4/11/2026

 Saturday, April 11, 2026

1925 Pope Pius XI published the encyclical Quas Primas

1961 President John F. Kennedy provided US helicopters and crews to South Vietnam

1983 1st visit to a Lutheran church by a pope (John Paul II in Rome

2025 The U.S. terminated the temporary protected status of Afghan and Cameroonian nationals. 

In bed at 9:15, up at 5:45 and again at 8, from falling back to sleep at weigh-in and BP.  0600129/60/33  110  202.8. 40/49/32 and sunny.

Morning meds at 10 a.m.  Ranolazine at 8:25 a.m and 8:05 p.m.    

Jim Reck's birthday.  He would have been 85 today, a simple, happy and good man.  He loved his wife and children and brother-in-law, me, deeply.  We were near -contemporaries, only 4 months apart.  He died on March 8, 2024.  His son, Michael, wrote of him on Facebook, an eloquent and accurate obituary:

Dad, you are the man I hope to make the most proud. 

You taught me how to be a gentleman. You taught me how to love fully, with my whole heart. You taught me everything I know about being a man. I know I mastered some of your lessons, and some I have tried and failed to get right yet. But I promise I will keep trying toget them right.

Just know I have finally found a woman that I love the way you love and loved Mom. There was never a time where you could question how much he loved His Kitty. And now he is up in Heaven with her. Truly in his Heaven, taking care of her again. 

If you knew him, you know he was the king of inappropriate humor, you knew he was willing to always do anything and everything for those he loved, he would be there for you at a moments notice. He was never afraid to say I love you. 

His life wasn't always easy. As a child he grew up in a broken home, that wasn't as loving or supportive as it should have been. He spent his teens in a Chicago street gang called the Shy City Scribes. He was a trouble maker, a law breaker and pretty much a runaway, and then he met my Mom. He always said if it wasn't for her he would have died young and stupid.

He went in to the army, did his service to our country, came out and went to technical school, got a job with Xerox, where he stayed for his entire career and he married his love, my Mom.

They started their life together, wanting a family but, they were told they wouldn't be able to have children. They sought to adopt a child and that is were I came in. They were in the process of finalizing the adoption when my Mom found out she was pregnant with the miracle child, my sister, Chrissi. And their dream of having family came true. 

Dad, you were the best Dad ever. Maybe I prejudice here, but that's how I feel. Growing up you sacrificed, you did all you could for us and then some. You were a roadie for me many times, you watched my metal bands play shows, even though you loved country music. You were always there when I needed you. 

I love you Dad. I hope I will make you proud when we met again. Rest in Peace and be with your Angel. Give Mon a hug for us.

Michael understated the awfulness of Jim's childhood.  He was in and out of foster homes throughout his childhood, attending more elementary schools than there are grades in them.  His mother was cruel and abusive.  He turned his life around when he met, loved, and ultimately married my sister Kitty.  He acknowledged throughout his life that she saved his life and he owed everything to her.  It wasn't hyperbole.  I commented on Michael's post:

Mikey, as I've often said, you are a gifted writer but I am so sad to read these words. You are sure right about your Dad's childhood as an abused and neglected child. He often told me of how he was on a bad path until he met your wonderful Mom. I remember talking with her about how he had broken the cycle of abuse and neglect that he endured as a child with his life as a steady, loving, reliable provider for his family and a good citizen. His life was an acheivement to be proud of. He loved your Mom with his entire heart and soul, just as she loved him. My heart's aching as I think of both of them. For some reason, what I am remembering most vividly of your Dad now is the day I was visiting them in Glendale when your Dad found a baby sparrow that had fallen out of its nest. He picked it up and protected that bird and then he drove that little bird (and me) for miles out into the desert in the middle of nowhere where there was a wildlife rehab facility where he entrusted that little bird. And you know the story of his keeping watch over an endangered baby burro all night. Your Dad used to go on elk hunting trips with his beloved Bucky, up into the mountains but he couldn't get himself to shoot an elk. Several years ago, your cousin Sarah and I did a driving tour of national parks and one day as we were driving we spotted on a ridge a magnificent bull elk that took our breath away and Sarah said to me "Yep, that's why Jim can't shoot them." There is a very warm place in my heart for your Dad, and of course for your Mom. All our lives were enriched by both of them and are diminished by their passing. I'm feeling sad today but glad that my life has been enriched by your Mom and your Dad, and by you and Chrissie.

The photo I chose to use at the top of this remembrance of Jim is of him and his beloved horse, Bucky, with Jim checking out the condition of his hoof, pertern, or fetlock. He loved Bucky as he loved his family and as he loved life.  My head is crowded now with so many thoughts about Jim and his horse, and what they reveal about Jim's character and wisdom.  As I said at the beginning of this reflection, Jim was a simple, happy, and good man.  He was largely uneducated and unsophisticated, not as 'smart' as I am, but much, much wiser.

My iPhone speaking to me: Your walking steadiness continues to be very low and you may be at high risk of falling in the next 12 months. It's been giving me this message for a few years now.  I want to answer by saying I may be at high risk of falling in the next 12 minutes. 

Feeling like a fool.  I went to bed at 9:15 last night, woke up around midnight, and again around 3 and tried to empty my bladder, each time producing only a very small amount of urine.  It happened again when I got up around 6, and then throughout the morning.  I felt no pain or discomfort, but described the situation to Chatgpt which advised me to get to an ER promtly.  I didn't want to rely on an EI so I called the VA Triage Nurse, who also advised going to the ER.  I did it and they of course first did an ultrasound of my bladder which, surprise, was empty.  I of course felt foolish.  As one with congestive heart failure, I've been advised not to consume more than 64 ounces of water and other fluids each day.  Also, to consume less than 2000 mgs. of sodium/salt each day.  I guess I'm erring with underconsumption of both liquids and sodium.  In any case, I'm feeling pretty foolish, wondering about my marbles and my judgment.