It is Daniel’s senior year, so I am feeling a little nostalgic. He will soon become the second child in our home to sprout his wings and leave home. This time of year I attend debate tournaments at least twice a month with the Granbury High School team. I love it, because I am a former debater. Traveling all over the state as a high school debater gave me some much needed confidence, but most importantly it opened the door…
We had no clue what the future held for us. Why should we worry about such things? We were busy listening to Miss Erick read to us from the Uncle Remus children’s books in the second grade, and we were forced to square dance with each other in the fourth grade in Mr. Waltenberger’s class. There were intense marble games and all kinds of acrobatics on the monkey bars during recess. We rode our bikes all over the neighborhood, played…
She says she wants to be a doctor. I am impressed that a 7 year old is already assuming such a remarkable ambition. According to my limited math skills she will be out of medical school and ready to practice about the time that I will need a good doctor more than ever. I do hope she considers gerontology as a potential field of medical specialty. My 7 year old future doctor happens to be the student I am assigned…
Memories have a way of fading over time. I distinctly remember throwing my medal Flipper lunch box at my best friend, Colleen, in the second grade. That was in 1969. I also recall that it gave her a black eye. For years I have felt genuine remorse for that juvenile act of aggression. I have had some email correspondence with Colleen recently. Her recollection of that altercation is much different. Colleen says that she threw her medal Snoopy lunch box…
Tomorrow I am teaching an 8 hour continuing education class at Tarrant County College’s Criminal Justice Training Center. Police officers in Texas are required to complete a certain amount of approved coursework every year in order to keep their certification current. Tomorrow’s subject matter includes: death notifications, line of duty deaths, stress in law enforcement, and suicide.Will the students go home feeling totally depressed after a day of such subject matter? Hopefully tomorrow’s time in the classroom will be productive…
I have spent a lot of time visiting people in several area hospitals over the past several weeks. All of them were surrounded by family and close friends. However, I could not help but notice very elderly people in the Intensive Care Unit and in semi-private rooms who appeared to have no one outside of the hospital staff attending to their needs. Some of them appeared so frail and vulnerable. Where are their loved ones? I thought to myself. I…
I have been interested in dramatic reading, community theatre, and the like for many years. I played the stage manager in the classic Our Town, by Thornton Wilder. The role of the crusty gardener in The Secret Garden fit me a little too well, I am afraid. I even got be the villain in a melodrama put on for a dinner theatre one year. Kids at church camp used to beg me to share my Mitchell Bear stories. Those yarns…
I am thinking about Geneva McGhee today. Geneva passed away at age 90 last week. Her funeral will be held in Wichita Falls today. She was in her late 60s, when I first met her in 1987. I was a young and very inexperienced minister. She was kind to me. She treated me like I was actually competent. She attended the baby shower for our firstborn. I was involved in several projects with her over the years, and grew to…
All three of my boys consider themselves to be scholars of the Apostle Paul in Scripture. That is probably a bit of a stretch, but they would be quick to tell you that they sat at the feet of a teacher who described the life and teachings of Paul, as if she were with him on the road to Damascus when he saw the bright light. Her name is Dorothy and she really is a Pauline scholar. Dorothy started teaching…
Cleverly created signs always grab my attention. I saw a great billboard on Loop 820 in Ft. Worth yesterday. The sign advertising McDonald’s Coffee stated: “I am a coffee lover and not a millionaire.” It was an obvious jab at perceived overpriced java at Starbucks. That is good marketing!There is another coffee sign that I am forced to see ever time I make the trip home from Ft. Worth that grabs my attention in a much different way. The temporary…