I was given as a gift a book with the unusual name of How Many People does it Take to Make a Difference? written by Dan Zadra and Kobi Yamada. I was inspired by the thoughts in this brief book as well as the message it contained. In a passage entitled "You are Royalty" the authors point out that if you can drink from your kitchen faucet whenever you want, you are better off then 1.5 billion people who have…
I enjoy poetry. Some poems are inspiring as well as offering wise advice. One such poem for me is Ithaka by Constantine Cavafy. Constantine Cavafy (1863 – 1933) was a well known Greek poet who wrote the poem "Ithaka" around 1864 and was first published in 1911. There are a number of translations. It is believed he modeled it after Odysseus, the hero of Homer's Odyssey. Ithaka is an island in the Ionian Sea off the coast of Greece to which Odyssey…
Many of us can point to one person or perhaps several people who played significant roles in our life. People who made the difference at a tipping point in our lives. Someone whose words or actions changed our attitude and the direction of our life for the better. For me, after my parents, it is a short list of those who had a very significant influence on my life. It includes a third grade teacher, a high school basketball coach, a…
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is a book by Jean-Dominique Bauby of France which is very unique because Bauby "dictated" it while totally paralyzed with only the ability for some movement of his head and eyes. Bauby was the editor of the well known French magazine, Elle in December of 1995 when he suffered a massive stroke and went into a coma. When he came out of the coma he had a "locked in" syndrome – a poisoner within his own…
I am enjoying a book by Allen Barra about Paul "Bear" Bryant The Last Coach. Bear was bigger then life and his story is enjoyable to read as well as inspiring. Here are few excepts from the book which I am still reading: Alabama coach Wallace Wade was a legend himself. In the Rosebowl of 1925 Wade's team was behind at the start of the third quarter 12-0. Wade said to the gathered team in a big, booming voice "They told me boys…
Lita and I arrived at our home in Scottsdale a few days before Christmas. We traveled with Josephine and Valentino. They are our two Bischon dogs who complicate our lives, but are worth the effort because they are very loving animals. The weather was in the mid forties, but clear and sunny. This hasn't been weather for swimming and we have had frost on the ground. We moved from our previous house, about a block and a half away in this gated community, to…
The newspaper reports that Kim Peek, age 58, died December 19th. Mr. Peek was diagnosed as severely mentally retarded as a child. In fact, throughout his life he need around the clock supervision. He wasn’t even able to dress himself or do simple things such as comb his hair. Born in 1951, his parents were advised he should be put in an institution, but they cared for him at home instead. This required constant care every day because of Kim’s mental problems. After…
Dad's mother Phyllis Filippa Luvera was born in Italy May 26, 1870 and died in Anacortes, Washington on December 20, 1946. Nonna Luvera spoke only a word or two of English and we children were not taught Italian so I only communicated with her through dad. She was a large woman – a typical Italian grandmother who always had Italian candy she offered us and who cooked great food. Nonno and Nonna lived in small house on Commercial Avenue, but…
Pearl Harbor Day, December 7th, came and went with only a passing media reference to this historical day. World War II for the United States began on that date when a Japanese war fleet with planes and submarines launched a surprise attack on Hawaii the morning of December 7, 1941. The target was our naval base and war fleet at Pearl Harbor. Almost all of us who were alive at the time can remember the precise moment when we learned…
