Retirement for me has been a time of enjoying my family and life around me right here where I live in Southern California. I did let the lecturing on cruise ships for almost eight years interfere with this kind of life since we were gone about half of each year, but it was always a return to my life with my grandsons and the family here where we call home. The photo with me and the two guys was taken in 2009 just after I had a major surgery to do some needed repair in my abdomen for a huge abscess that had formed there. It was the reason we had to quit lecuring on the cruise ships. But it again gave me the time I wanted with my two guys.
These are my "two guys" as I call them, Shilo on the left is now 18 this year and Dakota on the right is 16. I have held both of them in my arms on the day they were born. And in addition to that thrill, I took care of Shilo every day but Sunday for the first two and a half years of his life. His mom was so busy working and going to school to get her degree that there was no way she could take care of the boys. When Dakota came along during that time, I was unable to take care of both of them, so we got some outside help to care for him. When the age of three or so came along, we were able to put each of them into a day care center at Ventura College where they got a tremendous education from students and faculty. The students were going to be teachers at some level and learned about the needs of kids. And the faculty and staff overlooking the teaching program and the care at the Center were fantastic.
I would take the boys there each day and drop them off, and then one of us in the family would pick them up later in the day after they had been there for a few hours.
You may wonder where the father was during this time?? Their mother had married a very unreliable individual to whom we could not entrust the care of the boys. A short time later, this marriage ended and then it was entirely up to the mom and we the grandparents to care for the two guys.
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