A Sense of Doubt blog post #4077 - Letter to Dad #31 - Dad Giving Heart Talk at My School April 8 1971

A Sense of Doubt blog post #4077 - Letter to Dad #31 - Dad Giving Heart Talk at My School April 8 1971

Hi Big Guy, I am delving into the box of photos again and this time unearthed one from 1971 around this time of year.

I am nine years old in this picture and in fourth grade.

This was the year that I went from being in the group of popular kids to being shunned, which may have already started when this picture was taken.

You came to my class to talk about the heart while you were serving on the board of the local Heart Association. That's what you are holding. A model of a human heart.

I was and am so proud of you, which may be difficult to see in this picture because I was an awkward kid in front of the class who was already starting to experience bullying.

I wonder who took this picture/ Did Mom come along and sit in the back and take the photo? Did the teacher take the photo? Some other parents if there were more presentations that day?

You and Mom were great parents, but also one of the few sets of parents who did things like this, which was both a blessing and a cause to put a bullying target on my back, sadly. ESPECIALLY Mom's annual treats for the whole class on my birthday. That was a great thing but also triggered the bullies who may not even have birthday treats at home let alone at school.

It wasn't until we went to the child psychologist that I realized that bullies might be abused children. That kind of changed my perspective on bullies, though not enough to really feel sorry for them, feel empathy, as they were tormenting me.

Anyway, I like this picture. It came out of an envelope of several photos that I think were reprints or selected from slides or something as there's a list, written by you Dad, describing the photos in the envelope. I will share that later. But the description of this one is: 

#12: 4/8/71 Chris & Daddy Heart Talk

UPDATES

It bothers me that William Shatner is 95, and he's here and you're not. I mean, I am glad Shatner is still alive and presumably so healthy. But I miss you. You would have turned 91 this year Dad, so you are younger than Shatner!

I am at a coffee shop today at the Orchards (Fourth Plain by the 500 in Vancouver) as Satchel is being groomed at a Petco. It's called the Gold Cup. This may be a hang out for Christians. There's a lot of Christians here either wearing I Love Jesus shirts or looking at large Bibles. There's another duo of what looks like a pastor and parishioner at a large table as if they were expecting more people who didn't show up. There was even a guy in a MAGA hat but he left shortly after I sat down.

I feel badly but I forgot to ask for oat milk in my latte so I had to ask them to remake. As a result, in addition to leaving a 20% tip with my card payment, I gave them $5 cash left over from my CBD gummy purchase.

Satchel was trembling when I dropped her off, which makes me so sad. Since I am finishing this post the next day (Friday), I also know that she cried and cried when they tried to use the force dryer, so they stopped. They are kind at this Petco. I may use them again. I had not been to this one before.

Not much else to report in our lives. The dogs are fine. Ellory seems all better and is eating tons of food and is always hungry for more. Satchel broke a nail that bled a lot but that seems healed. Essel might have a UTI but is all right otherwise.

The Pistons ended the season with 60 wins for the first time in 20 years and are the number one seed in the East and third best team in the NBA by record. Their playoff series starts Sunday against either Charlotte or Orlando, depending on the result of tomorrow night's game. The Red Wings missed the playoffs in an epic collapse after being playoff eligible for 80% of the season. I had to send $10 to a friend for losing a bet about that. After the Tigers lost five in a row, they have now won six in a row, sweeping both the Marlins and Royals to get to 10-9, though still third in the AL Central. They start a four game series with Boston (IN Boston) tonight. Boston is 7-11, so the Tigers should do well against them but that's always dangerous to anticipate.

Wish you were here so we could discuss all this, especially Michigan winning the NCAA.

I have lots to do today, so I am going to get to it.

Love you, Dad.

~ christopher

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- Bloggery committed by chris tower - 2604.16 - 10:10

- Days ago: MOM = 3941 days ago & DAD = 595 days ago

- New note - On 1807.06, I ceased daily transmission of my Hey Mom feature after three years of daily conversations. I post Hey Mom blog entries on special occasions. I post the days since ("Days Ago") count on my blog each day, and now I have a second count for Days since my Dad died on August 28, 2024. I am now in the same time zone as Google! So, when I post at 10:10 a.m. PDT to coincide with the time of Mom's death, I am now actually posting late, so it's really 1:10 p.m. EDT. But I will continue to use the time stamp of 10:10 a.m. to remember the time of her death and sometimes 13:40 EDT for the time of Dad's death. The blog entry numbering in the title has changed to reflect total Sense of Doubt posts since I began the blog on 0705.04, which include Hey Mom posts, Daily Bowie posts, and Sense of Doubt posts. Hey Mom posts will still be numbered sequentially. New Hey Mom posts will use the same format as all the other Hey Mom posts; all other posts will feature this format seen here.