“Ole and Lena had been married seven years. Lena was getting worried that Ole might be getting the seven-year itch. She thought he was cheating on her. Lena says to Ole, “You never tell me you love me. Is there someone else?” Ole replies, “When we got married, I told you I loved you. If I ever change my mind, I’ll let you know.”
The three little words “I Love You.” They are words some people find almost impossible to say, yet others say them each time they see each other.
We never know if we will see each other again, so that is a good idea. I love all of you.
Some people live to accumulate power and wealth at all costs. That lifestyle fills them with hate and greed and is not likely to change. Love thy neighbor or the planet is not in that heart.
The only hope for this World and Planet is that it will be rescued by the youth. They will show they are capable of running business and government with care while saving the planet at the same time.
“An 87 Year Old College Student Named Rose The first day of school, our professor introduced himself and challenged us to get to know someone we didn’t already know. I stood up to look around when a gentle hand touched my shoulder. I turned round to find a wrinkled, little old lady beaming up at me with a smile that lit up her entire being. She said, “Hi, handsome. My name is Rose. I’m eighty-seven years old. Can I hug you?” I laughed and enthusiastically responded, “Of course you may!” and she gave me a giant squeeze. “Why are you in college at such a young, innocent
Angelina Smith
age?” I asked. She jokingly replied, “I’m here to meet a rich husband, get married, and have a couple of kids…” “No, seriously,” I asked. I was curious about what may have motivated her to be taking on this challenge at her age. “I always dreamed of having a college education, and now I’m getting one!” she told me. After class, we walked to the student union building and shared a chocolate milkshake. We became instant friends. Every day for the next three months, we would leave class together and talk nonstop. I was always mesmerized listening to this “time machine” as she shared her wisdom and experience with me.
Over the year, Rose became a campus icon, and she made friends wherever she went. She loved to dress up, and she reveled in the attention bestowed upon her from the other students. She was living it up. At the end of the semester, we invited Rose to speak at our football banquet. I’ll never forget what she taught us. She was introduced and stepped up to the podium. As she began to deliver her prepared speech, she dropped her three-by-five cards on the floor. Frustrated and a little embarrassed, she leaned into the microphone and said, “I’m sorry, I’m so jittery. I gave up beer for Lent, and this whiskey is killing me! I’ll never get my speech back in order so let me tell you what I know.” As we laughed, she cleared her throat and began,
“We do not stop playing because we are old; we grow old because we stop playing. There are only four secrets to staying young, being happy, and achieving success. You have to laugh and find humor every day. You’ve got to have a dream. When you lose your goals, you die. We have so many people walking around who are dead and don’t even know it! There is a vast difference between growing older and growing up. If you are nineteen years old and lie in bed for one full year and don’t do one productive thing, you will turn twenty years old. If I am eighty-seven years old and stay in bed for a year and never do anything, I will turn eighty-eight. Anybody can grow older. That doesn’t take any talent or ability. The idea is to grow up by always finding opportunities in change. Have no regrets. The elderly usually don’t have regrets for what we did, but rather for things we did not do.
The only people who fear death are those with regrets.” She concluded her speech by courageously singing “The Rose.” She challenged each of us to study the lyrics and live them out in our daily lives. At the year’s end, Rose finished the college degree she had begun all those years ago. One week after graduation Rose died peacefully in her sleep. Over two thousand college students attended her funeral in tribute to the wonderful woman who taught by example that it’s never too late to be all you can be. When you finish reading this, please send this peaceful word of advice to your friends and family. They’ll enjoy it! These words have been passed along in loving memory of ROSE. REMEMBER, GROWING OLDER IS MANDATORY. GROWING UP IS OPTIONAL. We make a living by what we get. We make a Life by what we give.”
This book has just become available in audio, click on this link to listen to the sample, thank you.
