For a Personalized Autographed copy of “STRAWBERRIES IN WINTERTIME” or “WOODEN & ME” mail a check for $25 to:

Woody Woodburn

400 Roosevelt Court

Ventura, CA 93003

* * *

Stay Calm And Treasure the ‘Helpers’

             A cornucopia of notes, quotes and random thoughts . . .

*

With every new terrorist attack, these words from Fred Rogers – the late host of the children’s TV show “Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood” – become meaningful once more to people of all ages:

“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, ‘Look for the helpers.’ You will always find people who are helping.”

*

Before the recent bombing in Manchester, England, I could not have picked 24-year-old “Pop Princess” Ariana Grande out of a lineup with Snow White, Cinderella, Ariel, Belle and Mulan.

However, two weeks after the heinous attack outside the arena where she was performing, Grande proved she is more than a pretty-faced singer. For starters, she helped organize an event that raised more than 12 million dollars for the deceased victims and their families, the survivors, and first responders.

Perhaps an even greater, and more difficult, thing Grande did was be a “helper” by visiting with the children and adults still in the hospital – and with the grieving parents of the young victims who died.

*

On a much lighter note, I am not a fan of rainfall showerheads – they make shampoo get in my eyes.

*

Speaking of shampoo, nobody asked me, but following the directions on the bottle – “Wash. Rinse. Repeat.” – is as harebrained as hand-washing dishes after removing them from the dishwasher.

*

Speaking of harebrained, organizers of the Springfield Soccer Club in Nebraska disqualified an 8-year-old Mili Hernandez, and her 11-and-under team, from its tournament because she has short-cropped hair and “looks like a boy.”

Harebrained, and heartless, tournament officials stuck to their decision even when the parents of tearful Mili produced their daughter’s insurance card to prove she is a girl.

Proof once again that youth sports should ban adults from being within 400 yards of all fields, courts, tracks and swimming pools.

*

I find it hard to believe how overused the word “unbelievable” is.

*

Ben DeWitt’s dedication to philanthropy is, I dare say, unbelievable.

Over the past seven years as Race Director of the “Mountains 2 Beach Marathon” from Ojai to Ventura, DeWitt, now age 30, has helped donate more than $250,000 to the event’s charity partners.

This year’s M2B Marathon on May 28 generated nearly $65,000 for the Ventura Unified School District, Ventura Education Partnership, Ventura Hillsides Conservancy, Community Memorial Hospital, Ventura Community Partnerships Foundation, Ojai Valley Land Conservancy, and the high school cross country programs at Nordhoff, Ventura, Buena and Foothill Tech.

Additionally, 600 pounds of food were donated to Foodshare and 500 pounds of clothing were given to Goodwill.

“As a Ventura native and product of VUSD, I am proud and extremely humbled to be able to give back to my community,” says Ben, a “helper” who makes Mister DeWitt’s Neighborhood a better place.

*

It takes worn-out running shoes to finish a marathon – and worn-out paintbrushes to create a masterpiece, worn-out pencils to master calculus, worn-out tools-of-any-trade to reach your goals.

*

Nobody asked me, but considering how rare it seems to be, I think the term should be “uncommon sense.”

*

 Let me finish full circle with a story from the horrific London Bridge attack that would have made Mr. Rogers smile through the tears.

According to “The Sun” British newspaper, 33-year-old Richard Angell was with friends eating dinner at the Arabica Bar and Kitchen when the terror attacks occurred outside the restaurant.

After the panicked customers and staff eventually emerged from safe hiding, Angell refused to let the devils win, defiantly vowing: “I’ll be going back to the same restaurant to finish my meal, pay my bill and give them a double tip. They cared about us and our safety.”

He added: “If me having a G&T (gin and tonic) in a nice bar, flirting with handsome men, upsets them – I’m going to do it more.”

A “Keep Calm And Carry On” attitude that is so perfect, it 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
• Unsigned paperbacks or Kindle ebook can be purchased here at Amazon

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For a Personalized Autographed copy of “STRAWBERRIES IN WINTERTIME” or “WOODEN & ME” mail a check for $25 to:

Woody Woodburn

400 Roosevelt Court

Ventura, CA 93003

* * *

Finding Golden Beauty in Daily Life

“Kintsugi” is the art of repairing broken pottery with seams of gold and, in the process, making the object even more beautiful for having been broken.

However, there is one more ingredient necessary to make this magical transformation a reality: a new perspective. One must embrace the gilded flaws.

