Dec. 11, 2024 Bob Weaver

Today I'm 85 years old. It went by quickly.

Today I was thinking about sleep. During much of my lifetime I didn't get much of it. I was a night owl early on, listening to midnight radio talk shows before the advent of TV, and then staying up to watch late night TV, Steve Allen, Jack Parr and Johnny Carson, usually nestled comfortably in bed with my wife.

During high school, with a drivers license, I wandered aimlessly on dark country roads with my buddies or drove to Grantsville or Spencer to absorb the brilliant lights and activity of city streets, sometimes suffering with the devil of dubious excitement. I've been a wanderer ever since, an absorber of the passing parade of life, on the move.

Sleep nearly always took a back seat.

I didn't know then I had a historical mind, remembering the people and events, even the minutia of their conversations, either a blessing or a curse.

As the years have passed, having met and worked with people of all races, creeds and colors, my appreciation of humankind has risen, particularly for the people of place in Calhoun and the West Virginia mountains.

During years of volunteerism as a firefighter, I was on the go, from working in radio writing newscasts to becoming a mortician and ambulance driver, having responded to over 1,000 ambulance calls a year for over a decade or rising to transport the deceased to a funeral home.

Sleep was in there somewhere.

I looked into the face of poverty and human trauma, and what a learning experience it was.

Along the way, my drinking advanced to alcoholism, now being sober 45 years.

Then helping start and starting addiction treatment centers in Kingwood and Wheeling, I was always on call, professionally engaged for 20 years, sometimes filled with crisis.

I showed up to a job for 45 years.

When did I sleep?

Then starting the Hur Herald in 1996, rising from bed to cover fires, accidents and murders, never missing a beat for 25 years, while also being a county commissioner for 18 years.

When did I sleep?

The answer? At 85 I sleep a lot and have lots of naps, with daily gratitude overwhelming the hard times, thankful to God for both the good and bad times - a wonderful journey, blessed with my family.