A Quote to Start Things Off

""I'd love to go to Santa Fe at some point, Emmett said, but for the time being, I need to go to New York. The panhandler stopped laughing and adopted a more serious expression. Well. that's life in a nutshell, aint it. Lovin' to go to one place and havin' to go to another. Amor Towles in the Lincoln Highway.

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Pictures of Memories I

Pictures of Memories I
Snow kidding! These "kids" now range from 17 to 23
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts
Showing posts with label family. Show all posts

Saturday, November 11, 2023

60 Years in 60 Days:1970

 1970: Keith 


I was in first grade in 1970.  It was my first year as a full time student as kindergarten back then was a strictly half day affair.  My older sister was in 2nd grade and my younger brother was doing whatever 4 year-olds did back in the early 70's. I don't have any memories when I didn't have both an older sister and a younger brother.

I do have memories before my youngest brother, Keith was born  on veteran's day 1970.  I remember some of kindergarten.  I remember my first day of first grade and I certainly remember walking home from school that day in Mid November when my Mom was coming home from the hospital with Keith.

I also sadly have many memories of life without my baby brother.  He died a little more than 14 1/2 years ago.  An event that is very well chronicled on this blog. This is the fifteenth birthday we have celebrated without him. 

 By the time Keith was starting first grade, I was starting 7th grade.  Because of the age difference we weren't all that close growing up.  He started high school when I was in college living at home and volunteering in the same high school youth group I had been in while in school.  He starting attending that youth group and we spent quite a bit of time together because of that. As a result we became closer and even though we weren't exactly super tight, he was probably the relative I was closest with.

In 1987, the year I left home to reinvent myself, Keith started his senior year of high school. Over Spring Break that year he had his first hospitalization due to mental illness.  This was the beginning of his road to a Bi-polar diagnosis.  I think back then they just called it a nervous breakdown.

That Fall he did go away to school, actually pretty close to where I had landed and he spent his first two semesters of college the farthest he ever lived away from my parents.  The next year He went back home to a local junior college and started to find his own way. While there he met the woman he would eventually marry and he got married before either of his older brothers.

Keith eventually graduated from college and began graduate school but never completed it.  I think the only job he ever had was at McDonalds, but he always worked hard and he always took care of his family, And I never met someone who loved his kids more fiercely than Keith did.  

Some Friday night in the summer of 2006, I was at an outdoor movie night at a local park with my family.  My cell phone rang, it was my Dad.  Keith was sick, He had only 10 % use of his heart and his kidney function was at the same rate.  Within a week, he was getting treated at the Mayo Clinic.  

His kidneys were shot because of the lithium he took for his bi-polar, but we never discovered what happened with his heart. From 2006 to April 2008 Keith's life developed into a consistent pattern.  He'd be hospitalized he'd then go to a nursing home (one of the only 30 somethings in the joint) then go back home far a month or two and then he'd be hospitalized again  because either his heart medicine was creating problems for his kidneys or his kidney medicine was messing with the bi-polar or any other such permutation. rinse, lather, repeat.  

Keith loved trivia, especially Jeopardy. He was an excellent chess player and  loved all kind of puzzles especially those in Games magazine.  I am sure, he would have been great at current games, like Wordle and Nerdle. 

Keith died at the age of 38 so I always think of him as 38. Or I think of him at 27, when he got married.  Or I think of him at 30 when his son Robert was born.  Or I think of him ay 32 when his daughter Sarah arrived. Or at the age of 22 when he visited me in Russia and said of my filing system, "A place for everything and everything on the floor." Or at the age of 17 when I saw him graduate high school at the old Poplar Creek concert venue. Or playing tee ball at the age of 7 or 8.  Or at the age of a few days, that November day on 1970 when he came home from the hospital.  I guess I remember him a lot.  I miss him even more.


