Life in the fast lane--where's the on ramp?

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Thursday, July 30, 2015

4th of July, 1944 - Family Picnic

When I was about nine years old our little family lived in rural Kennewick, WA – an area known as the “Y.” It was a neighborhood, houses and a trailer park built up next to the Mobil Oil service station at the junction of three highways. There was Kennewick to the west, Richland and Hanford to the... Sign in to see full entry.

Wednesday, July 29, 2015

The Heat Makes Me Cranky

100 degrees here in the St. Louis area yesterday. High, high humidity. Your lungs don't want to take in the steam. Your hair wilts and frizzes, your skin feels greasy. Your legs and feet feel heavy - you have to focus on each step to make yourself take the next. And other drivers on the road are... Sign in to see full entry.

Tuesday, July 28, 2015

WYOS Topic: First Date

When I was fourteen, the summer before my sophomore year at good old MHS, a guy named David started dropping in at our house from time to time. Mother was an avid and expert Pinochle player and had mentioned that fact when he and his brother delivered a cord of firewood. David said he loved Pinochle... Sign in to see full entry.

Monday, July 27, 2015

Another entry from the Write Your Own Story collection

Topic: MHS Class of 1953 Mossyrock High School class of ’53 consisted of 11 boys and 11 girls. Fifty-four of us graduated eighth grade together in May of 1949. Our numbers thinned for several reasons. For one, Weyerhauser Timber Co. relocated its major logging operation from Lewis County to western... Sign in to see full entry.

Sunday, July 26, 2015

On Being Nine Years Old

When I was nine I worried about everything. It was 1944. Our country was at war. In the newsreels and on the radio there was concern about air attacks along the west coast from the Axis powers: Hitler and Hirohito were dreaded enemies, merciless and likely to disregard the safety of civilians. The... Sign in to see full entry.

Saturday, July 25, 2015

The Fable of Harlan E.

Picture a tiny greenish black frog, small enough to sit comfortably on a nickel. Imagine him sitting quietly on the upper deck railing, eight feet above the lower deck. That deck is about twice as wide and long as the weedy, overgrown pond just beside it where he started his journey of discovery.... Sign in to see full entry.

Friday, July 24, 2015

Stories from The Center

Topic: The War Years I was the oldest of my mother’s second set of kids, so I’m not certain whether this makes me the oldest or the middle in the birth-order conversation. My sister Marje was eleven and brother John was nine when I came along and they lived with their father after the divorce. We... Sign in to see full entry.

Thursday, July 23, 2015

From last year's Write Your Own Story session

Topic: “Those” People A few days ago I was chatting with a woman – we’ll call her Delia – who comes to Bingo at The Center on Tuesdays, my day as front desk volunteer. She and I have had several conversations about life and family – about working a full-time job and running a house, rearing children... Sign in to see full entry.

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Justi's Question: Do I think kids get a better education now?

This is a debate topic that never seems to lose its appeal for the folks at The Center, mostly seasoned folk who have reached retirement age and better. Is school easier or harder? Do they have any appreciation for what their parents or ancestors learned in the School of Hard Knocks? And are kids... Sign in to see full entry.

Tuesday, July 21, 2015

Topic: How We Learned

Shortly after the discovery of fire (before the Internet made research assignments easier) report writing was a much more complicated proposition. Before the World Wide Web became central to the desktop computer, the Amazon was a river in South America – not an online marketer. At Mossyrock school –... Sign in to see full entry.

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Sometimes you have to write it down in order to learn what you really think about life, what it means, how to do what's best. Sometimes you need feedback from someone else to put things in perspective.

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