Happy Friday, All!
Now, if you don’t … I will … T.G.I.F.!!
It’s been a long week, y’all, and I am NOT complaining, of course. Just sayin’! Yes, these are the “holy days” and things are normally very festive. I enjoy all the stories of “acts of kindness” shown during the holidays from cops … yes, cops … stopping people in their vehicles, asking them what they want for Christmas, and, while holding the driver’s license … goes into a local department store and buys a big screen t.v. and gifts it to the driver, to his surprise; to a couple at a Cracker Barrel restaurant in a city in Missouri who saw a waitress’s torn down car (she is a single parent) with ropes holding the hood down, and decided to come back and eat at her table and then give her the keys to a 2008 compact Ford vehicle as a tip!! Pretty cool stuff, right?!
This is the season for Christmas parties, y’all. A dear friend in Germany who works for the DOJ there mentioned that they are having a big Christmas party at a fancy location, lots of food and gifts, drinks and dancing! Meanwhile, back here in Margate where the office where I work is located, we are having a small party next Friday at a venue near the office. Trees are going up everywhere, stores and shoppers bustling through them are a common sight. Of course, there are those who like to do last minute shopping and will wait until Christmas Eve or something crazy like that!! Perhaps, that is the adrenaline rush that some folks like to experience. I have even seen information about New Year’s Eve parties here in SoFlo from the Fountain Blue Resort in Miami as well as a HUGE event headlined by Miami’s own “Pit Bull”. Here in Ft. Lauderdale, Saturday is the Seminole Hard Rock Winterfest Boat Parade which winds through the waterways here that have earned this City the name of “The Naples of America” like that famous ancient city in Italy! The annual Boat Parade will feature another of the state’s entertainers as Grand Marshall, “FLO Rida”, who will be on the lead boat in the parade! The Riverside Hotel on Las Olas, where the Seminole Hard Rock Winterfest Boat Parade starts, is the “talk of the town”!
While I enjoy the festivities, I always try to keep the “spirit of the season” in my heart by showing kindness and love as well as togetherness with our families, both nuclear and extended, as well as with our dearest closest friends. Last night, I got a bit of sad news regarding the passing of a very close friend’s older brother, who was the same age as my brother “Hank” (RIP), George Young. We all grew up, played and partied, lived, loved, and laughed together in the Winbrook Projects there in White Plains, NY. George was living in Daytona Beach, FL and suffered from lung cancer. His brother, a good friend of mine, John Young, called me last night to inform me of his passing. Methinks, it is the cycle of life … as hard as it may be to accept … that we are born … and we die. Thus is the journey. As the season unfolds, may we keep the “spirit of the season” in our hearts while we “let the festivities begin”!
Peace,
John I. Cook
Educational Excellence 