The Lion Sleeps Tonight

Senator Edward Moore Kennedy died last night. Not unexpected but sad nonetheless. It can be said that the Camelot era has now officially come to an end. There are no more KENNEDYS to run for President! My sympathies go out to his family & My thanks go to a merciful God who allowed this good & flawed man to serve so well & so long in the United States Senate.

I’ve mentioned this before; but to my Irish Catholic Family the Kennedys were ranked only slightly below the Holy Trinity! (Remember GG Fans: If you ever come across a print of “My Beloved Johns” that show the Sacred Heart of Jesus with his arms around JFK & Pope John XXIII I will pay big money for that; as it hung it our living room most of my life growing up!)

Much will be said about the passing of Teddy Kennedy & all of it by better & more learned folks than me. But a troubling thing (to me) has surfaced in the initial obituary coverage.

Sen. Kennedy’s widow, VICTORIA REGGIE KENNEDY, seems a lovely person & I am sure the Senator felt lucky to have her as a partner. But the “tone” of the coverage has Teddy being basically a rougish, drunken, lout, hell bent on destruction, until the appearance of Vickie; at which point he turned his life around! And I am sure there is SOME truth to this. Especially when you consider Kennedy’s post-Chappaquiddick nadir: that dreadful rape trial of his nephew, Stephen Smith, in Palm Beach. The Senator’s life DID seem to change for the better after that.

But the subtext of all this is that until Vickie came along the Senator was in dire need of the love & support of a good woman who would help him turn it all around! And that sentiment is admirable until you realize it’s not true!

He had the love & support of a good woman; his FIRST wife; JOAN BENNETT KENNEDY until his drinking & carousing drove her own timid soul into the refuge of a bottle!

JBK was a gorgeous woman. The MOST beautiful of the Kennedy woman & in fact had been a former model until she married the brother of her college friend; JEAN KENNEDY SMITH. So pretty in fact; that JFK had dubbed her “the dish” She did everything required of her, followed all the rules, kept up appearances & bore him three children & still & still that was not enough. Perhaps because of the huge price that history demanded of him, the good Senator felt entitled to more of life’s more pleasurable offerings. Who knows?

But this much is true: Joan Kennedy suffered a great deal too. Imagine being put on bed rest after miscarrying two times & finding yourself pregnant again. Only you have to defy your Doctor’s orders to remain in bed, because your husband has been involved in a drunken car accident that has resulted in the death of a young campaign worker who was his passenger that night. So you do your hair & makeup, put on a pretty dress; do the whole TAMMY WYNETTE & Stand by your man as he pleads guilty to leaving the scene of an accident & then of course, as a good girl & a good wife; you must accompany him to the tragic girl’s funeral! That is what the political machine requires of you! And you do it! Only this activity; of course, results in the loss of your third child due to miscarriage.

Is it any surprise that a stranger finds you bleeding & incoherent in a gutter 15 years later!??

All I’m saying is that TED KENNEDY managed to live a life of purpose, full of good works, after these very sad post assassination periods. And he managed to stop drinking & carousing & as NBC News said today: “He grew up!”

But there was a beautiful & accomplished grown up right there beside him the whole time, if only he had noticed her & done right by her; at least then much of HER suffering would have been alleviated!

I am happy that TEDDY is now not suffering. And joyful to think of him reunited with Eunice & Bobby & Jack & Joe & Kick & Rosemary, his parents Rose & Joseph; Jackie & his beloved nephew; John John!

And I imagine them all sailing & drinking & laughing on one of the glorious lakes in Heaven

Away In Manger

So a friend (???) emailed me on Facebook to find out “what LAWN I stole the Baby Jesus from?” that was featured in my Christmas Decorations (“Buon Natale 08”) Well I guess the honest answer is: my parents lawn. But let me explain.

Do you want to know how GAY I was as a child?? For my 12th Birthday I asked for a “light-up HOLY FAMILY”. Yea you read correctly. I was so into Christmas & the requisite “decorating” & everyone said I had “a FLAIR” that much unlike other 12 year old boys who were asking for new hockey sticks, or “spikes” or baseball gloves or other utterly depressing items, I was begging for objects for display on my Parent’s front lawn.

Since my Birthday is so close to Christmas (December 19th) I was hoping to double down & end up with the whole NATIVITY ENSEMBLE in one season. My parents bought me the MARY & JOSEPH. I purchased the Baby Jesus with the plastic manger accessory included. My 6 brothers & sisters chipped in & bought me 2 of the three WISE MEN (which because of my o.c.d. had to wait for the following year for their unveiling as what gay guy could work with only ¾ of a TRIO?) But it is the thought that counts. And I refuse to accuse them of racism just because they only purchased the WHITE WISE MEN.

In any event, I built a “stable” out of left over lumber and since my Dad worked in Insurance (as one of his 9 jobs) and since the insurance company covered the local race track; I prevailed upon him to visit the “actual” stables & bring home some straw or hay for an authentic effect! Which, to his credit. he uncomplainingly did!

It was some seasons before I could build up to Shepherds & sheep & other animals….but I managed. My dream was to have the whole Nativity tableaux with a Santa Clause & sleigh & eight reindeer (plus RUDOPLH!) flying high above them just to “tie up” the entire Christmas Story but I never did achieve this worthy goal. Partly because my neighbors wouldn’t agree to having guy wire strung between our two homes with lighted electrical decorations attached. But mainly because I got distracted by KNOTTS LANDING or FALCON CREST or DYNASTY (before they went or MOLDAVIA) or something, in all honesty.
But the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die. In the immortal words of Sen. Ted Kennedy.

So the “front lawn” in question my dear “K.R” is 2909 Thunderhead Road…a place that lives only in my dreams!