Friday, July 30, 2010

[1818 - Emily Bronte, novelist, born in
Thornton, Yorkshire]

[1857 - Thorstein Veblen, economist, author, born
in Valders, Wisconsin]

   
[1863 - Henry Ford, auto manufacturer, innovator, born in Dearborn, Michigan]

      
[1890 - Casey (Charles Dillon) Stengel, baseball player, Yankee Hall of Fame manager, born in Kansas City, Missouri]

       
[1898 - Henry Spencer Moore, sculptor, born in Castleford, Yorkshire, England]

   
[1934 - Ben Piazza, actor, director, author, born in Little Rock, Arkansas]

[1945 - USS Indianapolis (CA-35), is torpedoed by a Japanese sub, and sinks in mid-Pacific; of a crew of 1,196 officers and men, only 318 survive]

   
[1949 - Dwight White, Steel Curtain All-Pro defensive end, born in Hampton, Virginia]

[1965 - President Lyndon Johnson signs Medicare law with President Truman looking on]

Grandpa Moment #1

Grandson number two (precocious three-year-old) is visiting. We are in the backyard near an area of crushed rock with a stepping stone path through it. He, running down the path, went down kind of hard. First impulse: run to him, snatch him up, tend to the wounds, if any. Then, the thought; maybe an opportunity to teach.

Walk to the child and pick him up. He is crying by now. Instead of making a fuss that might alarm him further, just hold him close for comfort, and ask in as normal a tone as possible:
"Did you get hurt?"
"I stubbed my toe, grandpa."
"You know, it's a funny thing about stubbed toes. They hurt for just a little while and then hardly at all."
"You're right grandpa, it doesn't hurt any more."

Put him down again so that he can go on with his business.

William's Whimsical Words:

Learning to deal with pain is an essential life skill.

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