Is your Club or Group looking for an inspiring guest speaker or do you want to host a book signing? . . . Contact Woody today!

* * *

For a Personalized Autographed copy of “STRAWBERRIES IN WINTERTIME” or “WOODEN & ME” use the PayPal link on my home page or mail a check for $25 to:

Woody Woodburn

400 Roosevelt Court

Ventura, CA 93003

*

A Date With Coincidence And Fate

Sometimes one has to wonder: Coincidence? Or fate?

The date of Jan. 26, more than any other single day in the year, in my family seems to hold a story typed by the fingers of a higher power. Coincidence seems overmatched in explaining it.

Coincidence – “the occurrence of events that happen at the same time by accident but seem to have some connection” – is my sharing a birth date with my wife’s grandfather. The odds are only 1-in-365 against this accidental connection.

Coincidence, too, is my daughter giving birth to our first grandchild on the one-year anniversary of the night – seemingly, in fact, the very hour – that the Thomas Fire razed my childhood home. For my father especially, who still lived in the house, a date of gloom was instead turned into one of bloom in celebrating the birth of his great-granddaughter Maya.

Multiple memorable events and coincidental anniversaries happen every date of the year, of course, which is why newspapers run daily “On This Date In History” summaries. A Jan. 26 coincidence, for example, is Michigan becoming a state (1837), Louisiana seceding from the Union (1861) and Virginia rejoining the Union (1970).

Celine, right, with best friends Holly, left, and Dallas.

January 26 has seemingly surpassed coincidence for my loved ones and me.

Shuffling chronological order, let me begin with “On This Date” in 2003 when a drunk driver speeding down a city street at 70 mph rear-ended me as I was stopped at a red light. My life, in a blink’s instant, was forever changed. I suffered a ruptured disc in my neck and, despite successful fusion surgery, have permanent nerve damage in my left arm, hand and fingers.

Still, it was not fully a tragedy. In truth, I was beyond lucky in walking away from a hunk of twisted steel that had seconds earlier been a Honda Civic. Indeed, two police officers at the scene could not believe I survived.

January 26, 2015 offered no such compassion for my daughter’s dear friend Celine. In India for a wedding, Celine and her younger brother were passengers in a taxi when it was broadsided by a bus. The brother walked away, the big sister did not. In a blink’s instant, a life at age 26 was extinguished; a lifelong friend was lost before intertwined long lives were lived.

Coincidence, surely, these two crashes occurring on the same date. But there is more. Jumping back in time to the Jan. 26 five years before my car crash, my lovely niece Arianna was born.

And this: on Jan. 26 five years ago, exactly one year before Celine’s tragic death, my daughter met the love of her life who would become her husband.

One more coincidental star came into magical alignment this young year. In college, my daughter and Celine had a third inseparable roommate and “sister”, Holly. Last Saturday – Jan. 26 – Holly’s boyfriend proposed to her.

Holly’s fiancé – she enthusiastically said “yes!” when he got down on bended knee – claims he did not choose the significant date on purpose. He says he was not hoping to magically metamorphose an anniversary date of sorrow into one with a measure of joy. In fact, his proposal was delayed a week due to a Midwestern blizzard.

Still, it is naturally possible that Justin’s subconscious was at play when he settled on the fateful date. Or perhaps Jan. 26 somehow chose him.

I cannot help but think the latter. As Hemingway wrote in the closing line of dialogue in the novel “The Sun Also Rises”, spoken in – coincidentally, Celine – a taxi:

“ ‘Isn’t it pretty to think so?’ ”

Yes, it is.

* * *

Woody Woodburn writes a weekly column for The Ventura County Star and can be contacted at WoodyWriter@gmail.com.

Check out my memoir WOODEN & ME: Life Lessons from My Two-Decade Friendship with the Legendary Coach and Humanitarian to Help “Make Each Day Your Masterpiece” and my essay collection “Strawberries in Wintertime: Essays on Life, Love, and Laughter” …

• Personalized signed copies are available at WoodyWoodburn.com

Is your Club or Group looking for an inspiring guest speaker or do you want to host a book signing? . . . Contact Woody today!