Top reviews from the United States
“Reviewed in the United States on February 16, 2018, Verified PurchaseIn this book by Leland Olson, we read about a young man named Richard Savage. Savage is a farm boy from Iowa who eventually goes to college and through other life events in this book but always is pondering on the idea that he’s gay. One day, a man learns about these thoughts and starts to blackmail Savage over them. However, Savage refuses to pay him which ends up causing major problems in his life. He starts to be accused of murders, accidents, and other horrible things. Can he stop the blackmailer before his life is destroyed?
This is a very intriguing book and filled with action. It’s also not that long of a read which makes it ideal for those looking for a somewhat quick read. Olson’s writing style helps the story to flow well and includes great imagery and descriptions to help you better imagine certain situations and settings. Overall, a wonderful novel to try out if you’re looking for something unique and suspenseful.”
“Reviewed in the United States on February 3, 2018, Verified PurchaseA brave tale of a young man who gets into a bad luck scenario because he likes going to gay bars. Since he has to hide what he is doing to preserve the social image, he becomes a victim of blackmail and ends up in the throes of some terrible crimes. There are excellent ideas and a fantastic plot in this book, but the delivery is poor more often than not. I had the impression that the author took one breath and ran through the book, forgetting to pause, think of the sentence and use proper punctuation – it’s like in all that excitement small and capital letters got confused, and quotes and dashes disappeared. This makes the book difficult to follow. It is in a dire need of editing, which would for sure raise the bar of its value. Unfortunately,
that is the main reason why I decided to give only three stars to an authentic story that is unlike any other I’ve read recently.One person found this helpful.”
“Reviewed in the United States on February 11, 2018, Verified PurchaseThe Bay Area Bad Guys is a great plot I love the concept of the story. Richard leaves Iowa to work for a big name firm in the city. He has a love for going to gay bars and ends up in a web of blackmail and lies to maintain his image. The story can be hard to follow with improper sentences, punctuation and changing points of views but essentially the storyline itself was great. Sometimes the story gets pretty deep addressing major crimes such as child trafficking but I feel like things like that need to be addressed and it fit in with the story well. There was some mystery which kept me reading and wanting to know what happens next. General grammar and punctuation aside, I enjoyed this book. I would definitely read more from Leland Olson. He has a knack for creating an interesting storyline, and with a little editing it would be an amazing book!”
“Reviewed in the United States on February 2, 2018, Verified PurchaseThis book was definitely unlike any other I have ever read. It is typically not my type of go-to genre, but I did find that I actually liked it more than I expected I would. Richard, the main character, is a country boy who is highly intelligent. He quickly gets himself tangled in with some bad things and bad people. The author, Leland Olson, told the story in such a way that kept me intrigued about what would happen next. The sense of mystery and suspense was thrilling and made me want to read the book from start to finish. It was, however, hard at times to read about some of the negative things in the book, such as child trafficking, because they seemed to be very heavy topics. Regardless, I was very intrigued by the book. My family had a hard time even getting me to eat dinner with them because at times, I did not want to put the book down!”
“Reviewed in the United States on February 22, 2018, Verified PurchaseThe Bay Area Bad Guys by Leland Olson goes through the struggles of one man and how he overcomes them. He has to deal with being blackmailed for being gay and ends up in many different situations as he gets more and more entangled. Leland Olson caught my attention on page one and kept me quickly turning the pages to find out what would happen next. I found that the pace set in The Bay Area Bad Guys was easy to follow and I quite enjoyed the way the book played out. When I come across a good book, I strive to make sure that I pass on the joy of reading to anyone who is interested. This genre has piqued my interest and has reinvigorated my love for reading. If you are interested in this genre, I would definitely give this book a read. You will not regret it.”
“Reviewed in the United States on February 15, 2018, Verified PurchaseIt is nice to read about a young man who has been able to overcome personal challenges, both with society and his family, in order to claim his true position. From the title, I would never have seen the coming out of a young gay man in here, but it was truly interesting .”
