Category: Family

Editor’s Note:  I wrote the original version of 15 Weeks last October.  I’d forgotten all about it.  As I was reviewing my draft of today’s blog, the original version popped up.  I’m not going to develop a whole new story.  The bulk of this tale is similar, but it has a different ending.  With over …

With a condo in Michigan, and a house in Florida, I’ve got a lot of cupboards and closets.  I’m responsible for the organization of one closet in Michigan, and I didn’t organize anything in Florida.  Ruth did it all. My single contribution is the closet that I use for my office. It’s really one of …

We visited St. Andrews yesterday. It’s the home of golf. When the kids were young, Ruth and I took all three to the local par three golf course called Silver Lake. It’s on US 12 a few miles from our Lake LeAnn home. We’d go on Sunday afternoons. I don’t recall how many golfers I …

About a dozen ago, our entire family met in Montana. We stayed at the bed and breakfast. Ruth and I slept in the main house while the kids and their crews stayed in a couple of cabins on the property. We had a great time. We all went on a two hour horseback trail ride. …

I was driving down a country road the other day and as I passed over a bridge, I saw two shirtless ten-year-olds fishing. They were standing on the bank watching their lines and laughing. I smiled to myself and thought back to a simpler time from my youth 500 North Edgeworth has a park on …

I’ve been playing with an audio recorder.  I recorded a story I had written a few years ago and originally posted on October 14, 2018.   I shared it with my kids, two sisters and my nieces.   Most gave it a thumbs up.  Jackie shared it with the members her “pretty ladies club”.  I think that’s …

When it came time for our three children to decide what was next regarding their education, Ruth and I deferred to them.  We spoke of college all the time but would have been ok if they took a pass.  They didn’t. David was first and he enrolled at Western Michigan University like me.  He planned …

Young Jackson James turned three today.  Four years ago, Ruth and I didn’t think we’d have a third grandchild.  I’m pretty sure his conception was planned even though he was conceived, and born, during the covid crisis. We knew his birth was on the horizon when I called to check in with Kate one late …

Elizabeth’s birthday is today.  She was born on March 10, 1977.  David was twenty days short of turning two and Michael followed BZ exactly fifteen months later.  Ruth and I were knocking on 30’s door. The 10th was a Thursday.  Ruth had taught through the prior Friday, beginning her maternity leave that day.  She visited …

Dear Jackie, As your older brother, I think I should set you straight on a couple of things. I can’t tell you how disappointed I was on the day you were born. It was a Saturday in February, but for the past seventy years I’m never sure if it fell on the 20th or the …