Category: Life Lessons

My mom and grandmother once told me that I proposed to a girl during dinner. Sounds romantic. I was three and Beverly was four.   I don’t believe that my two elders ever lied to me so it must be true.  I don’t actually remember the proposal, but I do remember Beverly.  My Kentucky sweetheart …

Ruth and I didn’t plan to have three children but we did. Heck, if you’ve read my previous story, “How About Me?”, you know that we didn’t plan to get married. But we did that too. We turned out to be pretty traditional – marriage , then children. When we got around to talking about …

I was a cub scout and then a boy scout for several years.   In addition to all of the “be prepared” parts of scouting, scouts also had fund raising drives to raise money to offset the cost of all our activities.  Paper drives were a great way to raise money while helping our neighbors …

I’ve enjoyed a career in education spanning over forty-five years. I’ve taught, served as a building principal, been a school superintendent and now do consulting work. Once, several years ago in my elementary school principal days, I received a phone call from a friend and new school principal. He needed my advice. He was the …

I turned seventy this year.  Turned is how my wife and granddaughter refer to birthdays.  We turn.  It’s a turning day. When you are young you are happy to celebrate birthdays because they come with presents, birthday cakes and a rousing song.  As you get older, you’re happy to just  have birthdays.  They are a …

My wife, Ruth, and I were staying in Cathedral City, California (next to Palm Springs) for two months – January and February in 2012. We had rented a condo that sits on the 14th hole of Cathedral Canyon Country Club. One day, Ruth, my daughter in law, Kate, son, Mike, and I played golf at …

Well over 30 years ago, I visited one of my college friends, Mike, in California. We visited several places: Pebble Beach, explored Wine Country, tasted sushi for the first and last time, and visited a coffee house – Starbucks. Mike told me that Starbucks was a new franchise business opportunity. I said, “Who is going …

I met Ed a little over ten years ago. Our first meeting was not a happy one. We met in a funeral home where I came to pay my respects to a friend of mine whose mother had died. Ed is his dad. Ed was ninety years old when we met. He turns 100 today, …