Category: Ruth

Earlier this winter, my friend, Gary, and his wife, Susan, spent a few days with me.  It was a respite for them to get away from the Michigan winter.  I met Gary during our freshman year of college in 1965 and Susan a year, or so, later when she attended Kalamazoo’s Nazareth College. We’ve remained …

Last Tuesday was Valentine’s Day.  I let it pass without a lot of fanfare.  When you lose your Valentine, there’s no real cause for celebration.  Rememberances yes, celebration no. The big thing for me regarding Valentine’s Day is that was the day of Ruth and my first date.  We attended a Plainwell Junior High School …

Ruth was a waste not want not type girl.  She saved a lot of things and wasted few.  She repurposed objects and made the old new.  She had a knack for it.  We visited hundreds of craft shows and more often than not, she said, “I can make that.”  Sometimes she did.  Sometimes she didn’t. …

Ruth looked at the world differently than most.  She had an eye for the unconventional.  I took that for granted.  It was around me all the time, so I assumed there were others with her vision.  There may be, but I’ve learned the hard way that people like her are not the norm.  Ruth is …

The last few weeks have been tough.  As I make my list of things, I’m thankful for this Thanksgiving, they take on a different vibe.  Losing Ruth is the hardest thing I’ve ever dealt with.  There are no manuals on how to handle grief.  You deal with each moment, not each day.  They’re all different. …

I was riding in the car the other day when Elton John’s, “Your Song” popped up.  It was released in the spring of 1971, and it struck a chord with me.  Ruth and I were in the process of going our separate ways after dating for fifteen months, and I was trying to hang on, …

I downloaded the photos from Ruth’s cell phone the other day.  Turns out there were 3,887.  That’s about 1,300 a year since she purchased the phone.  Some were copies of photos people sent her, but each was something she valued, because she spent many a car ride deleting those that didn’t measure up to her …

If Ruth hadn’t had her accident, we’d start driving tonight to Florida for the winter.  We’d have spent all day today with David and his crew, and we’d be joined by Michael, Kate, and young Jackson James.  Things didn’t work out that way.  I’m still spending the day with the boys and their families, but …

If you’ve read my blogs, you know my daughter, Elizabeth, wrote and published a children’s book called The Elephant On Aaron’s Chest.  It came out last February.  Ruth bought the elephant pictured below for Elizabeth in celebration of the publication. It had taken several years to finish, but great things can’t be rushed.  Great takes …

Back in August, Ruth and I discussed a plan to establish a scholarship fund with a portion of our annual required minimum distribution funds.  Required minimum distributions (RMDs) are amounts that U.S. tax law requires one to withdraw annually from traditional IRAs and employer-sponsored retirement plans.  Ruth and I began the process of withdrawing money …