* * *

For a Personalized Autographed copy of “STRAWBERRIES IN WINTERTIME” or “WOODEN & ME” use the PayPal link on my home page or mail a check for $25 to:

Woody Woodburn

400 Roosevelt Court

Ventura, CA 93003

A Floating On Air Love Story

Lighthouses, I discovered up close while touring historical beacons on Canada’s Prince Edward Island, are both lovely and romantic.

Marion Nauman, who read my column headlined “Old Lighthouses Offer New Thrills,” has a personal tale combining those same PEI lighthouses with a love story worthy of a Hollywood movie.

Roll the opening credits and title “Love Is In The Air” as a two-seat, single-engine airplane takes off from the Santa Paula Airport.

Flashback to a “meet cute” . . .

“In 1999, a mutual friend introduced two long-divorced people,” shares Marion, a longtime local teacher, now retired. “He was shy and when he dropped by a few times, he used the excuse of ‘Checking on the place’ for that friend who’d left a couple of things to be stored.

“My kids and I were in the process of renovating the old house I’d just gotten. I’d been painting the living room ceiling, so was in my grubbiest clothes and covered in paint and sweat. I was atop a tall ladder when my power painter died.

“In a most unladylike reaction, I let fly a string of curses. The twins scurried over, saying sotto voce, ‘Mom! Mom! Shhhhh!’ Their eyes drew mine to the door. Sure enough, the gentleman was all spruced up, coming to check on me, not the house contents. A braver soul there never was: He asked me on our first date.

A Yellowbird RV-9A similar to Marion and Bob’s.

“A few days later, he rang the doorbell and I stepped out, looking far better than he’d previously seen me. The weather had turned cool, so I ducked back inside for a moment to grab a sweater. Moments later, I stepped back out and he was gone!

“I soon located him in my garage, arms akimbo and smiling. ‘What are you doing?’ I asked.

“ ‘Oh, just admiring your tools,’ he replied. As it turned out, a thief had made off with all of his, which he sorely missed.

“During a delightful first date, we learned that he was a retired general engineer; I was still teaching junior high and we enjoyed many things in common. He immediately invited me out again.

“As he escorted me from my East Ventura home the second time, he asked, ‘How would you feel about building an airplane in your garage?’ Now, from an engineer, that is a proposal of marriage.

“We finished renovating the house. I got a ride in his friend’s plane which he’d helped build, and we started building our own. I took flight lessons, and then retired.

“We were married in that mutual friend’s garden, and headed home. With ‘Just Married’ decorating the car, he inclined his head toward the garage, asking, ‘Do you mind?’ Within five minutes we were both in jeans and T-shirts, pounding rivets!

“We flew that plane all over the place. He pretty much left the destination choices to me. So at one point I proposed that we cross the northern U.S. with Prince Edward Island as our farthest point.

“ ‘You plan it; we’ll fly it,’ he responded.

“Like you, Woody, I was taken by the sight of PEI’s lighthouses, each a unique gem.

“Bob and I did a lot of flying,” Marion, now 68, continues, noting he was 15 years her senior. “But he lost his health and passed on, about the time I came down with a rare disease which makes me allergic to the sun and weak, so our Yellow Bird, an RV-9A was parted out to friends. But oh, do I have memories to cherish! Especially all those lighthouses!”

Fade to black, roll the closing credits.

* * *

Woody Woodburn writes a weekly column for The Ventura County Star and can be contacted at WoodyWriter@gmail.com.

Check out my memoir WOODEN & ME: Life Lessons from My Two-Decade Friendship with the Legendary Coach and Humanitarian to Help “Make Each Day Your Masterpiece” and my essay collection “Strawberries in Wintertime: Essays on Life, Love, and Laughter” …

• Personalized signed copies are available at WoodyWoodburn.com

Is your Club or Group looking for an inspiring guest speaker or do you want to host a book signing? . . . Contact Woody today!

