Rosenbush Cafe

Soaring high above Tuscaloosa Monday, the Goodyear Blimp reminds Crimson Tide fans that CBS is televising Saturday’s game against Kentucky; 2:30 p.m. CST. Alabama will host the unranked 4-0 Wildcats in their first Southeastern Conference game. Alabama (5-0, 2-0) comes in ranked second in the nation in AP’s poll and 4th in USAToday. After the 71-point game with previously ranked #3 Georgia Alabama plays their third consecutive - of five - SEC games with a break at home before road games at Tennessee and LSU. The Henri Villas Tailgating Festivites will once again be a full house unless the oil giants raise the price as they did in the Western Kentucky game September 13th. Alabama has a 33-2-1 record against Kentucky since 1917. The Tide is 17 point favorites.

Kara Mia Listens to Service

Erev Rosh Hashanah. The new year of 5769 starts tonight in the United States. To all the Jews throughout the world and the continued hope for Shalom. With Peace the world would be a much different sphere but as it spins now we must all be accountable. We must all work together to save our planet, our dignity, our future.

May the coming year be prosperous, filled with Health, Happiness and Success. I do not forget the many other races who do not celebrate this holiday but are still worthy of the blessings of Peace.

During the next 8 days concluding on Yom Kipper, the Day of Atonement, I and millions of fellow Jews will repent and start anew. For me, it is the first New Year without my mother and although there is sadness in the passing it is the natural progression of life for us all.  There are happy memories of my youth and when both parents and aunt were alive. For now, I am alive and intend to continue pursuing altruistic means of expression through RosenbushCafe.

Henry B. Rosenbush

Erev Rosh Hashanah 5769, the new year begins Monday night, September 29th at sunset. Happy New Year. As a New Year’s gift I offer some updates. I came across a free interview by Art Bell of George Carlin from a 1999. Ironically, my links to coasttocoastam and George Carlin’s site are together! George Carlin
CoasttoCoastam
It is a worthwhile 2 hours and free in 5 parts at Art Bell interviews George Carlin

By Henry B. Rosenbush

ATHENS, Ga – Alabama’s impressive 41-30 road win at Georgia propelled them to a 2nd place ranking in AP ranking (4th in USAToday/coaches poll). Alabama (4-0, 2-0) dominated the first half convincingly with 4 touchdowns to 4 different players and a 31-0 halftime lead.

The win broke Georgia’s three-game winning streak against Alabama and their first win in Athens since a 31-0 shutout in 1995.

Georgia was the fourth team in the AP Top 10 to lose, all to unranked opponents; Number 1 USC was upset Thursday to Oregon State 27-21; Florida (4) was surprised at home 31-30 by Ole Miss and Wisconsin (9) fell to Michigan 27-25.

While the final 11-point win was not as close as the score indicates, Georgia made a valiant effort to a comeback that fell short. Georgia’s 2nd half was furious with a blocked punt, which led to a later TD, a recovered onside kick and 92-yard punt return for a score.

Alabama has not trailed in any game this season and, although they were outscored 31-10 in the second half, the Crimson Tide nevered allow the Bulldogs (4-1, 1-1) to completely reverse momentum. The Tide scored on their first five consecutive drives and did not punt until the 9:19 mark in the 3rd Quarter.

Tide Quarterback John Parker Wilson was 13/16 for 205 yards and 1 TD led an aggressive offensive attack from the first drive, which culminated with a 7 yard TD run by Mark Ingram (7 rushes for 17 yards and the lone score). Wilson has 6 TDs and 1 INT in five games and 747 yards.

The blackout in Athens - with 92,000 fans wearing black attire, didn’t phase the visiting team who left fans looking black and blue at the half. The loss broke Georgia’s winning streak at 11 and was the first time in six tries that the Crimson Tide won against Georgia when both teams were ranked.

It’s still only one win and Alabama Coach Nick Saban again downplayed the game: “After five games? Let’s see when we get a full body of work at the end of the season.” One has to admire Coach Saban who knew a 31-0 lead was by no means a win. “It doesn’t matter now. It doesn’t matter until the end. We have a lot of good football teams ahead of us.”

The second half was exciting for Bulldog fans with a 30-point explosion that included a 92-yard punt return by Prince Williams (the second longest in Georgia history), to begin the 4th Quarter. The TD made the score 31-17. Credit Alabama for not folding and scoring 10 points; a 34 yard field goal by Leigh Tiffin, who had a 1st Quarter FG of 23 yards, and a 12-yard TD run by Glen Coffee. Coffee finished 23-86 and 2 TDs (his first came on a 3-yard run in the 2nd Quarter that gave Alabama a 17-0 lead).

Georgia’s QB Matthew Stafford finished 24/42 274 yards 2 TD 1 INT and top rusher Knowshon Moreno was held to 34 yards on 9 carries and a 3rd Quarter 2-yard TD run. With the 31-0 lead Georgia was forced to attempt more passes and while Stafford engineered an impressive passing game for their final 2 TDs (24-yards to Michael Moore who finished 5 carries, 65 yards and 21 yards to A. J. Green, 6-88) time ran out.

