Ruth and I were passengers on Flight 245 from Las Vegas and Los Angeles on September 3, 2011. We had visited Vegas as a celebration of our wedding anniversary. After our time in Vegas we planned to make a short hop over to Los Angles prior to boarding a flight for our final …
Author: Robert
The Patsy
Our neighborhood was full of young families with children. By the time kids stopped being born the head counts went something like this: Tebo (that’s us) 3 Ruff (left side of us) 4 (later replaced by the Benedicts with 3) Graham (across from Ruff) 2 (underachievers) Coatta (right side of Graham) 6 (There is about …
Love At First Sight
The first people I loved were my parents. I believe that’s probably true of most people. Over time I learned to love my two sisters, as much as a pain in the rear that I found them. It may have been automatic, but I don’t remember it that way. I expect that’s the path of …
Driver’s Education
Teachers take a bad rap for having several weeks off in the summer. The misconception that teachers have it made because of their short work schedule is far from accurate. Most educators take summer classes, make plans for the next school year, or take on additional part-time/seasonal jobs. I did all of …
Read the Fine Print
I spent the last ten days in Michigan experiencing the cold weather that I bought a home in Florida to avoid. I returned for my consultant work with Michigan Works! Southeast. My original plan was to fly to Michigan on March 19th and return on March 23rd. I wanted to return to view a large …
Thank You Ken
I was twenty-two when I started teaching at Plainwell Junior High in the fall of 1969. I had a girl friend who was still in college and I drove a 1967 Mustang convertible. I lived in an apartment that cost $75.00 per person with my good friend, Mike. My first contract was for $6,900. …
The Marriage Rules
All three of our kids have always been social beings. David and Michael had girlfriends and Elizabeth had boyfriends. I was comfortable with that arrangement but knew that alternative choices were possible. I liked all the girls the boys dated. Elizabeth choices were scrutinized more closely. I knew that when they were all …
Good Catholic Boys
The neighborhood where I grew up was full of young families who moved into their new homes shortly after the end of World War II. We moved into ours in the spring of 1950. The new St. Dennis parish was established later the same year, and St. Dennis became our church of choice. My …
Copy – Paste – And Wait
I was originally going to write a story called – Rudy Rudy Rudy – in honor of my boyhood friend, Rudy, but I decided to go with Good Catholic Boys because it really is a story about more than just one boy. Spoiler alert!!! Good Catholic Boys will be posted Wednesday. Rudy was practically …
Our Second Child
When Ruth and I started our family we agreed that names were important. We wanted each of our children to have a strong name. Names that would be remembered and impactful. As teachers we were well aware that some names were designed to encourage nick names. Some names encouraged rhyming. We didn’t …