Thursday, November 9, 2023

60 Years in 60 Days: 1989

 In The Spring of 1989 I took a class, I forget what the actual name and course # was but the gist was that it was the course where education majors got their pre-student teaching experience.  Over the course of the semester you travel to a school,  are assigned a teacher and a class room and you observe  and assist in the class room culminating in preparing and giving a lesson essentially being teacher for a day.  I forgot how many visits it was it was either 6 0r 12 in a 6 week period.  

I got to know the students pretty well, and one of them was going to be in a local theater play.  I told him that I would attend.  Back than my wardrobe was pretty exclusively jeans t-shirts and I had a pretty good sweater collection.  I had one suit and a few dress shirts and a couple pairs of slacks.  Each day I would go to school,  I would wear the same outfit, my suit.  I would then go back to the dorm and put it away until the next class.  When I went to the play I was wearing my regular out fit of Jeans, Turtle Neck and Sweater.  

The play was really good.  It was Agatha Christies Mouse Trap and my student did an excellent job.  I went up to him after the show and the first thing this kid (who by my math is now 50ish) says to me: "Mr. Roller, You're in civilian clothes!"


I was thinking of that story today, because my youngest daughter has a starring part in her school play.  I wore Jeans and the show t.shirt to school today and wore the same thing to the production.  I don't think I've ever worn a suit to teach school.  I guess I just wear civilian clothes.  

Thursday, May 11, 2023

My last 500 days of 50

Last 500 Days of My Fifties

5/12/2023 - 9/22/1964


 I'm in my late 50's.  I was born in 1964, the last year of the Baby Boomers.  

The year before  I turned 50, I wanted to do something special to commemorate my last year in my 40's.  On or about my 49th birthday I was with my family visiting the  elks in Elk Grove Village.  Elk Grove Village is a suburb of Chicago located near O'Hare airport, It is where I grew up and where my parents lived until very recently.  There is a forest preserve in Elk Grove that extends into neighboring towns like Schaumburg.  Ever since I was a kid there has been a herd of Elk maintained by the Forest Preserve in Elk Grove.  



As my family watched the elk,  an idea came to me.  I could write a limerick, and  post it on Facebook every day until I turned 50.  I wasn't completely successful in my quest, but I do believe that I wrote and posted over 300 limericks over that time period.  Why limericks? I never did figure that one out, but I think I owe a lot of the personal poetry renaissance I have been going through the last 15 months due to my year of limericks.

As my mid 50's turned into my late 50's I have been thinking how to celebrate the last part of my 6th decade.  No "elks" moment has hit me and I'm not sure my FB friends want a year of haikus or anything like that.

A couple of months ago an idea came to me that instead of having some special activity, I could just be more purposely reflective during the time.  I decided since my 50's were ending that I could perhaps extend the year   to 500 days.  So starting tomorrow I find myself in the last 500 days of my 50's.

Today is May 11th so that means that there are 20 full days left in the month.  There are 30 days in June, 31 in July and August and 22 days before my birthday in September.  That's 134 days before my birthday. There are usually 365 days in a year, but 2024 is a leap year so there are 366 days from  September 23rd, 2023 and September 22nd 2024. Some may wonder why I don't count until September 23rd, my birthday.  The answer, of course, is because that will be the first day of my 60's.

So, what do I plan to do with this time period that 1150% greater than Lent? First of all, give it up for Lent, it's a great religious observance, and it doesn't get nearly the credit it deserves.  I'm not sure really.  I think what I'll do is when I'm reflecting on my adventures in ageing, or perhaps doing something for the last time in my 50's I might blog about it here.  But mostly I'll do what I encouraged my 11 year old future sister in law to do 8 years before I courted her sister, and that is cherish the time.  

In the Bible we are encouraged to number our days. By delineating the last 500 days in my 50's I am inviting myself to live purposely.  It is of course very possible that I publish this post and then regular life and my ADHD conspire that I never think about it again.  This is part of the reason why  I'm publish posting this on my blog and on Facebook so I do pay  attention during these final days of my fifties.

