I sit here today getting ready to take my spouse to the hospital for surgery almost two in a half weeks after a drunk driver hit them head on in a car collision. It was on that date that our lives changed. My spouse will always carry a certain fear of a driver heading right at them at 40 MPH, and the injuries will forever bother them. For me, my life stopped, as I became a caregiver and also deal with the paperwork that a drunk driving accident that caused serious injuries can create and it got me thinking…

I will never know why people get in cars drunk and drive. Clearly the laws will never be strict enough, as far as I am concerned, first offense you should lose your right to drive period. No questions asked. Who knows maybe one day our laws may protect innocent people. This made me want to do some research and go down retro lane and look at the history of our laws around drinking and driving.

It all began in 1897 when a London taxi driver named George Smith was the first arrest for drunk-driving was made. This poor old chap slammed his cab into a building while he was intoxicated, who knows if he had people in that cab. He was the first recorded person to be arrested, plead guilty and pay a small fine. It was recognized that perhaps drinking and driving was not the smartest thing.

Meanwhile, back in the USA, in 1910, New York became the first state to have drunk-driving laws. Right behind New York was California and soon everyone else followed. Then in the 1930s committees were formed to try to make American roads a little safer, in the process  the National Safety Council set up a study to develop tests that could be used to determine intoxication and in 1938  blood alcohol concentration (BAC) was developed and in 1939, Indiana became the first state to enact a BAC law. The Blood Alcohol Content level to determine a drunk driver was set at a .15 or nearly twice today’s .08 national legal limit.

In 1953, Robert Borkenstein, a former police captain as well as a university professor helped develop the “Drunkometer” which then became the breathalyzer. With all this wonderful technology, you would think that people would have understood it was not safe to drive. It wasn’t until the late 70s that people began to understand the dangers of drinking and driving.

In 1980, Mothers Against Drunk Drivers (MADD) was founded by Candy Lightner after her 13-year-old daughter was killed by a drunk driver. Lightner discovered that the driver had three previous DUI convictions. She was so angry and wanted to do something she not only formed MADD, she and her organization helped with tougher laws for those convicted of driving under the influence of alcohol as well as pushed to have the legal drinking age raised to 21.

Every since man could drink there have been drinking with transportation issues whether it was drinking and walking, drinking and driving a stage coach or a horse, or drinking and driving a car. What we have yet to learn from history is people drink and get behind a wheel people can die, in fact every 39 minutes someone dies because a drunk got in a car. It is interesting to watch the progression of laws and will be more interesting as laws, we hope, become stricter.

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I was at my relatives house this Christmas Eve and my Uncle was getting ready to turn the TV off when the new announced that actor Jack Klugman had just died. We all sat there for a brief moment saying, “Really?” None of us really pictured him as being 90 years old, and I think for a brief moment, as I looked at my cousin with whom I had watch the Odd Couple with for years, made me realize that we are indeed getting older as the people we grew up with are passing on and it got me thinking…

When I was a teenager, TV comedies were great. They were great for many reasons. I thought they had solid storylines, unlike the sitcoms of today. The writers had a wonderful sense of humor and laughter came easy for shows like the Odd Couple.

I loved watching the Odd couple because it was believable. It was just downright funny, and what made it so funny were the two actors, Jack Klugman, who played Oscar Madison, the slob who was the roommate to Felix Unger, the guy with OCD and hypochondria who was played by Tony Randall. The funny part of this was not just the storyline, but how the two men were able to adlib with each other during the filming of the show.

I recall as a teen watching interviews with these two men talking about how well they could adlib with each other and stray from the script. These two were comedians at their finest and the show The Odd Couple, which aired from 1970-1975 was able to capture the essence of true comedy.

The other thing I liked about this show and shows of these times was they often had guest stars on them. Many TV sitcoms had great guest spots and on the Odd Couple people like Monty Hall, Richard Dawson, Hugh Hefner, James Millhollin, Bobby Riggs, Billie Jean King, Deacon Jones, Allen Ludden, and Betty White played a guest role on this show.

Klugman left the show and soon become Quincy, M.E. I never cared for the show too much because I always felt he did not fit in as a medical examiner, but if I could get past my own stereotyping, he did a good job as Quincy. That is because Klugman was a great character actor. He was so good that he had over 100 television credits on his resume which I recall several episode of The Twilight Zone,  and a 1964 episode of The Defenders which he won an Emmy Award for his performance. In fact, he won two Emmys for the show the Odd Couple. Klugman was also a wonderful actor in the movies such as Goodbye, Columbus, The Detective, Days of Wine and Roses and 12 Angry Men.

Jack Klugman dead at 90 will be a veteran actor that will be missed by us baby boomers. RIP Jack…

The other day I was at a mall, something I rarely do, and would never be caught dead doing this time of year. However, I was doing a family member a favor and it meant going to a mall. The parking lot was crowded and people were being rather rude in hopes to get the perfect parking place. I saw one car almost plow down an elderly couple in order to get their car in the perfect place. Than once in the mall, the pushing and shoving really got me in the spirit. People looked stress, were not smiling, and tugging their screaming children who clearly did not want to be at the mall. At one point, I had rest and sooth my spirit. I found a little fence to lean on and discovered it was Santa’s house and it got me thinking…

Christmas is the time of year where I get to see people at their worst. Being a therapist, it is my busiest time of the year. People tend to be more stressed, more depressed and their anxiety is off the charts. Still, there is one thing that seems to calm people down and that is good old Saint Nick, Kris Kringle, Santa Claus if you will.

I loved leaning on the gate of Santa’s little palace at the mall. I thought it was great seeing Mrs. Clause there doting over the children. The kids were lined up in their dress clothes and shinny shoes, and bows and slicked back hair waiting to sit on Santa’s lap and have a picture taken. More important is the looks on the children’s face that reminds me that these kids really do believe in the magic of Santa.

Still my thoughts kept wondering how did Santa discover that he could see many children in a mall or department store? I had to find out, so I decided to spend some time researching how Santa discovered department stores. My answer came to me from R.H. Macy Co. They were the first department store to have an in-store Santa back in 1862.

Wait! There is a debate here. According to the Old World Farmer’s Almanac Brockton, there is documentation that James Edgar, a downtown merchant in Brockton, Massachusetts was the first to put on the red suite and strolled through his store surprising children back in 1890.  Macy’s says “No no no impossible.” They were the first to have a Santa. Still another source who has done the research says that Santa started to appear in stores the 1870′s.

It is difficult to pinpoint where did the  store Santa originate and who wore the Santa suit first. I suppose in reality it does not matter. Today there are thousands and thousands of Santa’s everywhere; in fact, there are even Yule and Santa schools that teach people how to be Santa. I would think one would have to go to school in order to represent Santa. After all, those who wear the Santa suit would need to know the names of all the reindeers, how he gets down the chimney, how does he cover so much ground in such a short time, and how many elves does he really have.

Neither here nor there, what we know today is that Santa in the Malls in a tradition for families and children all over the world. Kids believe in that magic. There is nothing that can put a smile on my face faster than seeing a child sitting on Santa’s lap.   Merry Christmas to everyone and to all a wonderful New Year.

When I decided to write this, I kept thinking about the smiles on children’s faces, and so I cannot complete this article without offering my deepest condolences to the people in Newtown, Connecticut.