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Family Stories
A potpourri of stories about various family members or events
Thinking outside the box
In May of 2013, Marcia and I made arrangements with Tim and Chelsea for us to watch Ben for about half a week. We welcomed this, and so did Ben. He waved goodbye without hesitation to them as they left. Ben was about 4 and a half, and we had a great time. Because Ben kept asking me questions about nearly everything we did, I realized that I needed to stress to my students the value of asking questions. We walked to Central College to see my office and more. Ben wanted to smell lots of tulips.
Ben with the tulips
He was very intrigued with the goslings and geese that nested on our campus pond.
locally raised goslings
But Ben was most excited about the spiral staircase in my office building. He enjoyed going up and down it many times. He also talked about this for years afterward, but not lately.
spiral staircase
When Christina was old enough, we bought a trail-along bike that had one wheel and a means of attaching the structure to my bike to pull her. Having a freewheel on her portion, she could pedal when she wanted to (almost all the time) or just coast if she wanted to do that. She and I both loved it, but I sold it when she was riding a 21-speed road bike. (Marcia and I did not have the foresight to think about forthcoming grandchildren!) I found a trail-along to borrow for a few days, but it was a little big for Ben. After I engineered a solution, we both enjoyed biking together.
Ben with his attachable bike
We even went mushroom hunting, but I made him promise not to tell anyone where we found them.
morel mushroom
Toward the end of his time here, we went outside and we were drawing with colored chalk on the driveway. I asked him if he knew how to play tic-tac-toe. He did not, so I briefly gave him the instructions about getting three in a row. Here is how our first game started:
First four steps of the game
He played with the X, and I played with the O. I have listed the first four steps that we took as we alternated turns. I felt a little guilty about blocking his attempt to get three in a row, but I didn't expect his response.
thinking outside the box
Published 2021-02-19. Revised 2025-07-02.
If you find any error(s) in the text, please let me know. Thanks. Contact me with errors or comments using hibbardac@gmail. [Back to the top] [About the author, Al]
How Marcia and I Metlisting of family stories by me Marcia making the rounds