Jimmy Stewart starred in the 1958 film, Vertigo, with Kim Novak. It’s a psychological thriller directed and produced by Alfred Hitchcock. Stewart plays a former police detective forced into early retirement because a line of duty incident caused him to develop acrophobia (an extreme fear of heights) and vertigo (a false sense of rotational movement). …
Author: Robert
The Summer of 69
My wingman got married on May 23, 1969. He celebrated his twenty-second birthday four days later, and I followed him on the 29th. That was fifty-one years ago. That wasn’t the only thing that happened that summer. The biggies in my mind were 400,000 people attended the Woodstock Music Festival, a concert in a New …
My Wingman
Mitch is my oldest friend. We met in 1951 or 52 at the fire hydrant fifty feet from my driveway. He wandered around the block, and I was standing atop my usual perch, surveying the neighborhood. We met, exchanged a few words, and have been friends ever since. That’s my first official memory. We served …
The Walker Girls 2.0
The Walker family moved to Rochester, Michigan and lived in a house on a hill. I believe they moved because of Uncle Jack’s job. It was either that or Aunt Emma simply wanted a different house. The place in Washington was vintage. The Rochester home was new. I don’t know how long they lived there, …
The Walker Girls
That’s how my mom referred to Diane, Elizabeth and Ruth Ellen. They were “The Walker Girls”, the three children of Mom’s youngest uncle, Jack Walker, and his wife, Emma. Mom’s mother, Margaret, was the oldest of the clan. She was born in 1899. Jack’s given name was John, but everyone called him Jack. He was …
Home Run Derby
With little sports action on TV these days, I’ve been revisiting my youth and what we “watched back in the day”. There was a weekly televised event in 1960 called the Home Run Derby. The Derby ran for twenty-six episodes. Each episode featured two current, high profile, baseball stars. One represented the American League and …
Kissing Cousins
A kissing cousin is, by definition, a distant relative known well enough to kiss when greeting. For example: I’m not sure exactly how I’m related to her, she’s just a kissing cousin. When I was a young boy, 0 – 12, my dad expanded my kissing requirement to any, and all, females related to me. …
The Next Day After Tomorrow Morning
Our friend, Sally, visited us this past summer. She lived near us for several years and ran a very successful real estate business. After her three boys were grown, she moved to Myrtle Beach. She returns to Michigan about once a year. Last summer she brought a new friend to dinner at our house. As …
70
The first time I remember anyone speaking with me about my sister, Sharron’s, age was when I was about five. My parents had visitors at our house and one of the ladies asked who the oldest child was. Sharron was already in bed so there was no visual comparison to make. I spoke up …