* * *

For a Personalized Autographed copy of “STRAWBERRIES IN WINTERTIME” or “WOODEN & ME” use the PayPal link on my home page or mail a check for $25 to:

Woody Woodburn

400 Roosevelt Court

Ventura, CA 93003

This, That and Some Other Stuff

Ernest Hemingway is credited with writing perhaps the shortest great story, telling a heart-wrenching tale in a mere six words:

“For sale: baby shoes, never worn.”

My wife may have done the legendary writer one better, and with two less words.

Murray, with a bandage from the IV, resting and recuperating.

As prelude, our 12-year-old boxer, Murray, recently required surgery to remove a growth from his gums. The day prior, Lisa went to a pet store and, with help from a sales clerk, selected a protective cone collar.

Surgery went well and surprise of surprises, Murray didn’t scratch at his mouth at all. When Lisa returned the protective cone, unopened, the same sales clerk asked if there was something wrong with it.

“We didn’t need it,” my wife answered.

“I’m so sorry,” said the clerk, his tone filled with sympathy and his mind filled with the thought, “Surgery: dog died, cone never worn.”

Recognizing the miscommunication, Lisa happily explained that Murray was doing great and wasn’t pawing at his stitches. The clerk couldn’t have smiled wider had it been his own dog.

*

Speaking of kind sales clerks, our local Trader Joe’s never ceases to amaze me. In the past, I’ve seen a cashier jot down a recipe for a customer; race into the parking lot to return small change; give a hug to a woman customer who was having a bad day; and give flowers to a woman who lost her home in the Thomas Fire.

Recently, I bought three dark chocolate “Truffle” bars that proved to be stale chalky white. Mentioning this to a TJ’s cashier, despite having no receipt and none of the stale bars with me, he insisted on replacing them for free.

*

According to a recent study by Kantar Public, 52 percent of Americans say they would feel “very comfortable” having a female president.

Reaction: Shame on the other 48 percent.

*

Nobody asked me, but here’s one more political thought: While the federal government is shut down, shouldn’t we citizens have our income taxes prorated for each day closed?

*

My column on Thacher’s Athletic Director Pete Fagan and his “Second Scoreboard” values brought a number of positive responses, including this from Dick Billingsley:

“I have coached high school sports for 40 some odd years and Pete’s teachings are a mirror image of what I have preached with all my student athletes. Being on the CIF-SS Executive Committee, we often discuss ‘Pursuing Victory With Honor.’ Pete has it right!!!

“High school athletics should always be an educational experience, instilling sportsmanship, integrity, confidence, and accountability in our athletes. I will nominate Pete for the CIF ‘Champion For Character Award’.”

*

Nobody asked me, but if quarterbacks would pump fake more often they wouldn’t get so many passes batted down by jack-in-the-box defensive linemen.

*

For many years, Leslie Seifert-De Los Santos has donated to my annual holiday ball drive in memory of her father, Art. This year, I didn’t hear from her – until this week.

“My older sister, Karen, died unexpectedly a few days after Thanksgiving,” Leslie emailed. “Along with her only adult child, my husband and I were with her in the hospital in Arizona for a week and it felt like Christmas took a sad back seat.”

Despite the tragedy, Leslie indeed donated three basketballs to disadvantaged kids. Her amazing kindness brings the final tally to 474 sports balls – and brings a smile of admiration to my face.

*

Nobody asked me, but drifting to sleep oceanside to the sound of crashing waves is surpassed in pleasantness only by the symphony of rain drumming on the roof and window panes.

* * *

Woody Woodburn writes a weekly column for The Ventura County Star and can be contacted at WoodyWriter@gmail.com.

Check out my memoir WOODEN & ME: Life Lessons from My Two-Decade Friendship with the Legendary Coach and Humanitarian to Help “Make Each Day Your Masterpiece” and my essay collection “Strawberries in Wintertime: Essays on Life, Love, and Laughter” …

• Personalized signed copies are available at WoodyWoodburn.com

Is your Club or Group looking for an inspiring guest speaker or do you want to host a book signing? . . . Contact Woody today!

* * *

For a Personalized Autographed copy of “STRAWBERRIES IN WINTERTIME” or “WOODEN & ME” use the PayPal link on my home page or mail a check for $25 to:

Woody Woodburn

400 Roosevelt Court

Ventura, CA 93003

Kind Givers Make Ball Drive Big Success

“Give every day the chance to become the most beautiful day of your life,” Mark Twain wrote. And, “It is higher and nobler to be kind.”

