THE JOHNSON KNIGHTS

THE JOHNSON KNIGHTS
Sunday, July 4, 2021 by ROBERT QUATTLEBAUM

PLEASE WELCOME

ROBERT QUATTLEBAUM

SPECIAL EDITION

SNARK AND SENSIBILITY

When I originally wrote this, I had in mind my own high school and my peers - Johnson High School (Knights) of the mid-1980s. After penning it, I realized it applied to many people from many different eras. Rather than make the writing generic I've left the JHS 80's references. Please substitute your own alma mater, graduation decade, and age as you read. I think it will be enlightening to see how much alike we all are.
We are the Johnson Knights of the 1980s
We’re in our fifties now. Our fifties! Who could have imagined such a thing back at JHS?
We have become parents, and grandparents. Grandparents!
We’ve traveled the world. We’ve stayed at home, venturing no farther than the beaches of Florida.
We’ve built houses, and cars, and computer software. We’ve baked cookies and cakes and made meals for our families.
We’ve found God and religion. We’ve questioned them both.
We’ve become doctors and lawyers, technologists and corporate leaders. We’ve run the local hardware store.
We’ve made millions. We’ve struggled to survive.
We’ve held a newborn baby in our arms, and wondered. Marveled. Stared, captivated in astonishment at the wonder of new life and its implications for us and the future.
We’ve hob-nobbed with the rich and famous. We’ve sweated side by side with day workers, and spent a night with the homeless.
We’ve made friends! So many friends, from some many different places. We’ve lost moms and dads, sons and daughters. We’ve lost friends, best friends.
We’ve married! Found the love of our life and stuck it out through the good, the bad, the unexpected and the unwanted. We’ve divorced. We’ve been lonely. We’ve loved again.
We finished the bucket list! We’ve decided that old bucket ain’t all it’s cracked up to be.
We’ve been to jail. We’ve visited friends and family there. We’ve spent a good portion of our life behind bars. We never even got a speeding ticket.
We bought our first house, and our second, and our third... We’ve rented our entire lives. We’ve rented to others.
We’ve earned college degrees. We skipped high school graduation.
We’ve scattered to the winds, some lost forever. We’ve found each other on Facebook.
We’ve owned cassette tapes, CDs, MP3s, and enjoyed streaming services. We’ve gone from cars that barely crank on cold winter mornings to cars we start with remote control from the comfort of our living room.
We’re still strong as an ox! Our health has left us, and we hobble from room to room.
We look back on our lives and wonder where it went. Where did it go?
We’ve smiled, and laughed, and reveled in the highest highs. We’ve cried and sobbed and pulled the trigger on a life not worth living.
We’ve found ourselves. We’ve lost ourselves. We’re still looking for who we are.
We’ve made our society a better place. We’ve foolishly destroyed the world we were given.
We’ve pondered the future and wondered how many years we have left. What else can we accomplish as we roll down the other side of the hill? What will they say about us when we’re gone?
We are the Johnson Knights of the 1980s
We have conquered the world.

ABOUT MIRACLE AT WINTERVILLE

John Elijah Jones received a powerful gift from God at an early age. But John is only human, and the trials of life have pushed him many miles and many years away from his faith.

Trevor McIntire is an atheist. His girlfriend, Lisa, desperately needs a miracle, and Trevor will do anything to get it – anything, that is, but trust in God.

John and Trevor are on a collision course. Their battle of wills determines not only who continues to suffer the most pain, but whether Lisa will live or die.

View the trailer:

https://youtu.be/tnCChSIa0IE

ABOUT ROBERT QUATTLEBAUM

I have a story to tell.

Born in Georgia, home is still the northern suburbs of Atlanta where my wife and I raised six children, three of whom were adopted. With a degree in Computer Science and a successful career in technology, I never set out to be a writer. But one day I had a burning desire to write a story, the kind of story that I wished someone else would write.

Robert Quattlebaum is the author of Miracle at Winterville (and Mr. Jo', coming later this year)
www.robertquattlebaum.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Robert-Quattlebaum-Author-624925394650316

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