I applied to be superintendent of Britton-Macon Area School in 1988. I was one of six selected to be interviewed. I had a choice of interview dates and times. I chose the final day and preferred the final time, but that slot was already taken. I believed that the first and last candidate had an …
Author: Robert
Another Big Decision
My time in Addison was great. That’s where the kids grew up. Ruth and I lived there for forty-three years. We didn’t have Michael when we arrived, and he was forty-two, married for more than ten years, when we left. I was hired on August 16th, 1977, the day Elvis Presley died. Once I knew …
More Decisions
My first thought regarding a master’s degree was, “I’ll study to become a counselor”. I made an appointment with Western’s counseling department, and the dean of the school interviewed me. It was, without a doubt, my worst interview ever. When he asked why I wanted to get into counseling I said, “I like talking to …
Decisions
I’ve been watching the most recent season of The Crown. It’s the sixth. The thing I find most interesting is most of the decisions made by the “royal family” are made by tradition. They do what is expected and not necessarily what they want to do. That’s how they operate each of their lives. The …
What Time Is It?
I don’t recall any of the kids first words. I know they each have a “baby book” and whatever they said is written in their respective book. If I was to hazard a guess, they probably offered some version of mom or dad. Probably mom. I do know David’s first sentence. We were driving home …
Don’t Blink
2023 is drawing to a close. It seems like it just arrived and now it’s gone. It was a year to remember for me. It was my first full year without Ruth. The end is a bit different than the beginning, but that’s just because her loss was still raw last December. The passage of …
Advice
I spent a few days with my three grandchildren, Brady, Eva and Young Jackson James, over the past week. Brady and my conversations focused on college, basketball, and living away from home. Things are going well for him. I truly enjoyed our discussions. Eva and I talked about her school schedule, classes she plans to …
Christmases Past
A few of these short tales have been published before. Never as a single read, but published, nonetheless. I’ll be pushing the “post” button on my second Christmas Eve without Ruth. I feel like looking back because of the memories. While she’s not a part of each of these stories, she’s a part of the …
Two Tale Tellers
I recently joined a second writer’s group. It’s called Writers League of the Villages. I heard about them a year ago when I joined the Memoir Writers Group. I went to my first meeting last Wednesday. All new members were asked to introduce themselves, tell what type writing we do, and what “village” we live …
A Christmas List
When I was a kid, I didn’t make a lot of Christmas lists. I wanted presents but thought Santa would know what I liked. I didn’t have to tell anyone. There were a couple years when I was into building model cars so I may have asked for something like that. I know for sure …