Category: Family

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 …

Elizabeth, Sutton and their dog, Jonesy, lived in Florida for four months from December of 2018 through March of 2019. The prior summer they stayed with Ruth and me in our Michigan home. Beginning in April of 2019, they lived with us in Michigan for another sixteen weeks.  Florida was sandwiched between their two Michigan …

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 …

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 …

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 …

If they had lived, my parents would have been married seventy-eight years this past Friday.  They got married on December 8, 1945.  My dad died in 1999 and my mom in 2014. Dad joined the army in January of 1941.  He signed up for one year and was scheduled to be discharged in January of …