Top reviews from other countries
Ogunna Chukwudi4.0 out of 5 stars A nice plot, that could do with some good editing Reviewed in the United Kingdom on February 11, 2018, Verified Purchase Leland Olson writes well, and so should be prodded to write more. In the Bay Area Bad Guys, Olson expands upon the story of an uncouth farm boy who gains the privilege to acquire employment in a prestigious firm in a big city. The story extends to the circumstances surrounding his life, and the underlying fear that he could be gay. Blackmail, a big city. The story extends to the circumstances surrounding his life, and the underlying fear that he could be gay. Blackmail, suspense, intrigue, description of simple living in the hustle and bustle of city life, Olson works toward bringing the plot to a satisfactory climax. The book would do with some good editing.
I have had to use CPAP and, finally, BiPAP machines for 20 years. The oxygen level in my blood gets low while I sleep. I usually have dreams that wake me up. I have concluded the subconscious mind creates those dreams to wake me up to start breathing again. The alternative would be to sleep until the oxygen to my brain got depleted, and I would simply die sleeping. The more I think about it, that would be a way to check out.
My dreams are mostly about falling, so before landing, I automatically wake up and start breathing, this has worked well. Recently my thoughts have been tainted or infiltrated by news flashes, shocking events of suffocating, suffering and dying people, also mass graves. Family members trying to cope with the situations get told to stay home and not touch each other. Touching and togetherness are what they need the most.
A shroud of hopelessness has fallen over the whole world. We must regain and cling to hope. My entire life, I have remembered and cherished my grandmother’s loving hugs; it was a safe, secure feeling that is indescribable. I also got blessed with a loving godmother who people hugged on site. She prayed for me regularly, giving me an armor shield of unseen hope in my life. The corona virus appears to be changing everything in this world for future generations. The eternal hope that comes from close family units with loving hugs is getting destroyed. We have orders to remain apart, no socializing, so the virus doesn’t spread. Satan seeks to separate people.
We must all seek the creator to solve this problem and turn it around for good. The alternatives paint a very bleak picture of future societies. The masses connected by electronic wizardry and gaggles of gadgets. Social media and other space-age communications have no familiar, loving human touch, feeling, or emotions. We can see each other talk to each other as if we are already robots living in a cyber world. We could quickly become a plethora of pixels with no hope of ever having human personalities .
These pictures were taken at the old Pioneer Cemetery in Ward County North Dakota near Rice Lake. Many from our family we’re living there in sod houses at that time. The Cemetery was started because of scarlet fever or a virus similar to the Spanish influenza. The Antillans were Eston Olson’s wife’s parents. There are many other graves at the pioneer Cemetery with no markers. Most of the family was driven farther North by a severe drought. There small oxen powered wagon train continued North and most of the survivors settled in Alberta Canada near Rocky Mountain House. A few stayed on the windy prairies of Saskatchewan.
Why Corona Virus, why now? It doesn’t take much action from my wild imagination to come up with a possible healing scenario. A healing virus is being sent by some higher power. A plan to send out a wake up call to this world. That power finally decided since nobody could get along with each other, love one another or care about one another, he would put us all on an equal playing field. The plan is to bring us together as one people. No matter how it shakes out, it’s going to bring some disastrous results for many with the loss of life. Most Generals fight at least one big nasty battle in their plan to win a war. This battles gain would be a world that is stronger, much stronger and united. The last terrible, deadly virus was the Spanish influenza about 100 years ago. It is possible people need to be turned around and sent in the proper direction about every 100 years. It was a little over a 100 years ago when my ancestors came to this country from Finland and Norway. They had nothing but faith, and hope. With much hard work, hardship, suffering, perseverance, pride and love for their neighbors they built this country up from nothing. It became an industrialized, computerized, huge miracle. In the process many have lost their way. We now have abundant hours while confined to our homes to sit back and reflect on our life walk to this point, while contemplating the condition of our hearts and souls. All changes worldwide must come from one person at a time. We should all prey for the caregivers, they are the soldiers fighting on the front lines of this war. May God give them the strength and endurance to continue and stay healthy in the process. I send condolences to those who have lost loved ones. There are a lot of laboratories racing to find a cure or a vaccine for Corona virus I hope they consider the possibilities of a natural substance called Tea Tree Oil. It is a great thing for fighting infectious wounds, skin conditions and many other things. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tea_tree_oil God’s peace to this World, from an old Finlander.
