIFE! That is, LIVING IN THE LIGHT instead of brooding and worrying and burning up that little precious time in the shadows of darkness. I stayed intensely active and continued to LIVE as being FULLY ALIVE FOR EVERY TICKING INSTANT, not willing to give up anything to despair and dark miseries. I even took on a very large project being the mad man that I am. That was to single-handedly replace the entire drivetrain and all running gear on my old Dodge Town Wagon which had been a companion to me for so many years. Surely an impossible task. It even ended up much larger than planned, rebuilding virtually the entire truck but for some body panels and even they got some beating and pounding and paint. Along the way came new threats, suffering strokes, a minor heart attack and a few other things, BUT I REFUSED TO GIVE UP OR QUIT!

Yes, I still remember the day sitting in the doctor's office when I was first given the 'bad news' of only having a year or two at most to live. If that wasn't bad enough, hearing another doctor say the same! That was about 14 or 15 years ago, but who's counting? All I know is that this day is far spent and tomorrow anxiously awaits and I have much to do!

What a mystery that hidden thing of the beauty of the cycle of Life. Fact of the matter is, everybody reading this happens to have a terminal illness, ain't none of us getting out of this alive! There ain't no room for letting ourselves get beaten down or upset with worry or despair. We're all given this precious Gift of Life and we are all called upon to LIVE IT WITH EVERY FIBER OF OUR BEING!

LIVE IT GORDON, LIVE IT TO YOUR UTTERMOST ABILITIES!

Please feel free to email or PM me Gordon, I've got lots of time for a chat, and may have some useful information for you. In the meantime, LIVE and ENJOY LIFE! Wasn't it Sir Winston Churchill, a man well acquainted with the good along with the bad, who said, "NEVER, NEVER, NEVER GIVE UP!!"

JimmieD

Yours is a good message, Jimmie, thank you for sharing it. It's great to have you back.

[JimmieD]

Hi there, Gordon!

Funny thing how it works with this family, huh? When I look back on things I find that my 2 most dear friends in the world were met right here on your forum! I'm much closer to them than to any of my blood kin relations! I was always too wacko for my own flesh and blood family. Found a long time ago, when I came here, another family that said, "Wacko? What d'ya mean wacko?" sorta like the bus with old Jack Nicholson and the gang, you know?

This world is getting pretty crazy around us and we need to hang together even more tightly now. Then on top of that general insanity we have stuff come up like you have, and it's over the top! "Hey, wait a minute, I never signed on for this! What's going on here, WHY ME?!" The answer to that is mighty slow showing up, if it ever appears at all.

The key to it all from what I've seen is to 'Accentuate the Positive'. Push away those scary boogie men and the dark demons raising their arms and wicked claws saying "WOOO OOOOH I'M GONNA GET YA WOOOO!" and say, "Hey, GET LOST! I'VE GOT A LIFE TO LIVE! Get outta here!" and then to do just that. Like that song, 'I get by with a little help from my friends...', that's what works!

Kind of like how it takes a particular dark environment for various molds, bacterias, viruses and scummy stuff to live. Oh it's some real bad stuff allright, no doubt, even outright deadly. But it turns out that all we have to do is let some bright light shine directly on it and it's destroyed right there in its tracks!

In addition to myself I have a long list of friends who were given some terrible news by their doctors, many, many years ago, about how they only had a few breaths left to live. Oh my, oh dear, how horrible, and we laugh so very many years later, "Care for another slice of home made apple pie & ice cream there bucko? Better hurry while you've still got time HA!"

I'm thinking that about 90% of it is right there between our ears! LET THE LIGHT SHINE IN and it's all good!

If you like, please do contact me because I might have some real helpful info about some pretty amazing self-treatments that can really help a guy fight this nasty stuff that comes up.

JimmieD

[Longhunter7]

Hang Tough!

Gordon,

Hang in there! It sounds like JimmieD might have the right prescription going there.

Welcome back JimmieD!

[Gordon Maney]

I hope you finish it....

[JimmieD]

Thanks, longhunter 7, good to hear from you too!

That reference to "I hope you finish it...", was that by chance referring to my Town Wagon rebuild project, or to someone else?

[old red]

Gordon this afternoon I re-upped my subscription and thought I would go online to respond to another thread but found this one waiting for me. I am truly saddened by the news of your heath, yet grateful of your wisdom and strength of keeping the forum and magazine on going. Not sure how to say it - but I find I need to tell you how I got here and to thank you for the opportunity to receive magazine & be a part of this forum.

So basically Gordon it was an old power wagon (Old Red) that was carrying a milk crate with manuals and Power Wagon Advertisers that found its way to me in 09'. Your words, your perspective & your good wisdom has enlightened me at a time when darkness was all around me. And what is simply amazing to me it was at a time in my life when I needed to hear just that. (To me this forum represents a great family of good folks who do the right thing when nobody is looking.) Must be that great oak who sew seeds and sets the example........

Old Red is cool. But your encouragement is priceless.

So I hope you can make it to the rally this year as it would be good to meet you in person and thank you for words that plants seeds of respect and reminder of goodness that is all around us.