For the ninth consecutive year of Woody’s Holiday Ball Drive, Star readers have proved themselves to be noble and kind in making Christmas Day more beautiful for local disadvantage kids.

In the spirit of the Star’s Bellringer campaign, I’d like to publicly thank those kind givers (who did not request anonymity) who were not mentioned previously:

Glen Sittel gave two basketballs, two soccer balls and one football, noting: “Knowing that many deserving kids will be receiving one of the best gifts ever always lifts my spirit.”

Linda and Tom Parizo gave a mixture of 13 soccer balls, basketballs and footballs.

Howard Reich gave two each footballs, soccer balls and basketballs. Sheila and Tom McCollum dropped off one of each, as did Thomas and Karyne Roweton.

Pam Hurley gave two each basketballs and footballs.

Jerry and Linda Mendelsohn, as has become their tradition, took grandchildren Garrick, 8, Dannika, 5, and Parker, 4, to buy and distribute 12 soccer balls and 12 basketballs. “Once again, the kids were reminded how important it is for disadvantaged kids to feel special and loved at holiday time,” Jerry noted.

Lynda Rice donated two soccer balls “in memory of my brother-in-law Dick Rice who was the kindest soul who passed away recently.”

My ol’ pal, former Star sports-writing legend Jim Parker, gave two soccer balls, as did Patricia Herman.

Sally and Tom Reeder donated a dozen assorted basketballs, footballs and soccer balls.

In memory of local coaching legend Bob Swanson, his longtime weekly “Friday Breakfast Group,” donated eight basketballs.

Jack Casey, in honor of his deceased brother Dennis, donated three soccer balls and one basketball.

Dave Long and Shirley passed out ten assists, all basketballs; Shelly and Steve Brown passed out four; Bill Wintersteen gave three; and LuAnn McDuffee donated two.

Jim and Sandie Arthur gave out two basketballs and six softballs “in honor of our two daughters who never ‘threw like a girl’ and our three grandchildren who love anything involving a ball!”

Susan Bardsley pitched in a dozen official Major League Baseballs, and Chris and Len Bates donated three cans of tennis balls.

Pat McGovern gave two soccer balls and one basketball in honor of her three grandsons ages 10, 9 and seven months.

Orvene S. Carpenter donated two basketballs and two soccer balls.

Laura Gulovsen gave “a pink/blue official soccer ball so that a girl might have her very own practice ball.”

Brad and Mia Ditto gave a mixture of 10 balls. Dropping them off Mia was inspired by the happy faces at a Boys and Girls Club to do even more. Brad shared: “My very good-hearted wife and her very generous sisters organized a toy drive” and gave 100 additional toys.

“In honor if our dad, Bob Tuttle,” wrote Toni Tuttle-Santana, she and husband Jaime, and Trudy Tuttle Arriaga and husband Raymundo, gave six balls

Kay Giles and Michael Mariani gave three soccer balls and Kathy and Ken McAlpine kicked in one soccer ball.

Tennis legends and legendary role models Mike and Bob Bryan served up 10 cans of tennis balls, 10 basketballs and 10 soccer balls.

Special thanks to Kymberly King for making two trips with her Sleigh Utility Vehicle filled to overflowing to drop off balls for foster kids.

The finally tally for this year is . . . drumroll, please . . . a whopping 471 new sports balls – up from 322 a year ago.

Thank you, dear readers. Your kindness is unbelievable.

* * *

Woody Woodburn writes a weekly column for The Ventura County Star and can be contacted at WoodyWriter@gmail.com.

Check out my memoir WOODEN & ME: Life Lessons from My Two-Decade Friendship with the Legendary Coach and Humanitarian to Help “Make Each Day Your Masterpiece” and my essay collection “Strawberries in Wintertime: Essays on Life, Love, and Laughter” …

• Personalized signed copies are available at WoodyWoodburn.com

Is your Club or Group looking for an inspiring guest speaker or do you want to host a book signing? . . . Contact Woody today!

