I am a Lucky Sumbitch

Been thinking a lot about Grandpa Sid recently.  More accurately, he seems to keep coming up.  Like a cantankerous, foul-mouthed ghost watching CNN at full volume.

My aunt Randy texted my brother and me a couple of weeks back with the intriguing question:
"What did we write on grandpa's gravestone?"
"Um, Sid Smith, and a couple of dates a hundred plus years apart?
"Yes, but the phrase he wanted."
"Oh, that.  He was a lucky sumbitch."
"OK, thanks.  Do you remember the Hebrew?"

A bit of explanation is in order.  Grandpa wanted that phrase, but he wanted it in Hebrew.  Through six years of Hebrew school, I learned exactly five words* (English transliteration follows, as I can't find the Hebrew alphabet on my computer.  Which is either a testament to my marginal tech skills or proof that my computer is anti-Semitic):

Father - Abba
Mother - Ema
Yes - Ken
No - Lo
God - Adonai

The best I could have done for grandpa's gravestone is something like:
Adonai (God)? Lo (no).  Abba (father)? Ken (yes).  Ema/Abba (mother-father)?  Ken/lo (not exactly, but sometimes something close to that).

Aunt Randy decided to seek more professional assistance.  I think one of my cousins found some relevant Hebrew.  Possibly through google translate, but I have no idea.  Randy did say that they found out Hebrew doesn't have a word for "sumbitch", so they had to do a more rough translation.

I kinda think Grandpa's "He was a lucky sumbitch" probably ended up being in Hebrew something like "He was blessed with many bounties by the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob."

Last week I had a board meeting up in Dallas.  We had a couple of new board members, so at the beginning of the meeting we all went around and introduced ourselves with some relevant information about our place in Refugee Services of Texas, our tenure, and then one "fun fact" about ourselves.

I actually have about seven fun facts.  And no, I am not going to share them all now.  You'll have to wait for a future blog post.  But the one I did share also had to do with Grandpa Sid.

Long story a little less long - after re-districting removed him from his beloved Congressman Doggett's district, grandpa decided to run for Congress.  As a family, we spent likely $200 on t-shirts, bumper stickers and yard signs (printed only on one side), with what is one of my few claims to fame - his campaign slogan:  "At 95, Who Needs Term Limits?"  An AP reporter did a story on him and it went global, and grandpa did morning radio shows and was featured in over 100 news articles.  My slogan was included in the end-of-year Time Magazine as one of seven quotes of the year.  Grandpa came in third (out of four) in the democratic primary, and I still write him in every time for US Congress district 10.  The husband of one of my co-workers at the time was a documentary film-maker, and did this incredible 10 minute video on his run**, should you want to learn more (The More You Know!):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O--E3WPsIsI

And then this last weekend was my birthday.  I have had to revise and our postpone some of my goals for the year.  Mainly the cycling goals.  My "lose thirty-five pounds and get a bunch of new clothes that I couldn't have fit in since 1986" goal (one I didn't even know I had)?  Check.  But I pulled out of the MS150 and my 1/3 of the 1/2 Ironman in October.

I also had to give up on the "go a full year without a near death experience" goal.  I need one of those signs on my bedroom wall "Days without an industrial accident  ___", but "Years without a near death experience."  Gotta start that one back to zero in 2020.

For several years my birthday goal was to ride the number of miles that matched my age.  I kinda got this from grandpa Sid, who took up running in his seventies, and ran/walked the Capital 10,000 well into his nineties.  For several years his goal was to "beat his age" - i.e. when he was 85, he wanted to finish the 10k in less than 85 minutes.  I was successful in my "ride my age" goal till I had a wipe-out on a muddy trail on my 50th birthday. That year, I decided I was 36.

This year, I briefly set a goal of riding 54 miles in a day.  I did quite quickly understand and agree with Jill's "Oh, hell no."  So I revised the goal to 54 miles over the weekend.  I rode with Jill and some friends from Team Mighty Fine on Saturday, going 31 miles.  Then I went solo yesterday for 24 miles, adding up to 55 for the weekend (I had to have one to grow on!).

I was happy to ride with friends, and delighted that a bunch of friends joined me on my sorta-annual Hofbrau trip Saturday, and that two of my girls were home this weekend, and the other comes back next week.  I am truly blessed with many bounties by the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.



* I did learn the alphabet, how to generally pronounce things, and then memorized the prayers that I needed to recite that helped me to become a man at the age of thirteen.  Only in re-reading that am I seeing how that can be mis-understood.  I only became a man in the biblical sense.  Still problematic!  I wore a suit, spoke Hebrew I didn't understand to a gathering of my parents' friends, and received about $10,000, several Cross pens, and a red lava lamp from Bobby.  

** And then check out IMDB, where I was able to get Abby and Alex listed as cast members for the film "Sid Smith for Congress as "twins", and add this synopsis: 

"After being redistricted out of his long-time congressional district (and thus losing his Rep Lloyd Doggett), Sid Smith - newspaper man, long-time Austinite, Realtor, 20-time winner of Cap10 K (from age 72 to 92), widow of Bert Kruger Smith, raconteur, sum-bitch, and outspoken liberal, decides that he will run for the seat at age 95. With little more than a couple dozen yard sides (printed on only one side), a catchy campaign slogan from his grandson Russell ("At 95, Who Needs Terms Limits?), and a handful of bumper stickers and t-shirts, Sid hits the trail in his long shot bid. Along the way, he garners international attention and builds momentum to the big election night, where he finishes...not last."

  https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1387273/?ref_=fn_al_tt_1