Thursday, May 24, 2007
1973-74
It was the 1973-74 school year and I was just another kid in Mrs. Runk's fourth grade class at Allen East Elementary School in LaFayette (don't want to miss that capital "F"), Ohio.

She arranged a field trip for us. Field trips happened maybe 3 - 4 times a year back then and they were always a real highlight of the year. I don't know that they happen so often in school anymore.

She arranged a field trip for us to her husband's business, CSS Publishing in Lima, Ohio. I do not remember a whole lot about what we saw there. But I do remember her husband talking to us and encouraging us to write and journal. And I remember what he gave each of us -- a small glue-bound booklet of blank ivory-colored cardstock for us to write and journal in.

After a good period of waiting and deliberation, I used my booklet for several years to write about the Cincinnati Reds. This was during the height of the Big Red Machine era and I followed all of the players very closely. I knew all of their stats and studied them after each game. Bench, Morgan, Rose, Concepcion, Foster, Nolan, Gullett, Geronimo, Billingham, Perez. I knew them all very well and I also kept a Cincinnati Reds scrapbook of newspaper clippings.

I still have that booklet and the scrapbook someplace though I suspect the glue in the booklet has cracked and the pages have separated.

But I think back occasionally to CSS Publishing and Mr. Wesley Runk .... and the lifelong impact he had on this snot-nosed fourth grader by giving me that little booklet and starting me on lifetime of enjoying playing with words.

I recently sent him an email just to let him know that he made an impact that day over 30 years ago. Remembering that makes me more sensitive to the impact, good or bad, that I can choose to have on others each day of my life.

  posted at 5:48 AM  
  2 comments



2 Comments:
At 8:37 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

73-74.... hmmmm..... I was born May 16, 74...... Won't go with the age joke.... I felt older last week.... now I don't anymore.

Love ya man!

 
At 11:52 PM, Blogger Todd M said...

Thanks Dave. I was a very precocious child ... started school at the age of 2 ... why we're almost the same age!

 

Post a Comment

<< Home



Who Am I?

Name:
Todd M

Location:



An ordinary guy. A wife I love very much. A great son. Wonderful friends. A metal roofing business and a sales training business. A loving church family. A few trade associations. A Christian school. And a four-pound poodle. Just trying to follow God and see where He leads.

My Complete Profile


Buy My Book! (please)
  • Trying To Lose My "Self" In Israel

  • Past Posts
  • THE BEAUTY INSIDE
  • ANOTHER MORNING IN BLUFFTON
  • THE COFFEE SONG
  • EXODUS 40 (The Message)
  • MAHATMA GHANDI QUOTE
  • MY LOVE AFFAIR ...
  • SLEEP WELL
  • THOMAS MERTON REFLECTION
  • EXODUS 39 (The Message)
  • SEEKING

  • Great Blogs
  • Dan Gildner
  • Hope Shifts
  • Trey Morgan
  • Hey Jules
  • DadBloggers
  • David Porath
  • Antique Mommy
  • Tony Morgan
  • Chris Reeder
  • Gary Lamb
  • Perry Noble
  • David Foster
  • Scott Hodge
  • Mark Meyer
  • Donald Miller
  • Sidney First Leadership Community
  • Irenic Thoughts
  • Sidney First UMC

  • Archives
  • May 2006
  • June 2006
  • July 2006
  • August 2006
  • September 2006
  • October 2006
  • November 2006
  • December 2006
  • January 2007
  • February 2007
  • March 2007
  • April 2007
  • May 2007
  • June 2007
  • July 2007
  • August 2007
  • September 2007
  • October 2007
  • November 2007
  • December 2007
  • January 2008
  • February 2008
  • March 2008
  • April 2008
  • May 2008
  • June 2008
  • July 2008
  • August 2008
  • September 2008
  • October 2008
  • November 2008
  • December 2008
  • January 2009
  • February 2009
  • March 2009
  • April 2009
  • May 2009
  • June 2009
  • July 2009
  • August 2009
  • September 2009
  • November 2009
  • December 2009
  • January 2010
  • March 2010
  • April 2010
  • June 2010
  • September 2010
  • July 2011

  • Gargantuan List of Methodist Bloggers

    Credits and Links



    istockphoto





    Christian Blogger Network


    Blogarama