It seems to me that kintsugi need not be limited to pottery. Looking at pieces of our everyday lives with a new perspective can bring previously unseen beauty into focus.

Kintsugi should apply to our daily life, not just to repaired pottery.

For example, consider a tale shared by my friend, John Watts, about a farmer who had lived on the same farm his entire life. It was a good farm, yet as the years passed the farmer began to wonder, “Is there something better for me?”

The farmer’s discontentment grew and he eventually decided to find a new and a better farm. He listed his property with a realtor who prepared a truthful ad putting an emphasis on all the good features of this particular farm:

“Ideal location, modern equipment, healthy livestock, acres of fertile ground, dependable irrigation, high yield on crops, well-kept barns, and a nice two-story house on a hill above the flat pasture.”

When the realtor called the farmer to get his approval on the ad, the farmer replied: “Hold everything! I’ve changed my mind. I don’t want to sell after all because I’ve been looking for a place just like that my whole life!”

Life-instead-of-pottery kintsugi is not limited to fables.

My daughter, who lives in the Bay Area, was home last weekend to celebrate her 30th birthday. In addition to a big party that provided a reunion with dear friends and family, Dallas enjoyed something very small and routine: taking our 10-year-old boxer, Murray, for his morning and evening walks around the neighborhood.

“Every day we would walk the same one-mile loop,” Dallas shares, “yet every day I would notice new, startling details: a small bird strutting jauntily across the street, like a band leader in a parade; sprinklers watering a front yard of dead grass; a toddler shrieking with glee, running in circles in a driveway as her mother watched with a tired smile, raising a hand to us in greeting as we walked by; bushes laden with bright red berries; a father and son playing catch in the park.”

Here she adds a golden observation: “So many rich and beautiful details that would be so easy to miss if you were not paying attention and looking for them. And indeed, we would pass many other morning walkers on their phones or listening to music, rushing ahead with a glazed look in their eyes.”

Dallas was not the only one experiencing a form of kintsugi: “Meanwhile, every single day, Murray exuberantly sniffed at plants and lampposts and studied the sidewalk like it was a brand-new territory to explore – even though it was the exact same path he had taken the day before, and the month before that, and the year before that.”

Again displaying wisdom, Dallas adds: “Perhaps he is on to what it means to be happier: being open to seeing and finding in each day after day after day, new sparks of joy and wonder.

“Walking Murray was a reminder to find the extraordinary in the ordinary and see the beauty in each day because, as my brother likes to say, ‘Each day is a once-in-a-lifetime experience.’ ”

Speaking of her younger brother, Greg phoned me recently after he finished an evening run in New York City. The run in itself was nothing special, a short four-miler after a long workday at a relaxed pace on a path along the Hudson River.

Indeed, the run was pretty much indistinguishable from hundreds he has done since moving to Manhattan a couple years ago. Except for this, which he shared on the phone:

“Pops, you should have seen the sky and clouds changing colors over the Brooklyn Bridge. It was so beautiful I paused mid-run to just look up and take it all in.”

My son’s voice was filled with kintsugi.

* * *

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
• Unsigned paperbacks or Kindle ebook can be purchased here at Amazon

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For a Personalized Autographed copy of “STRAWBERRIES IN WINTERTIME” or “WOODEN & ME” mail a check for $25 to:

Woody Woodburn

400 Roosevelt Court

Ventura, CA 93003

* * *

Judge Wowed by Middle School Talent Show

Imagine if you could create your own dream talent show by choosing a la carte from concerts and performances you have personally seen over the years.

Mine, off the top of my head without looking through saved ticket stubs, would include: James Taylor and Paul McCartney each singing and playing guitar; solo vocals by Stevie Nicks, Tom Petty, and Whitney Houston; band performances by The Who, The Pretenders, and Fleetwood Mac; comedy by George Carlin and Jerry Seinfeld; a set by the New Orleans Preservation Hall Jazz Band; some Cirque du Soleil dancers; and a couple street performers – a young man in Dublin, Ireland, on the violin, and a teenage boy in a New York City subway drumming on large plastic buckets.

James Taylor is in the line-up of my dream talent show.

Now that would make for two hours of out-of-this-world entertainment!

The ticket price, of course, would also be out of this world.

Last week, and free of charge, I was treated to a talent show magical in its own right. It was my good fortune to be a judge for Santa Paula’s Isbell Middle School Talent Show.

Along with fellow judges Kay Wilson Bolton, Sheryl Meisenheimer and Alfonso Gamino, I was instructed to score the 19 acts in four categories: Presentation, Skill, Originality and Costume. Each category was worth five points.

