Category Archives: 65 Years in 65 Days

Looking back

DAY 46 – GIFTED AND TALENTED (OR VICE VERSA)

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April 24, 2013

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Gifted and Talented (or Vice Versa)

Our children began their education in the Jefferson County Public School system. Michael had completed 3rd Grade and Suzanne 1st Grade before we moved to the mountains. Jefferson County was a very large district – the largest in the State of Colorado – which had established programs in most schools, beginning in elementary school, to assist students who were slow learners and to engage those who were considered gifted or talented. Both Michael and Suzanne participated in the gifted and talented program on the recommendation of their teachers.

After our move, they attended the public schools in Clear Creek County, a much smaller school district. We were pleased to find that Clear Creek had a similar program, though there it was called “Talented and Gifted” (“TAG”). Rather than relying on teacher recommendations, Clear Creek utilized a testing system to identify the students who would be asked to participate. Both kids took the test and then my wife and I had a meeting with the teacher/counselor in charge of the program.

She explained to us that the test measured students’ abilities in various areas like science and math and verbal skills. Most of those selected for the TAG program tested high in some areas, but not others. Suzanne, she said was an exception. Her scores in every area were high enough to qualify for the TAG program – a situation that was quite unusual. Continue reading →

DAY 45 – THE WRATH OF GOD

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April 23, 2013

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The Wrath of God

There is an old joke about the Pope calling the cardinals together and announcing, “I have some good news and some bad news.  The good news is that last night I received a telephone call from God.”  The cardinals could not imagine how anything about that could be bad, but the Pope continued.  “The bad news is that the call came from Salt Lake City, and God said She is not happy about some of the things we are doing.”

I hate it when that happens. Continue reading →

DAY 44 – RIGHT PLACE, RIGHT TIME

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April 22, 2013

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Right Place, Right Time

We are all in this together.  Sometimes we happen to be at the right place at the right time to help someone else in a small way, or in a large way – whatever is needed.  It could be life changing, but it doesn’t need to be.  It could be life changing in some way we will never know.

When I was about 8 years old, my brothers and I were at the local swimming pool.  Some friends from school were there, and I was hanging out with them, not paying attention to my brother Jim who was only 4 years old.  My friends and I walked toward deeper water; not over our heads, but deeper.  Jim, who was much shorter, followed us by pulling himself along the side of the pool.  I was not even aware he was there, but I heard a splashing sound behind me.  A small child was under water and thrashing about.  I reached down and lifted him to the surface, surprised to see it was my brother.  I surmised that he had tried to follow us to the center of the pool only to find the water was way over his head.  He told me I had saved his life.  Though I was probably responsible for his being in the wrong place, it was the right place and right time for me.

This next example will probably seem less dramatic.  Continue reading →

DAY 43 – WEDDING

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April 21, 2013

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Wedding

Just like a ghost you been a-hauntin’ my dreams
So I’ll propose on Halloween,
Love is kind of crazy with a spooky little girl like you.
— “Spooky” by Classics IV (1967)

October 31, 1979, was a chilly Wednesday with light snow. The weather was not bad enough to keep the little trick-or-treaters off the streets, but parents made sure they were bundled up. My friend Cathy had been in Ohio for the past week visiting her parents. I had been commissioned to stop by her condominium each day to feed her cat. On Halloween itself, I had the additional job of meeting her at the airport and taking her home. The previous day when I had come to look after the cat, I brought a dozen yellow roses and put them in a vase above the fireplace. I thought it would make the condo a little more welcoming.

I met her plane and as we were driving away, I put a Pentangle album into the tape player (this was a tape, not a CD or MP3; this was the old days). The first song was “Wedding Dress.” Being an incurable romantic, I began to explain first that the song was a traditional Appalachian ballad, and then how it marked a bit of a change from the British folk music that had distinguished the band’s early albums. The next track was “Omie Wise,” a traditional murder ballad, which Cathy said she did not wish to discuss. I turned the volume down and we changed the subject. A couple of hours later, no trick-or-treaters had come by, I was preparing to go home and we had decided to get married. Continue reading →

DAY 42 – PEOPLE v. JOE D.

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April 20, 2013

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People v. Joe D.

