One of Ruth’s and my greatest joys is our three kids, and their spouses, all enjoy being together. They truly love each other. All families can’t say that. We’re blessed. A few years ago, Elizabeth, Lindsay and Kate were on a girls’ weekend in California. The boys, Ruth, and I were kept in the loop …
Competition
There are several golf events at our new course, Tullymore. The BIG event of the year is the member/guest held each July. It’s called The Prestige. My son, David, and I played last weekend. The format was straight forward. There were thirty-six two-man teams. The thirty-six were assigned to one of six flights determined by …
Young Entrepreneurs
My cousin, Gene, was a big brother to me. He was four years older, so he passed several of his discoveries on to me. When I was nine, he asked me if I still believed in Santa Claus. I did because I knew my mom and dad wouldn’t buy the things I received from Santa. …
3
Ruth and I didn’t discuss how many children we wanted until after we married. We were engaged about twenty-two hours so getting married was our focus, not the number of children we’d have. During our first conversation, Ruth lobbied for t wo, and I wanted three. My preference was two boys and a girl. With …
The Back of the Cards
I enjoy playing cards. I got the bug from my parents. Mom played pinocle with a group of friends for several years. They rotated the host site from lady to lady. They played for a few hours and ate fancy snacks and desserts. When they played at our house, my sisters and I got the …
Supporting Each Other
The Parkinson support group helped both Mom and Dad learn what to expect from the disease. They knew he wasn’t going to “get better” because there’s no cure. He could “live better” if he followed the advice of his doctors and adjusted as he aged. They learned people didn’t die from Parkinson’s, but rather with …
Offering Support
I was at a family Thanksgiving dinner at my Aunt Ruth’s house when Mom made the announcement. Dad was retiring, and he had Parkinson’s disease. He’d been off work for about six weeks after cutting his hand on a broken pop bottle. Broken bottles were a part of the job when you deliver pop for …
When The Alarm Sounded
Thursday night the fire alarm in our condo went off about ten minutes after we went to bed and four seconds before I would have been fast asleep. I was out of it just enough to wonder where the alarm was coming from. My first thought was my cell phone, but the more conscious I …
Days I Won’t Forget
I was having breakfast Monday morning when thoughts of my dad popped into my head. They came from out of nowhere. I was reviewing the day’s agenda and my thoughts drifted to him. I started thinking about his last day, the last time I spoke to him, the words we shared, the people who stopped …
We Have A Walker!
We have a walker! That’s what Michael’s text read on Wednesday evening. Jackson James has been walking around things and taken steps holding on to his mom or dad, but this was his first solo romp. Firsts are a big deal. I spoke to Mike on the phone the following evening, and he reported Jackson …