Judging was more difficult than I anticipated. For example, it seemed wise to score the first few acts conservatively to allow wiggle room above – but how conservatively?

Hence, if Leo Reichling – who did a solo dance that was a mix of ballet, Justin Bieber steps, and street moves – had been the opening performance, I would have felt I could give him only 4.9s across my scorecard. You know, just in case an eighth-grade singing-and-dancing Beyonce came later.

However, by the time Leo took the stage midway through the show, I felt confident giving him a perfect 20. He was that terrific.

Which is not to say there weren’t other wonderful acts. From a guitar solo to piano solos; from an a cappella solo to vocalists with accompaniment; from a handful of group dance numbers to a comedy skit, the talent was entertaining from the opening act to the closing curtain.

It seems a cliché to say this, but just by taking the stage each contestant showed great talent. After all, displaying courage is a talent in itself.

Giving an oral report in front of one’s middle school peers can make the palms sweat; performing on a stage is tenfold more intimidating. Which is why one of the most memorable acts of the night in my eyes, and heart, was one that did not score well.

It was a pianist and bucket drummer. The duo began flawlessly, but slowly the piano grew softer while the drummer picked up the beat and volume. It was all very good and seemed a purposeful decision to fade out the piano and bring the street percussions front and center.

Suddenly, however, the pianist looked up from the ivory keys with his face registering terror. He had lost his place in the arrangement. If only he had faked it, I doubt the audience would have been any the wiser.

Instead, the pianist bolted off his bench and raced offstage, embarrassed. He need not have been. As Woody Allen has been credited with observing: “Eighty percent of success is showing up.”

The boy had bravely shown up. I hope the lesson he takes away is that the worst thing that could have happened on stage did, and yet it was not the end of the world.

To the contrary. His performing partner did not show the slightest anger. The audience did not laugh or jeer at the slip up. Rather, the Isbell Middle School students applauded the effort.

Actually, I think that was my favorite part of the evening: the kids. Not just those who courageously stepped on stage, but also those who watched respectfully, rhythmically clapped along with singers and dancers, and applauded enthusiastically for every single performer.

Leo’s feet were fantastic, but all the kids were hands-down terrific.

* * *

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
• Unsigned paperbacks or Kindle ebook can be purchased here at Amazon

Save

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For a Personalized Autographed copy of “STRAWBERRIES IN WINTERTIME” or “WOODEN & ME” mail a check for $25 to:

Woody Woodburn

400 Roosevelt Court

Ventura, CA 93003

* * *

Readers Share Their Own Small Gratitudes

A few weeks ago, I shared a list of small gratitudes – such as books, butterflies and beaches – I came up with while waiting in long line at the Post Office. Readers responded in a big way with their own musings . . .

*

From Mitch Gold: “Greeting someone in the a.m. and getting a smile.”

*

From Linda Valdez: “Walking in my neighborhood with the view of Wildwood Park; Hot showers after a day spent getting really dirty doing chores; Always having a book to read; Always having yarn to crochet; Having a loving dog and grand-dog; The joy of reading the newspaper on Saturday morning.”

*

From Carol Ann Roth: “May I just add tacos to your list.” (Yes, Carol, you certainly may.)

*

From Father Patrick Mullen: “May I suggest you add rocky road ice cream, and everything it stands for?” (My favorite, too – consider it added.)

*

From Doris Cowart: “In my age group, one item you missed – waking up in the morning!”

*

From Linda Johnson: “When people begin to complain when I am in a line, I complain back.

“I tell them I work Monday through Friday, about nine hours a day, without a lunch break or any break. I have to pay for my own medical insurance, and have no 401K. About four times a year I have to work 72 -hour weekends.

“My job forces me to spend long hours at our various county parks, libraries, and museums.

“In the summer, I often have to spend several day on the beach hunting for shells and rocks.

“In fall, I am forced on leaf-hunting expeditions. I need to be an expert in wildlife behavior and identification, bug catching, and lizard snatching.

“I am a home-schooling ‘Nana’ to my 4- and 6-year-old grandsons. I quit a well paying job with wonderful benefits to be home fulltime when my first grandson was 3 months old. They feed my soul and fill my heart.

“Money? Nice, but nothing makes me as happy, and tired, as spending the day with my grandkids.

“I usually get a smile from my formerly grumpy in-line-companion.”

*

From Dick Birney: “Ventura YMCA, Lakers win or L.”

