My simple goal in life has been the same for as long as I
can remember: try to live out a “normal”
life span. I didn’t have grand dreams,
just wanted what I took to be the normal things of the average man’s life. That would be perfect I thought, a family man And happily, in the twilight of my life, as I
prepare for my 78th birthday on April 28, 2020, I can report on my “normalcy,”
to use a famous word coined by Warren Harding in the 1920 presidential election. For me, normal has looked something like this.
1.
First, I got to become Bobbi Brunson’s husband.
2.
I got to be the father of two perfect daughters.
3.
I got to be a working man and kept the same job
for 32 years.
4.
I got to travel with Miss Bobbi all over the
world.
5.
I got to be a pretty fair golfer, a very good
shooter on the basketball court, and a steady but slow long distance runner.
6.
I got to live in three very nice houses, about
15 years each.
7.
I got a college education at Rutgers.
8.
I got a Ph.D. at NYU.
9.
I got to study with brilliant professors.
10. I
got to write the biography of John Ciardi in 1998.
11. I
got a CHOICE magazine award for it: Best
Academic Book of the Year.
12. I
got to write movie reviews for a NJ daily newspaper for 12 years.
13. I
got around to writing my autobiography Random Miracles in 2011.
14. I
got to publish Longfellow in Love in
2018, my venture into popular history on an unpopular writer.
15. I
got to retire and collect Social Security and a pension.
16. I
and Miss Bobbi got to celebrate our 50th wedding anniversary on the
Nile River.
17. I
got to live long enough to know and like six really neat grandchildren, now ages 12-23.
18. I
got to be friends with more people than I ever thought possible. Way more. And almost a total surprise to me.
There were misfires and mistakes along the way, but there were so many blessings to be grateful for that I hardly know how to begin counting them. Normal? Ah well, probably not.
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