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Mamie Lucille Adams 
June 19, 1998 - April 21, 2005
To all who love Mamie, whether you had the joy of meeting her or not:
We thank you so much for your kindness to her and us.
Your support during her fight in this life and after her entry into Heaven has been more than wonderful.
Thanks for the prayers, messages on the guestbook below, flowers, food, cards, gifts, and charitable donations in her honor.
We were blessed by each of you that were able to attend her visitation, funeral, or graveside service.
See the October 14, 2007, journal entry for her story and July 4, 2008, for a recap of her relatives that are frequently mentioned. Also, please consider leaving a message in her guestbook - we still need encouragement.
Journal
Saturday, September 6, 2008 11:51 PM CDT "The LORD is slow to anger, and great in power, and will not at all acquit the wicked: the LORD hath his way in the whirlwind and in the storm, and the clouds are the dust of his feet."
Nahum 1:3
"While the storm clouds gather far across the sea,
Let us swear allegiance to a land that's free,
Let us all be grateful for a land so fair,
As we raise our voices in a solemn prayer:"
Thursday is September 11. Seven years ago we thought no one would ever forget that day.
You may not recognize the quotes above. Nahum is a book of the Bible. The second quote is the lead-in to a song whose main verse nearly all of you know. (Hints: It was written in 1918 at Camp Upton, New York, by a soldier whose initials were I. B. It became the signature song of a lady whose initials were K. S. Go to http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AZZ3aNWaEw4 and you can hear members of Congress sing it on the Capitol Building steps.)
Regular readers know that a large white bird suddenly flew behind us as we released Mamie's birthday balloons this year. Those of us near the grave did not see it, because it was behind most of us and we were all looking straight up. Eye-witness descriptions from the Vacation Bible School folks lined up at the back of the church made it sound like a great white heron, but those are supposed to live in extreme southern Florida. I found an internet picture of one purported to be in northern Alabama, and a co-worker told me there was one in the Wheeler Wildlife Refuge not far from here, but I figured the birthday visitor was probably an egret (which is technically a type of heron).
A great white heron visited the pond across the road from Grandmother's house at least twice this week. Yes, Mamie, I saw it.
Today was Clash of the Titans in Columbus. Not really. During 1974 ROTC summer camp at Fort Riley, Kansas, instructors often asked what college we attended. In my case, the conversation usually went like this: "What school you from, Cadet Adams?" "Ohio University, sir." "How's that football team this year?" "No, sir. You're thinking of a different school, sir." Now some would say that Ohio State was mostly thinking of next week's game against number-one ranked USC. OK. I'd probably say that, too. Anyway, OU was ahead for the first three quarters. I didn't actually watch the game, but apparently my alma mater stayed off the field the last quarter. Having traveled from Athens, at least they didn't have to play in weather they hadn't trained in for a while - it's not like a northern team going to a bowl game.
Mamie went to a football game once. I think it was at her request. I figured we might be able to stay long enough for the band's halftime show. She played on the slope at the northeast corner of Jim Rockwell Stadium (home of the two-time Division AA state champion New Lexington Panthers) for most of the first quarter and then it was time to go back to Grandma and Grandpa's house.
In other news this week, did you hear about Luna, the Cockatoo in South Trenton, New Jersey? I don't know how 911 got on the line - I assume a speed-dial arrangement was involved - but all they heard was "Help me! Help me!" I don't know how many week's of a bird's allowance it takes to buy a new front door, but I'm pretty sure the critter had no idea what "help me" actually means.
Speaking of which, I'm wondering if it's possible for two or more people to talk about weather during hurricane season without someone enlightening the group with "It's going to get worse every year." I guess we're not still waiting for the "triple punch" of hurricanes, now that Tropical Storm Hanna has left the coast of New Jersey, probably to clip the southeast corner of New England in a couple of hours. Ike, of course, is an "extremely dangerous" storm that may brush the coast of Florida with hundred-mile-an-hour winds on Tuesday. Then there's... you remember... the third one... Oh, yeah! Tropical Storm Josephine was downgraded to a tropical depression.
Well, it's still pretty unusual for there to be three named storms in the Atlantic at one time, isn't it? Man-Made Global Warming at work, obviously. How about four (not three) hurricanes (not just named storms)? From September 23 to September 27, 1998, Georges, Ivan, Jeanne, and Karl were all active tropical storms in the Atlantic, and on September 25 all four of them were at hurricane force. Of course that was only ten years ago, and we knew about MMGW then.
The only other recorded instance of four simultaneous Atlantic hurricanes was in 1893. You think you've spotted a typo, don't you. It was one hundred fifteen years ago. With that much MMGW in 1893, I predict that the ice caps will be gone before Elvis is born - certainly before we put a man on the moon.
One reason that hurricanes get more attention now is that more people live along the coast and more expensive houses are built below sea level. More lives are in danger. One of these days we may break the record of twenty-two thousand deaths in a single storm. Forty French warships, involved with the Americans in a project concerning England, capsized in that one - the Great Hurricane of 1780.
"God Bless America,
Land that I love.
Stand beside her, and guide her
Through the night with a light from above.
From the mountains, to the prairies,
To the oceans, white with foam
God bless America
My home sweet home."
Read Journal History
Links: http://www.stjude.org/waystohelp St. Jude
http://www.campsam.org Camp Smile-a-Mile
http://www.curingchildhoodcancer.org/aboutus.shtml Janie Sims Foundation
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