Fort Collins is always farther away than I think it should be.  Today is my wife’s birthday and we went to Fort Collins to tour the New Belgium Brewery and have dinner with our children and some other family members.  Traffic was heavy and we hit every red light along the way, so we were almost late.

The hurry and stress of being late reminded me of another trip to Fort Collins many years ago.

I had a client named Joe, a young Hispanic man, who was charged with 1st Degree Assault, a serious felony, in Larimer County.  The story behind the case was interesting.

Joe was working as a janitor at Colorado State University in Fort Collins.  He and his pregnant wife had been staying at a cheap motel in Loveland, about 10 miles south of the University, until they could find a house to rent.  When they found a place in Fort Collins, they informed the motel owner in Loveland and an argument had ensued about the rent they were being charged and some alleged damages to the motel room.  It had not been resolved when Joe and his wife began loading their belongings in his VW and moving them to the new house – it took several trips.

They were in Fort Collins, headed back to Loveland to get their last load, when Joe looked in his rear view mirror and saw the motel owner and another man in the pickup truck directly behind them.  He wanted to avoid the guy, so he changed lanes.  The truck behind changed lanes, too.  He changed lanes again, and the truck stayed behind him.  The traffic stopped at a red light and Joe yelled back, “What do you want?”  The motel owner pointed his finger and yelled, “You.” Continue reading →

DAY 41 – FOR THIS I WENT TO LAW SCHOOL?

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April 19, 2013

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For This I Went to Law School?

I can’t say for sure, but I think most lawyers who grew up in the 1950s or 60s have at one time or another wanted to sue Perry Mason for fraud. However, Mason has avoided all lawsuits through the convenient ploy of being a fictional character.

Perry Mason came to us through the pen of one Earle Stanley Gardner, who wrote more than 80 novels beginning in 1933. There were Perry Mason movies and radio drama; and, most famously there was Raymond Burr playing Mason on a long running television series and several made for TV movies. The plot of each episode was the same: Perry Mason’s client was accused of a crime (usually murder); Mason investigated the facts; the case came to trial; at the trial, Mason introduced unexpected evidence causing the actual criminal (almost always someone other than his client) to confess.

That may sound tedious now, but it was not. Perry Mason may have been the best mystery series ever. The programs also showed the glamor of a lawyer’s life, as he always had interesting cases with clients who were innocent and could afford to pay without complaint for a good defense; he had to spend little time in the office doing tedious paper work, which would have taken away from his investigating time; and the trials were always dramatic, exciting and ended with justice triumphant.

What was not to like? To top it all off, my initials are “L.A.W.” and some good friends of mine, who worked at the law school library while I was in college, told me how well I would fit in with the law students. It was fated. I took a year after I graduated college to decide if it would be wise to act against fate and do something different with my life, but everyone else knew what was going to happen. Continue reading →

DAY 40 – I THINK THAT I SHALL NEVER SEE A STREET AS LOVELY AS A TREE

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April 18, 2013
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I Think That I Shall Never See a Street as Lovely as a Tree

The huge blue spruce in front of our home in Wheat Ridge had been there longer than anyone could remember. The brick house had been built in the 1920s and was the home of Catherine Coulehan and her family. In the 1950s it was sold to Hubert and Margaret Cosby, a bus driver and his wife, who lived there and raised a family until Cathy and I bought it in 1980. The Cosbys wanted a smaller place with a smaller yard, something easier to care for as they aged. I guess Mr. Cosby was having health problems. He died just a year later.

The tree was at least 30 feet tall, so it must have been planted at about the time the Cosbys moved in, or maybe a little earlier.

All the land around ours had once been owned by the Coulehan family and was originally subdivided in 1901. Over the years, most parts were re-subdivided and most of the neighboring homes had been built in the 1950s and 1960s. The description of our land was still based on the 1901 plat.

One day a City of Wheat Ridge truck parked across the street. Two workers got out and craned their necks to see the top of the tree. They were making notes on a legal pad when I came out and asked what they were doing. “You have a beautiful tree here,” said one. “It’s too bad it has to come down.” Continue reading →

DAY 39 – PARADISE

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April 17, 2013

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Paradise

Life doesn’t have to be complicated.  It was just a vacation for us, but it could be “real” life.

