Category: Family

When Ruth and I started talking about having children, she wanted two and I wanted three.  Biology determined our final count.  We’re both happy how things worked out.   We were four and a half years into being married before David was born.  Two years later, Elizabeth Kathryn made her appearance on March 10, 1977.  Ruth’s …

Magnus Strongbeard is due the 29th of this month.  We’ve started counting down the days.  If you’re a parent, you know due dates are merely estimates based on data provided by the prospective mother in consultation with her doctor.  The doctor in turn conducts a series of examinations, does sonogram screenings, blood and urine tests, …

The first time I cried in public was the year I served as president of our teacher’s union.  We were having a difficult time in negotiations and union leadership was attempting to gather support among the teachers to cease volunteering for things.  We wanted everyone to  arrive and depart school as required – nothing more …

We just finished Christmas 2020, and I’m already looking forward to Christmas 2021. In spite of all the turmoil, I’ve enjoyed this crazy season.  David and his family were here for a few days, and Ruth cooked Christmas dinner for three Michigan friends whose families are up north while we reside in Florida.  Everyone is …

Back in the day Elizabeth wrapped all my Christmas presents.  This was after Santa Claus and pre-Sutton.  She like doing it, and I appreciated her completing a task  I wasn’t  very good at.  I was ten thumbs and she was precision.  It was a perfect match.  The first couple of years after her move to …

When I graduated from college in 1969 I decided it was time to send my own Christmas cards. It sounded like a grown-up thing to do. I bought something manly.  I avoided cards that featured poinsettias or Christmas trees.  No pictures of wrapped packages, Santa Claus, Frosty the Snowman, Rudolf the Red-Nosed Reindeer, or mistletoe …

My mom and dad’s seventy-fifth wedding anniversary was yesterday.  I expect they danced in heaven, and after they danced they probably played cards with my Aunt Ruth and Uncle Harry.  There was undoubtedly a big dinner (Dad would have insisted.)  with the whole extended family to celebrate this diamond jubilee.  And after that they – …

The United States entered World War II after the bombing of Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.  My dad was already in the service having enlisted on January 21. He planned to be discharged after one year of service in January of 1942.  The declaration of war altered his plans. Dad was assigned to Fort …

I’ve run across several ways to keep track of a family’s growth on-line.  People have come up with several creative ways to track all sorts of things.  I saw one father who took a picture of his daughter everyday for the first year of her life.  Another took a picture each week until the day …

Eva “turned” 13 yesterday, and that’s what the day she was born seems like, yesterday.  We all gathered for her birth.  The day was scheduled in advance, so even Uncle Mike could make the trip from California to be on hand like he had two years prior when Brady was born. Her birth was uneventful.  …