Dear Facebook friends, this doesn't mean that there will be no more limericks.  It just means I'm commemorating the end of this decade differently than I did the last.  In fact, I think I feel a limerick coming on now:

I really thought it would be nifty

To write a limerick a day 'til I was fifty,

The days in my  fifties are numbered

I only have left 500.

I'll live them up, cause the will end swiftly. 


Thursday, November 11, 2021

Reflections on Keith's birthday.

Today is Veteran's day. It happens each year on the 11th of November. November 11th has had special significance to me since 1970. I was in first grade at Queen of the Rosary school in Elk Grove village and Mrs. Newman was my teacher. Some of my classmates were Dennis Morrison, Bob Gore and Dick Lynch. The special significance of 11/11 has nothing to do with Veteran's day but with the birth of my brother Keith. 

 Keith was the 4th child in our family and was born when I was 6, my older sister was 7 and my brother Chris was 4. In 1970 Keith was the 38th most popular boys name. That statistic would have been meaningless to me except that my brother Keith died in April of 2009 at the age of 38. Today he would have turned 51, but to me he will perpetually be 38 until we are reunited in Heaven. 

 My parents are still living and as of this writing live in the same house as they did when Keith was born. I was visiting them yesterday and I forgot all about it being Keith's birthday today. It wasn't until this morning at announcements at school that I realized it was Veteran's day. My first 3 classes today were teaching 2nd grade, kindergarten and 1st grade art classes. It was strange to remember that I was in first grade when Keith was born and unsettling to realize Keith's children were in Kindergarten and 2nd grade respectively when he passed away. 

 I used to think of Keith all the time after he passed away. Over the years I haven't forgotten him or anything like that, but 12 1/2 years of life has moved on while Keith remains more or less at a fixed point in time. I'm feeling a bit of survivor's guilt today. My children have grown up or are in the process of growing up with both their parents. My niece and nephew lost their Dad before they were even tweens. I remember what a loving father Keith was to his kids but it makes me sad that they don't have many memories of him at all. 

 Over the years I have endeavored to stand in as much for Keith as I could for his children. I will continue to do my best in that regard, but today I'm just a guy who misses his brother.

Saturday, June 5, 2021

A Lifelong Dream


 Ever since I was a boy, I have had a dream.  It is a typical boyhood dream, but nevertheless, it was my dream .  I wanted to work for a baseball team, specifically  for the Chicago White Sox as their starting third baseman.  It turns out I was not much of a ball player.  I wasn't even a starter on my little league teams. Over the years I modified that dream somewhat.  I dreamed of perhaps being a broadcaster, that way if a job at 3rd base ever opened up I'd be ready to take over.  

A few years ago my brother had a Confirmation party for his daughter at the party suites of a local minor league team.  He shared the suite with a neighbor whose daughter had also been confirmed that day and is the operations manager at the ball park.  My brother introduced me as a guy who is passionate about baseball and whose dream job would be to work at a ball park.  He didn't mention the part about 3rd base probably because there's not a lot of rookies in their 50's.   His friend mentioned the possibility of a job  an usher.  I thought that might be a good job to consider for the next summer.  The next summer was 2020 and there was this little thing called Covid, maybe you heard of it, and since there was no season there was no where to ush.  

Eventually things got a little bit back to normal ,and by April of this year, I was back to working my pre covid jobs as a substitute teacher and  cashier/usher at a local movie theatre.  Last week the school year ended and on one of my last days at school my wife called me and said she had a crazy idea.  I love crazy ideas, so I was all ears.

"The Kane County Cougars need concessions worker this summer, you and I should get jobs there." she told me.  I told her that was not a crazy idea at all and we both  applied that day. When I was applying, I saw they were also hiring 15 year old's with a work permit.  My 15 year old daughter was also looking for work. so she applied as well.  In short order, we all received emails from the Cougars and  were scheduled for interviews.  Lucy's school year ends a week later than the district Amy and I work at so we scheduled the interview for the day after her (Lucy's) school ended.  When the interviewer saw that we were all in the same family he took us all in together.

