This Weeks Very Short Story: Chapter 6

This Week's Very Short Story: Chapter 6

I started wearing glasses when I was 3 years old because of crossed eyes.  Every few months I would have to have my eyes dilated, which was torture.   If I was ever taken to Guantanamo, they could forget the water boarding and just bring out the eye drops. 

  

With my very curly hair and my wife with the same, I had always thought that if we had a girl, she would be a little Shirley Temple.  It did not work, two boys with curly/wavy hair.  

   

I grew up with the belief that if it did not have chocolate and nuts, why eat it.  

   

Sometimes you have to make the big decisions in life:  Whether to facebook or to work.  

  

You know those thoughts, ideas and stories that you say to yourself that you should write down.  Well, I write them down before I forget them.   

  

There is something that I have not been able to figure out.  You go into a restaurant and they bring you a drink with a straw. What do they think; you haven’t mastered the art of drinking from a glass?  

  

I am finally coming to terms with that I played Hopscotch as a child.  

I would have had a much better time on the bus ride home from Hebrew school if I would have realized that what the girls wanted to do in the back of the bus was not going to hurt me.  

I guess my basketball career ended in sixth grade when I got elbowed on the playground at Paul L. Best elementary school and ended up with a broken tooth.  

My baseball career was very short sighted.  No, that were my glasses I wore since I was 3 years old. Not being able to hit the ball off the tee and field did not help.  Bowling did not suffer because of that problem.  

                                                                   or

I tried to play baseball, tee ball specifically, when I was young but I had a hard time seeing to hit the ball off of the tee.  I was able to see the spot on the bowling alley lane, though, and did that very well.

I have never skied.  I once took a lesson and tried cross country skiing when I lived in Riverview, Michigan.  It never snowed again that winter…..  so I moved to California.  (Alternative ending….  Do you want me back to try again?) 

My number one rule for my boys when they went away to college was…. Call you mother. (I recently added rule # 2, which is... remember rule #1. I am now ready to add rule #3... It is OK for call you father. Just in case that you think that I do not follow the rules, I try to call my mother every day, though it was not always that way.

I have mastered being a male.  I could talk to one my boys say for 45 minutes and then my wife would ask me what we were talking about.  My answer would be nothing. 

My wife would like me to wear slippers.  I have always associated slippers with being old.  Maybe I should get some slippers, a robe, a pipe and a couple of young ladies like Hugh Hefner?  I don’t think that is what she has in mind.  

This Weeks Very Short Story: Chapter 5

This Week's Very Short Story: Chapter 5

Marriage is something you have to work at.  She tells you what needs to be done and then you get to work on it.    

When I am a meeting/seminar and see my professional classmates from 1979, they stop and take a pose.  Did I forget to tell you that I have my camera and have been photographing their age progression for years.   

My Aunt May made me and my brother eat peas and cauliflower.  It wasn’t until years later when I started making my mushroom barley cauliflower soup that I started to eat them voluntarily.    

Having never seen it made, it wasn’t until years later that I learned that what we called Uncle Lou’s Soup was actually made by Uncle Lou.   

There was a drawer at my Uncle Lou’s and Aunt Faye’s house that we called the magic drawer.  It never failed to deliver us sweets whenever we showed up.    

There was a business where my picture hung for many years.  No, it was not the Post Office.  It was Oak Park Lanes.  It was a picture of me bowling from the pins view.   I have no idea why it stayed up there for  years.  My mother went and got it before they closed it.     

I would not sign the papers to allow my younger son to play football in high school.  My wife signed them for 2 years and then she said no.  I did enjoy when he did play and went to as many games as I could.    

I can still take my hand and stroke my face and head and feel the full beard that I had for around 20 years and the full head of hair that I had for slightly longer.  Then there are mirrors.   

I was married in 1977. Many years ago when people asked when are you are going to have children, I would answer February 1983.  My son was born in January 1983.  He owes me a month.    