With a 31-0 haltime lead the only question on Crimson Tide fans was could they finish the game? Last year Alabama lost to the Bulldogs in overtime 26-23 in Tuscaloosa. It was the Third Quarter comeback that look as though last year’s ugly loss might be replicated as Georgia scored 10 points on a 34 yard FG by Blair Walsh and Moore’s TD.

After the punt return score, however, Wilson led the Tide on two drives of 51 and 47 for their final 10 points that increased the lead to 41-17.

The much publicized Georgia rushing defense allowed 129 yards while the Tide’s defense held another opponent under 100 yards with 50. Total offense was deceptive with 334 (AL) to 324 (GA). Wilson began the game 7-7 before his first incompletion in the final minute of the 2nd Quarter.

Georgia leads the nation in penalties and was flagged 10 times for 81 yards while Alabama was only penalized twice for 9 yards. A 1st Quarter roughing the passer negated a fumble and allowed the drive to continue leading to the first TD.

Julio Jones led all Tide receivers with 5 catches for 94 yards and 1 TD and kept his average at 18.8 yards per reception. Wilson’s pass to Jones was his 42nd career TD breaking the school record set by Brodie Coyle.

Alabama hosts unranked Kentucky (4-0, 0-0), who dismantled visiting Western Kentucky (2-3) 41-3, Saturday with a 2:30 p.m. CST kickoff. The game will be televised on CBS.

Georgia negated many chances; two roughing the passer calls, a defensive holding and even when they blocked punter P.J. Fitzgerald’s kick in the 4th the ball went backwards. The most unexpected surprise came on a pass to Green who turned and was stripped of the ball which LB Dont’a Hightower caught it in mid-air to end a potential drive. The Tide converted the turnover into a 4-yard TD by Roy Upchurch.

DB Justin Woodell intercepted Stafford once for his 3rd pick of the season, which leads the team.

AP Top 25
1. Oklahoma (43) 4-0
2. Alabama (21) 5-0
3. LSU 4-0
4. Missouri (1) 4-0
5. Texas 4-0
6. Penn State 5-0
7. Texas Tech 4-0
8. Brigham Young 4-0
9. USC 2-1
10. South Florida 5-0
11. Georgia 4-1
12. Florida 3-1
13. Auburn 4-1
14. Ohio State 4-1
15. Utah 5-0
16. Kansas 3-1
17. Boise State 3-0
18. Wisconsin 3-1
19. Vanderbilt 4-0
20. Virginia Tech 4-1
21. Oklahoma State 4-0
22. Fresno State 3-1
23. Oregon 4-1
24. Connecticut 5-0
25. Wake Forest 3-1
Others Receiving Votes: Maryland 46, Michigan State 42, Kentucky 40, Ball State 38, Northwestern 32, Tulsa 32, TCU 30, Illinois 24, North Carolina 21, Florida State 14, OLE MISS 13, Georgia Tech 10, California 5, Nebraska 5, Oregon State 3, Boston College 3, Colorado 2. Dropped From Rankings: Clemson 20, Illinois 22, East Carolina 23, TCU 24

USA Today Poll
1. Oklahoma (57)
2. LSU (1) 4-0
3. Missouri 4-0
4. Alabama (2) 5-0
5. Texas (1) 4-0
6. Penn State 5-0
7. Brigham Young 4-0
8. Texas Tech 4-0
9. USC 2-1
10. Georgia 4-1
10. South Florida 5-0
12. Ohio State 4-1
13. Florida 3-1
14. Auburn 4-1
15. Utah 5-0
16. Kansas 3-1
17. Wisconsin 3-1
18. Boise State 3-0
19. Vanderbilt 4-0
20. Oregon 4-1
21. Fresno State 3-1
22. Oklahoma State4-0
23. Connecticut 5-0
24. Virginia Tech 4-1
25. Wake Forest 3-1
Others Receiving Votes: Northwestern 98, Michigan State 88, Kentucky 86, Ball State 43, Maryland 40, Tulsa 38, Florida State 31, TCU 25, California 20, Georgia Tech 18, Illinois 14, Nebraska 8, Oregon State 6, North Carolina 5, Clemson 5, Notre Dame 3, Cincinnati 2, Duke 1, Ole Miss 1. Dropped From Rankings: Clemson 19, Illinois 21, TCU 23

By Henry B. Rosenbush

To Sances Bridgewater
Pelham, Alabama.

To remind us of our going out in the “world” and make our fortunes.

Love,

Virginia
Feb. 1942

Thus was a dedication from one sister to another inside the front cover of the hardbound edition of Daphne Du Maurier’s Frenchman’s Creek, an atmospheric romance novel in the vein of the author’s Rebecca. Naturally, there is a bored housewife (Dona St Columb) who leaves her boring husband behind and, with her children, heads to her country estate in Cornwall where she falls for a French-philosopher-pirate.

