This is the fourth time I’ve written about Ed’s birthday. I hope to write at least a dozen more. He turned 103 last Thursday. After our successful move north, I drove back to play poker with the boys to celebrate the event. The poker game was much like our other games except this time we …
Category: Life Lessons
Grandfatherly Advice For Brady and Mangus
When I first started to date, I was often afraid to ask a girl out. I feared being turned down. Getting a negative reaction was a threat to my ego. That potential caused me to pass on several opportunities. I knew it wouldn’t be the end of the world, but I often took a pass …
The Past 103 Days
The saga of our move to our new condo continues. We’ve had more than our fair share of setbacks, and alterations, but we’ve made arrangements for a second mover. That crew is scheduled to arrive at 8:30 tomorrow morning. We’ll see. Unless we have a major glitch, this will be my final post on the …
When the Stars Align
The closings on the condo and house went off without a hitch. The events leading up to them were more problematic than we wanted. The condo closing was originally scheduled for October 16, moved back to October 30th, followed by November 2nd, then the 4th, and finally the 9th. The builders had to complete the …
Bought and Sold
If all goes well, we will close on our condo tomorrow and the sale of our house on Tuesday. The movers pack up their truck on Wednesday, and we move into the condo Thursday. It will be a busy week. There will be joy, and I suspect some tears. After forty-three years, we’re outta here. …
The Brothers of Lambda Chi
The summers following my junior and senior years at Western, the brothers of Lambda Chi went canoeing. We traveled the Pine River over two days. We paddled, stopped for lunch, paddled some more, interacted with other canoeing enthusiasts, camped, cooked out, and drank beer. At least thirty guys made each trip. The Fox was my …
More Wilke Nuggets
It’s funny how our memory works. One vague recollection leads to another, and before you know it, an avalanche of bits and pieces come tumbling out. Here are a few more about Brother Wilke. During our senior year, Wilke, The Fox and I lived together in a new apartment complex about two miles from campus. …
Wilke
I met Wilke in Eldridge Hall, one of the newest dorms on Western Michigan’s campus, in the fall of 1965 . He wasn’t the first guy I met, and to tell you the truth, we really didn’t hangout together until the summer prior to our junior year. Most of us were known best by our …
My Movie Daze
I ran across a publicity picture of my movie daze the other day. It’s amazing what you find while packing up 43 years. I have a lot of stuff. In any case, the picture reminded me of the first time Ruth and I took Michael and BZ to Vegas. It was over a holiday break …
You Can’t Take It Personally
I worked in public education for forty years. The longer I worked, the less I knew. Knowing what you don’t know may be the most important thing to know. Public education is a challenging career. You deal with the two things that matter most to parents, their children and their money. Everyone has been to …