Category: Life Lessons

My friend, Ed, turns 104 on Friday. He was the subject of my first blog when he turned 100. Since then, I’ve posted 417 stories and he’s aged four years. At 104 his gait is a bit slower, and he can’t hit the golf ball as far as he once did, but his poker game …

I landed my first real job during my junior year of high school.  I worked at the National Food Store a few blocks from my house.  I didn’t apply for the job, but my high school counselor called me into her office and told me the manager of the store had called looking for possible …

We didn’t stop at the Uranus Fudge shop. The weather slowed us down, so we made up for lost time by avoiding the fudge.  I found these YouTube videos about the shop, but I warn you, they’re not intended for family viewing. Scroll right past if you wish. Uranus is the only place to get …

Ruth and I are making a road trip out of our return to Florida.  We drove to Branson, Missouri last Monday.  We’ve never been, so we decided to take a look.  Our planned route took us through Indianapolis, St. Louis and, ultimately, Branson. The drive was eventful. Ruth sought directions on her phone for the …

On Tuesday morning we returned to Kalamazoo.   We went to a jewelry store and purchased two gold wedding bands.  Mine cost $40.00 and I expect Ruth’s was about the same.  (Another example of memory moments stored deeply in our brains.) Ruth and I had a housing dilemma.  Both of us recently signed six month …

It was early evening when we landed and I called our building principal, Burton Cave, to tell him I would need a sub for my classroom the next day. “You need to get one for Ruth VanBruggen too. We eloped over the week-end.” “Sure you did. Is she going to drive truck with you too?” …

We spent the night in a hotel near the airport,  checked out in the morning, completed our drive, parked my car, and boarded our plane.  Boring but truthful. We landed in Las Vegas, rented a car, and drove down the Vegas strip.  The drive took us by big name casinos with what we expected to …

We drove to my apartment in Kalamazoo. During the drive Ruth remembered an old family friend. Perhaps Judge Westra could marry us or at least point us in the right direction. Ruth called him. While sympathetic to our cause, the Judge wasn’t much help. I had heard that you could get married in Indiana without …

, Ruth and I are in Las Vegas, Nevada. We made our first trip together on September 11, 1971. I wrote and posted the blog below in the fall of 2017. It’s a recounting of how we met and married. The next few blogs will be an edited version of the original six installments. We’ve …

  A couple of weeks after my time as Anson’s helper, he was robbed at gun point, pistol whipped, and ended up in the hospital.  The two rolls of nickels in his front right pocket, meant to ward off would be robbers, just angered the men who robbed him. The one thing that never made …