Cathy and I would rise early to walk the 200 yards to the beach and Cook’s Bay.  The morning clouds on Mt. Mouaroa (the peak shown as “Bali Hai” in the movie South Pacific) were beautiful; the sunset on the mountain would be even more so.  From there it was a short walk to the market.  Most products sold in Moorea, French Polynesia were expensive due to shipping costs.  The local produce was reasonably priced.  Delicious French bread cost only pennies because of government subsidies.  We bought baguettes each day, along with imported French cheese.  A few bottles of Hinano Beer for later completed the shopping trip.

We sat on the balcony off the bedroom with the pineapple or other fresh fruit purchased the day before and ate breakfast.

The best pineapple in the world – and the best papaya and coconut and star fruit – was sold by Mr. White.  His name did not sound Polynesian, but he was native.  He and his sons owned hundreds of acres fronting the beach, property that would be worth millions to a real estate developer.  He was retired, living with his wife in a simple house.  His children and grandchildren were within walking distance.  He would gather local produce and place it on a table at the beach to sell to tourists strolling by.  We stopped each day for delicious fruit and conversation.  Mr. White had traveled and spent time in the United States.  His English was good and he could help us with our French. Continue reading →

DAY 38 – HEALING-PART 3

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April 16, 2013

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Healing – Part 3

I began studying alternative healing methods to deal with a physical problem of my own. Although I believe that all healing is ultimately self-healing, I have learned that it is quite difficult to consciously try to heal yourself. Often, it is more effective to use energy work to help others.

The term “energy work” seems to fit with the concept of self-healing. The healing process may be compared to an automobile battery. Some cold winter days a battery may have enough juice to play the radio and grind the engine, but not enough to start the car. If you can wait until the air is a little warmer, the battery may be adequate. However, it may be necessary to get out jumper cables and ask a neighbor for help.

Energy work is sometimes like the Sun, acting in the “air” around an ailing physical body, and sometimes like a jumper cable giving the physical body the extra energy it may need. I prefer to work with others remotely. There is no need for physical contact to send healing energy. The work can be done from anywhere and instantly transmitted anywhere else. Some examples may clarify the concept. Continue reading →

DAY 37 – HEALING-PART 2

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April 15, 2013

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Healing – Part 2

After the removal of my tonsils and a bad case of Asian flu, both while in elementary school, I stayed out of hospitals – except to visit a patient or pick up my wife, Cathy, a hospital nurse – for nearly 40 years. I would like to have gone longer, but the human body has frailties.

In early 1996, I was moving office furniture and suffered what I thought was a muscle strain in my lower abdomen. I babied the injury for a few days and it seemed to improve. However, when I tried running again or doing any lifting, the pain returned. After several weeks of no improvement, I did some research and diagnosed myself as having an inguinal hernia. I knew I would need to see a doctor to confirm the diagnosis.

We had been living in the mountains outside of Idaho Springs, Colorado for the past three years and I had not gone to a doctor during that time. I did not know who to contact, so I returned to a physician in Wheat Ridge, more than 30 miles away, who I had last seen several years before. The exam took only a few seconds – the old turn your head and cough; yep, it’s a hernia. The doctor referred me to a surgeon, as surgical repair was the only treatment.

The surgeon was an older gentleman who did a slightly more extensive examination to confirm the diagnosis. He explained that he had performed literally thousands of these operations. He described how modern medicine uses surgical mesh to strengthen the hernia site and prevent recurrence. I thought it odd this man did not look directly at me when we were talking. Other than that, he seemed a fine doctor and I proceeded with the operation.

The day after the surgery, Cathy, against her better judgment, drove me to my office to pick up some work to do while recuperating at home. I was in good shape from running regularly and doing t’ai chi each day. Within ten days, I was able to walk, albeit slowly, more than a mile up the mountain near our house. The surgeon was impressed with his fine result.

Two weeks after the surgery, on Memorial Day, I was at the office, working to get caught up, when I felt a pain in my abdomen. Nothing serious. My body telling me I should take it easy. I went home to spend the rest of the day with my family, and then retired early. I woke around midnight with sharp pain in my chest and my side. I tried to make it go away by walking and doing mild stretching. That didn’t help. Cathy was concerned it might be a heart attack. The hospital was a 45 minute drive down the mountain, and she thought we should head there immediately in case her concerns were correct. Continue reading →