I was among the first students to attend Abraham Lincoln Elementary School when it opened in 1953. It was built to help address the tremendous growth that post war Royal Oak experienced. I attended Whittier Elementary the year before where I was an enthusiastic Kindergarten student. All the kids in the neighborhood made the eight-tenths …
Author: Robert
When We Don’t Understand
I had my first interaction with a transexual during the early 80’s. I was the middle school principal in Addison and a mom made an appointment with me to discuss transferring her son to our school. She came into my office and took a seat. She explained she wanted to transfer her son to Addison …
Three Steps
I’ve been thinking about my dad a lot. He lived to be seventy-nine and a half. I’m four and a half years short of his mark. Although I made a deal with my mom to live at least as long as she did, there’s no guarantee I’ll make another eighteen years. That’s the goal, but …
You Know What Mean
One of Ruth’s and my greatest joys is our three kids, and their spouses, all enjoy being together. They truly love each other. All families can’t say that. We’re blessed. A few years ago, Elizabeth, Lindsay and Kate were on a girls’ weekend in California. The boys, Ruth, and I were kept in the loop …
Competition
There are several golf events at our new course, Tullymore. The BIG event of the year is the member/guest held each July. It’s called The Prestige. My son, David, and I played last weekend. The format was straight forward. There were thirty-six two-man teams. The thirty-six were assigned to one of six flights determined by …
Young Entrepreneurs
My cousin, Gene, was a big brother to me. He was four years older, so he passed several of his discoveries on to me. When I was nine, he asked me if I still believed in Santa Claus. I did because I knew my mom and dad wouldn’t buy the things I received from Santa. …
3
Ruth and I didn’t discuss how many children we wanted until after we married. We were engaged about twenty-two hours so getting married was our focus, not the number of children we’d have. During our first conversation, Ruth lobbied for t wo, and I wanted three. My preference was two boys and a girl. With …
The Back of the Cards
I enjoy playing cards. I got the bug from my parents. Mom played pinocle with a group of friends for several years. They rotated the host site from lady to lady. They played for a few hours and ate fancy snacks and desserts. When they played at our house, my sisters and I got the …
Supporting Each Other
The Parkinson support group helped both Mom and Dad learn what to expect from the disease. They knew he wasn’t going to “get better” because there’s no cure. He could “live better” if he followed the advice of his doctors and adjusted as he aged. They learned people didn’t die from Parkinson’s, but rather with …
Offering Support
I was at a family Thanksgiving dinner at my Aunt Ruth’s house when Mom made the announcement. Dad was retiring, and he had Parkinson’s disease. He’d been off work for about six weeks after cutting his hand on a broken pop bottle. Broken bottles were a part of the job when you deliver pop for …