Lucy, had never been interviewed for a job before but it became obvious to Amy and I pretty early in the process that we were all going to be hired.  It wasn't until we were leaving and the interviewer said very clearly that we'd all been hired that Lucy realized it.  She was ecstatic and couldn't believe it was that easy to get a job.  Amy and I will be working as cashiers and Lucy will be working in the picnic area.  As we will only be working home games, it still gives Amy and Lucy quite a bit of vacation time this Summer and I will be able to work out my schedule at the theatre so I can work both jobs.  

I have always kind of felt bad for people who work concessions at the ball park as they can't enjoy the game as they are helping others to do the same thing.  As I prepare for this job, I look forward to going to the ball park every day and being part of the festivities.  Even if a third base position doesn't open up sharing this job experience with my wife and daughter make it a dream job.  


The views expressed on this website/weblog are mine alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of my employer.

Monday, May 10, 2021

The Best 82 I ever bowled



In April my blogging efforts are almost entirely spent on the A to Z challenge. This doesn't mean I don't have other content that I am pursuing.  I just don't usually have the time, inclination or energy to get into it.      On one of the last Friday's in March  Amy, myself  and the girls went bowling.  I wrote a draft of this the next day but all thing A to Z kept me from completing it until now.  

About 25 to 30 years ago I decided I would try to bowl in every state. When Amy and I got married, she embraced that and quite often when we were in a new state for the first time we  woud bowl  I'm not an especially good bowler, even though it used to be one of my favorite things to do . I used to bowl somewhere between 80 and 120 a game.  If I broke 100 I'd consider it a good game.  Over the last 10 years, 100 has become more of a rarity.  I have my own ball, but lately when we have bowled it's been at the spur of the moment, and I have not brought my ball.  My ball is probably a little too heavy for me now, but when I found out we were going bowling I decided to bring it.  

I did not start well.  I ended getting1 pin down in the first frame. two more in the second frame and then 2 straight gutter balls in the third frame.

At this same point all of my family members were bowling better than me, and my wife was suggesting that I switch to a lighter ball.  I decided that better or worse I would stick with my ball.  I knew though, that something needed to be done and on the next frame I decided to go with the Fred Flintstone approach.


  

  I generally do this novelty move once each time I bowl and always have fun with it and also a bit of success.  I have bowled many a strike with the "twinkletoes" approach. However, this was not the case on this occasion.  I guttered to the left, mustered what was left of my pride and attempted the maneuver again only to gutter to the right. 

3 pins in 4 frames, quite the auspicious start,  So, when in the 5th frame when I got 7 pins down on the first roll it more than doubled my previous score even though I guttered the 2nd ball.

. In the 6th frame, faced with the prospect of my lowest score ever, things began to get a little better.  I changed my approach and instead of bowling in stride I stopped at the line and then sent the ball down the lane.   I got a strike and followed that up with a spare in the 7th or 8th.  I knocked down pins in all of my first rolls during the 2nd half of the game.  As I started the 10th frame.  I had gained 59 points since the Flintstone debacle in the 4th frame,  I was the last to bowl in our party and I had already caught up with my daughters and was just a few pins behind Amy.  (Nobody was especially bowling well, but we were all enjoying our selves)

I was able to get a spare in the 10th frame and followed it up with a strike to end the game.  It was a definite tale of two halves. I had a score of 10 entering the 6th frame and bowled 72  (88% of my  total score)  in the latter half to finish with a normally measly 82.  But as I said in the title it was the best 82 I ever bowled.  


I'm glad I got  the ball rolling on post A to Z blogging.  I may still have a little more A to Z aftermath in the near future, but it's good to be back to abnormal.  

Saturday, January 30, 2021

Saturday Afternoon Monopoly

 My girls are passing this Saturday afternoon with a game of Monopoly.  

I figured this might be a good time to catch you, readers, up with my family

Emma FKA Bunny Girl is 21 now.  