When we were asked by the Rabbi how many children we are going to have, I did not have an answer.  I always thought that the answer would be 4 boys, and then I met someone with 4 boys.   

We did not want to have children until we were not moving every year because of school, training, etc.  Then we ended up staying in Northridge California for more than one year and you know what happened.    

When I was younger my mother bought some of my clothes at Brody’s in Oak Park from the ‘husky’ section.  When I got taller and thinner, I could shop anywhere.  The lesson I learned from that is that I am the perfect weight for my next growth spurt.   

At my Bar Mitzvah, I was so very short that some of the girls towered over me in height. Years later I come to find that some of them are the same height now, just five feet tall.   

This Weeks Very Short Story: Chapter 4

This Week's Very Short Story: Chapter Four

My Saturdays when I was young were spent bowling at Oak Park Lanes or at movies in Royal Oak.  Later on it was bowling follow by dance lessons at Jack Barnes. Dance lessons continued until my Bar Mitzvah.  I continued bowling all the way through high school.    

My parents seemed to want us out of the house on Saturdays.  I wonder what they were doing during those times.  Oh…. That is how I ended up with a little brother that was 11 years younger than me.   

One of the best forms of birth control is children.    

By the way my mother yelled my name, I knew something was wrong.  What I had done was to mix some chocolate into the remaining milk in the refrigerator.  My mother was making mashed potatoes and poured the chocolate milk into the potatoes.  What happened next was a run down the stairs to the basement on Greenbriar Street.  Actually, I don’t think I touched the steps.  Behind me came the bowl filled with chocolate milk and potatoes with the speed of a 90 mile an hour pitch.  And yes, I did get to clean it all up.     

Today there are so many things that your children need to take with them when they go to college.  One of the thing that I took to college that I know my children did not take with them was a 2 piece pool cue/stick.  

I never sat with my father and discussed politics.  I don’t know how he voted.  I think I could guess.  He did ask questions and I gave answers. He was the father and I the son.  I learned by his example on how he lead his life   

At lunch during high school, one of my favorite things to eat was an ice cream sandwich from one of the machines.  I would buy one whenever I had enough change.  Once I got the ice cream sandwich, I would break it in half and offer half to a friend of mine, and occasionally even let him have it.  Every day he would eat a corn beef sandwich.  Never did I even get a bite.  

At some point during high school, they finally allowed us to go out to lunch.  The sprint to our cars and the race to our destination made the chases on The Dukes of Hazzard look lame.   

For the road rally, ‘swing out” in high school, we decorated someone’s car with beer cans that we collected.  With today’s standards, we would probably be ready for parole soon.    

I have held many elected offices in many different organizations.  There is one election that I lost and was glad that I did. It was for Secretary of the fraternity that I belonged to.  It was at that time, that I realized that I need to buckle down, study and get ready for the rest of my life.    

This Weeks Very Short Story: Chapter 3

This Week's Very Short Story:  Chapter Three

When I see a car with a Michigan license here, I have to look to see who they are.... Like I would know who they are. 

I am a lefty, really.   

I don’t think it is acceptable to lie to someone, even if it for the greater good unless you are their parent.  And then again, that probably won’t work out either.  

It was when my son was 8 years old and I was sitting on a bucket catching his pitches that I realized that sitting with my legs spread apart and the pitches hurting my hand, that this was not a good idea.  

My ability to throw a ball accurately is not that great.  If my son did not learn to field the ball well, instead of playing shortstop, catcher and center field, he would have probably ended up on the track or cross country team.   

Since I write very short stories, I guess an autobiography is out of the question.     

When we were young, my brother and I were very wild kids.  Today they have medications for that.   

Part of being a wild young kid was my many trips to the emergency room.  My father could probably drive the route to Beaumont Hospital in his sleep, and probably did.  

My draft number was 52 for my year.  They did not call anyone that year, otherwise I would be telling different stories to different people.   

When I was young and naïve, I used to think that the songs Winter Wonderland and White Christmas were singing about my home state of Michigan.  Now that I am older and experienced, I still feel that way.  

