Rick DeStefanis

Category: Life and Other Odds & Ends

  • The Big Seven-Oh

    Turning seventy is like going off the high-dive for the first time.

    I mean…you just didn’t get there all of a sudden. Know what I mean? When you were a kid and you stood there poolside staring up at that towering diving board for the first time, there came a vague realization. But it came and went. You may have thought about climbing up there with the older kids and taking the leap, but you didn’t. It was a process of graduating steps.

    Take that period when you first turned fifty. Nowadays fifty isn’t necessarily all that old, but it is comparable to that time when you first walked to the bottom of the ladder and stood staring up at that diving board, a stark chrome and blue contraption, silhouetted against the cobalt sky of summer. Quickly, you avert your eyes to the other kids splashing, sunning and enjoying the glittering waters of the pool. You draw a deep breath, inhaling the clashing odors of chlorine and cocoa suntan oil before regaining your senses and scurrying to the concession stand for a cold cup of Dr. Pepper.

    Then come your sixties. Yup. You’ve again wandered over to the base of the ladder and now you’re actually gripping the shiny chrome rails as you stare up at the line of kids clinging to the ladder above. This time is different. The ladder beckons and you have no choice but to begin climbing. The amazing thing about your sixties is how fast that line of kids quickly slides upward and you suddenly find yourself out there on the board. From the vantage point of the high-dive, you look down on the sun-soaked glistening bodies of the girls lying on their towels far below. You are also now looking down at the lifeguard lounging in his lookout chair, and you can see the pipes and vents on the roof of the pool house below. This new perspective reveals things you have never before noticed. Yet there is more.

    As you edge your way out to the end of the board your senses have suddenly become keenly focused and you can see the distant golf course with its emerald greens and duffers in colorful shirts and trousers. The shafts of their clubs glint in the sunlight, and the water tower out there on the horizon no longer seems so tall, because you are now looking across at it. The colors, the odors, the balmy breeze, all have become more intense. And you take a quick glance down at the sun rippled blue waters far below, their beauty doing little to disguise the landing pad that you know must be more like concrete than water.

    “Hurry up!” some kid shouts, and that’s the moment when you realize you really have no choice. It’s time to face it. You flex your knees slightly and give a little bounce as you test the board. Quickly you regain your balance and wait for the board to stop quivering, but that’s when you see the big “seven-oh” staring you in the face. Your sixties are gone and it’s time. You must jump.

    Today, I am there. I turned 70. I have leapt from the high-dive into the deep end of old age. Like Slim Pickens’ character Major T. J. Kong in the movie Doctor Strangelove, I am riding the nuclear bomb from the belly of a B-52 shouting “Yaaaaahooooo!” And speaking of “strange,” I feel as if I’ve been in this dive since I was eighteen when the army first gave me an M-16 and a parachute. And as it was that first time when you dove from the high board and hit the water, you realize that it’s really not so bad after all.

  • Tornado Repairs, A New Audio Book and Other News

    This update is to let everyone know what’s been happenning around here in recent months: The tornado cleanup, the Covid-19 sequesture and YES, finally my new audiobook. And, oh yeah, the fifth book in my Vietnam War Series is soon to be published.

    My wife and I live in rural Mississippi. Unlike our neighbors up in Tennessee, our area suffered no deaths during the recent tornado outbreak. Despite a massive amount of property damage there were only some pets and livestock killed in DeSoto County Mississippi. We send prayers to those who lost loved ones up around Nashville and Cookville. As for the local scene: The roof and gutters have now been replaced on the house, courtesy of Liberty Mutual, and all the big oak trees have been chain sawed into pieces and bulldozed away. Even after two months it promises to be a long cleanup effort.

    Although Janet is required to work, we are minimizing our trips outside the house with the COVID-19 threat. There has also been a record amount of rainfall in the last month, restricting me to mostly indoor activities, and thus bringing long delayed projects to the top of my “to-do-list.” I’ve been cleaning out the barn, cleaning the shop, changing the oil in every mower, trimmer and machine I own, making and freezing six quarts of spaghetti gravy, opening the desktop computer and vacuuming the dust. Hell, I even made a failed attempt to till the muddy garden….I could go on, but I believe you get the idea.

    So, what’s next?

    A New Audio Book
    The Gomorrah Principle is now available as a new audio book.

     

    How about an audiobook?  Yes.  My award-winning novel, The Gomorrah Principle, is now available as an audiobook through Amazon audible. Most of my faithful readers prefer print or ebooks, but some have said, “I don’t have time to read books. Let me know when it’s out in audible.”………Well:

    IT’S OUT!!

    Click the link below to order your copy:

    https://www.audible.com/pd/B0868DR925/?source_code=AUDFPWS0223189MWT-BK-ACX0-185568&ref=acx_bty_BK_ACX0_185568_rh_us

    COMING SOON.

    My next book, The Birdhouse Man, will be the fifth in The Vietnam War Series and is a story about an aging Vietnam War veteran telling his story to a young journalism major for her senior thesis. It will be out in the next couple weeks.

     Check out more books at: www.rickdestefanis.com 

  • F2 my *$$ !

    An Update on the Recent DeSoto County Tornado

    Really? You’ve got to be kidding. Yeah, that’s the rating the National Weather Service gave the tornado—F2. Like I already said: That sumbitch sounded like an F4 Phantom on afterburner. Actually, according to the Fujita scale, they’re probably correct, but with that said, I don’t EVER want to see a F3, 4, or 5.

    I’ve included some photos of the damage. You can see them on my Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/RickDeStefanisAuthor/.

    Janet and I are counting our blessings. It could have been much worse. Volunteers from all over the country and our own state have come in by the scores to help with the cleanup, and a massive one it is. I want to thank two groups in particular who worked to help cutup and haul the big oaks and cedars that were downed on our place.

     

    https://eightdaysofhope.com/\

     

    https://www.namb.net/southern-baptist-disaster-relief/

    Although there remains much to be done, they did work that would have cost in the thousands, because debris removal is not covered by insurance unless it’s actually on a structure. Thank you to these two groups, my friends, and my neighbors who have helped.

    I have been at odds with Northcentral Power Co-Op over some oaks they skinned back to nothing along the power lines on the front of the place. However, I will give them a hardy “Job Well Done” on their reconstruction efforts after the tornado. After seeing that almost every power line for miles was on the ground with snapped powerpoles, we felt it would be at least a week before we got our power back. Three and a half days after the tornado struck the lights came back on and I’m almost certain I could hear the angels somewhere singing Allaluia. We turned off the generator and had heat at last.

    Thank you Northcentral.                      

    And then there was the insurance company. Outstanding, no haggle service from SafeCo and Liberty Mutual to replace the roof, the gutters, gates, fences and the huge rootball hole in the drive, plus the cost of removing the tree that hit the house.

    Not to forget our county workers. They have been at it now for two weeks daylight to dark cleaning up the mess, clearing the roads and hauling away debris. These guys have worked tirelessly. Special thanks go to them and our county administrators.

     

     

    https://desotocountyms.gov/419/Fire-and-Emergency-Management-Agency

     

    And last but not least: amidst all the wreckage I am still planning to have The Gomorrah Principle out in an audio edition through ACX on Amazon Audible in the next two weeks. If audio books are your thing, watch for the announcement here and on Facebook.

    As for the next novel: The Birdhouse Man, it’s coming soon, but the timeline has been stretched because of the tornado. It may be another month or two. I will post it on this web-site and Facebook when it’s published.

    Please send me your comments. I would love to hear from you.