Looking Back Can Be Fun

I have been emailing a friend from elementary school (Hi Tim) lately and we have been exchanging little known facts about our neighborhood (like neither of us knew that our neighborhood had a name, but here it is a historic district even)

We have been passing back and forth memories about our grand old elementary school which is now all boarded up. You can see it in this video of the neighborhood if you are that interested. some of the happiest times of my life were at that school. I was reminding Tim about the Principal we had when we were in Kindergarten who made it possible for those of us who could already read to take reading with the First grade class without feeling like we were freaks because we were smart. In fact the one thing I remember about that school was that intellect and curiosity were encouraged. We had very few bad teachers.

Among the other friends I have encountered from that era is a family that I have a special place in my heart for because I was friends with the oldest daughter Laura, but whenever I spent time at their house I was always made welcome. The son Jeff, was one of those really brainy kids, a year behind us in school, but sometimes I thought miles ahead of me in intelect. If I were to be completely honest with myself I probably had a bit of a crush on him, but he was my friend''s younger brother after all and that meant he had cooties for sure. I definitely thought he was totally cute the year he had to wear a patch over his eye to cure his lazy eye. It gave his head a slight list to one side which made him seem all the more quizical and just added to his charm (or so my little girl brain thought).

Considering he grew up to be an engineer, (doesn't that sound familiar) and I know from his podcast that he has a wicked sense of humor, he actually grew up to be quite a bit like the guy I eventually married. How funny is that?

And then, the coincidences don't end there. Tim reminded me that he and Jeff were friends. They used to make radio DJ recordings into an old tape recorder together. I love the internet, because it reconnects people over years and lives and memories in such great ways.

Now I have these people back in my life. Which for right now, makes me very, very happy.

Pax


Anyway, I have really enjoyed the memories.

Happy Father's Day

My dad was a golfer. He called himself a "duffer" but he played pretty well considering he picked the game up as an adult and was a lefty but he played right handed because he couldn't afford a set of left handed clubs.

My favorite thing to do on summer days was to follow him around our little nine hole golf course at the "club" we belonged to when I was growing up.

There was one pretty easy par three on the course that he would let me play. He would let me hit off the tee, and hit once on the fairway and then I would pick up my ball and drop it on the green and then I could putt it three times. If I didn't get it in in three putts he made me pick it up.

I never played very well, but I always had fun. Sadly, that all ended when my dad got sick when I was 12, and then he died a year later.

My husband loves golf just as much as my father did. Only mrangelmeg is a righty, and has been playing golf since he was a little boy.

The girls got mrangelmeg this book for Father's day:

It looks like a book my Father would have liked had he stayed alive long enough. I wish mrangelmeg had had a chance to meet my father, they might have been great golfing buddies.

Happy Father's day to all you Father's out there.

Pax