Male role models were in short supply around my house and what’s been detailed so far in this blog sums up the vacancy…but I was always looking. I used to study men that I admired and imagine what sort of upbringing brought them to the point where someone like me looked up to them....
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From the ages of about 9 to 12 I used to go with my mother to visit my Great Aunt Louise at her cabin in Brainard, Minnesota. I loved Aunt Louise and looked forward to seeing her in the summer. By the time I hit 12, two major things had changed my summer vacation...
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No, not that Pipeline, the mammoth coastal waves located in Hawaii, because that would involve a near-death experience with a surfboard and water rolling over head. Mmmm, not so much on that one. The Pipeline I’m referring to was born in the very un-surfer-like Detroit area and was the name that teenagers gave to...
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I sat in the rear of my 9th grade science class and I felt safe there because I could survey the entire classroom and dissect the sum of its parts (very scientific of me). It was all about perspective and I could watch interactions between students, interactions between students and the teacher; I had...
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The first instrument I took up was the drums and began formal lessons when I was 8. My dad (father #2) sort of pushed me in that direction and, in fact, father #1 was a very talented drummer (they both knew each other and sometimes even played in the same bands) so perhaps it...
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Yes, this was my greatest scheme ever and it’s a shame that it happened so early in life because I don’t think I was sophisticated enough to realize just how brilliant it was. It was 1959 and I was an imaginative 3rd grader with time on his hands (what 3rd grader doesn’t have time...
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Recently my mother recalled a classic Petey moment and I’d be remiss not to include it in the collection (see the prior September 14th entry “Petey”). As I’d mentioned earlier, my dad’s (father #2) mother lived with us for a while when I was 2 to 3 years old and was there for the...
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