This evening I went over to the University of Richmond for the Osher Back To School Mixer. I noticed in their announcement of this event the U of R folks didn’t capitalize “to”. But my feeling is that if you are going to capitalize “Back” and “School Mixer” you have to be consistent and capitalize “To”, too. But, maybe, that’s why I need to go back to school. I don’t know.
There are, as it turns out, many things that I do not know. And this is why I like the Osher program. It gives us oldsters a chance to fill in some of the gaps in our learning experiences. And I am purposefully using the word “gaps” when some might say a more appropriate word would be “chasms” or even “black holes”.
Please be patient with us as we age. We are actually trying to avoid being sucked into a black hole populated with various neurological diseases. Exercising the brain may help! Lumosity helps (the Lumosity folks promise us!) and wandering over to the lovely U of R campus may help as well. We are willing, at least, to give it a go!
On this occasion I was happy to see some of my friends from the writer’s group I attended last year. Rosemary Rawlins was looking great and being her usual cheerful, friendly self. She has written a book, Learning by Accident, about health and healing, family, traumatic brain injury, love and overcoming adversity. Don Warner was also there. He is a retired businessman who owned a local music store known to many in decades past. Betsy knew him when she was a young person running around Virginia with her rock band.
So I enjoyed talking with them. Betsy would have been there, too, but she had to watch Kellan this evening. Bernard Osher was not here either, but he is still alive and one of the great philanthropists of our generation. He has given nearly a billion dollars to programs across the country that help the wizened ones reattach themselves to the younger folks and the universities. Colleges, too, perhaps. There’s word that Mr. Osher eventually intends to give ALL his money away since he has no heirs.
And I would just like to take this opportunity to say how much I admire him as a businessman, a philanthropist and a person. He is a genius of sorts, no doubt and someone who I would be proud to have in our family.
“Dad, I would like you to meet my new father. I know this may seem rather a shock to you but when you hear about it I’m sure you won’t mind”.
What was that? Oh, sorry, just a little daydream. It always happens when I get to close to a classroom. It was a fun evening but now it’s time to wrap things up. Here is a photo of the three of us; Don, Rosemary and me. A rose between two thorns.
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