Stories

Our little boy had attended kindergarten the previous year, but the first day of school in a new home and a new city was very frightening for us.   Of course there would be mom tears when the school bus doors closed for the first time. 

Our son was barely three years old and had just begun to master the English language with complete sentences when we began taking him to rehearsals for a local production of the off-Broadway musical, Godspell.  Both his mom and I were involved; one on stage and the other directing the pit orchestra.  This arrangement seemed to go okay until we realized that this three year old, human sponge was actually memorizing the entire play. 

We struck a deal on Tuesday to take the kid and her kids to dinner on Friday.  It seemed like a reasonable decision at the time.  But, the joint was packed, and our reservation in the kid friendly "don't you worry bout a thing room," had been moved to what could only be described as Heaven's Waiting Room.  Let's just say that it was an older crowd.

True to form, usually seven minutes into the meal, the boy child would make his normal announcement, "I have to go to the bathroom." So, off we went to the Men's Room. This time, however, was a very different experience, unlike any that we had ever had before.

They moved in last April. The plan was to start to build their new house in May with a completion date of September . . . So, the young mother, father and six month old baby are in one room, the three year old is in the other bedroom and the grandparents are in the final room. Talk about a mind bend.

"It's hard to explain the feelings I was going through, but as tears of joy streamed down my face I told Pauline "that's him, our baby!". He was crying and likely confused about the unfamiliar noise, lights and sensations outside the warm comfy womb. But he was healthy and beautiful...

The in-laws lived in a city on the train route. In those days, broke was an under exaguration, and consequently, there was only one family car, a beige Plymouth Satellite.

The Hypnotic Rumble of a Four Wheeler

A long ride leads to some serious character development

A few weeks ago, it felt like mom might have been visiting when the next generation of grand kids were riding with their grandmother to the library. The sensitive little almost five year old said, “Yia yia, I really miss Brodie.”