I Just Wrote These Words

(c) 2009 F. Bruce Abel

I just wrote these words:

“The extreme difficulty of dealing with failed states.”

Who taught me “difficulty of dealing with?”

Who taught me “difficulty?”

Who taught me “difficult?”

It must have been you, Mom.

I know this though: I worked hard with Dad one night

Over the following spelling homework at either Harman or Oakwood Jr. High, and how to remember that there was no "d" in "privileged:"

“He legged it to the privy with Ed.”

Thank you, Dad, I will always remember that night.

Visions of Dad’s home in Brooklyn, where he rolled his own tennis court! And there must have been a privy before indoor plumbing. There certainly was “privi”-lege in that family, as his dad was comptroller of the BMT, so I imagine they might have been the first on the block to get rid of the “privy.”

Vision of Dad at Miami Valley Hospital heaving to breath as he lay there after his final heart attack.

“Leg it, Dad, leg it!”