*

From Lauren Siegel Estilow: “There are no bad days, there are only bad moments in a day. I try to be thankful for the small things – they’re everywhere, if you look.”

*

From Karen Biedebach-Berry: “Glassy surf at Pierpont Beach, VHS class reunions – Class of ’82 still alive and strong – Monday Night Football anthem.

“My husband, Andy, added these two: first ice-cold beer after giving it up for Lent, Yosemite National Park any day of the year!”

*

From Christy Cantrell, with a gorgeous photo accompanying her gratitude: “Hawk sighting in Camarillo.”

*

From Sheila Smith: “Since (your column) started at the Post Office, the Jaime Escalante stamps and how far that stamp can take your message!”

*

From a reader asking to be identified as “Dave from Newbury Park”, a not-so-small gratitude: “I’ve been battling cancer the past 1.5 years. It’s hard for me to not get depressed about my cancer, but we really do have many things to be grateful for.

“I’m 57 and there’s a 50-percent chance my cancer will return in the next year or two. For now, I’m trying to enjoy the small pleasures you wrote about.

“I’m even looking forward to my next long line at the post office – that would sure be better than not being here anymore!”

*

From Ginger White: “Gratitude – to be in a country where we can audibly express displeasure, even if it is not a popular opinion, without too much risk of retribution; puppy or kitten breath; being able to wake in the night and hear the mockingbird’s mating songs, and not warfare; sunrise; friends who stand by me; being vulnerable and open, then falling in love at the young age of 63.”

*

From Ethan Lubin, which anyone with a young daughter will want to modify: “Reading with my son.”

*

From yours truly: My wonderful readers.

* * *

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”

• Personalized signed copies are available at WoodyWoodburn.com
• Unsigned paperbacks or Kindle ebook can be purchased here at Amazon

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Woody’s highly anticipated new book “STRAWBERRIES IN WINTERTIME: Essays on Life, Love, and Laughter” is NOW available! Order your signed copy HERE!

 * * *

Hitting the Books and Backboards

            Aristocles would love the Moorpark High boys’ varsity basketball team.

Better known as Plato – the nickname given him by his wrestling coach, from the Greek word for broad, platon, because of his wide shoulders – Aristocles famously preached “a healthy mind in a healthy body.”

The Musketeer varsity hoopsters’ healthy combined 3.611 grade point average for 2016-17 made them the CIF-Southern Section Academic Champions for all boys’ basketball teams from schools with enrollments above 1,500 students.

Being No. 1 in the classroom, and being honored at the Angels’ baseball game at Anaheim Stadium on Wednesday, took some of the sting out of a 3-23 record on the court.

The attitude to hit the books as hard as the backboards begins with head coach Blake Jenkins.

“I definitely preach academics and being a model citizen,” Jenkins shares. “I try to hammer home that basketball and athletics need to take a backseat to academics as well as how we conduct ourselves off the court, in the classroom and out in society.”

Jenkins’ sermons resonate with his entire congregation as evidenced by all 45 players in the boys basketball program combining for a GPA north of 3.0.

Below are some of their thoughts on being STUDENT-athletes.

*

“I believe academics and sports have a great relationship,” says sophomore Harrison Hanlon, a frosh/soph shooting guard with a 3.8 GPA. “Academics teach me to make a goal and be smart on the court, and the court teaches me to be a hard worker in the classroom.

“The CIF Academic reward is a better reward for our personal futures and future of the program than just a mere league win.”

*

“I believe that being a good student and performing in academics go hand-in-hand,” agrees freshman Arvin Hosseini, a frosh/soph guard with a 3.7 GPA.

*

“In my opinion, if you want to play a sport you need to have great study habits and time management,” says Jacob Korotzer, a sophomore JV center with 3.6 GPA.

“The next thing you need is to is be devoted to the sport – or to anything you do in life.”

*

“In my family, academics come before basketball,” says freshman Jonathan Saiki, a frosh/soph point guard sporting a 4.0 GPA. “If I don’t keep my grades up then I am not allowed to play basketball.

“Sports teach me about hard work and effort which translates to the classroom in the form of studying hard and giving effort in class.

“To be a committed student-athlete, I have to sacrifice hanging out with my friends and free time. I sometimes have to stay up late doing school work, but it is worth it in the end.”

*

“Academics teach you responsibility and school comes before sports,” says freshman Noah Martinez, a frosh/soph center with a 3.8 GPA.

“The sacrifices I have to make to be a student-athlete are sacrificing my time and energy, but I don’t regret it for one second.”