She says Monopily is going good. She has two light blues an orange 2 railroads and a Brown. She is functioning as the banker,








Amy is still working as a School Bob Newhart/Psychologist.  She is doing real estate in the game and 1 monopoly 1 blue, 2 railroads,2 greens and a red.  She is currently in negotiations with L.J./Lucy FKA Wolfina/Puppy which have come to a standstill over the red and blue properties.


The previously mentioned LJ is a Freshman and has finally started live (hybrid) learning as a public school high school Freshman after being homeschooled for all of her middle school career and most of elementary school.  She has 2 reds, both utilities Boardwalk, and New York.







They are taking a break right now. All in all, it's a nice way to spend a Saturday as more snow heads our way.

Monday, May 11, 2015

Post of the Week - Mothers day edition

Time again for another monthly edition of post of the week.  I would change it to post of the month, but then  I would probably do it annually.

  The jist of post of the week is to find the most excellent post on my blogroll from the last week and repost it here.

Yesterday, was Mother's day and my sister-in-law who blogs at Peace, Love and Yoga Pants totally nailed it with 5 Lessons My Mom Taught Me.


Monday, August 15, 2011

A Good Thing Going

Carnival of Homeschooling is having a back to school edition at Faithful Homeschool. I have decided to participate this week and will return to my Joplin rememberings soon. Here is what's on my mind . . .
Amy had her first full day back at school today. Mondays are often a work day for us and since we are not starting school for at least another week, I decided to maintain that on our schedule. Amy made a list of what needed doing and we started on it.

The first thing on the list was to get a plumber to call in to get our bathtub working properly again (it hadn't been working in weeks.) After we dispatched one, we got working on the rest of the list. I would like to say that everything got done without any yelling, screaming or other mayhem. The truth is I blew my stack pretty quick into the list, and had to apologize to both the bigs for my words.

Soon better attitudes emerged and we were 1/2 way through the list when the plumber came. We continued to work as the plumber diagnosed the problem was a drum trap that they don't even use anymore. He did a thorough and professional job at what I hope was a fair price. After a while I had Bunny watch the other kids at the park around the corner from our house. When they came back I started making mac and cheese with Puppy's help. I had Pandora in the background playing a nice mix of Christian and 70/80's rock/pop while lunch was being made. 

The plumber finished his work at about the same time lunch was ready to serve. As I was walking him out of the house, he told me "You've got a good thing going." I thanked him and ate lunch with the kids.
The truth is the plumber was right on a myriad of levels. 

Yes, for the few hours the plumber was in the house my children were well behaved and got along with each other. Yes,  for the same few hours I was kind and understanding and productive. These things aren't always true. Even so, I do have a few good things going.

I am able to spend the majority of my waking hours with my children.
In July of 2008 Amy and I made the big switcheroo. She began to work full time and I began home educating the children. This is not always something I always do well, willingly, or happily. But the result is that I have spent much more time with my children than many parents Dads or Moms, get the opportunity to. And after 3 years, I can tell you that I would not trade that time for anything. At some point, I would love to return to the work force to give Amy the blessing of homeschooling her children again. Until God opens that door, I know I need to cherish every moment.

I get my family and they get me.
Not a lot of people I know get me. Some don't even take the time to. My wife and kids get me. They know who I am and they like me any way. I think home education helps you to get your kids and help them get you because you spend so much time together doing a wide variety of things.

All good things come from above.
I agree with my plumber that I have a good thing going. I just want to say that I have very little to do with that. God has given me my life, my health, my family. I have absolutely nothing without him and when people recognize the good things in my life, I have no choice but to point upward and say thanks.

I have chosen to share these thoughts in this week's carnival of home schooling. The plumber's comments probably had nothing to do with home education. But home education permeates through our life. Home education is a good thing going.

For more COH click here.

Next Time: Joplin Day 4

A to Z 2023 Road Trip

#AtoZChallenge 2023 RoadTrip