I'm About to Become a Father

At age 58, for the first time in my life, I'm about to become a father, to a teenager. well, foster-parent to be exact. My wife and I are taking the steps to become foster-parents to a 13 year boy who attends Oklahoma Centennial whom I met through his participation in our school chess club.

The boy's home life is completely disfunctional, and when I discovered this, I talked over with my wonderful wife the idea of helping the young man out. I believe that he is the type of person who would do well if he had a stable home life. When I told Cat about the situation, she gave it careful consideration and agreed to take on this new responsibility.

We are traveling uncertain waters here and will need much patience and much love. I never had children, so this will be a very different experience for me.

I would appreciate your thoughts and prayers.

RIP Sandy Pilcher

Zaddie "Sandy" Mae Pilcher died Tuesday. She was my wife's birth mother. Sandy was born in Idabel in 1934 to a family of migrant workers. Sandy worked in the fields harvesting crops with her migrant family as a child. She worked hard all her life at low-level jobs which included working for Dairy Queen, a magazine distribution company, and a nurse's aide.

Sandy raised two other children in addition to my wife, Cat. Ramona, who was stricken with polio at age 2, and Cheryl, who lives in Tulsa and works as a registered nurse.

Sandy worked hard all her life. She now gets to lay her burden down and enter into her rest.

Cat and I are in Tulsa for her memorial service.

April Fools Day Came Early At My House!

I've already played my April Fools Day prank, a bit early, but so what? My wife loves doing the Crossword puzzle in our local paper The Oklahoman . She does this in the evenings as a way to relax. I am often asked to help on some of the clues, particularly those that deal with sports and history. Friday, I got a copy of the paper in the morning, and I looked up some of the clues I thought she might ask me about. It took a while, but when she asked me where the headquarters for the National Soccer Hall of Fame, I told her it was in Oneota, NY. Then when she asked who the 2-time Jack Nicklas award winner was, I told it that it was Jay Haas. I was really impressing her, but she got rather suspicious when I knew the old name for the capital of Guam was Agana! I then told her, "April Fool!" She had to admit that it was a pretty good joke.

A Valentine Poem for My Wife

The 3 Fates

You, Me, and the Moirae

Clotho spun out our threads nearly together when both
The 2nd Elizabeth and 2nd Great American novel debuted.
Lachesis chose to weave them in parts of the tapestry
That begin far apart, and then
Oh so close, yet out of each other’s sight
Which was wise for though we were near physically
For a while my straight stitches would have insulted
Your wild arabesques.
My primary colors would have
Clashed with your wild hues.
We were both a work in progress (we hoped).
In time, our weaves moved ever closer.
At first our patterns only touched tangentially,
Similar professions, similar causes,
A meeting here, a rally there, a holy mission together.
Nothing, we found was ever simple.
Finally, our patterns turned in each other’s direction,
And we discovered that my straight lines had curved
And your bends had lost their sharp twists
So that your weft blended with my warp.
The joy is in making the tapestry,
And we both pray that Atropos witholds her shears
Since we are far from finished with it.



Note: The Moirae were the Greek names for the three fates. Clotho started the thread, Lachesis spun it, and Atropos cut if off, signifying death. In this poem, I'm am trying to combine the idea of spinning thread with weaving it into some kind of pattern.

Hillary Wins In Oklahoma

My Wife's Candidate

Hillary Clinton won big in Oklahoma although Obama picked up several delegates and carried Oklahoma County. Edwards fell below the required 15% minimum of the vote and will not get any pledged delegates from Oklahoma. So, if I go to the Democratic National Convention,it will be as a tourist.

My wife, however, could become an Oklahoma delegate to the national convention because she is a pledged Hillary supporter.

So far, she has refrained from claiming, "I told you so."

Happy 2008!

Happy 2008

Happy New Year to Everyone!

The best thing about this year for me is that together with my wonderful wife, we have overcome the problems I had with my eye surgery and the problems we had with the ice storm.

Other than that it was a pretty good year. I'm in a new/old school. Next year we will be in a new building. However, I have the priviledge of being involved in the most important job in the world.