*

“I think tests are like games in sports because they are actually both tests for how hard one practices or studies,” says junior Branden Johnson, a JV forward with 3.8 GPA.

“Passing a test is like winning a game and failing a test is like losing.

“One sacrifice I had to make to be a committed student-athlete was to give up watching TV completely and it helped a lot. To me, academics come first, then sports.”

*

“All my life, I was told that education is the most important thing you can acquire,” says junior Matt Aung, a varsity forward with a 3.7 GPA.

“The way you treat people and how you give back to the community is also very important. The feeling of self-satisfaction in knowing that you contributed to someone’s happiness and well-being is hands-down the best feeling out there.

“And I firmly believe I, along with the other eleven guys on our team this past year, are smart and young individuals – but more importantly, great people.”

*

Plato’s response, I imagine, might be: Gratulatione. Vehementi factum. Congratulations. Smartly done.

* * *

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

Check out my new memoir WOODEN & ME: Life Lessons from My Two-Decade Friendship with the Legendary Coach and Humanitarian to Help “Make Each Day Your Masterpiece”

• Personalized signed copies are available at WoodyWoodburn.com
• Unsigned paperbacks or Kindle ebook can be purchased here at Amazon

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Woody’s highly anticipated new book “STRAWBERRIES IN WINTERTIME: Essays on Life, Love, and Laughter” is NOW available! Order your signed copy HERE!

 * * *

Grateful for a Long Line at the Post Office

            Abraham Lincoln said, “Folks are usually about as happy as they make their minds up to be.”

In line at the post office the other day, I found myself behind two women who seemingly had their minds made up to be unhappy. Indeed, their conversation was little more than a long list of complaints.

“Why don’t they open another window? . . . I know, they’re always on break. . . . I hate tax season. . . . I don’t even want to talk about my taxes – no refund this year. . . . You won’t believe what my son’s teacher did . . . I don’t know why I bought these shoes – they hurt my feet.”

Yosemite Falls can make one’s mood soar.

On and on it went, yet a surprising thing happened – instead of contagiously bringing my mood down, they lifted it. They inspired me to begin a mental list of simple gratitudes as an antidote to their poor attitudes.

Below is part of that list – not the easy biggies like family and health and a home, but small pleasures and gratitudes. I hope you may be inspired to come up with your own list. Here goes . . .

Having a topic for a column – as happened in line at the post office – fall into my lap.

Wildflowers blooming along the roadside.

Ventura County’s best-in-the-world strawberries in wintertime – and summertime, too. Also, dipped in chocolate.

Watching birds in flight, especially when they float on an updraft without moving their wings.

Butterflies.

Finishing a really good book. In fact, being near the start or in the middle of a really good book.

Related topic: Libraries and librarians and bookstores. And newspapers.

Novocain when I have a cavity or need a root canal.

A foot massage. Actually, both feet being massaged.

Staring at the ocean, listening to the waves crash, watching surfers, seeing energetic dogs run playfully on the beach.

Seeing energetic kids on a playground.

Crawling into a bed freshly made with cleaned sheets.

Going to bed being so excited about tomorrow that I cannot wait to for morning to arrive.

Hearing an old song that transports me back in time to high school or college, to distant friends and places, even to a different me.

Terrific, caring, dedicated teachers. I might as well simply say: teachers.

Being smiled at.

The Channel Islands – viewing from afar and visiting in person.

Yosemite Valley. Especially Half Dome. Best of all, Yosemite Falls.

The feeling that comes after a good day of writing.

Reading something, anything, everything my author daughter writes.

A sincere compliment – giving one as well as receiving one.

Receiving a handwritten letter, note or card – and writing one.

A stately tree with patches of sunlight beaming through its full foliage.

Palm trees.

Pizza. Especially New York City pizza. Best of all, when eating it with my son while visiting him in Manhattan.

A run. Especially along the Ventura beach bike path. Best of all, again, when in the company of my son when he’s visiting me back here.

Ventura County’s talented musicians and artists.

Ventura County’s growing collection of microbreweries that rivals anywhere.

Related to above: A pint. Sometimes a second pint.

Murray has been making our family smile for ten years.

A square, or three, of dark chocolate.

Traveling. Near or far, new places or to see familiar faces.

A welcome-home hug, whether having been gone just a couple hours or returning after months apart.

Visiting an impressive art museum – or a school on Art Nite.

Talking with – more accurately, listening to – someone who has a true passion about something. The less I know about the subject, the better because the more I then learn.