For years, I bowled at night in league and came home smelling like I had been drinking and smoking.  If I was to start bowling again now that they don’t allow smoking at the alleys, my wife would assume that I was cheating on her since I would be coming home not smelling of cigarettes.  

In the early 1970’s I spent a few New Year’s Eve’s with my girlfriend  at the Raven Gallery coffee house in Southfield Michigan listening to live folk music. (Josh White Jr, Ron Coden)  I still spend New Year’s Eve with my girlfriend and my wife does not seem to mind.    

My brother in law is getting his PhD from UCLA and teaches at USC.  When UCLA plays football against USC, he probably watches America's Next Top Model. When they are playing basketball, he’s all in for the North Carolina Tar Heels.  

This Week's Very Short Story: Chapter 2

English classes where you had to read many books were not my favorite classes.  Some of it must have stuck; sometimes I answer Jeopardy questions with things that I did not even know that I knew.  

Not remembering that a cousin of mine went to Michigan State University, I asked him if I ever saw him there.  He said that I did and I even drove him home once and I would not let him smoke in my car.  I said that sounded like me.  

I can’t decide that if California had a lower rate of unemployment, whether there would be less or more people traveling on the freeways here in Los Angeles'.  

One of my sons was likened to a vacuum.  Good thing that he played short stop and sucked up everything that came his way.    

There is this circle of life thing.  At first you are sitting at the kids table and can’t wait to leave.  Later you look back and see someone has taken your place.  

A cousin of mine does an online radio show heard all over the world.  One thing he does not like is people labeling him.  Once he took on a caller that called him a socialist.  So I commented anonymously on the online chat that he is a socialist, he is on Facebook and Twitter.   

My enjoyment of math at school started at Clinton Jr. High School with a teacher that played music on his teeth.    

I keep having this recurrent memory that when we swam during gym class at Lincoln Jr. High School that we swam in the nude.  Is this reality or a nightmare?   

During High School and Junior High School, I always worried that I would forget where my locker was or my locker combination.  Sometimes I still dream that I can't find the locker or remember the combination.  In reality, I know that I can't.   

I currently drive 25 or 45 miles to work depending on which office I go to.  When I did my surgical training in Michigan, I lived in Riverview and worked in Trenton which was about 24 miles away from where I grew up in Oak Park. When I asked people to come out to Riverview to visit from Oak Park, their expression on their face was like I had asked them to drive half way to Mars.   

I did my surgical training in Trenton Michigan which was about 24 miles from where I grew up in Oak Park Michigan.  Asking people to come there to visit me there was as if I had asked them to drive half way to Mars.     

We say that we want peace and quiet, but that is not what we want.  For our peace and quiet is such with the hum of our electric devices and when the electricity goes out, that sometimes can be scary.

During my life time, I have seen the Tigers, Pistons and Red Wings win their respective titles.  The question is whether any of us will live long enough to see the Lions do the same.    

When did she start to think that just hold me close was not going to have an effect on you.

She tells you to leave her alone and then when you go to leave the room, you find out that it doesn’t mean you have to go that far away.   

This Weeks Very Short Story: Chapter 1

This Week's Very Short Story

Chapter One

I went to college to major in Mathematics and minor in Accounting to become an Accountant.... guess that didn't work out.      

 (Just in time for college football)                   
I went to Michigan State University.
My next younger brother went to Michigan State.
My youngest brother was not as smart and he
went to the University of Michigan.

My father could fix almost anything with 3 things. WD 40, duct tape and folded up cardboard.  

  

I am, probably the only person in the history of Oak Park high School to have requested a second year of math with Mr. Norbert Antosiak.     

Awhile back we went from a queen mattress to a king mattress.  Now I have to text to see if she is there. 

I spent much of my first fifty years trying to get as much stuff as possible.  For the next fifty years, I will be trying to get rid of it.  

Forty two years ago I was working at McDonalds.  Some things just don’t work out.  

