Be thankful, grateful, patient, charitable, kind, and don’t forget to smile, as it is infectious. God Bless America and Protect Our President and Military
Ages 3-5: Being allowed to cross the street by myself, learning to tie my own shoes, learning letters and numbers, and getting my first tricycle. Funny story, though: in my pre-k years, I used to walk to the far end of 58th Street (Springfield Ave. in SW Philly) and then wait for people to get off the bus. If someone crossed the street to our corner, I’d say I’ll walk with you to keep you company for a $0.05, but only to the next corner (59th Street)! That’s as far as I was allowed to go then.
Ages 5-8: Going to school, I hung around with the kids on our street who were two years ahead of me or more in school. Play baseball on a PAL team, learning to read the TV Guide and Comics, learning to ride my first two-wheeler, and roller-skating without holding onto cars or falling.
Ages 9-12: Go to the school carnival by myself, run the neighborhood and hang out doing things boys do in Cobbs Creek Park, digging for worms, frogs, newts, exploring the park, tree houses, making spears, bows, and fishing rods from bamboo, sledding in the winter, and so much more….
Ages 10-14: Sports, Girls, Parties, dances, graduating from elementary school, and heading to High School, driving, earning money, teaching myself guitar, and later forming a band with my brothers and friends.
Ages 15-16: Girls, Sports, getting my first car, Proms, Jobs, graduating from High School, and going to college. (P.S. Notice how I transitioned putting girls before sports!)
Ages 17-21: Meeting someone special, buying our first house, and settling down to share life and all it had in store for us. Something we both did at 19, a bit sooner than probably either one of us expected in our youth, and yet, smart enough to realize it in the moment. That’s how fate or divine intervention works in your life. Now, here we are, 53 years later, having just celebrated 50 years of marriage, with four amazing kids and eight grandkids who bring us so much joy as we watch them grow and get to share our part in their stories.
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