Something, anything, everything that makes me laugh. This includes laughing at myself.

A hot shower after being outside in the cold.

A long hot shower when traveling outside of drought-ridden California.

Friends. Good friends. A few great friends.

Man’s best friend. Tail-wagging dogs. Especially, of course, my goofy, loveable, gray-faced boxer Murray.

One closing gratitude: having endless reasons to make my mind up to be happy.

How about you?

* * *

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

Check out my new memoir WOODEN & ME: Life Lessons from My Two-Decade Friendship with the Legendary Coach and Humanitarian to Help “Make Each Day Your Masterpiece”

• Personalized signed copies are available at WoodyWoodburn.com
• Unsigned paperbacks or Kindle ebook can be purchased here at Amazon

Save

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Woody’s highly anticipated new book “STRAWBERRIES IN WINTERTIME: Essays on Life, Love, and Laughter” is NOW available! Order your signed copy HERE!

 * * *

School kids should only be hungry for knowledge

The story might be apocryphal, although my belief is it is true. It certainly rings of truth. It reminds me of my friend Danny in elementary school.

Danny did not have a dad. Not because of divorce; death. He never told me how his dad died and I didn’t ask.

Back in the late 1960s, kids brought sugary treats – cupcakes or Rice Krispies squares, usually – to school on their birthday. Danny never did. Not because he had a summer birthday, but because his mom couldn’t afford to feed 20 kids.

She had a hard time feeding Danny. I didn’t know this for a long while.

Most of my friends and I ate packed lunches, but Danny always got the hot lunch. This meant he had to wait in the cafeteria line. With our head start, kids with packed lunches got out to the playground sooner.

One day I complained to Danny that we were getting tired of having to wait for him before choosing up sides for games. I suggested, ignorantly, he should start packing his lunch.

He confided he had to eat the hot lunch because he got it free.

It’s funny the things you remember. During sleepovers at Danny’s house I remember he always wore socks to bed. More specifically, what I can’t forget is that his tube socks always had holes in them – sometimes with two or three toes sticking out.

Danny’s family was poor.

Now you will understand why a short essay on Facebook by a woman named Veronica, a post that has been shared more than 50,000 times, hit me like a punch in the empty stomach. It reads:

“I was a free lunch kid. I will not offer my backstory because it should not matter whether or not we were ‘worthy’ or ‘irresponsible’ trash. I was a hungry child.

“Without free lunch and sometimes free breakfasts, I would not have eaten until dinner. There was no money to get a hot lunch and I suspect no money to buy supplies to pack lunch. I was a hungry child.

“I do not know whether free lunch made me work harder. I do not know whether free lunch improved my grades. I do not know whether free lunch improved my classroom behavior. What I know is that I was a hungry child and I was fed.

“I received my lunch without embarrassment or isolation. Every day, I went through the line with the standard hot lunch. I waved at the nonjudgmental lunch lady. I was a hungry kid and I ate my lunch.

“I was a hungry child and our government, through your taxes, fed me.

“Thank you.”

Veronia’s story made me think of another person who went hungry as a child: Olympic champion Jackie Joyner-Kersee.

“We’d stop to eat after a track meet and everyone else would buy something but I wouldn’t,” Jackie once told me, recalling her long-ago days on the East St. Louis Railer youth track team.

“I’d have to wait until I got home because I didn’t have any money. My mom always taught us, ‘If you don’t have, don’t ask.’ I’d run six events and still say I wasn’t hungry.”

Her youth coach finally figured it out. Since Jackie didn’t have – and wouldn’t ask – he started insisting she share some of his food.

Fast forward four decades. Jackie, who competed in four Olympics and won six medals (three gold), never forgot that early life lesson and kindness. When youths at The Jackie Joyner-Kersee Boys & Girls Club in East St. Louis kept showing up hungry, Jackie didn’t wait for them to ask for food. What if they didn’t ask? She started a free meal program.

If you ask me, feeding hungry kids is a greater legacy than Olympic gold.

Back to my friend Danny. I didn’t start buying the hot lunch – except on pizza days – but I did start waiting to eat my packed lunch until Danny got through the cafeteria line.

Other friends soon followed suit. Then we would go out to the playground together.

* * *

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

Check out my new memoir WOODEN & ME: Life Lessons from My Two-Decade Friendship with the Legendary Coach and Humanitarian to Help “Make Each Day Your Masterpiece”

• Personalized signed copies are available at WoodyWoodburn.com
• Unsigned paperbacks or Kindle ebook can be purchased here at Amazon

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