Category: Life Lessons

I started writing this blog on September 15th, 2022.  Ruth’s accident was twelve days later.  Her death shuffled my priorities.  I always have a half dozen titles, or opening lines, in my “draft folder”. I placed this aside and didn’t move forward with my original thought. I planned to write about being married and take …

The couple that bought our house loved it. They loved the way it was furnished, the view of the lake, Ruth’s eye for the smallest detail, and they told us at closing, “We could see right away that this house is filled with love.” They went on to say, “We’ll do our best to continue …

I’ve waited to write this story because only a portion of it is mine. I received a phone call from a former Lake LeAnn neighbor who just recently heard of Ruth’s passing. I had sent her an email a few months ago, but she said she just opened it yesterday. We spoke about Ruth for …

The summer between my junior and senior year of college I dated a girl named Rene. We went out a half dozen times, making a couple trips to lake Michigan. I even brought her home once to go to somebody’s something. She was an attractive, blonde Phycology major. I called on her expertise to answer …

This is a story that Ruth would veto. But here goes. Brady turned 18 on June 2nd. He told me he planned to start going to the Mt. Pleasant casino as soon as he could. Several of his friends had already been going. When I spoke to him on the 3rd, he told me he …

I wrote the original version of this post several years ago.  I published it as my youngest son, Michael, turned 40.  He turned again on Monday.  He’s forty-five. The Most Important Lesson of My Life JULY 10, 2018     The most important lesson of my life was taught to me by a seven-year-old boy. …

If you google the rule, you might find something like this. The Golden Rule, “In everything, do to others what you would have them do to you.”  encompasses the underlying and guiding principle of all morality. It instructs us to put ourselves in our neighbor’s place and guide our behavior accordingly. It assumes, of course, that …

I wrote a blog about my friend, Ed, as he turned 101 back in November of 2018.   Although I didn’t ask him, I speculated that he might offer up this list of guiding principles as his secret to his longevity. Love.   Share your time on earth.  You don’t have to marry, but have someone …

Billie Jean and Abby are my Michigan cleaning ladies. I’m not sure the phrase “cleaning ladies” is politically correct, but in any case, they’re females in their early thirties and they clean for me. I met them about three weeks ago and they did a “deep clean” of my condo. They returned Thursday for a …

If you fly enough, the unexpected is bound to happen.   Lost luggage, late flights, missed connections, offers to take “a bump”, and the occasional apparent high jacking.  (If you missed my post about Flight 245, you should look it up.) Ruth and I engaged on all sorts of travel adventures.  We encountered some traveling alone, …