Bon Vivant, Raconteur, and All Around Good Fellow

Went to a Lenten themed choral performance this evening with The Philosopher. Listened to Bruckner, Mendelssohn, Brahms, and Dvorak's original version of Stabat Mater. The Dvorak and one of the Bruckner motets were lovely, but the other two were only so-so: choral music in German is a bit hard to swallow.

Sitting in that church listening to the singers I started thinking, perhaps strangely, about the men in my life. If you must know, I was thinking about relationships and marriage - the closeness that develops between friends compared to that which develops in relationships - but I kept coming back to this phrase: 'the finest man I know.' It sounds like the sort of drivel one finds scripted in romantic comedies, but it still set me thinking - surely this is not an epithet to be taken lightly.

After spending at least the better part of the fourth and fifth movements of Stabat Mater thinking about the matter, it struck me that the finest man I know is now the finest man I knew - my grandfather on my mother's side who died a little over three years ago. I couldn't possibly go into all the details of why this is so - it would take too long and be far too revealing - the best I can do is repeat one of his business cards for your reading pleasure. This will give you an idea of what kind of man my grandpapa was.

Used Land - Good Scotch - Horse Pucky - Racing Forms
Flyswatters - Old Cars - Fast Women

Dr. Willard P. Riddles
Bon Vivant, Raconteur, and All Around Good Fellow

Wars Fought - Virgins Chastised - Bars Emptied
Bridges Burned - Feet Massaged - Salesman Slain
Munitions Supplied - Ballads Sung - Skulduggery Illuminated
Grandkids Sillified - Turkeys Carved - Dogs Fed
Hearts Mended - Uprisings Quelled - Stories Embellished
Politicians Bamboozled - Anarchists Organized
Birds Cursed - Pots Stirred - Heads Knocked
Revolutions Cheered - Fences Mended
Assassinations Plotted - Books Cooked
Ignoramuses Enlightened- Lawyers Humiliated
Light Bulbs Changed - Cats Herded