Oh gosh, the old gray mare ain’t what she used to be. She thinks it’s December – not June, right? Sad.
Not to worry or despair, o ye cyberspace friends and followers. Blame Pretty for this one because yesterday she found a large decorative storage box full of Christmas cards we hadn’t looked through in twenty years. That’s right. Twenty years. As I waded through the memories, I found two rainbow greeting cards sent by two gay men named Chuck with different last names in different years, both of whom are now deceased.
That struck me as more than a random coincidence as we begin to celebrate Pride during the month of June, 2024.
So in memory of two friends who are no longer with me, Chuck Heath and Chuck Bowen, I wish you all a Happy Pride! Celebrate the season wherever you are.
Following the shady corruption of power in the Nixon administration, the American people were ready for a newcomer outside the beltway of Washington, D. C. In walked Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter, a peanut farmer from Plains, who was a Sunday School teacher in a Baptist church with a reputation for honesty and integrity. He was just the recipe needed in the 1976 election after the Watergate years.
I had followed and admired Jimmy Carter even before his run for governor in 1970 so I was hopeful for what his administration could accomplish from the White House. Alas, being an outsider must be much more difficult than I thought, and for Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter it was a mountain too high to climb. The many good measures he accomplished including the Camp David Accords were often lost in the rhetoric surrounding the hostages in Iran that were released on the day Ronald Reagan took office at the end of Carter’s one term.
Jimmy Carter was only 56 years old when he left the Oval Office for his home in Plains, Georgia, but he and his wife Rosalyn have continued to be advocates for the poor and disenfranchised since he returned home. In 2002 he won the Nobel Peace Prize for his open resistance to the War in Iraq in addition to his countless contributions toward creating and preserving democracy around the world. The Carter Center has been a model for presidential libraries, a thriving institution whose motto is “Waging Peace, Fighting Disease, Building Hope.”
During the last years President Carter not only wrote a number of books but also found a passion for painting. Pretty and I are always grateful for the Christmas cards we faithfully receive every year from Rosalyn and Jimmy Carter, and we are particularly happy whenever the cards are works of art by the former president.
Enjoy with us.
2018 message: Blessings, love, and peace to you this Christmas
(Cardinals in Winter, original painting by President Jimmy Carter)
2017 message: May the Joy and Peace of Christmas be with you now
and throughout the new year
(Mountain Laurel, original painting by President Jimmy Carter)
(White Dove, original painting by President Jimmy Carter)
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And finally, just for fun, this one designed by Amy Carter who “created this original painting of her with her father carrying a Christmas tree home from the woods.”
Message: May your home be filled with the warmth of family and friends
this holiday season and throughout the New Year
I couldn’t have said it better myself.
************************
Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter have been the best of Americans who served their country on a very large stage during their time in the White House and perhaps offered us their best guidance in the years following. I originally published this piece in 2018 but thought this year we Americans needed a reminder of our own ideals. The Carters are flawed individuals somewhere in their DNA, aren’t they, because none of us are saints; however, regardless of politics, give me the character, courage, conviction, compassion and commitment of this couple from Plains in the White House any day of the week and twice on Sunday. Waging peace, fighting disease, building hope.
Following the shady corruption of power in the Nixon administration, the American people were ready for a newcomer outside the beltway of Washington, D. C. In walked Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter, a peanut farmer from Plains, who was a Sunday School teacher in a Baptist church with a reputation for honesty and integrity. He was just the recipe needed in the 1976 election after the Watergate years.
I had followed and admired Jimmy Carter even before his run for governor in 1970 so I was hopeful for what his administration could accomplish from the White House. Alas, being an outsider must be much more difficult than I thought, and for Jimmy and Rosalyn Carter it was a mountain too high to climb. The many good measures he accomplished including the Camp David Accords were often lost in the rhetoric surrounding the hostages in Iran that were released on the day Ronald Reagan took office at the end of Carter’s one term.
Jimmy Carter was only 56 years old when he left the Oval Office for his home in Plains, Georgia, but he and his wife Rosalyn have continued to be advocates for the poor and disenfranchised since he returned home. In 2002 he won the Nobel Peace Prize for his open resistance to the War in Iraq in addition to his countless contributions toward creating and preserving democracy around the world. The Carter Center has been a model for presidential libraries, a thriving institution whose motto is “Waging Peace, Fighting Disease, Building Hope.”
During the last years President Carter not only wrote a number of books but also found a passion for painting. Pretty and I are always grateful for the Christmas cards we faithfully receive every year from Rosalyn and Jimmy Carter, and we are particularly happy whenever the cards are works of art by the former president.
Enjoy with us.
2018 message: Blessings, love, and peace to you this Christmas
(Cardinals in Winter, original painting by President Jimmy Carter)
2017 message: May the Joy and Peace of Christmas be with you now
and throughout the new year
(Mountain Laurel, original painting by President Jimmy Carter)
(White Dove, original painting by President Jimmy Carter)
d
And finally, just for fun, this one designed by Amy Carter who “created this original painting of her with her father carrying a Christmas tree home from the woods.”
Message: May your home be filled with the warmth of family and friends
No, not THAT James Brown – this is my friend of many moons, Jim Brown. I first met Jim in the early 1990s when I was selling life insurance, and he was selling health insurance. He cold called on me in my tiny Jefferson Pilot office one day, and I invited him to come in and tell me about his Golden Rule insurance plans. He folded his tall frame into my one and only office chair designed for very short clients, and we were off and running.
Throughout the years, Jim sent us countless holiday cards that were truly unique and signaled the beginning of the holiday season. Pretty and I loved them all.
2012 – Photo from Sheri Blackshire-Cochrane
2015 – Photo of downtown Greenville, South Carolina
2013 – Photo courtesy of Charlie Register
2014 – Photo taken from downtown Greenville, South Carolina
2016 – Highlands, North Carolina
Each of Jim’s cards carried his best wishes for Pretty and me, and I’ve chosen one of his greetings to send to all our friends in cyberspace:
I'll Call It Like I See It 
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