Virginia Flora Bridgewater died March 20, 2002 at 7:45 p.m. in Brookwood Hospital at the age of 82 following complications from unnecessary surgery. The final moments were shared with her youngest sister, Katherine, her middle son - of three - and his wife. It was needless for Gin and Tonic – pet named for her love of that libation - to die in a hospital. My dad passed on in a hospital by choice whereas Virginia was resuscitated after having almost died in the hallway of her home.

Instead, she was rescued by my oldest cousin’s wife who felt something wrong when Virginia did not answer her telephone. Paramedics would later admit she was gone but they were able to perform the necessary life-saving actions. Unfortunately, by saving her then meant her last month on earth was to suffer despondency and pain because family and technology intervened rather than let her go quietly, gracefully and at home.

I am a believer in letting go when the time arrives, like my father, who did not fear death; he embraced and enjoyed life. Virginia would be taken into surgery for a throat defect which, like a hiatal hernia - dad had one, too - can redirect food into the airway. She was frail and unable to make the decisions alone and others with less than humane designs convinced her surgery would be successful.

It was not.

Here was one of the truest unselfish humans on the planet surrounded by greed and disregard and I was powerless to prevent her decline. I was at her bedside on that Wednesday night when she died, just like with my father in 1995 on a sunny Friday afternoon. There is something mysterious about death that some fear that I do not and it is the actual passage from death onwards. My father was able to kiss his wife and son goodbye and let go without resistance.

Virginia fell asleep while the nephew stood quietly taking her pulse until he turned and said, “She’s gone.”

I had seen her days earlier and was able to get her on my cellphone speaker to talk to Sances. It was brief with mother saying how she could not travel to see her and hoped she understood; there was the usual exchange of “I’ll see you soon.”

The last time they saw one another was at VFB’s surprise 80th birthday party in Hoover, Alabama in 1999. I tricked my mother into thinking she was going for a ride to my office across town rather than a sixty mile trip to Birmingham! My gift to Virginia was to get her sister to the party and it turned out to be her favorite gift. Imagine the ire of some who had spent money on gifts whereas I brought two sisters together for what would be the final time in their earthly lives.

September 23rd, 2007, Frances died after a long battle with Alzheimer’s disease. It was the Sunday night following Yom Kipper and Nar was having a painful morning. I had watched this mental disease take control and destroy my mother’s personality, ability to care for herself or rationalize the simplest cognizance of the moment.

I prepared as best one can for the inevitable death for about six months as the decline became accelerated with blood clots, a minor stroke, and increased hostility and profanation of the reality that rebelled against her psyche.

It is not with sadness that I recall her last day but to how she finally accepted her fate. I sat with her a few hours before and asked her bluntly, already knowing the answer:

“How do you feel?”

She replied with a look of anguish; I had seen this expression many times but I knew it was different than previously seen.

With Alzheimer’s you can try to rationalize whatever you like and for briefest specs of moments one may experience success but it is a devious success that can be replaced in milliseconds with contray lucidity. Such was the case of Frances, who was in pain and incapable of what we take for granted; walking, enjoying a sunset, poaching an egg or remembering a son.

I urged my mother to consider her life and if she was willing to experience the pain and the further declination that she could fight to live and that I would support her. I gave her the other option, that if she was ready to let go of life unafraid of the future that I would support her as well.

For her to say “Good bye” to me was finality encapsulate; she knew her time had come and she went at home.

Wish we could all experience death as the eventuality of life and rejoice in accomplishments. Could I say Virginia and Frances went out into that world beyond romance novels? Yes, they did, but in decidedly different directions.

Virginia never married. Her nephews, me being the oldest, were her children. She traveled many times to Israel with the late Rabbi Milton Grafman, enjoyed cooking, helping the needy, traveling across the southeast to ester hostels and historical tours. She never complained about having never married. Gin and Tonic was also my biggest supported when I was a struggling newspaper editor and aspiring writer always encouraging me to finish “that novel about dreams.”

As a member of the opera guild she helped with a myriad of tasks from secretary to sending invitations and at Temple Emanu-El joined the Hannah Sewing Guild and she devoted every Wednesday to sewing whatever was needed for United Way, Red Cross and other service organizations. How ironic that she would die on a Wednesday.

Frances and Bernie were quite a couple, often seen by their many friends as on a perpetual honeymoon. How sad that the illness that would eventually lead to her death also caused a metaphorical divorce. After years of conventions; Exchange, Elks, Musicians, Retired Officers and Va, dad could no longer travel and mother had no desire to leave the house.

During their lives, however, there were many high and low points and they dealt with each realistically.

When dad died, mother and I were at his bedside. When mother died I was by he side, too.

On this day only two people acknowledged my mother’s passing a year ago; my partner, Natalie, and cousin Floyd and his wife, Sela. It is the quality not quantity of rememberance that is important. Floyd was the only direct relative who traveled to Tuscaloosa last September to lend support and he is forever blessed for his unselfishness.

So today, I remember my late mother and aunt as two women who, although different in most every way, supported many worthy causes; from VFB and the sewing guild to FBR helping in the formation of the Exchange Club’s statewide spouse abuse prevention centers.

Thanks again for all the love, friendship, support and for being two of the most important women in my early life.