My Lifelong Childhood

The primal duties shine aloft like stars; The charities that soothe, and heal, and bless, Are scattered at the feet of man, like flowers.                    William Wordsworth (1770-1850) Giving Back Growing up, I was taught the value of participating in community more by example than by teaching.  Even though I only knew my grandfather Mayer for a few short years, I knew he was not only a joiner but a leader.  From his activity in fund-raising for charities, serving on the draft board in World War I, working for our state's government, leading drives to sell war bonds in World War II, being a life-long Rotarian, Mason,  being elected to lead the American Optometric Association, and probably plenty of other activities I have no knowledge of, he set a pretty high bar for the family.  That all ended in 1948 when he passed away.  My dad took up some of his father's calling by choosing, in a much quieter way, to give back to the community.  For all the time I was in sch

"Every gift of noble origin is breathed upon by Hope's perpetual breath."                               William Wordsworth (1770-1850) It's the last day of 2018 and I've been searching for my muse, a creative inspiration to continue my writing.  She comes into and out of my life but, while she's still here, I will continue to share my memories (while I still have them!!!) Around the time of our son approaching his sixth birthday, I had feelings of complacent satisfaction without breaching the threshold for smugness.  We were living in our little home, a family of three.  Work was going well for me as it was at Citicorp for Suzanne where she had begun to go up the corporate ladder in the Student Loan Business.  I had achieved my life goal of practicing medicine and she, her MBA in Finance.  Our house was fairly modest and we were living within our means.  We had good friends and, although fairly lengthy distances from our families, we kept in touch