The story below was among my first blog posts. With Ruth’s passing, I’ve updated it a bit. It’s a long read, but worth a second look. Many people – perhaps most around the world – never have the chance to share a meal at a table with their family. I’ve been lucky to have four …
Author: Robert
Auto Madness
Several years ago, the driver’s side power window of my car came off its track and fell into the inner door wall. It was late fall, getting cold, so I stopped into the first auto glass repair shop I found. They removed the inner door panel and told me the “two clips” welded to the …
Happy New Year?
My new year began at the end of September. In fact, my whole life reset on September 27th. I didn’t plan it. I didn’t want it. It just came. If Ruth were still here, we would have marked 2022 as a good year. David landed a new, less stressful job that he enjoys. He and …
The Naked Mile
Hollywood Squares is an American television game in which two contestants compete in a game of tic-tac-toe to win cash and prizes. The board for the game is a 3 × 3 vertical stack of open-faced cubes, each occupied by a celebrity seated at a desk and facing the contestants. The stars are asked questions …
This Year’s Tree
This year’s tree is very different. It’s the first time in seventy-five plus years that I’ve put one up alone. I didn’t like the way it felt. I’m not sure I would have one at all if David and his family weren’t coming to Florida for a few days. But they are, so I do. …
Christmas Trees
My first memories of Christmas trees were of my dad and I heading to the neighborhood lot to pick out a tree mom would like and dad would be willing to pay for. It took a bit of compromise. I do recall we paid as high as $5.00 for a tree, but most were around …
Errors in Judgement
Since Ruth’s passing, I’ve exercised several errors in judgement. Most are simple tasks run amuck by my failure to think things through. When she was around, we shared daily conversations about life. We discussed our plans for the future, travel, thoughts on the kids and grandkids, current events, politics, and personal economics. We set one …
Dibs
I think all kids, at least all kids my age, have called dibs a time or two. Calling dibs means you reserve the right to something. Everyone else is out of luck. It’s yours. A few years ago, when Ruth and I updated our will, we asked the kids if they wanted anything special to …
Family
I ran across this online the other day. While it doesn’t sum up my thoughts about family, it’s how some families operate. “There’s an old proverb that says you can’t choose your family. You take what fate hands you. And like them or not, love them or not, understand them or not, you cope. Then …
Celebration of Life
We held a Celebration of Life for Ruth yesterday in Florida. We’ll hold a second in Michigan in June. Each member of our family had something to say, but we knew the words would catch in our throats, so we produced a video to share with the attendees. We recorded our words and added several …