* * *

For a Personalized Autographed copy of “STRAWBERRIES IN WINTERTIME” or “WOODEN & ME” use the PayPal link on my home page or mail a check for $25 to:

Woody Woodburn

400 Roosevelt Court

Ventura, CA 93003

Page-Turners Before Turning Page on 2018

            Like a marathoner easing his stride in celebration over the final ten meters, with 16 days to go in 2018 I can coast in to my annual goal of reading one book a week.

Presently, I’m at 51 books. Actually, that tally is for published books. In truth, I’ve already reached 52 if you count the novel manuscript for “The Best Week That Never Happened” that recently sold to a publishing house and will come out in early 2020.

“Best Week” – written by my all-time favorite author, my daughter – was my favorite read this year, but since it’s not yet in print it will have to wait to officially make my annual Books I Loved This Year list below.

Let me begin with the latest 448 pages I’ve consumed, “Becoming” by Michelle Obama. The former First Lady is a first-rate writer and role model. Enlightening and inspiring, honest and revealing, “Becoming” is about as good as memoirs get. One complaint: I wanted more pages.

Speaking of more pages, “Cutting for Stone: A Novel” by Abraham Verghese was the longest book I read this year: 667 pages of terrific storytelling.

“A Prayer For Owen Meany” by John Irving is, from page 1 to page 627, masterfully told with heart and intrigue.

“The Long Ships” by Frans G. Bengtsson is another long book that is time well spent inhabiting. This 528-page-turner brings to life the Viking seafaring world of the 10th century.

“A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court” by Mark Twain had me laughing out loud – and also wondering what took me so long to read it. Similarly, John Steinbeck’s “The Pearl” is a gem I’m glad I finally got around to reading.

“Rocket Men: The Daring Odyssey of Apollo 8 and the Astronauts Who Made Man’s First Journey to the Moon” by Robert Kursen was flat-out superb. Although it’s nonfiction, this remarkable Space Race book unfolds with the captivating storytelling of a novel.

Local westerns author Scott Harris, whose debut novel “Coyote Courage” I recommended previously, this year finished the second trilogy in this Brock Clemens’ series with “Battle on the Plateau”, “Mojave Massacre” and “Ambush at Red Rock Canyon.” All three are quick, fun reads.

Those who grew up in the 1960s will surely enjoy the nostalgic “Be True To Your School: A Diary of 1964” by former newspaper columnist Bob Greene.

Uniquely taking place almost entirely in a single hotel, “A Gentleman in Moscow” by Amor Towles is, simply put, a masterpiece.

Two World War II winners: “The Snow Goose” by Paul Gallico, a former New York City sports columnist-turned-novelist, is about a hunchback and a girl, love and bravery, and the Battle of Dunkirk; while “All the Light We Cannot See” by Anthony Doerr is an equally spellbinding tale about love and survival.

Something old and something new: “A Man Called Ove” by Fredrick Backman and “There, There: A Novel” by Tommy Orange.

Speaking of old, “The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out The Window And Escaped” by Jonas Jonasson was surprisingly delightful, with the main character out-Forest Gumping Forest Gump in the way he meets historical figures.

Winning the Pulitzer Prize is a tall order to live up to, but “Less” by Andrew Sean Greer just might do so in how it entertains and lifts the spirits.

“Sing, Unburied, Sing” by Jesmyn Ward is a gritty, powerful novel taking place in rural Mississippi – and, at times, taking place in the “in-between” between death and heaven. Narrated by four characters, and three generations, in alternating chapters, “Sing” is perhaps the book that most moved me in 2018.

* * *

Woody Woodburn writes a weekly column for The Ventura County Star and can be contacted at WoodyWriter@gmail.com.

Check out my memoir WOODEN & ME: Life Lessons from My Two-Decade Friendship with the Legendary Coach and Humanitarian to Help “Make Each Day Your Masterpiece” and my essay collection “Strawberries in Wintertime: Essays on Life, Love, and Laughter” …

• Personalized signed copies are available at WoodyWoodburn.com

Is your Club or Group looking for an inspiring guest speaker or do you want to host a book signing? . . . Contact Woody today!

