Before we get to this week's Flashback Friday, let's take care of some housekeeping chores:
1. As always, send your pictures, videos or comments to bfereporter@yahoo.com for submission to Cub Reporter Monday.
2. If you would like Existing In BFE sent directly to your Cell Phone, just let me know. We have the technology. Send your request to bfereporter@yahoo.com
3. Last week's post about 30Acre Fishing received 94 hits. It is, to my knowledge, the single busiest day for this blog, ever. Thanks. While on the subject, I put in an order to Ryan for one of his prettiest lures, and will likely be sending another before too long. If you haven't seen it yet, scroll back a few days and look for 30Acre Fishing, nice lures, nice kid and put in an order.
And Now, Flashback Friday
I'm not smart. And I can prove that with some of the decisions I've made. I'm not funny, witty or magnetic. I have, after a considerable number of years' experience, learned what I am and am not. You hear about people who enter a room and command it. I don't. I'm the shrinking wallflower in the corner trying to come up with a reason to leave.
I'm not smart. I'm lucky. I was lucky enough to have outgoing brothers who cleared a path for me socially. I was lucky enough to have had supportive parents who built a firm foundation for adulthood and the means for a safe and comfortable childhood. I had teachers I almost universally liked, all through school, who worked their magic on me. I was lucky enough to have an Uncle who hired me to work his farm and forged a loving relationship that continues to this day, twenty five years after his death.
I was lucky enough to find a job that gave me purpose, kids that filled my soul, a boss that left us alone to do our work, and friends who liked me in spite of my not being adept at much of anything. Old friends from G-Burg and new friends in BFE. I'm not smart, just lucky. I fell into most things by chance, not design. There was no plan, just a series of life lurches.
The above picture is a result of a lurch that happened to work out rather nicely. No plan, no genius, just luck. I started out as a Political Science major at Iowa Wesleyan but the intro class was taught by a guy just out of school himself and not ready or experienced enough to be there. I was disturbed and was simultaneously taking another course in Philosophy by Dr. Theodore Khan, and liked it. Around that time I also had to take one of those mandatory humanities courses by George LaMore and liked it, too. So I dumped the Poly Sci major and signed on with Khan and LaMore in Philosophy/Theology and the that was it. I've written about this before somewhere within the 1500 posts of this blog and won't belabor the point. I was entranced with my new majors and couldn't get enough. I don't remember really studying. It was more like a thirsty kid at a water fountain. Anyway, I kept taking all of those neat classes and was lucky enough to receive the above medal at graduation for having achieved the academic honors of Cum Laude. * You hear athletes talk about being in a zone. Well, I was in an academic zone for 3 1/2 years and somehow went far beyond my capabilities. A classic overachiever. I was very lucky.
The medal has never been seen by anyone outside the family. One doesn't really wear it around so it's one of those things that get stuck in a drawer and forgotten. While in BFE I lived in a great little place that had a problem with flooding after rains. One particular flood tipped many of my plastic totes and ruined things that had been in the family for generations. The colors on the ribbon have run, and it will never look good again, but then with these things, you just pack it up and the kids end up with it when you go belly-up. It really won't mean much to anyone else. I just wanted to show it off. It is a special thing that one holds onto through life and points to a time when when you did something well.
Flood in BFE.
I lost a lot of things in that flood. Some things were impossible to replace. One picture that shows us three boys outside having to go to church was priceless. Our expressions and body language tell it all, and it was destroyed and lost forever. Other intergenerational items were lost as well, photos, keepsakes, and memorabilia. They were all in plastic totes, but when they tipped, the plastic couldn't save them. I feel guilty having lost them since I was, in a sense, responsible for their safekeeping.
Yes, I was a lucky guy. I was lucky enough to fall into a major in school and lucky enough to find a job that I was pretty good at. I was lucky enough to keep that job for three decades.
In some ways I still am. I still have friends and family who somehow seem pleased to see me when I return up North. I repeat, I don't have any personal factors that seem extraordinarily likable or outsized, but my buddies and family don't seem to mind. Guess that's why they are so special to me. Thanks, guys, for making me feel like a lucky guy.
* I mentioned this a while back so this is for any new readers. During graduation rehearsal I knew I had received academic honors, and since my name started with B, I was the first of us to get the medal and recognition. I was instructed to receive my diploma, then face the audience, so the Dean could put the medal around my neck. During the ceremony I did as instructed and my brother Phil, along with many family memebrs, inhaled a breath and shrank in their chairs as I turned and faced the crowd. Being a bit of a rabble-rouser they thought I was going to give off-the-cuff speech about something.
