PeachWave

I’m at the Writers League of the Villages Book Fair today. BZ is with me, sharing her book as well. I’m going to be at the local PeachWave on Tuesday afternoon to share my book.

The PeachWave folks wanted me to provide an introduction to my writing, so I sent them the following. No sense in trying to reinvent the wheel. I shared the same story almost two years ago when I spoke at the local Barnes and Noble.

Pondering Life’s Lessons is the first book I’ve written. I started writing a blog on November 19, 2017. I’ve posted a story every Wednesday and Sunday since then. Tomorrow morning, I’ll post my 856th story. Each one takes about five to ten minutes to read.

I started writing so that my children and grandchildren could hear the stories that I learned in my youth. My first blog was called Ed. It’s about a friend of mine, Ed, who turned 100 on the day I posted the story. I posted a story about him turning 108 a couple of months ago.

This is the introduction to my book.

I’ve listened to and told stories all of my life. My dad was my original storyteller. He spoke from experience and recounted memories from growing up and living life. He was a simple man with simple tastes. He was honest in all of his dealings and he loved children.

I became a storyteller because of him. I loved listening to him and family members recount “remember when” events. Eventually, I started to tell my own stories and retold stories that I’d heard from others. Early on I discovered that is was best to tell true stories. If I told a lie, I’d have to remember what lie I told and who I told it to. If I told the truth (as I remembered it) I could tell the same story to anyone who cared to listen.

I’ve told my stories for three main reasons: to make a point, to entertain, and to ensure that the story being told became a part of my personal history.

I’m a baby boomer who grew up in the suburbs of Detroit. My mother and father both came from large families, so I had several pairs of aunts and uncles. I knew both sets of grandparents and had them in my life for my early years.

I am the oldest of three children. I had several cousins and much of my family’s social life centered on family gatherings in each other’s homes. We celebrated every holiday together with potlucks, picnics, and birthday cakes.

My favorite part of each of these gatherings was the evening. I was the second oldest of the group of eight cousins who gathered most often. As evening came, the younger cousins went to bed while the adults did adult things. Adult things included playing cards, drinking a beer or two, and telling stories. No TV, no cell phones, no personal devices of any kind.

The stories were remembrances of days and events they were happy to recount and share. Most were joyful tales. There were many laughs and, I expect some exaggerations.

The best part for me was to be able to “stay up”. Staying up, meant I got to listen to the stories. The stories I heard were a verbal history of the events that formed our extended family. Over the years I have retold these tales and added several of my own.

As my own children have grown, I realize that a family’s “story” is its legacy for future generations. This book is an attempt to retell these stories so that others may share a laugh, gain some insight and discover that each of us, and our experiences, should be celebrated. While I expect most entries will be associated with my seventy plus years, I hope to share some insight through the stories I recall from “staying up”.

And then there’s the back cover.

Robert Tebo thought about writing a book for a very long time. Thinking and doing are two different things. Rather than write a book, he started a blog in the fall of 2017.

Pondering Life’s Lessons is a compilation of several blogs written over the past five plus years. The first section focuses on his marriage to Ruth and the beginning of his family. The second includes his extended family and friends. The final section tells his story after Ruth’s unexpected death.

He never anticipated writing the stories in the final section, but life doesn’t go as we expect. We get what we get and learn to live through it as best we can.

We all have a story. We live it in bits and pieces each day. If we keep it to ourselves, it dies with us. Life’s lessons are too important to let that happen. If his stories remind you of yours, please share them with those you love.

One of my readers wrote this review.

I think these are the reasons we all write, Bob. You have expressed that more profoundly than anyone I’ve read. It’s about connecting, overcoming differences, feeling safe and secure, loving and being loved. Thank you.

And another wrote.

In the last two days, I reread PONDERING LIFE’S LESSONS. I read it without such haste and took time to ponder myself. I laughed and I cried – lots of emotions stirring within me and leaving me with a desire to slow down and absorb moments of my life in a more meaningful way. For that, I thank you. I am a very private person and must allow myself to open up and not be afraid to share my feelings with the people I love. Interesting, isn’t it? I don’t know you and have allowed your life stories to reach me…. I just wanted you to know.

The biggest lesson I’ve learned since I started writing is that we’re more alike than different. When we set aside our political, religious, and economic differences, we’re all searching for the same things. We want to feel comfortable in our own skin, have people to share our lives with, and connect with those who love and accept us just as we are. No fanfare, no drama.

When we’re young, we spend a lot of time trying to change the world, even if it’s just our own corner of it. We chase better jobs, bigger paychecks, larger houses, and fancier cars. We focus so much on collecting things that, along the way, we often neglect the people who matter most.

By the fourth quarter of life, reality sets in. The drive to collect things slows down, health issues start to show up, and you wish you’d taken better care of yourself from the start. That’s when it truly hits you. It’s the people in our lives that really matters.

Don’t wait.  Start taking care of yours today.  One of my critics said it best. It’s about connecting, overcoming differences, feeling safe and secure, loving and being loved.