* * *

For a Personalized Autographed copy of “STRAWBERRIES IN WINTERTIME” or “WOODEN & ME” use the PayPal link on my home page or mail a check for $25 to:

Woody Woodburn

400 Roosevelt Court

Ventura, CA 93003

Holiday Generosity Bounces and Rolls In

The official motto of the Special Olympics is, “Let me win. But if I cannot win, let me be brave in the attempt.”

Ian Eaton, a local Special Olympian who has on numerous occasions carried the lighted torch during the opening ceremony parade through Ventura, altered the motto slightly in support of “Woody’s Annual Holiday Ball Drive” dedicated to giving new sports balls to disadvantaged kids: If I cannot give 100 sports balls, let me be generous in helping the cause with one ball.

Actually, Ian, donated one each basketball, football, and soccer ball with the note: “These balls aren’t 100, but hopefully some children enjoy them.”

Eaton’s sentiment was in reference to the Camarillo-Somis Lions Club, which made a “Christmas in June” promise of 100 balls, and this week dropped off 33 soccer balls, 33 footballs, 34 basketballs.

Below are some more of the special gifts that have bounced in to date…

Tim and Cindy Hansen, who give books to kids year-round through their curbside Little Free Library, donated one football, three soccer balls, two basketballs and two playground balls.

A mountain of gifts from “Woody’s Holiday Ball Drive.”

Brent Muth’s annual “Ballapaloza” party with boyhood friends Mark Franke, Adan Valenica and Craig Rasmussen, collected a variety of 53 balls in honor of their late friend, Mike Sandoval, and their late coach, Gerry Carrauthers.

Eileen and Michael Maloney dished out three soccer balls, two playground balls, a football and a basketball.

Karen and Dave Brooks made a splash with one each basketball, football, soccer ball, volleyball and “four spongy baseballs for little kiddies.” Karen also noted, “Dave also donates golf balls throughout the year to the water hazards and rough at River Ridge Golf Course.”

Sandra Janotta donated one soccer ball and one basketball; Lee Draughon gave three each basketballs and soccer balls; and Carol Ann Roth gave three basketballs; and Barbara Coffman gave one basketball.

From Dave Flood came some brand-new baseball bats, balls and gloves with this note: “I’m 87 years old. When I was a kid we had no Little League, but we played on any empty lot we could find and we got our bats from the high school team – broken bats that we put screws in and taped up.”

Stephenie and Mark Thomas donated a case of 20 cans of tennis balls.

“Happy Holidays!” wishes for the kids came from Linda Peddie along with one each soccer ball and basketball.

Charis Werner dished two basketballs, two soccer balls and a football.

Draza Mrvichin donated a variety of 18 balls and Vana Guidotti donated one soccer ball and one basketball.

Alan and Kathy Hammerand gave nine balls mixed evenly between basketball, football and soccer, and noted: “We believe that it is so important for kids to have the opportunity to develop healthy, active lifestyles at an early age.”

Jim Cowan for the tenth consecutive year dished out 10 basketballs. He also emphasized that he believes deeply in the Golden Rule and to “love your neighbor as yourself” – “I am 87 now and these principles have guided me and my family over all of these years.” These principles also apply to everyone who has donated to the Ball Drive.

There is still time to pass out your own assist to a young neighbor in need by dropping off a new sports ball at a Boys & Girls Club, YMCA, youth group or (through Dec. 21) at Jensen Design & Survey at 1672 Donlon St. in Ventura. Online orders can be shipped to the same address.

Also, please email me about your gift at woodywriter@gmail.com so I can add your generosity to this year’s tally.

* * *

Woody Woodburn writes a weekly column for The Ventura County Star and can be contacted at WoodyWriter@gmail.com.

Check out my memoir WOODEN & ME: Life Lessons from My Two-Decade Friendship with the Legendary Coach and Humanitarian to Help “Make Each Day Your Masterpiece” and my essay collection “Strawberries in Wintertime: Essays on Life, Love, and Laughter” …

• Personalized signed copies are available at WoodyWoodburn.com