J & J's Next Chapter: Transitions

Hi all,

Hope all is well with you and that you find your life full of blessings. This week we’ve decided to deviate from our usual “what we did this week” posting and write about a issue which we all have experienced – transitions. This topic was prompted by the life transitions of Michael Jackson and Mr. Philip Simmons, two extremely gifted men who have left a lasting impression on the world.

Although he appeared to live a troubled life, as evidenced by his purposeful disfigurement, etc., Michael Jackson contributed so much to popular music and artistic performance. Although his music was more a part of our children’s generation than ours, we still have memories of singing along and dancing to his music? We may not have wanted to emulate his life, but we certainly cannot deny his genius.

The second gentleman who made his transition on June 21st was Mr. Philip Simmons. He may not have possessed the international name recognition of Michael Jackson, but Mr. Simmons was a highly respected genius at the forge – a master blacksmith – who not only created very beautiful ironwork in Charleston but who also gave so much back to the community, financially supporting the higher education of young people in his community and sharing his wisdom in his own humble way. Mr. Simmons was mentioned in a few of our previous blogs and his gates were pictured in our Charleston blog in May. Our family visited him in 1983. He was such a gracious and giving man, full of wisdom. Please check out the “Fired Up and Focused” video tribute on the occasion of his 97th birthday. Both of these very talented men not only brought beauty to the world, they poured their soul into doing so. A lesson that we can all take with us. As Mr. Simmons said, “If you want your prayers answered, get up off your knees and hustle.”

Jo had a minor transition of another kind this week due to a convoluted turn of events. This is how it went. Jo’s car inspection sticker expires this month (June). Before we left in the winter, she went to the Mass. RMV online site which stated that if the car is out of the state when the inspection sitcker expires, you can get the car inspected in another state and bring this info to the RMV when you return to Massachusetts. Jo said, “Fine, I’ll get it inspected in Georgia.” The kicker is that in this part of Georgia, no auto inspection is required. There are no places to get the car inspected. So in order to make sure we don’t get pulled over in Massachusetts for having an un-inspected car, we decided to get Georgia plates. In a way, this is a good thing because we don’t have to have the hassle of getting the car inspected. But, in order to register the car, you have to have a Georgia license. So Jo had to turn in her Massachusetts license, in essence giving up her Massachusetts residency – a traumatic transition. OK, we shouldn’t sweat the small stuff;-(. We hope your “transitions” are equally trying.

This incident leads us to another issue, the environment. For the past few months, the City of Savannah has been promoting recycling to save the environment. There are a couple of articles a week in the newspaper about recycling. How ironic it is that there has been little mention of air pollution. As we said, the state does not require auto inspections in this area, but inspections are required in the counties surrounding Atlanta. Interesting huh? Last Monday, Jo was driving home from exercise class. Coming in the opposite direction down the road, was an enormous puff of white smoke, looking like a scene out of “The Wiz.” It was a car burning oil like crazy. We are beginning to wonder about the air quality here. So all is not peaches and cream in Georgia – yet there are still many advantages to living here. However, we must say that most of the advantages that we have realized in Savannah stem from the slow pace of life here, and the down-to-earth nature of the people we have met. Maybe that’s a southern thing.

But when we add it all up, the most important thing we have realized while navigating this chapter in our lives is that all indeed is change. That sounds so easy to say, but how many of us really realize and understand what that means? Every day can bring more joys just it can bring pains, but life still goes on. This is what or elders used to tell us when we might not have wanted to hear it. It seems that we’ve got to get some age on us before we finally see the light. And in the end, we all will have to go through transitions. Rest assured that whether we understand it or not, everything is unfolding as it should. So strive to be happy, treat other folks the way you wish that they would treat you, and don’t sweat the small stuff (and it’s all small stuff).