1. As always, send your pictures, videos or comments to bfereporter@yahoo.com for submission to Cub Reporter Monday.
2. If you would like Existing In BFE sent directly to your Cell Phone, just let me know. We have the technology. Send your request to bfereporter@yahoo.com
3. Last week's post about 30Acre Fishing received 94 hits. It is, to my knowledge, the single busiest day for this blog, ever. Thanks. While on the subject, I put in an order to Ryan for one of his prettiest lures, and will likely be sending another before too long. If you haven't seen it yet, scroll back a few days and look for 30Acre Fishing, nice lures, nice kid and put in an order.
And Now, Flashback Friday
I'm not smart. And I can prove that with some of the decisions I've made. I'm not funny, witty or magnetic. I have, after a considerable number of years' experience, learned what I am and am not. You hear about people who enter a room and command it. I don't. I'm the shrinking wallflower in the corner trying to come up with a reason to leave.
I'm not smart. I'm lucky. I was lucky enough to have outgoing brothers who cleared a path for me socially. I was lucky enough to have had supportive parents who built a firm foundation for adulthood and the means for a safe and comfortable childhood. I had teachers I almost universally liked, all through school, who worked their magic on me. I was lucky enough to have an Uncle who hired me to work his farm and forged a loving relationship that continues to this day, twenty five years after his death.
I was lucky enough to find a job that gave me purpose, kids that filled my soul, a boss that left us alone to do our work, and friends who liked me in spite of my not being adept at much of anything. Old friends from G-Burg and new friends in BFE. I'm not smart, just lucky. I fell into most things by chance, not design. There was no plan, just a series of life lurches.
The above picture is a result of a lurch that happened to work out rather nicely. No plan, no genius, just luck. I started out as a Political Science major at Iowa Wesleyan but the intro class was taught by a guy just out of school himself and not ready or experienced enough to be there. I was disturbed and was simultaneously taking another course in Philosophy by Dr. Theodore Khan, and liked it. Around that time I also had to take one of those mandatory humanities courses by George LaMore and liked it, too. So I dumped the Poly Sci major and signed on with Khan and LaMore in Philosophy/Theology and the that was it. I've written about this before somewhere within the 1500 posts of this blog and won't belabor the point. I was entranced with my new majors and couldn't get enough. I don't remember really studying. It was more like a thirsty kid at a water fountain. Anyway, I kept taking all of those neat classes and was lucky enough to receive the above medal at graduation for having achieved the academic honors of Cum Laude. * You hear athletes talk about being in a zone. Well, I was in an academic zone for 3 1/2 years and somehow went far beyond my capabilities. A classic overachiever. I was very lucky.
The medal has never been seen by anyone outside the family. One doesn't really wear it around so it's one of those things that get stuck in a drawer and forgotten. While in BFE I lived in a great little place that had a problem with flooding after rains. One particular flood tipped many of my plastic totes and ruined things that had been in the family for generations. The colors on the ribbon have run, and it will never look good again, but then with these things, you just pack it up and the kids end up with it when you go belly-up. It really won't mean much to anyone else. I just wanted to show it off. It is a special thing that one holds onto through life and points to a time when when you did something well.
Flood in BFE.
I lost a lot of things in that flood. Some things were impossible to replace. One picture that shows us three boys outside having to go to church was priceless. Our expressions and body language tell it all, and it was destroyed and lost forever. Other intergenerational items were lost as well, photos, keepsakes, and memorabilia. They were all in plastic totes, but when they tipped, the plastic couldn't save them. I feel guilty having lost them since I was, in a sense, responsible for their safekeeping.
This is a shirt I got for Christmas. I think it's going to be one of my bike riding shirts.
Yes, I was a lucky guy. I was lucky enough to fall into a major in school and lucky enough to find a job that I was pretty good at. I was lucky enough to keep that job for three decades.
In some ways I still am. I still have friends and family who somehow seem pleased to see me when I return up North. I repeat, I don't have any personal factors that seem extraordinarily likable or outsized, but my buddies and family don't seem to mind. Guess that's why they are so special to me. Thanks, guys, for making me feel like a lucky guy.
* I mentioned this a while back so this is for any new readers. During graduation rehearsal I knew I had received academic honors, and since my name started with B, I was the first of us to get the medal and recognition. I was instructed to receive my diploma, then face the audience, so the Dean could put the medal around my neck. During the ceremony I did as instructed and my brother Phil, along with many family memebrs, inhaled a breath and shrank in their chairs as I turned and faced the crowd. Being a bit of a rabble-rouser they thought I was going to give off-the-cuff speech about something.
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