Just had a wonderful 4 1/2 hour visit with Tom Osterberg and his wife Tammy. Even though we have been only 40 miles apart for many years, our paths have seldom crossed. Bernie Hendricks had informed me earlier this week that Tom had by-pass surgery recently, so Tom Bozied and I made plans to see how he was recovering. Tom B., however, had some emergency business to tend to, so my drive over there was without company. Upon arriving, we naturally talked about the surgery and his recovery, but also covered our grade-school, high school, and college years, as well as life in the real world. We were almost able to solve all of the world's problems.
Our conversation reminded us how fortunate we were to have grown up when we did. In our more youthful days, we were able to round up the neighborhood kids and organize our own games of baseball, kick-the-can, capture the flag, etc., or even create our own games. We made up our own rules to fit the situations we found ourselves in. Our parents didn't hover over us as a number of parents do today. We felt in no danger while walking or riding our bikes around town. Our parents let us be kids, and didn't micromanage our childhoods. We were given a great deal of freedom, but were expected to use that freedom wisely. For the most part, we probably did.
We also reminded each other of the memorable times we had in school, both in and out of the classroom. Since all three of us had been teachers, we noted the differences that have taken place in education over the the past half-century. We recalled, too, how some of our teachers made deep and lasting impressions on us.
We resolved to get together again soon, and perhaps to get a few of the locals to join us.
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