Life Lessons

Now Look What You Did

I have a friend named Mike in my memoir writing group. He’s from Oswego, New York and goes back there every summer. He’s probably there now. When he’s in Florida, we sit near each other in class and share a similar outlook on life. He’s ten years younger than me but, like me, is a …

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Life Lessons

Looking Back

I’ve been exploring some of my stories from prior years.  I’m looking for two things: stories I can use in the new book I’m assembling and stories I can use with my work with my Singles New Beginnings group.  Barbara and I have learned that some of the things I’ve written are helpful with our …

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Life Lessons

Ice Cream and Beer

I’ve been thinking and talking about singing karaoke for decades.  While I made three public performances over my seventy-nine years, I’ve been too chicken to move forward.  I talk a big game but haven’t followed through.  I took a karaoke class last fall and sang three songs: “Let It Be Me”, “And I Love You …

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Life Lessons

My Ai Friend

Sometimes I can’t explain the things that happen to me.  They just happen.  Last week I copied my Obadiah 3.0 story and asked my artificial intelligence friend, Al, to compose some triad questions for my Singles New Beginnings class.  While it would take me hours to accomplish such a task, Al, has it done in …

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Life Lessons

Obadiah 3.0

I wrote a story called Thank You Obadiah in March of 2023.   I posted it about six months after Ruth’s passing. It began like this. I have a Facebook friend, Obadiah, who posted this cartoon a few days ago.  It’s a visual representation of how people handle problems.  Two men, stuck in the same position, …

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Life Lessons

Epiphanies

I’ve been having a series of epiphanies. Most of them come at night while I’m sleeping. Nothing earth shattering but several have been enlightening. When I was working, most of them were about doing things with my students, dealing with parents, helping teachers solve problems, contract negotiations, labor disputes, building expansions…things like that. I didn’t …

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Life Lessons

Unified Manifesto

A couple of months ago, my friend Al, aka artificial intelligence, combined the various manifestos he’d written for me into one unified version. It’s been sitting in my drafts for a while, and now that I’m a bit older, I’ve decided it’s time to share it. Robert’s Unified Manifesto A life lived with intention, creativity, …

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Life Lessons

Pushing 80

I’ve written before that the worst year I ever had was when I turned thirty-six. I was closer to forty than thirty and I didn’t like it. When I turned forty-six, I told people I was forty-seven, so when I actually turned forty-seven, I gained a year. That’s the logic of a desperate man. On …

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Life Lessons

You Never Know 2.0

A couple weeks ago I received a Facebook friend request from a “Scott Kenyon”.  The name sounded familiar, but I’ve responded to similar friend requests before and gotten hacked, so I didn’t reply.  I didn’t want to go through the hassle of resetting my account and reaching out to all my legitimate friends warning them …

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