While in college, one summer, I worked as a tube pusher on a hot factory floor making cores for radiators of large trucks… a few years later my younger, bigger and stronger brother got a job there making deliveries in an air conditioned car.  What was up with that?   

While in college, I worked at a department store in the sporting goods department.  We also sold guns, ammunition and snow blowers in that department, go figure.   

I can still make her laugh….. When she listens.   

Your children may listen to you, but it may take years for you to find that out.   

Sometimes when I write longer stories, I give them to my son to edit.  He’s right handed and I am left handed.  They come back written backwards.   

My son talks to me about which voice I write in.  I don’t know…, the one in my head?  

To Lena

(Lena Binder & Matthew Binder circa 1983)

To Lena,

Lena Binder was a very special person in my life. She was my grandmother, my bubby.

She arrived from Austria in the early 1900’s on a ship at Ellis Island. Somehow she ended up in Detroit Michigan married to Harry Binder. She passed in 1986 at the age of 95. I met her in 1954 at Sinai Hospital, I guess. They lived on a street called Tracy in Detroit Michigan. If I told you anymore, this would be a history lesson and I would let my youngest son Seth write it. However, this is not that type of story. This is a story of what my Bubby Lena meant to me.
First, I only had one grandmother as my mother’s mother died when my mother was very young. Her father lived in Florida, so we only saw him a few times. This left Harry and Lena Binder as the only grandparents that I knew most. My Zadye, grandfather Harry passed when I was very young. I remember walking down the street I lived on, Ithaca, in Oak Park Michigan, crying, holding an ice cream that was melting and not understanding any of what was going on.
So that leaves me with memories of Lena Binder that I want to share with you.
As a young child, I remember many things about my Bubby. It is strange what you remember. I’ll tell you of two.

Grilled Cheese Sandwiches. Yes, my grandmother made the best grilled sandwiches in the world. She had a grill that she cooked them on. My mother had one that I now have, a Dominion Electric Grill/waffle iron. I have tried for years to make a grill cheese sandwich as good as my Bubby’s. What I remember is that she used lots of butter I believe the sweet, unsalted type. I imagine the bread was white and the cheese American. After she cooked them she would put more butter on the top to finish them before she gave them to us. The only ingredient that I can’t add to mine is her love.

Cleaning. My grandmother taught me about cleaning. Not that I am overly zealous about cleaning. However it was the small attention to details that I remember. One time she stayed over as my parents had gone away, and she started cleaning a bathroom. I remember her taking the powder cleanser and brillo pad and getting close around the faucet to get the dirt until it was clean. Her cleaning was not just at my house. At her house, I remember her, even in her later years, she cleaned the walls. She even cleaned the electric mower, so she could carry it down to the basement, even though she had a garage out back of her house. Now when I take to cleaning something that needs that little extra detail, I remember my Bubby.

So, what brings me to write this? There are a couple of things that I want you to know about the one that you are named. I have already told you that she was special to me. She was so special to me that I want to tell you something that very few people know.

First, before I got married, my to be wife Arlene and I went to my grandmother’s house first and asked her if it was okay if we got married. This was even before we went to Arlene’s parent’s house and I asked her parents if I could marry their daughter. Third in line was to my parent’s house.

Second, from an age way before I got married, I always felt that when I got married and if I had a daughter that I would name her Lena. Being Jewish, as you know, we name only after someone that has passed. Time passed and Bubby Lena lived many years. During that time, I found out that Binder’s only have boys. It was approximately 74 years before the first Binder girl was born since your grandmother May. My two sons were born before Lena passed. Bubby Lena met my oldest son when he was young and Lena passed before she was able to meet my youngest.

So, as you have read, the name Lena and Bubby Lena have a very special meaning and place in my heart. Since I was unable to use the name Lena, your mother had the honor of giving it to you. May you give others blessed memories as Bubby Lena gave to me.

(Note: I started writing this before my father passed in May 2009 and returned to finish this on November 6, 2010.)

Patricia Baumgarten, Arlene Binder, Lena Binder, Robert Binder
June 12, 1977