Comments:
Angie made her run at Olympic gymnastics from 8yrs. - 13 yrs of age; she was one heck of an athlete. NJ State Champ on two apperratices in the same year, countless other championships throughout. She went on to play lacrosse but settled into tennis on the varsity team for two years before heading off to Bloomsberg University where she is currently a sophmore.
Alishia was also gymnast but has all the brains in the family. Wren who coreographed 'Cats' on Broadway at the time called her, "the schemer." That is, competed with her memory lock - never missed a step. A blonde Italian; love it and so does she if you know what I mean. She's off 2 West Chester U.
We moved to PA to give them both chance to go for the gold. So what else was I as a father to do?
Lizzy, well, Parkette's wanted her the most when she was only 4 yrs but she's turned out to be the one who competes with all the boys. Boys (and fair amount of the parents) on travel boys travel baseball had a hard time dealing with girl of this grit; now she's softball junkie. Has more friends than corn growing in Nebraska; like me any sport comes fairly easy. Everyone of any ilk or ethnic ink loves Liz. Go figure. Get this, she even listens to me when I coach her and actually puts it out to test within minutes and makes it work. She loves Mike Piazza who used to me a Met, of which, we are both fans thanks to Mrs Dolan, Len's mom, who swayed me over during Mets '69' run.
Sue, loves both jobs which are completely different and in between, trains for her half-marathons. She's a good woman, diligent worker while putting up with me and my Solvakian pig-headedness from my mom's side. Get this: she wears same clothes and trades such garments with my two older daughters! Wow! It's like I never left JDRHS corridors! Fashion center USA - start your own trend most every day. But good news is, rarely a cat fight or constant moan n' groan. They all seem to make it work and get this, no lyin', they keep it within budget, sometimes. Gotta love it.
Me, well, I still just take it all in . . . glad of the friends and events, good and bad, which have shaped me inside and out. I have be honest with you all . . . my senior year at JDRHS was great, but the best year I ever had was our junior year at JDRHS. It was just unbelieveable in every way and of course, became the bedrock for the great time we had in 1974-75. What's the future without the past? In going through some old "stuff" I came up with some basketball articles and pic's going back to 7th & 8th grade, when I jumped ship (literally jumped the fence) from St.James RCC parking lot (school) into Flourence M Guadineer's when I met many of you all. Those too were fun times, going way back to "Flying Aces" which oddly enough gave birth (what an reverse oxymoron of boys giving birth) to the "Flying Ace Chasers." Those hand crafted Sweatshirts were outstanding! Too bad we didn't think of embrodery!
And lest I start to suffer from some memmory disorder, here is testimony regarding sports (which I loved and loved to excel at): At the top of list, even above the incredible 4 years JDRHS Track & Field team had, or football my junior year with that incredible 5-4 records and our 4 losses all coming from top 20 teams in State of NJ, the DIPPER floor hockey league, the school and summer games we played against our friends in all the other neighborhoods around SPFD, well, that was the greatest groups of guys and the greatest team experiences I have ever had, bar none. Thanks guys and those who watched us play in the HS gym in those mornings before classes!
Anyway, shortyly after leaving JDRHS, those days of hitch-hiking around USA are long gone; culture and society just don't mix well today to make it fun and safe as I remember it. I still don't know how to study properly and retain the data but fought enough bloody battles academically to reach the revelation that most of the world's greatest attrocities began within the university walls of upper academia and the ones I fear most often have more brain power; thank goodness ethics and reason come riding in to rescue the innnocent, needy, and the masses (at times). So, what a diversion was that!
On a more sedated note, I still can't remember in sequence at times my ABC's but did happen to get two (do you believe this, me, Joe who spent HS reading two books [notice how I am calling them books, lyin' dog us male's are] Sport (magazine) and Sports Illustrated) . . . now where was I, oh yes, . . . but did happen to get two (while trying to build a business in commerical furniture) theological degrees, one from Princeton! Now that is a place I'd have loved to live in but beach still reigns supreme; it reminds me of how much I did love growing up in NJ.
Back to Princeton for a bit ( . . . and get this [not that any of you are "wowwed" by it but I am -- even now], I sat under Dr. Bruce Metzger for 3 days back in 1990, when, at 85 yrs., he came back to teach a class, "Themes from the Book of Revelation." For those who may be interested, he is/was probably the most influencial man on the face of the earth within Christendom for the last 250 years, by fact of what it was that he did via Bible translation and manuscript work (both Old Testament Jewish Bible and New Testament). A most humble and amazing man; he's worth your Goggling. Then there was James Charlesworth, borrowing a rare and high powered telescope with camera from NASA and using it to shoot copies of ancient manuscripts from the 2nd and 3rd centuries, only to shoot negatives of the negatives and find erasure marks from the earliest of scribes who were copying this stuff back then, documents having to do with the Dead Sea Scrolls found in Israel about the time they were forming as a nation for the first time in modern history.
Anyway, in light of realization that John Lennon's dilussion that "All We Need is Love" will remain a dilussion while the human condition persist, I still love people; love talking to them, hearing their stories (bet you all have quite a few since Dayton days), even though I'm more convinced of evils out there in the real world which have ripped us asunder; so, if I can in some small way can help people who have been burned or burried in pain find some hope and answers, so be it. And as it so happens in life, I now have a bonifide story or two of mine own to reference. As the Italian proverb says, "Non perdere una buona miseria," that is, "Don't waste good agony."
Lots of good songs and artists to help us along the way but it seems Peter Gabriel tapped into somethign in "Don't Give Up." Yet, I am still a Dan fan (Fogelberg), along with Yes, Eagles, Michael Hedges, Michael W Smith, early (only early) Elton John & Billy Joel, Stevie Wonder, Lee Rittenour, Larry Carlton, Bruce S, James Taylor, Joni Mitchell (thanks to Patty Brennan though she may not know this, so I guess it time for me to spill the beans) and host of other early 70's music fan, not to mention the "bands" like Led Z, ELP, Pink Floyd, etc.
I cherish lots of things, people always first, "people matter", but that 1979 cut-away acoustic dreadnaught I had built by Phil Petillo out of Ocaan NJ, whose claim-to -ame was the Fender Esquire guitar with Tele neck he sold/worked on for Bruce Springsteen, and, those special pick-ups which meant Bruce could play his guitar in the shower and not have it short out (he sweated too much during those shows we all saw!) well, it was too bright for the first 15 years (I had him use Curly maple on back to throw the sound out far and bright) but now, it has mellowed some and really does sing nicely, especially in those funky open tunings which I love.
It seems like yesterday at times when after our graduation a bunch of us were crusin' down Springfield Ave with Alice Cooper's "School's Out" blasting out the roof off the car!
Thank you all for making my HS days memorable and worthy of being remembered!!
