Teaching Old Dogs...

   Way back, when Dwayne was first living in California, San Jose to be exact, back before Karen and the kids, our whole family went out to visit at Christmas. As a part of that time, we rented a house at Tahoe and went up into the mountains to ski.

   Now Dwayne was the only one of us who had learned this winter sport, so the rest of us took beginner lessons and skied for three or four days. Of course, Donna and Doug took to it and were soon zipping down the slopes with abandon. Granny Lou and Papa, on the other hand, being older and more brittle, took longer. 

   Papa could only turn left and was the source of many joking comments as he fell and slid his way down. 

   It was a humbling experience, but it was a first.

   On another occasion, while Dwayne was in High School and had become a distance runner, Papa decided to try his hand at that, and lose some extra pounds. So he did, and managed to one day, train and run a marathon. He made it that time all the way 26.2 miles, and looked forward to a long and distinguished career. 

   Alas, that was the only one he ever ran, but it was a first.

   This Christmas time, many years after those two "firsts", Doug and family came to celebrate with us. Doug had purchased this one-man riding machine while they were on sabbatical in California. It looked like fun, and he encouraged Papa to try it.

   Another first, and while it was fun, and he could also turn right as well as left, the Segway left St. Simons in the back of the van, and it may have been another of those "one and done" accomplishments that are great to talk about on cold winter nights around the fire (if we had a fire).

   An old dog, a new trick…

   A new definition of "life long learning"

   Just don't ask me to go in reverse..