The old testament reads, Proverbs 27:15 A continual dripping on a rainy day and a quarrelsome wife are alike. My wife and I were married 50 years. She went to the big family reunion in heaven a year ago. I listen for that familiar old dripping noise but now it is gone, no rain, faucet or Rose. Time has always controlled us. I remember the old eight-day Clock that sat on the mantle. You could hear the Tick Tock and quarterly chiming all over the house during the quiet of night. Now in this tiny apartment I can hear the small electric clock running on the wall in the other room, the silence is defining. I imagine hearing a dripping noise but there is none. I have been confined to my small quarters since long before the corona virus crept, slithered or just floated in on a cyber cloud. This Hi-Tech, fast moving World of constant pleasure and entertainment got knocked down of the pedestal. Everything came to a screeching, grinding, abrupt halt. People got confined or quarantined in their homes. The stock market went from riches to rags. Time and treasure are taking on new values and meaning Worldwide. Simple almost trivial things such as toilet tissue have become a major issue, no crap. I remember using an outhouse and there was no toilet paper, just an old Montgomery Ward’s Catalog. It did the job, without the class, but was rough on the ass, the index pages were the closest thing to Charmin and went first. A role of real Toilet paper was kept but reserved for VIPs that came to visit. My home nursing attendants have come and gone for the day. I have a long afternoon to deal with again. I am learning how to contend with them, up to a point, been home bound for months. I have always lived in South Dakota, USA. Our winters here can be very long and cold. We have about nine months of winter, then maybe 3 months when sledding gets a little harder. Most of my adult life I have enjoyed being outdoors. Every spring got spent listening with great anticipation for the first Meadow Lark to sit on a fence post singing its little heart out. I hope to still be here this spring to greet that first Meadowlark with hopeful anticipation, in the case I’m not I have downloaded a Meadowlark singing. I’m going to share this with everyone in this world. It is about all I can do in this time of crisis. This little bird gives me hope. My wish is, it sets your spirits into a good mood too. Life is still great, regardless of negative nabobs, even if I don’t hear the old dripping noise. I am happily living on many fond memories. Best wishes to everyone, please stay well, may the Corona virus pandemic run its course in a hurry? Everyone can then get back to business as usual, I hope with a bit more respect and appreciation for all they have, say and do while loving their neighbors. My ancestors came to this country from Finland and Norway in the late 1800s with little more than what they were carrying, their belongings fit in a steamer trunk. The first winter they spent in Dakota Territory was living in a hole dug into the side of a hill. They plowed sod with oxen and a one bottom plow. Their lives began to grow and prosper through faith and hard work. Sacrifice, suffering and their perseverance paved the way for our generation, so we can enjoy a life of plenty. Shame on us if we fail to remember and honor them. A virus could send us all back to living under similar conditions.
Don and Rosie Bowers have dedicated their entire lives to ensuring God’s loving word stays alive and continues to spread all over this hurting planet. Their lives have included loving people, church planting and he was pastor at several congregations in Southern California. As their 60th wedding anniversary nears, they have no plans to retire from their calling.
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Don is a brother to my wife Rose Marie. At the time we got married I claimed to be a confirmed bachelor, for life. Rose was raising 4 daughters by herself. Why, impaired vision possibly, for some unknown reason those two little words “I do” escaped from my lips.
Don told me one day, I should be nominated for sainthood for marrying his bossy older sister. I had that on my mind when I sent this anniversary greeting to Don and Rosie. Rose left for the big Bowers reunion in heaven last April, we were married 49 years. She shared a lot with me about her brother Don’s youth. Oh my, I always thought he was an angel!
James Graham
When Rosie said “I do” to Don 60 years ago.
I think she immediately became qualified for Sainthood.
I have no regrets, being blind like Saul, now I see. The Marriage Institute works, with Divine intervention.
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