[Thursday Aug. 11] Today, Dad would have been 96 years old. I begged him to help me get through the day. It’s been a week since the tree fell on our house, and six days since Tom got out of rehab. The days are too long, and not long enough. I usually wake up at … read more Just another morning
Tag: family
Alma’s progeny
Every summer for the past five years, my sister Ann and I have come to Ohio for a week. We do ancestry research and visit old friends. And our Schnellinger cousins host a family reunion. Every year, there’s at least a couple of relatives I don’t know. Usually I know all my cousins, but not … read more Alma’s progeny
The secret to happiness and health
For 75 years, Harvard has been tracking a group of ordinary American men and their families. From the thousands of pages of research that this study entailed, they found out the secret of happiness and health. You can hear all the details in a TED talk, below, or … … you can read my summary here. … read more The secret to happiness and health
Fun with the census
Do you live alone? Well, you’re not alone. About 28 percent of Americans live alone. That was just one of the interesting facts I learned while playing around with census numbers this week. I had so much fun, in fact, that I made a little quiz. Here it is – take it! Be sure to … read more Fun with the census
Day 38: Miles for miles
Delta tells me that I have flown 246,875 miles in their planes. That’s trivial, of course – there are many people in the Million Miler clubs, and then there’s Tom Stuker, who’s flown more than 10 million miles on United. Still, it makes me tired to think what my total mileage would be if I added in United, … read more Day 38: Miles for miles
Day 34: The last time I left home
I left Ohio many times, physically and mentally, before I left for good in 1984. But I always knew I would leave. Maybe it started when I was very little. I used to play along the banks of the creek that ran through our front yard, and built imaginary villages from twigs, leaves, moss, and … read more Day 34: The last time I left home
Day 32: Ticket to ride
I used to think that Cedar Point was a made-up name for the amusement park, and a strange one at that. Really, it doesn’t sound like it would be fun, the way that “Disneyland” did. No: Cedar Point was simply the name of a place, long before it was a company and a destination for … read more Day 32: Ticket to ride
Day 30: If I live to be 97
The phrase has been running daily in my head for the past month: “If I live to be 100…” Until recently it was simply a hyperbolic expression of the impossible, along the lines of “If I had a nickel for every time that…” It didn’t seem that living to be 100 could be possible. Or … read more Day 30: If I live to be 97
Day 27: Uncle Ray and the gang
I don’t know what the collective noun for cousins is, but on the Schnellinger side it should be “a riot of cousins.” Eight brothers and sisters, born of my grandma Alma Schnellinger, had a total of 32 kids – and that despite the fact that two of the eight became nuns. The rest were typical … read more Day 27: Uncle Ray and the gang
Day 26: All is forgiven
The hardest part of moving from Ohio to Seattle was leaving behind all my friends. I flew back there to visit once in the first year, but after that my parents had moved to Arizona and my sisters were scattered in three different locations. There was nothing pulling me back. I was newly married, a … read more Day 26: All is forgiven