The wit of my dad - Jerry Bauer

In celebration of the fact that today is my dad’s birthday I’m going to convey a few quotes that highlights his humor.  I want to begin with one I’ve already shared, but it was a while back and it is worth repeating.  Upon greeting his coworkers, after hearing how they were, he would reply, “Well, you look terrible.”  He made this remark all the time.  So much so that I remember my mother got after him about it at one point.  He replied, “They know I’m joking.  If they really did look terrible, I would never say it.”

Another line is if a person announced what they were going to do, he would repeat it.  For example, if you were at a restaurant and you said, “I’m going to get fries with my meal today.”  He would immediately respond, “You know, you should get fries with your meal.”  “Hey, good idea,” you might reply.  Then Dad’s line: “Aren’t you glad I thought of that?”  Classic Jerry Bauer wit!

A third illustration involves music.  Sometimes Dad would begin to sing lines from a song, but at other sillier times, he would just randomly sing one word: “Knee!”  I remember when someone finally asked him why he did this; and where he even got the idea.  He explained that he had seen a character known simply as Swedish Chef from The Muppets Show sing the phrase, “Kneesh Nimway” (or something like that anyway; it was performed by the brilliant Jim Henson who was essentially delivering lines of gibberish) and Dad decided to shorten it to “knee”.  Thus, one of his more memorable humorous catchphrases was born.

Let me give one more and I will start to wrap this up.  Dad loved sports.  I know he would be happy to see the Colorado Rockies doing so well.  Not only are they having one of their best seasons, just based on wins, but they are on the doorstep of winning their division for the first time in their history.  Usually we Rockies fans have to endure another losing season.  Whenever my dad met someone from out of state, he, being a great conversationalist, asked about the sports team that they followed.  So for instance, he might say, “You have a good team there in New York; the Yankees are playing well,” he would then joke, “We live in Colorado where there isn’t a professional baseball team!”

I am barely scratching the surface when it comes to the funny and unique lines, or what I might call Dad-isms.  I actually toyed with the idea of sharing 12 quotes, in honor of his birthday being on September 12th; there is certainly enough material that I could have compiled such a list, but I decided against it.

Let me conclude with this: I want you to understand that as silly as my dad could be, he was serious when he needed to be.  He was serious about loving and protecting his family.  He was serious about being excellent in his vocation as a Christian radio announcer (I still cringe whenever I hear a radio station have dead air, or make a mistake in a recorded announcement or something, because I know Dad would cringe too).  He was serious about his values and convictions.  And of course, he was serious about his faith in God. 

Kevin

Time does not heal all wounds

I recently heard a sermon where the pastor mentioned how his generation could instantly recollect where they were when they heard that President Kennedy had been assassinated.  He went on to say that this generation can immediately remember where they were when they heard the news that the Twin Towers had collapsed; a tragic event that, of course, occurred on this day, 17 years ago.  This pastor was right.  I could certainly tell you where I was.

As I mentally go back to that traumatic day, my heart goes out to those who lost loved ones.  I know this is an especially difficult day for them.  I also know it doesn’t really make any difference that it’s been 17 years.  Contrary to popular belief, time doesn’t heal all wounds.  In fact, if anyone happens to read my words that lost a spouse, family member, friend (or whatever the situation might be) on that horrible day, I want you to know I have been praying for you on this hard day.

In 2003, the Christian music group Avalon had this line in their song Everything to Me: “We’re living in uncertain times, and more and more, I find that I’m aware of how fragile life can be.” Tomorrow is my dad’s birthday, and because of how fragile life really is, we will be remembering how his life didn’t last nearly as long as anyone thought it would.  I may not know what it feels like to lose a beloved family member because of a terrorist attack, but I do know the pain of having to face an unexpected death.

I recently quoted from Paul Asay’s book God on the Streets of Gotham: What the Big Screen Batman can Teach Us about God and Ourselves regarding a different subject matter; I want to conclude today by citing another excerpt from his book.  At one point, he writes, “Most of us have experienced pain, from the death of a loved one to an out-of-the-blue betrayal to the unexpected loss of a lifelong dream.  It’s not like we’re expected to deal with these trials with a forced smile or stoic resolve.  We grieve.  We get angry.  We wail and moan.”  How true it is.

Kevin