Monthly Archives: January 2019

A Floating On Air Love Story

by Woody

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

* * *

1StrawberriesCoverWooden-&-Me-cover-mock-upFor 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.

Wooden & Me Kickstarter Front PhotoCheck 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” …

 

This, That and Some Other Stuff

by Woody

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

* * *

1StrawberriesCoverWooden-&-Me-cover-mock-upFor 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.

Wooden & Me Kickstarter Front PhotoCheck 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” …

Preschool Offers Antidote To Hate

by Woody

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

* * *

1StrawberriesCoverWooden-&-Me-cover-mock-upFor 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

Preschool Offers Antidote To Hate

A stone’s throw, albeit by a strong arm, from my home is a preschool. Too, there is a synagogue. Both are wonderful neighbors.

Recently, and appallingly, a swastika was spray-painted on the front signboard of Ventura’s Temple Beth Torah. Children’s World Preschool shares this signboard and within its classrooms grows the antidote for such ugliness.

I know this to be true because my wise friend, Venturan award-winning author Ken McAlpine, says so. A number of years ago, Ken briefly became a “student” at Children’s World and chronicled the experience in my favorite chapter of his terrific book “Islands Apart.” Below are a few colors from the daily rainbows he saw inside the shared classroom of teachers Ronna Streeton and Odette Huber:

“One day I caught the tail end of a small uproar. Someone had pushed Alek to the ground as he was getting a drink from the water fountain. At almost the same instant two girls were in the bathroom, one urging the other to follow her lead, which she did, both of them plunking their hands in the toilet. When it rains it pours.

“So immediately La Famiglia came into the classroom to discuss things. First we lay on the rug and listened to ‘Imagine’ (‘…all the people, living life in peace…’). Then the children sat up. Mrs. Streeton sat in her chair in front of the class.

“ ‘I have some things to talk about,’ Mrs. Streeton said. ‘Remember how we said we’re all a family? Well I’m unhappy with some members of our family now. It doesn’t make me happy when members of my family are doing things that are very, very wrong.’

“Everybody waited quietly. Mrs. Streeton continued.

“ ‘You have to treat others with respect. And you have to know how to make good choices. When somebody says something to you that you know in your brain is wrong, you need to be adult and make the right choice.’

“Of course Mrs. Streeton, Mrs. Huber and I all knew that adults don’t always make the right choices, but we kept that secret. They would figure this out soon enough.”

*

Sometimes, of course, adults do rise tall and make the right choices as the following story from writer Cindi Leive reveals:

“When my father-in-law was 58, he volunteered with a group that assists disabled athletes. Fit but no marathoner, he agreed to run the first half of the New York City Marathon tethered to a blind runner who’d flown all the way from Thailand for the race.

“At mile 13, another volunteer would take over. Except: That other volunteer never showed, and there was my father-in-law, exhausted, with 13 painful miles he’d never trained for ahead of him.

“ ‘What did I do?’ he recalls now. ‘I kept going!’ All the way to the finish line – inspired by the even more heroic efforts of the blind man beside him.

“I think of that story often, and not just while running. With the right motivation you can almost always go farther, accomplish more, reach higher than you thought.”

*

The children at Children’s World Preschool, I believe, will accomplish more and reach higher than we can imagine. Ken agrees, concluding his chapter titled “The World to Come” thusly:

“If things are done right in little worlds now, maybe the bigger world will one day be a better place.”

It’s a pretty thought, especially when we have the same feelings Mrs. Streeton shared with Mr. McAlpine: “Sometimes I think the world is mostly good, and sometimes I don’t. I try to believe, but it’s hard.”

* * *

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

Wooden & Me Kickstarter Front PhotoCheck 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” …

“Second Scoreboard” Finishes First

by Woody

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

* * *

1StrawberriesCoverWooden-&-Me-cover-mock-upFor 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

“Second Scoreboard” Finishes First

Chuck Thomas, my former colleague and mentor, believed in taking a day off now and again and using someone else’s words to fill his column.

And so I do today, with an abridged version of a recent school assembly talk given by Thacher’s Athletic Director Pete Fagan. His wisdom on “The Second Scoreboard” echoes the teachings of another late mentor of mine, Coach John Wooden, and seems invaluable to one and all, on the court or off, as we travel through 2019.

*

“Hello and welcome back,” Fagan began.

“Before we left for vacation, we were entertained with a fun basketball game. Even though the boys didn’t win the game, it didn’t mean we weren’t winners that night. We were winners of the more important scoreboard – The Second Scoreboard.

“We’ve used the phase ‘The Second Scoreboard’ for many years on this campus. For the new people, this might be a new term to you. So what does it mean?

“On the surface, we kind of all know what it means – it implies that we worked hard to win, but didn’t. And regardless of the outcome of the games, we feel good about our performance. But there is more to The Second Scoreboard than just ‘trying your best.’

“The first scoreboard is what it implies: the final score of each contest, the simple outcome of either winning or losing.

“The Second Scoreboard is a different and more important measure of our success. Here’s how we win on The Second Scoreboard . . .

“Preparation. How you practice and prepare is a measure of The Second Scoreboard. Scoring points on The Second Scoreboard means intentness in your practice, giving it your all, recognizing and correcting your mistakes and listening to your teammates and coaches. There will be many people more talented than you, but there is no excuse for someone to work harder than you.

“The Second Scoreboard means you are practicing and playing with integrity. When you win, you do it with humility and when you lose, you lose with dignity. You play the game the way it is supposed to be played: with honor for yourself, your school, and your opponents. You hold fast to your principles and beliefs.

“Winning on The Second Scoreboard means you have confidence. You believe in yourself. It is the knowledge that your preparation is fully complete and that you are ready for competition. Your confidence is what happens when you’ve done the hard work that entitles you to succeed. Each time you play and face adversity, you gain strength, courage and confidence.

“The Second Scoreboard means you are resilient and determined. You bounce back and focus after failures and letdowns. You bring your best effort to the next play, practice, and contest. You are determined to do your absolute best, even on the lowest, most frustrating of days.

“The Second Scoreboard means cooperation, enthusiasm, initiative, loyalty, friendship, respect, commitment and team spirit.

“The Second Scoreboard is a measure of your character.

“And lastly, The Second Scoreboard means you are respectful. You act in a way that demonstrates appreciation of the game. You take time to appreciate your surroundings and the chance you have been given to participate. You are respectful to yourself, your teammates, coaches, opponents, officials and fans. You are a sportsman or sportswomen of the highest standard with no compromise.

Fittingly, Fagan concluded his talk by paraphrasing Wooden’s personal definition of success: “And focus with the peace of mind you will obtain through the self-satisfaction in knowing you made the best effort you are capable of.”

The Second Scoreboard is first-rate.

* * *

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

Wooden & Me Kickstarter Front PhotoCheck 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” …