Secretly, early in the morning, I went to Google and typed in his name, Frank B. It had been many years since I have even thought of him. Maybe even decades that I wondered where he was and what he was doing.
What incited me, I questioned. I knew why right away. I had started to read Ted Kennedy's memoirs. Kennedy talks about his early days in Hyannis Port, MA. As the youngest of nine children, he tells of how he looked up to his older brothers Joe Jr. and Jack
This was a family of vivacious competition, who were constantly waging in games of mental and physical skill. Dinners were full of spirited debates with dad Joe looking over and prompting spirited exchanges.
That was Frank. He had the Kennedy looks. His dad, a pediatrician, was well educated. Like Joe Kennedy, he welcomed lively debates among his children. In the large house there was always classical music or Broadway show tunes playing. There were games of wit, trivia contests, and the Kennedy-like tag football and basketball games played at the next-door neighbors house.
For me, Frank's house was a cultural oasis. It was an escape from the incessant TV that kept our house from being a silent intellectual desert. There were no intellectual exchanges, no games, no stream of visiting friends, no sense of a real family.
When I wasn't at Frank's house, I would be swinging a bat and dreaming of being a professional baseball player. Bookish debates threatened my Dad. It showed his lack of college education. To my Dad, being bookish and reading books was a waste of time. It did not put food on one's table or money in your pocket. Being from the Depression Era, my Dad always saw poverty coming around the corner. He could remember putting cardboard in his shoes in order to cover up the holes in the soles.
Until my junior year of high school, I only read books on Indians or baseball, other than what I was assigned in class. Going over to Frank's house became a pretty daily routine. Soon, similar to Frank, I was writing some short stories and poetry.
Frank was ranked number two in high school. He had a way with his words. His grandfather finished the Sunday NY Times crossword puzzle with a pen.
When I looked up Frank, I noticed he had turned to Buddhism and psychotherapy. He was a professor who had received some marvelous ratings from a few students. The last entry showed that Frank had suffered from a minor cerebral hemorrhage and some paralysis down the side of his body.
A friend had mailed out a letter that Frank was out of the hospital's intensive care and had left the hospital shortly after to recover. Frank was in vivacious spirits and accepted he was going to follow his belief in imbalance.
Maybe it was a coincidence that Ted Kennedy and Frank both suffered from conditions related to the brain. Both men were brilliant.
What I had learned from Ted Kennedy and Frank was how important family was and the value of challenging others to use their minds and being challenged.
I was blessed to be accepted into Frank's world; I was given a look into a world that I did not know. It was in those moments, those games and exchanges that opened up my mind to the infinite possibilities of life.
In these brutal times you may be wondering how to make ends meet and how to rebuild your finances and wealth.
It may be some solace to acknowledge that life is impermanent, including our finances. The real riches reside in our minds - exploring and exchanging ideas.
By using and enriching your mind, you have inherent freedom and wealth. The mind is "a beautiful thing."
Life is full of these peeks of possibilities that you are able to make into a reality.
Like Frank B and Ted Kennedy, StepsTo.com's vision is to be a haven of insights, debates, challenges and exchanges. StepsTo is the home away from your family.
P.S. Yes, Dad, I am working intensely hard, but if you only knew that there was and that there is so so much more.
What incited me, I questioned. I knew why right away. I had started to read Ted Kennedy's memoirs. Kennedy talks about his early days in Hyannis Port, MA. As the youngest of nine children, he tells of how he looked up to his older brothers Joe Jr. and Jack
This was a family of vivacious competition, who were constantly waging in games of mental and physical skill. Dinners were full of spirited debates with dad Joe looking over and prompting spirited exchanges.
That was Frank. He had the Kennedy looks. His dad, a pediatrician, was well educated. Like Joe Kennedy, he welcomed lively debates among his children. In the large house there was always classical music or Broadway show tunes playing. There were games of wit, trivia contests, and the Kennedy-like tag football and basketball games played at the next-door neighbors house.
For me, Frank's house was a cultural oasis. It was an escape from the incessant TV that kept our house from being a silent intellectual desert. There were no intellectual exchanges, no games, no stream of visiting friends, no sense of a real family.
When I wasn't at Frank's house, I would be swinging a bat and dreaming of being a professional baseball player. Bookish debates threatened my Dad. It showed his lack of college education. To my Dad, being bookish and reading books was a waste of time. It did not put food on one's table or money in your pocket. Being from the Depression Era, my Dad always saw poverty coming around the corner. He could remember putting cardboard in his shoes in order to cover up the holes in the soles.
Until my junior year of high school, I only read books on Indians or baseball, other than what I was assigned in class. Going over to Frank's house became a pretty daily routine. Soon, similar to Frank, I was writing some short stories and poetry.
Frank was ranked number two in high school. He had a way with his words. His grandfather finished the Sunday NY Times crossword puzzle with a pen.
When I looked up Frank, I noticed he had turned to Buddhism and psychotherapy. He was a professor who had received some marvelous ratings from a few students. The last entry showed that Frank had suffered from a minor cerebral hemorrhage and some paralysis down the side of his body.
A friend had mailed out a letter that Frank was out of the hospital's intensive care and had left the hospital shortly after to recover. Frank was in vivacious spirits and accepted he was going to follow his belief in imbalance.
Maybe it was a coincidence that Ted Kennedy and Frank both suffered from conditions related to the brain. Both men were brilliant.
What I had learned from Ted Kennedy and Frank was how important family was and the value of challenging others to use their minds and being challenged.
I was blessed to be accepted into Frank's world; I was given a look into a world that I did not know. It was in those moments, those games and exchanges that opened up my mind to the infinite possibilities of life.
In these brutal times you may be wondering how to make ends meet and how to rebuild your finances and wealth.
It may be some solace to acknowledge that life is impermanent, including our finances. The real riches reside in our minds - exploring and exchanging ideas.
By using and enriching your mind, you have inherent freedom and wealth. The mind is "a beautiful thing."
Life is full of these peeks of possibilities that you are able to make into a reality.
Like Frank B and Ted Kennedy, StepsTo.com's vision is to be a haven of insights, debates, challenges and exchanges. StepsTo is the home away from your family.
P.S. Yes, Dad, I am working intensely hard, but if you only knew that there was and that there is so so much more.
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