Facebook messages received ...

     So how's your coronavirus vacation going?
      Would not say that we are bored; we can find enough to do -- reading, studying our computer and/or I-Pads, and watching lots and lots of television "news" -- but we are not as busy as we were before, either.
      How about you?
      Interesting to watch the debate on when and how things -- well, our world -- should open up again. Seems to me that it's become a political divide (isn't everything these days?), and I am not about to delve into that argument. Not here, not on this blog.
      Make up your own mind. And if you go out into public often enough -- mask or no mask, social distancing or not -- good luck. Don't be afraid. Don't be lax, either. 
       We did go, carefully, on a shopping trip to our favorite Costco this morning -- we had items we needed -- and then on a walking trip to the credit-union drive-through across the street from our facility, I happened to see the Blue Angels flyover in Fort Worth that had many of our residents excited to see. 
      Here is the link to those few moments, as posted on Facebook this morning: 
  https://www.facebook.com/TrinityTerraceTX/videos/2914550845259066/?t=5 
       We will keep our distance, and I will keep researching on the Louisiana sports-related project which I have been grinding on lately.
     It is good, though, to see our neighbors and fellow residents here at the compound -- even at a distance and (most often) masked -- and neighbor Dr. John suggested, "I haven't seen any of your blogs lately."
     Told him I was working on a couple, and so here is the first.
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      These are three notes I received by Facebook Messenger last week, reminders of family and published work -- blogs and the book -- done in recent years.
      ● Dr. Larry Joseph Rapp Jr., a two-year Centenary College student from New Orleans and then an LSU-BR graduate, sent this note:
    "Hi Mr. Van Thyn, 
     "You don't know me but I just want to say thank you for compiling your parents' stories. I was fortunate enough to see your mother speak at Centenary College in the early 2000s. She was so memorable that nearly 20 years later I had to find out more.
     "Thanks to Wikipedia, I think I found out about your book. My mother read it first; I just finished it, and I will certainly share it with anyone who will read it. You probably hear this frequently; at least I hope you do. Your parents would be proud of and honored by your work."
      Joseph went on to earn a doctorate in physical therapy from the University of South Alabama and has accepted an offer to work for the Department of Defense at Hurlburt Field AFB (in the Florida Panhandle) as director of physical therapy.
      ● B. Wade Brooks, a Benton resident and school teacher who attended Parkway High in Bossier City and then the University of Central Arkansas and University of Tenneseee, sent a note asking to contact a friend about another matter, and then added: "I saw your mother (Mrs. Rose) speak at Shreve Memorial Library one afternoon. Our kids need to hear those type stories these days." 
     Paid special attention to this surprising message: 
     ● "My name is Joe Sanders. I am the son of Leen Sanders. I just read an article  you wrote about my father and his actions as a prisoner in Auschwitz. Things I was never aware of. I am not much of a reader, but I really enjoyed reading your story about my father. 
     "Thank you so much. Joe Sanders."
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     These are gratifying, of course, and the Joe Sanders note particularly was/is intriguing. Leen Sanders was the Dutch boxing champion/hero -- my Dad's hero -- who was the subject of a blog piece 6 1/2 years ago as part of the blog series on my father's story and it is Chapter 16 in the book about my parents and our family. 
      So I did contact Joe, we have exchanged messages over the past week, and I am about to follow up with more on the Leen Sanders story -- yeah, the rest of the story -- and Joe's perspective on life with his parents.
     As one of our favorite talk show hosts/analysts says: Watch this space.