Some roads in life are lonely and cold.
“I have cancer and I am homeless.” Those were the first words Charlie said to me in 2012. Either phrase is scary, but when I put them both together I saw a nightmare that was beyond comprehension.
Life Experiences
“YOU HAVE CANCER”
The folks at Long’s Cleaners gave me a button that said “Cancer Sucks”. I never wore it. I didn’t like the word – and later I didn’t like the message. Of course cancer is bad, but if you are lucky enough to survive, cancer can be a great life coach. Cancer is the darkness that makes you appreciate the light. My cancer showed me that life is better and more valuable when you enjoy each moment and stay focused on all the positives of every experience unfolding around you.
The Great Depression – a very hard teacher!
My mother and father were married on December 16, 1928 – her 23rd birthday. Times were good – the Roaring Twenties were non-stop fun for many – but it all came crashing down less than a year later. On September 3, 1929 the Dow Jones Industrial Average reached an all time high of 381.17 – then the slide downward began. By July 8, 1932 it was at a low of 41.22.
Chasing the American Dream.
From Coal Mines of Illinois to Gold in Alaska (almost).
Armed with only a grammar school education my father was off to Alaska to find Gold, leaving his parents, sister and brother behind. Bold for any boy of only 17.
From a Farm in Tennessee to Miami Beach – and the Roaring Twenties
Helen Lorene Kaltreider (1905-2004) … I see my mother’s choices in many of my own life choices – making my way in the world – living my dream. My mother, Helen Lorene Kaltreider, was born on a farm in Tennessee on a mild and sunny Saturday – December 16, 1905. She was the youngest of […]
Why are you the way you are? Predestination or Free Will?
How my mother’s family made it to America and her early years on a farm in Tennessee. Sailing across the Atlantic to The New World was a life changing choice – and not just for the three Kaltreider men 275 years ago with Captain Thomson on the Friendship; their choice changed many hundreds of lives […]
Jackie Robinson’s first game in St. Louis
… can you imagine blacks and whites not being able to play baseball together? I was just shy of six years old when my dad took me to see a very historic baseball game. The Brooklyn Dodgers were playing the St. Louis Cardinals in Sportsman’s Park – Jackie Robinson was the Dodgers new first baseman. […]
Pick-Up-Sticks for business and life
Can a kid’s game of pick-up-sticks teach us anything? Did you ever play pick-up sticks as a kid? We played on rainy days or when it was just too cold to be outdoors. Sitting in a circle on the floor – the first player lets all the sticks drop on the floor. The idea is […]
When was your first fight?
… how a bloody face spoiled everything … The memories of my first job at 10 are still very real for me – it was a special time in my life. I had a some independence along with a little spending money – a new ball glove – friends. Life was good. Those wonderful memories […]
When did you first meet a person of a different color?
… commuting to work at age 10 … Getting to work at a root beer stand can be a real challenge, especially when you are only 10 years old. West Markum Street in Little Rock was residential on one side and the State Mental Hospital was on the other. The hospital grounds were very open with […]